innerworkings

Hiatus

2008-07-17T08:03:00.002-05:00

As you might have noted, we haven't been posting much on the blog. Part of it is that it's summer and there aren't as many things happening. The other part is that it's summer and we are very busy running data and writing reports about the effectiveness of various programs last school year.Next year, we will have more to do and less staff to do it, so running this newsblog may be one of the

Report on Governor's actions on bills since the Oklahoma State Legislature adjourned on May 23, 2008

2008-06-11T09:46:00.006-05:00

Last week Governor Henry met his constitutionally mandated deadlines of taking action - either signing into law or vetoing measures - that the Legislature passed and sent to him. Brief summaries of bills dealing with education that survived the process to be approved by the Governor follow. In each bill description there is a link to the enrolled version of the bill, i.e. the copy signed by the

Big Props for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education"

2008-06-11T09:42:00.001-05:00

The potential effectiveness of NCLB has been seriously undermined, however, by its acceptance of the popular assumptions that bad schools are the major reason for low achievement, and that an academic program revolving around standards, testing, teacher training, and accountability can, in and of itself, offset the full impact of low socioeconomic status on achievement.-The Broader, Bolder

New CEP Report: Will Oklahoma's NCLB 'Balloon Payment' Come Due?

2008-05-21T11:20:00.006-05:00

Like many states, our "100% proficiency" plan was based on the premise that the world would come to its senses. It has not. CEP has a report that explains the problem in detail.From the press release:When the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) became law in 2002, states were charged with the controversial goal of bringing all students to “proficiency” within 12 years. This year, halfway to the

A thought or two on Teach for America and all that

2008-05-20T15:29:00.003-05:00

There is quite a lot of writing in the educational blogosphere about Teach for America. Is it a force for good? Is it the Big Bad Wolf dressed up in Grandma's clothes?Well, we won't get into all that, as we don't think there's enough research to support all the opinions that are out there. What we do find interesting is this: An awful lot of the education "reform" and alternative certification

To Curb Truancy, Dallas Tries Electronic Monitoring

2008-05-16T10:56:00.000-05:00

Educators are struggling to meet stricter state and federal mandates, including those of the No Child Left Behind Act, on attendance and graduation rates. The Dallas school system, which, like other large districts, has found it difficult to manage the large numbers of truant students, is among the first in the nation to experiment with the electronic monitoring.

Exploring Oklahoma online

2008-05-12T11:15:00.002-05:00

Check out this story in the Tulsa World for more than 600 historical maps on society’s Web site that show Indian territories, cities in their infancy. Dig around a little and find original plats of just about every town in what is now eastern Oklahoma, including Owasso, and a 1902 plat of Tulsa. There’s a spectacular “New Map of Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico and Indian Territories” from 1856 and a

Academic Ability?

2008-05-09T09:42:00.002-05:00

Well, here's a sentence I've never written before: Checker Finn has a really interesting post -- it's well worth your time to read. It's a piece on what The Bell Curve's Charles Murray has been writing lately. Don't stop in the middle. Read the whole thing.

New NCLB regs: Counting graduates & dropouts

2008-04-28T15:52:00.003-05:00

Sherman Dorn's thoughts on the proposed new NCLB regulations regarding the calculation of graduation rates are worth noting. I fully agree with this statement: "I will need to read the proposed regulatory changes in NCLB more carefully when I have the chance..."That's exactly what I'm hoping to do.....No, wait....I'm hoping other intelligent people beat me to it!

What he said!

2008-04-28T15:26:00.004-05:00

Skoolboy is doing the posting on Eduwonkette again, continuing the discussion of test-based accountability, and makes some points well worth noting. Especially this one:Lots of commercial enterprises and non-profits owe their livelihood to public education, and are engaged in an ongoing project to shape our definitions of "real school."Testing is big business in the U.S. Non-profits such as the

Value Added Conversation

2008-04-24T07:48:00.002-05:00

A guest post by skoolboy on Eduwonkette's blog has generated more than 25 comments; what you'll find is an interesting conversation on the use of value-added models (VAM). Interesting stuff, if you're a geek. Important stuff, if you are a teacher or policymaker.

New NAEP Comparison Reports Published...Our Question: Why?

2008-04-02T10:18:00.004-05:00

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has published two reports that will undoubtedly be used by policymakers (and pundits) to discern something about the quality of (a) state tests, (b) state standards, (c) public education in each state, or (d) all of the above.Here are the links to the reports:Comparison Between NAEP and State Mathematics Assessment Results: 2003Comparison

Spellings will issue new regulations on state/district dropout reporting

2008-04-01T14:00:00.002-05:00

As reported in this morning's NY Times, US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will institute new rules & regs for dropout reporting. It's expected that the US DOE will require reporting in accordance with the governors' compact, through which most states have stated their intent to count dropouts in the same manner. Since this method will require reporting at the student level, Spellings

AERA Session on "Dropout Factories"

2008-04-01T13:55:00.003-05:00

I attended this session and I've been meaning to post about it, but then I saw that Eduwonkette was going to do that, so I waited. Her post accurately summarizes the session; in addition, several others who attended the session posted comments. Click the title link to read about the session.

This is not what Oklahoma alternative schools are supposed to be, continued

2008-03-23T23:06:00.003-05:00

Tulsa's "boot camp" has been covered in depth by the Tulsa World -- six articles, an editorial, and an editorial cartoon this week. Click the title of this article to go to the World's education news index page.The Tulsa school board is supposed to address these issues on Monday night. I believe you can watch it from the comfort of your own home, if your home is in Tulsa and you have cable.

NCLB: Know Your History

2008-03-23T23:01:00.002-05:00

If Eduwonk hadn't posted this, we all might have missed it:Looking BackwardYesterday ES hosted an event on the history of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (the current version is called No Child Left Behind) and some ideas about what is next. Sam Halperin, Chris Cross, Kati Haycock, and Jack Jennings discussed the issues. The audio can be found here and if you want to learn some of the

This is not what Oklahoma alternative schools are supposed to be

2008-03-18T10:16:00.002-05:00

The Tulsa World has an article today on the district's "boot camp" program. This isn't a state-funded alternative school; it can't be, as it doesn't meet the 17 criteria in state law. We wish that TPS would quit referring to it as an alternative school, as that only confuses the public.Here's the lead paragraph:The new alternative school that just lost its principal in a resignation agreement

The 2008 link to active legislation is up

2008-03-07T08:48:00.003-06:00

It's over on the left side of the page -- you'll see that we replaced the link to the 2007 session bills with a 2008 link.As always, if you want to check the status of a bill or get a copy of the latest version of a bill, head to http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/WebBillStatus/main.html and use the Basic Search Form link.If you're not sure which version of a bill is the current one, email us or

Ravitch on Performance Pay

2008-03-05T08:52:00.002-06:00

Check her blog post at Bridging Differences. Her last paragraph is certainly worth repeating. Heck, it would make a great tag line.My view is that education has become permeated with the language of management and business and corporate-speak. This is a verbal poison in the bloodstream of our schools.

Performance Pay Studies: Little or No Difference

2008-03-04T06:42:00.002-06:00

From EdWeek Online:A handful of new studies that scrutinize performance-pay initiatives nationwide have found mixed results on how they affect student achievement. That conclusion reinforces views that more work is needed on such plans, despite a recent surge in their popularity, before they can replace the traditional single salary schedule. At a conference organized by the National Center

Just a note about the blog...

2008-02-21T09:15:00.002-06:00

We've been both busy and out with the flu....so we haven't been posting much for the last couple of weeks.If no one's noticed, it occurs to us that we might be spinning our wheels here. Drop us a note, either here or at OTAC, if you want us to keep on keepin' on with this newsblog.

Girls: Creativity on the Web

2008-02-21T09:12:00.002-06:00

The NY Times has an article today that teachers should note: Don't think of the Internet as a guy thing. Here's just a bit of it...click the title link for the complete article (may require registration, but it's free now).Research shows that among the youngest Internet users, the primary creators of Web content (blogs, graphics, photographs, Web sites) are not misfits resembling the Lone

Data Driven Teaching and Learning vs. Data Driven Score Improvement

2008-02-08T09:37:00.000-06:00

What to do while you're procrastinating on a Friday: Check out Eduwonkette's blog posts for the week. The focus was data-driven education and she presents her point of view as well as the views of guest bloggers.

HB 3064: Limits on the hours older students may work

2008-02-07T15:16:00.000-06:00

Rep. Rebecca Hamilton (D-OKC) has authored a bill that would limit the hours students under the age of 18 may work. Currently, the law only limits the hours that children under the age of 16 may work. They would not be able to work more than 18 hours per week (unless they maintained a 3.5 GPA). They would not be able to work later than 10pm on school nights (even if they attended a night

Bridging Differences on international test score comparisons

2008-02-07T11:10:00.000-06:00

Bridging Differences, a blog in which Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier write back and forth, is almost always interesting. The two most recent posts are on the topic of international test comparisons, ranking countries, and all that. Check 'em out here.Here's a teaser, from Meier's most recent post:One thing we can learn from international studies is that it may help if decisions are made

New Bush Education Budget

2008-02-05T09:13:00.000-06:00

The Washington Post reports that the President's budget has no overall cuts or increases for education, but it moves the money around quite a bit. A number of programs are cut or eliminated. Where does the money go? Two places: (1) Bush's new voucher program ($300 million), and (2) Reading First ($1 billion, with a b.)Congress had recommended the elimination of Reading First, mostly because of

NCLB Renewal: Not Dead Yet?

2008-02-05T09:05:00.001-06:00

Today's Education Week Online has an article entitled, Key Democrats Join President in Seeking to Revive NCLB Renewal. Here's the key paragraph:Rep. Miller said he and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, are working to send a reauthorization bill to the president this spring. The Senate education panel is planning to mark

The "What Works" Clearinghouse

2008-02-05T08:16:00.001-06:00

Still catching up on things we missed in December (we had an ice storm which seemed to have strangely delayed some of the mail, plus we took some time off over the holidays).Robert Slavin had an interesting Commentary in Education Week on the US Dept. of Ed's "What Works" Clearinghouse. (I always put that in quotes, because I don't believe it really finds out what works. Kind of like the

The costs of state assessments

2008-01-26T11:55:00.000-06:00

Stateline.org has an interesting story about cost of state assessments -- and some of the problems that have reared their ugly heads since the dramatic increase in testing (and concomitant increase in corporate profits) following the passage of NCLB in 2001. Here's an excerpt:On the whole, however, state spending on testing has shot up since George W. Bush’s education plan became the law of the

RTI

2008-01-25T10:44:00.000-06:00

Education Week has added another new blog, On Special Education. The initial post is about RTI (Response to Intervention). This is the "next new thing" in the federal government's continual quest to redefine the ways in which learning disabilities are diagnosed.Like most things in special education, RTI isn't old and it isn't new. The way that the federal and state governments are putting this

NewTalk: Interesting Ongoing Discussion on Testing

2008-01-24T13:59:00.000-06:00

There is a fascinating discussion taking place, Tuesday through today, on the role of student assessment in K-12 education. Click the title link (yeah, the title of this post), which will take you to this discussion at Newtalk.Important: The discussion starts at the bottom of the webpage and goes up -- the most recent posts are at the top, just like a blog. But you'll want to start at the

Study for the ACT/SAT and feed the world

2008-01-23T15:46:00.000-06:00

We've added a link on our sidebar (that's over on the left side of the page) to FreeRice.com. It's an extremely cool charity-click site, with a twist:You answer a vocabulary question. For each question you answer correctly, a donation (20 grains of rice) is made to feed the world through the United Nations World Food Program. The program counts how many grains of rice you've donated; it also

EdWeek: Rethinking the Way We Hold Schools Accountable

2008-01-23T09:35:00.000-06:00

Helen Ladd's article does a good job of summarizing the research on test-based accountability. We hope you will click the link and read the whole thing yourself. In case you aren't going to do that, we offer some snippets to whet your appetite:An important virtue of test-based accountability is that it appeals to three quite different views of what is wrong with American schools. Proponents of

The clarity of a mother's voice

2008-01-18T13:33:00.000-06:00

From the Rutland Herald:I was presenting standardized test scores to a group of parents when I unconsciously parroted an often-heard phrase, "In order to be economically competitive in the 21st century, we have to have high test scores."A mother's hand shot up, "But I don't want my son to be an international competitor in a 21st century global economy," she declared. "I want him to be a good man.

8th-graders practice job skills

2008-01-18T13:31:00.000-06:00

From The Hawkeye (Iowa's oldest newspaper):The lasagna was hot, the lettuce crisp and the cheesecake deliciously creamy Wednesday at the hippest restaurant in Burlington -- the Hip Hop Cafe.From the bus boys to the maitre d', this restaurant is staffed by Oak Street Middle school eighth-graders.Despite the age of the staff, the food was good enough to please even the toughest critics, according

Neither Art nor Accident

2008-01-18T13:27:00.000-06:00

From the Harvard Education Letter:Study after study shows that quality teaching is the most powerful factor in student learning. But how do you define quality teaching in a way that can be measured and taught?

Eduwonkette: They Never Say "Thank You For Improving My Test Scores"

2008-01-18T10:12:00.000-06:00

We'd nominate this post for the education blog post of the month. Great point, made quickly.

Bills, Bills, and More Bills

2008-01-17T10:00:00.000-06:00

Today is the deadline for legislators to file bills for the 2008 Session. We have already begun the process of reviewing all the bills filed to see what changes might be in store for Oklahoma schools. We'll compile a list of bills to watch and post a link to it on the sidebar (that's over on the left side of the page, for all you non-bloggers), as we do each year. We find that we can better

OpenEducation: 12 Must-See Education Videos of 2007

2008-01-09T15:40:00.000-06:00

The OpenEducation.net blog has posted its top "must-see" education videos of 2007. You can see them by clicking the title link (above). Here are the topics:- Research into learning: Babies being able to discern helpful versus oppositional behavior.- Research into learning: Young children interacting with robots.- Education yesterday and the challenges of tomorrow.- A video put together by

ASBJ: Dropouts Linked to Exit Exam

2008-01-09T09:11:00.000-06:00

The January American School Board Journal included a small news item that warrants attention, so we're posting it here:"Do high school exit exams provide an accurate measure of student performance? Or do they push students who are on the academic bubble to drop out before getting a diploma? In California, the answer appears to be the latter, according to a report presented to the state Board of

EdWeek: Six Questions About NCLB's Future

2008-01-09T08:29:00.000-06:00

Well, we're back from break (and the crazy couple of days that always happen after breaks), so we'll get back to posting news you can use.(To tell you the truth, we're all in the office all week, creating new professional development sessions for the Alternative Ed Summer Institute, so it's still pretty crazy.) Nevertheless, we have one blog entry for you. It's from David Hoff's blog at

Tulsa World: Alternative Schools Vital

2007-12-27T09:06:00.000-06:00

We're mostly on winter break here (and actually having some snow instead of ice), but we thought we'd point people to this article on alternative education in Oklahoma.

Charter Schools 2007: Hopes, Fears, Realities

2007-12-19T10:06:00.000-06:00

The National Charter School Research Project at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education has published its third annual report.From the report web page:Like previous editions of Hopes, Fears, & Reality, this year’s report explores some of the most challenging issues currently facing the charter school movement. The 2007 edition focuses on what is happening inside

Rothstein: NCLB Doomed

2007-12-19T09:48:00.000-06:00

Richard Rothstein has an article in the latest American Prospect entitled "Leaving 'No Child Left Behind' Behind." Here are some excerpts, but we recommend that you read the entire article.NCLB is dead. It will not be reauthorized -- not this year, not ever. The coalition that promoted the 2001 bipartisan law has hopelessly splintered, although NCLB's advocates in the administration and the

New Events Calendar on the Main Website

2007-12-17T09:53:00.000-06:00

We've added a clickable Events Calendar to our main website (www.otac.info). Alternative Education events are red; other professional development events are in blue.Also, because of the ice storm, we've moved the date on which Alternative Education pre-data is due, from December 20 to January 10. We hope this gives you time to recover from the storm and still get your data in to your OTAC

Value-Added Models: Not All They're Cracked Up To Be?

2007-12-13T08:16:00.000-06:00

We're pretty much on hiatus this week because of the ice storm, so we recommend that you read this article over at Eduwonkette.

Time Reform Task Force Recommendations

2007-12-06T21:17:00.000-06:00

The task force chaired by Dr. Lucy Smith to study all aspects of increasing class time instruction for Oklahoma K-12 students presented its findings to the State Board of Education on 11-29-07. (The link above takes you to the SDE's website - click on View all News Releases, then November 29-Time Reform Task Force Recommends...)Dr. Smith described how the task force managed its charge. First

Webcast Update: ACE II Presentation, Mentoring

2007-12-06T13:27:00.000-06:00

We have uploaded a new webcast on mentoring programs for students.On Monday (assuming all the technology works the way it's supposed to), we will upload a presentation from Supt. Rick Martin (Prague). It's a reprise of a presentation that he made to the ACE II Task Force.

Update on ACE II Task Force Work

2007-12-03T13:34:00.000-06:00

The ACE II Task Force met at the capitol on 11-28-07 to consider a presentation by Vicki Dimock, PhD, SEDL in Austin, TX.Dr. Dimock addressed each of the following issues that were set forth in Senate Bill 921 for the group to study and make recommendations:1. A comparison of PASS with other states' curriculuar standards, primarily states that score highest on NAEP.2. Alignment of PASS with the

Update: State Funding Formula Task Force

2007-11-27T09:32:00.000-06:00

The Oklahoma School Funding Task Force met again yesterday. According the the lead paragraph in the Journal-Record article on the meeting, "A complete overhaul of the common education school funding formula appears unlikely....The consensus among those involved in the discussion seemed to indicate a desire to make minor tweaks to the formula rather than completely move to another system."Most of

Wes Fryer's podcast on the Alternative Education Student Leadership Conference

2007-11-26T12:49:00.000-06:00

If you went to the student conference and want to hear a reprise of some of Monte Selby's presentation, Wes Fryer(Speed of Creativity)posted a podcast. I enjoy just hearing how he had the kids participating.If you missed the conference, you can listen to a bit of what you missed, and be glad that we think we have booked Monte for next year.To hear the podcast, click the link and then scan down

Benchmark Tests: Do They Predict Performance on State Assessments?

2007-11-26T09:59:00.000-06:00

Many school districts are spending lots of money on commercially-produced "benchmark" assessments...but what are they getting? Are benchmark assessments really good predictors of performance on state tests?A new study released by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Education Laboratory should cause administrators to start asking some hard questions. Benchmark testing is expensive, both in dollars paid to

Thought-Provoking

2007-11-15T15:22:00.000-06:00

The video runs about 20 minutes...

Oklahoman: Site matches classrooms with potential donors

2007-11-15T09:40:00.000-06:00

Check out this article in today's Oklahoman: What Teachers Need for Class, Site Helps Fund. Here's a snippet from the end of the article:DonorsChoose.org has $75,000 set aside for use in Oklahoma in the site's Kick Start Challenge. The first 75 public schools that get 10 teachers to post at least one proposal each will each receive $1,000 to fund their proposals, spokeswoman Natalie French said.

Closing ALL the Gaps

2007-11-14T08:09:00.000-06:00

Phillips Kovacs posted this on the Education Policy Blog:Reducing the “achievement gap” to what goes on inside of schools has proven to be an effective way for policy makers to ignore all of the other “gaps” outside of America’s classrooms.While researcher after researcher has shown that outside influences contribute to student performance and achievement, proponents of high-stakes, standardized

When Girls Don't Graduate

2007-11-08T06:45:00.000-06:00

Oklahoma's alternative education programs served as many girls as boys last year. If you want to know why that might be important, read this post from Jean Warner's Oklahoma Women's Network blog:An alarmingly high number of girls are dropping out of high school and these female dropouts are at particular economic risk compared to their male counterparts, according to a report by the National

Washington Post: NCLB Reauthorization "Bogged Down"

2007-11-06T08:59:00.000-06:00

Peter Baker of the Washington Post has a very interesting article this morning. Itgoes through the history of NCLB, the way groups have chosen up sides, where things stand today, and the prospects for reauthorization. It's well worth your time, but just in case you don't click, here are a few snippets:"...the campaign to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind education law has bogged down. Not

New ETS Report on Families

2007-11-05T07:26:00.000-06:00

The report is called The Family: America's Smallest School. Here's the description from the ETS website:If the United States is to reach our ambitious national education goals, we need to focus as much attention on the starting line as we do on the finish line. While most reform debate centers on improving schools, increasing teaching quality and raising student achievement, success also

A New Majority: Low Income Students in the South's Public Schools

2007-11-05T07:16:00.001-06:00

An important report has been released by the Southern Education Foundation. Click the title link to go to the full report (it's in PDF format). Here is the press release:The Southern Education Foundation (SEF) has released a research report on the growth of low income children in the South’s public schools. The report finds that public schools in the region have enrolled a majority of low

News You Didn't Expect To See: Chambers of Commerce Oppose Tax Cuts This Year?

2007-11-05T07:05:00.000-06:00

From the Oklahoma House of Representatives press office:OKLAHOMA CITY - Officials with the Oklahoma City and Tulsa Chambers ofCommerce recently announced their opposition to expanding state taxcuts, state Reps. Ed Cannaday (D-Porum) and Mike Brown (D-Fort Gibson)noted today. "It is encouraging to see business leaders acknowledge somethingthat many of us in the Legislature have been

EdWeek: We won't see NCLB reauthorized anytime soon

2007-11-02T09:48:00.000-05:00

A few snippets from the article:...efforts to revise the law are mired in backroom negotiations in both the House and the Senate and show no signs of gaining the momentum necessary to ensure completion of the reauthorization in 2008. With Congress’ agenda filled with other tasks...it will be difficult for lawmakers to meet their self-imposed goals of ensuring passage of NCLB bills in both the

US Dept. of Ed Publishes New Guidance on FERPA

2007-10-31T09:34:00.000-05:00

The new guidance is called "Balancing Student Privacy and School Safety: A Guide to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) for Elementary and Secondary Schools." (There are also new guides for other levels of education.The new guidance consists of a list of exceptions -- items that the US DOE does not consider to be "school records."In an emergency (which is not defined in the

Middle-school fashion bullies?

2007-10-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

Vanessa O'Connell has an interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal Online -- fashion bullying. From interviewing students in our suburban alternative education programs, we know that this type of social pressure is one of the things that causes kids to consider dropping out of school. Students have told us that, when they changed to the alternative program, they felt a huge sense of

Eduwonkette: How Does Performance Pay Work in Other Sectors?

2007-10-25T05:21:00.000-05:00

While we're busy getting the annual alternative education evaluation report finished, why don't you head over to Eduwonkette and read this piece on why most college-educated professionals aren't paid for improving their stats? A few snippets:But do other sectors reward workers based on the quantifiable outcomes of their clients? Richard Rothstein wrote on this issue seven years ago, and here's

KIPP: It works for some, but it's not a large-scale solution

2007-10-19T09:17:00.001-05:00

Eduwonkette sums up the ongoing controversy about KIPP and its statistics. I've read a fair amount of the available research on KIPP and I'd say that her post is dead on -- to sum it up, KIPP works for the kids whom it attracts but it's not the solution to the problems of urban education. Her article is short and to the point; I highly recommend that you click here and go read the post. If your

EdWeek: GAO Studies Abuse in Boot Camp Programs

2007-10-15T09:29:00.000-05:00

We recommend heading to Education Week Online to read the entire article, but here are the first few paragraphs:Residential treatment programs for troubled teenagers have been the subject of thousands of allegations of abuse over the past 17 years, including a number of documented deaths, but much about such facilities remains unknown, the Government Accountability Office reports. Although it

EdWeek: Los Angeles Using Online Tools to Reclaim Dropouts

2007-10-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

From Education Week Online (Click the title link above to read the full article):Facing unrelenting pressure to raise anemic high school graduation rates, education leaders in Los Angeles are turning to YouTube, MySpace, text messaging, and the radio waves to reach students at risk of dropping out of school and lure back thousands who have already left. The Los Angeles Unified School

Teachers: Your chance to provide input on teacher pay

2007-10-14T16:25:00.000-05:00

The Oklahoma House of Representatives is conducting an interim study on teacher pay, especially "pay for performance." As a part of this interim study, the House has posted an online teacher survey. If you're an Oklahoma teacher, this is your chance. Click here to take the survey.

NCLB Hurting Alternative Schools

2007-10-12T08:04:00.000-05:00

The PEN NewsBlast posted this summary of an article in the San Antonio Express News. It's not news; people in alternative education knew this would be a problem when we first read the NCLB Act. But it's good that the mainstream media is starting to pay attention.This year, the Tejada Academy, the last stop for troubled kids in the Harlandale (Texas) Independent School District, posted the

Ed Policy Research Unit: High School Reform is Off Course

2007-10-11T08:11:00.000-05:00

When I first got the press release for this report, I never imagined it would get any coverage by news organizations. It definitely goes against the conventional wisdom, which is one reason you ought to read it.Click here to read the report from the Educational Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University.Click here to read Education Week's report about the report. If you want to get a

CEP Report: Private vs. Public High Schools

2007-10-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

We're taking a bit of a break from posting while we're getting all these October evaluation reports finished! Here's a news items that showed up in my email:Today, the Center on Education Policy released a report examining the academic and other outcomes for low-income students attending public urban high schools compared to those attending private schools. The study, based on an analysis of

Ravitch: Get Congress Out of the Classroom

2007-10-03T06:54:00.000-05:00

Diane Ravitch has some interesting things to say in this morning's NY Times. (You may have to register to read it, but registration is free.) Here's a snippet; click the title link to get to the entire article. DESPITE the rosy claims of the Bush administration, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 is fundamentally flawed. The latest national tests, released last week, show that academic gains

One reason why state tests and NAEP tell different stories

2007-10-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

Actually, there are a lot of reasons...number one, they don't test the same things in the same way. Eduwonkette has a good article on one of the other reasons: state accountability programs, all by themselves, improve test scores on state tests. That can be a good thing and a bad thing, all at once. (Yes, you need higher order thinking skills to deal with NCLB.) If you don't understand why

Ed Policy Blog: What Is Left Behind

2007-10-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

Jim Horn posted this over at the Education Policy Blog. Only part of the post is here; we highly recommend you head over and read the entire post.What IS Left Behind?We have reached a critical crossroads in our educational and national history.....Let us take a moment to think about what has been left behind, what has been dumped, what has been pushed out the door because there is no longer

School Discipline Tougher on African Americans

2007-09-28T07:13:00.000-05:00

This discouraging news comes to us via the PEN Weekly Newsblast. We are sad to say that we're not at all surprised by the reporter's findings. Click the title link to go to the original article in the Chicago Tribune.America’s schools remain as unequal as they have ever been when it comes to disciplinary sanctions (think suspensions and expulsions), according to recent data collected by the

Watch Out for 6th Graders

2007-09-27T07:03:00.001-05:00

From The Care and Feeding of Teenagers blog at the Muskogee Phoenix:I recently attended the Model Schools Conference in Washington, D.C. The major players in educational research were there, stressing their mantra for today's public schools: RIGOR, RELEVANCE, RELATIONSHIPS. Any teacher worth his/her salt knows that mantra instinctively.What was new information, however, was something I just

2007 NAEP Results

2007-09-25T13:52:00.000-05:00

The 2007 reports from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading and Mathematics tests have been released. To see Oklahoma's results, head to the Oklahoma State Profile. Here is the press release from the Oklahoma State Department of Education:Oklahoma one of only 14 states to make gains in mathematics Garrett: results in math, reading being analyzed for ongoing

Time Reform Task Force Members

2007-09-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

State Supt. Sandy Garrett has formed a Time Reform Task Force to "...research more efficient management of the school day, as well as adding at least one hour to the school day and at least five days to the school year. Current state law requires public schools to instruct students a minimum of six hours for 175 days."The Broad Foundation (Los Angeles) has offered support and resources to the

Eduwonkette on the Teacher Effectiveness Debate

2007-09-25T07:36:00.000-05:00

There's a new education blogger in town and it's interesting so far. Eduwonkette was launched this month and if this post is any indication, it's one worth watching: The Teacher Effectiveness Kickline From Eli Broad and Michael Bloomberg to George Miller and Checker Finn, we’re awash in chatter about measuring and rewarding teacher effectiveness. This

Joint Statement on NCLB

2007-09-20T19:29:00.000-05:00

140 national organizations have signed this joint statement on NCLB. We've posted the statement below. Click the title link if you wish to see the list of organizations that signed on. To help out the skimmers and scanners out there, we've highlighted some phrases so that you can skim and get the gist of it. (Of course, we recommend reading the whole statement; we're just realists around here

Think Tank Review Project: Lexington Institute's "Portfolios" Report Lacks Research

2007-09-19T12:43:00.000-05:00

A lot of reports are being issued to influence the next version of NCLB. The Think Tank Review Project at Arizona State University is keeping an eye on them. Here's their latest press release:TEMPE, Ariz and BOULDER, Colo. (Sept. 19, 2007)—A Lexington Institute report released earlier this month, and the institute’s subsequent press release of September 17, 2007, criticized the use of student

Alternative Bill to Amend NCLB: Feingold-Leahy Improving Student Testing Act

2007-09-19T08:09:00.000-05:00

Press release from Sen. Feingold's office. If you want to skip the press release and go straight to the fact sheet on the bill, click here.Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Improving Student Testing Act today to amend the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Feingold and Leahy’s legislation focuses on

Tulsa World: Two Stories on Alternative Education

2007-09-18T07:03:00.000-05:00

Today's Tulsa World has more articles on alternative education; both articles focus on middle-grade programs. Click here for the articles on:Tulsa Franklin AcademyMiddle-level options in Tulsa County schools

If you missed the NCLB hearing....

2007-09-15T09:22:00.000-05:00

...you're not alone. It was on the same day as the Iraq hearings; even C-SPAN didn't cover it. The House Education and Labor Committee has posted the archived webcast of the hearing, so you can watch it any time. If you'd rather skim and scan, you can read the written statements of each individual who testified. Kudos to the committee staff for getting this information up so quickly.

NCLB: The Sequel, Part II

2007-09-10T08:22:00.000-05:00

The House Education and Labor Committee released the rest of its draft of the NCLB reauthorization bill. Reviewing this bill isn't something you can put off -- Rep. George Miller said that he hopes to bring the bill before the committee this month.The Committee draft of Title I was released a couple of weeks ago; you can find links to that part of the bill further down on this page. What's

High School Grades, Not Test Scores, Best Predictor of College Success

2007-09-09T12:33:00.001-05:00

File this under Things that Make You Go "Hmmmm."Two studies of 80,000 students in the University of California system found that high school grade point average (GPA) is "consistently the best predictor" of freshman grades in college and four-year college outcomes."High-school grades are often viewed as an unreliable criterion for college admissions, owing to differences in grading standards

Film Flammed: Some Teachers Get Flak for Showing Flicks

2007-09-07T14:05:00.000-05:00

Check out this interesting article by James Daly at Edutopia. He discusses some of the unintended consequences of showing films that may get your local community up in arms.

CEP Report on Graduation Testing

2007-09-06T19:29:00.000-05:00

The Center on Education Policy has released their annual report on graduation testing in the states. You can read the Executive Summary or the entire report here. The report presents information on the tests administered in the 26 states that have implemented this policy as well as information on state assistance to districts, and interventions and remediation at the local level.A few of the

Two Takes on Ruby Payne

2007-09-04T18:13:00.000-05:00

Ruby Payne has a great deal of influence on the way teachers think about many at-risk children, so we're interested in the research behind and the validity of her conclusions. We ran across two articles that provide some perspective:A Framework for Understanding Ruby Payne (we nominate this for Clever Title of the Year) was published in the Winter 2006 edition of Rethinking Schools. The

History Resource: Online Archives!

2007-09-01T18:59:00.000-05:00

Lifehacker had a great post this week featuring some of the archives available on the internet. These are a great resource for your students doing research. Some of the archives listed in the article (as well as those mentioned by commenters - good stuff!) were:Time Magazine has archived all of its articles since 1923. Using this archive is a great way to get "as it was" journalism in the

SDE: Science Field Trip Grants Available

2007-08-30T11:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the State Dept. of Education's Administrative Focus Newsletter for this item:EPSCoR provides science-related field trip grants funded by a 3-year grant from the National Science Foundation. All Oklahoma public schools that meet eligibility requirements may apply for grants to cover transportation and/or entrance fees for field trips to the following museums:Kirkpatrick Science and Air

US House Publishes Draft Plan for Reauthorization of NCLB

2007-08-30T09:45:00.001-05:00

One lesson educators should have learned from the first iteration of NCLB: Pay attention and let your voice be heard early and often.Rep. George Miller's Committee on Education and Labor has released a "staff discussion draft" of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -- currently known as "NCLB." There will, no doubt, be much discussion of this draft. See it for yourself:View

Nationwide Poverty Rate Drops, Oklahoma Poverty Rate Rises

2007-08-29T07:14:00.000-05:00

More bad news for Oklahoma children. A new Census Bureau report shows that, while the rest of the nation has fewer people in poverty, Oklahoma has more. We're #7, and that's not good. High poverty rate, low expenditures on schools....yet Oklahoma teachers are expected to produce students who score near the top on national exams? Talk about wanting something for nothing....

The first webcasts of the year are up!

2007-08-28T09:57:00.000-05:00

We've posted the year's first three webcasts over on the OTAC site. You can find them on the Webcast Directory page. (Yes, it's gotten long and we need to rearrange it....that's on our ToDo List.) The first three webcasts are:Grants for Art in Education: Aaron Jones, from the Oklahoma Arts Council, did a webcast to help schools (1) find out about available funds and (2) complete their

Union Alternative Ed Programs are Front Page News!

2007-08-27T11:01:00.000-05:00

Check out this link to the Tulsa World. Front page, above the fold, great story on Union's alt ed program expansion (to include middle school students). What a nice way to start the week.

Online Resource: Safe Social Networking Workshop

2007-08-24T15:36:00.000-05:00

Wes Fryer (Speed of Creativity) has posted the curriculum from his day-long workshop on safe digital social networking. He's also published the recorded audio from the workshop on his blog as well as links to movies that he used during his presentation. Here's the intro to his workshop materials:Generally, adults help young people learn to drive safely before giving them car keys and turning

Earth Science Bonanza: Google Earth Adds the Night Sky

2007-08-23T06:57:00.000-05:00

If you aren't using Google Earth as a teaching tool, you're missing a great resource (a free one!). It just got better! According the the Machinist tech newsblog on Salon.com (it's free, but you have to watch an ad), you can see far more of the universe through Google Earth than you can from your backyard. Look around. Zoom around. Go broad or go deep space....Makes us want to teach Earth

New CEP Report on the Effects of NCLB Teacher Quality Requirements

2007-08-22T09:55:00.000-05:00

Here's the press release from the Center on Education Policy (CEP):Majority of State & District Officials Say NCLB’s Teacher QualityRequirements Have Had Little Impact on Student AchievementWASHINGTON – August 22, 2007 – While most of the nation’s school districts—about 83 percent—report that they are on track to be in full compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act’s “highly qualified” teacher

Life Skills Education: Developing a Thicker Skin

2007-08-21T09:33:00.000-05:00

Psychology Today has some tips on "developing a thicker skin." We thought these might be important life skills for inclusion in your alternative education curriculum, so we're posting the tips here. Click the link at the top for the full article.Here's an important rule for life: It's not all about you. To develop a thick skin you must first remember that you are not the center of the

NCLB: Multiple Measures and More

2007-08-17T08:32:00.000-05:00

The Education Policy Blog has an article this morning that starts with Rep. George Miller's speech on NCLB reauthorization. In that speech to the National Press Club, Rep. Miller talked about multiple measures, which the Ed Policy Blog call, "an incantation that has provoked more Sturmunddrang in national education politics than if Rep. Miller had stood at the podium and revealed he was a