March 30, 2008 - April 5, 2008 Archives

Literary characters familiar to high school students—like Huckleberry Finn, Holden Caulfield, and Anna Karenina—may have to make room for Cain and Abel.

Next year, some public school students in Texas will learn about the Bible and its history through a new statewide elective course.

The course itself, already a reality in dozens of Texas schools, is not a point of contention for concerned parents and education officials. Instead, they argue that the class’s curriculum could be too broad.

Although the bill that allowed for the elective course also called for a specific curriculum, the State Board of Education voted on Friday to apply standard English and social studies guidelines, says the Houston Chronicle.

This lack of regulation drew skepticism from those who feel Texas may be blurring the line between church and state.

The Houston Chronicle story on the subject has generated 125 comments since Friday, some of which advocate for an objective course that encompasses education about many different religions.

When it comes to the Bible, there’s a thin line between studying a text and endorsing a religion. And not crossing that line requires intense oversight.

Stacey Hollenbeck, spring intern

It was a modest proposal, really. The resolution before NSBA’s Delegate Assembly in Orlando last Friday would have supported states that wanted to collaborate in creating voluntary regional standards and to seek federal funds for those efforts.

No big deal, right? Especially since something similar was on the books from last year’s meeting in San Francisco.

Wrong. And to see why, just focus on one word: federal. To many in NSBA’s legislature, “federal” suggests intrusion into state and local prerogatives, and in this case, perhaps, a slippery slope to national standards.

Talk about paranoid! You’d think the federal government was -- let’s see -- requiring every school in the country to raise the achievement of every student to a miraculous level of “proficiency” in six years. Or vowing to pay 40 percent of the cost of educating special education students without anteing up the money. Or requiring states and districts to set up vast testing infrastructures without helping to fund them. Or demanding that all teachers, from Altoona to Albuquerque, be “highly qualified “by ….

Oh.

Maybe they’re not so paranoid after all. Because, after flying home to chilly Reagan National last night after four days at NSBA’s National Conference, I had the distinct impression that -- its marvelous cherry trees notwithstanding -- Washington’s not too popular with school board members right now.

The good news is that changes will surely be made to NCLB’s rigid accountability system and to other aspects of the law once it is reauthorized. The bad news: With all the tumult of the presidential elections, that might not happen until 2009 or even 2010.

In the meantime, many districts are finding themselves in what one Florida board member dubbed a “perfect storm” of dwindling local and state funds, burgeoning numbers of low-income and ELL students, and increasingly stringent federal demands.

Lawrence Hardy, Senior Editor

Autism is now the fastest growing developmental disability in the world. And one of the most remarkable features of autism is that there is no particular pattern in its affliction of young children--- the disorder presents itself equally among different races and ethnicities, socioeconomic levels, national origins, and about every other identifying factor, except for sex. It affects many more boys than girls.

“I call autism the most nondiscriminating, equal opportunity condition,” said Lee Grossman, head of the Autism Society of America. Research, he added, has shown a large rise in autism in other countries parallel to the rise in the U.S., and many of those children do not have access to the treatments they need.

With that in mind, and the general need to promote the urgency of awareness and treatment, autism groups around the world have dubbed today, April 2, the first annual “World Autism Day.” The United Nations passed a resolution, sponsored by Qatar, last year to mark the occasion.

“Autism knows no geographic boundaries – it affects individuals and families on every continent and in every country,” said Suzanne Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks, an advocacy group that promotes awareness of the disorder. “The celebration of World Autism Awareness Day is an important way to help the world better understand the scope of this health crisis and the need for compassion and acceptance for those living with autism.”

Most importantly, advocates say, an early diagnosis and early interventions are essential to helping a child lead a fulfilling life. While there is no cure on the horizon, and may not be for many years, early treatments can make a vast difference in the prognosis. More than 20 countries, representing every continent, have planned events for today to publicize the cause.

More information on events and resources can be found at www.worldautismawarenessday.org, and my recent American School Board Journal story on how some schools in the U.S. are grappling with treatments and intervention is available online.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor

More than a few school board members offer the opinion that teacher contracts are a major impediment to school reform.

But is that true? Union leaders argue just the opposite in “State of the Unions,” the April cover story of American School Board Journal.

Indeed, National Education Association President Reg Weaver puts it quite colorfully when responding to complaints that teacher contracts add unnecessary costs to school budgets and create bureaucratic obstacles to reform.

“That’s crap,” he says.

The truth, as usual, is much more nuanced.

Take tenure rules. Yes, some contracts make it incredibly time-consuming and expensive to fire a bad teacher.

Then again, I’m still waiting for school board members to explain why their school system gives tenure to these poor-performing teachers in the first place.

School board members also are correct that seniority rules make it too difficult to transfer the best teachers to where they’re needed.

But union leaders are equally correct in arguing that assigning teachers where they may be resentful or unhappy is no formula for success. It isn’t going to help teacher retention rates, either.

Finally, it’s also true that collective bargaining agreements hinder innovation and creative solutions by restricting administrators’ leeway on such things as scheduling after-hours training, for example.

But union officials have a point when they argue that contract agreements sometimes save school boards from making hasty and costly policy mistakes, and that such agreements help avoid the policy churn that might follow with the rapid turnover of board members.

So what’s my point? It’s a bit simplistic to put too much blame on collective bargaining and teacher contracts.

It’s also pointless. Collective bargaining is here to stay.

So here are some questions for school boards: How often do you meet with your union’s leadership to talk about common goals? Do you seek solutions to problems as they arise? Or do you wait until the pressures of contract talks before addressing an issue?
And how good a horse trader are you? If you want something in the contract changed, do you offer a tangible benefit for a serious concession? Do you lay out the data to prove that change is good for students—and, thus, for teachers?

Maybe your school board is hampered by contract language. Maybe your union leadership is militant and difficult to work with. I won’t say you’re wrong.

But, then again, it might be worth rethinking how you go about working with your union. There may be more opportunities there than you imagine.

Del Stover, Senior Editor

When people ask me if I played sports in high school, I usually ask, “Is yearbooking a sport?” Uncoordinated and non-competitive, I preferred scoring A's to scoring goals.

But although I never made it on the field, I always appreciated sports in schools. Athletes are often the most motivated and well-rounded students, having learned valuable teamwork and time-management skills.

Sports can also be a great way to foster parental involvement and develop community partnerships. Unfortunately, tight budgets have some schools shutting off their Friday night lights.

School districts across the country are considering reducing or eliminating funding for extra-curricular activities, including sports, to make up for devastating budget cuts.

Earlier this month, hundreds of angry students from Alameda, Calif., walked out of class to protest a $265,000 cut in athletic funding, reports The Mercury News.

Officials in Orange County, Fla., say cuts there could lead to the dismissal of district coaches, says the Orlando Sentinel.

Parents and students have been vocal about the negative effects of such maneuvers. Cuts in athletic programs could prevent students from earning college scholarships and staying out of trouble after school.

Reducing or eliminating sports would also diminish community involvement and prevent generations of students from learning the value of discipline.

Many schools have used ticket sales and concessions as a way to raise money for athletic programs. Unfortunately, not even hot dogs can stop the nation’s economy from curbing some schools’ sports budgets.

Stacey Hollenbeck, spring intern