When a group of Mid-City residents proposed opening a school four years ago that would be racially and economically diverse, they were greeted with doubt, according to the Hechinger Report. Skeptics thought Morris Jeff would end up like most other public schools in the city: almost entirely African American and low-income. “The understanding (was) that you guys are delusional. Once the school is open (it) will look the same way that all public schools who are open access look,” said Celeste Lofton-Bagert, one of the founders…
…Read MorePodcast Series: Innovations in Education
Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
Study: New teachers more educated, of higher caliber
Teaching may be attracting a more academically successful group of people compared to previous years, according to a new study released Wednesday. Two researchers at the University of Washington examined four national data sets to determine how the characteristics of first-year teachers changed between 1993 and 2010, according to The Hechinger Report. The study found that more new teachers have advanced degrees than ever before. During the 2007-08 school year, 26 percent of new teachers entered the classroom with a master’s degree, compared to 17 percent two decades earlier…
…Read MoreThe inside story on LA schools’ iPad rollout: “a colossal disaster”
Scarcely a month ago, on August 27, the Los Angeles County Unified School District placed the first iPads in students’ hands at the outset of a $1 billion plan to give one to every single student in the nation’s second largest public school district ($500 million for devices, plus an additional $500 million for internet infrastructure upgrades, raised through construction bonds), according to The Hechinger Report. The project is now being resoundingly panned, as reports surfaced quickly of high school students going around the security software on the iPads to surf for non-approved content. The district has called a halt to students bringing iPads home amid disputes over who will be held responsible for loss or damage–parents or taxpayers…
…Read MoreWhy states are backing out on common standards and tests
The bloom is surely off the rose of Common Core, the new English and math standards pushed by Washington, D.C. education trade organizations and the Obama administration, according to the Hechinger Report. In the last few months, a number of states have paused or de-funded implementation of the standards; others have pulled out of the consortia developing tests tied to them. In recent years, the Obama administration has made a number of federal goodies, such as Race to the Top grants and No Child Left Behind waivers, contingent on states’ adoption of Common Core standards and assessments. But now that Race to the Top money has been spent, states are belatedly taking a clear-eyed look at Common Core. High-performing states in particular won’t like what they see…
…Read MoreLeft behind in science: Why Mississippi’s children lose out on STEM jobs
At the end of his sophomore year, Damonta Morgan left Clarksdale High School as one of its top students, according to The Hechinger Report. He transferred to The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, hoping for more challenging courses to prepare himself for college and a career as a biology professor. He soon learned how ill-prepared he was. “I wasn’t behind for Clarksdale High School,” Morgan said on a recent spring afternoon at MSMS, the state’s only public residential high school for academically gifted juniors and seniors. “But when I came here, I was behind.”
…Read MoreNew York City schools hoping to use social media in the classroom
Digital learning is one of those trendy education buzz phrases that means a lot of different things to different people, says the Hechinger Report. To some, it refers to instructional software, such as animated lectures and computerized worksheets. To others, it’s about personalized instruction, where computer algorithms determine what a student should learn next. Still others think of how students can use high-tech gadgets to make their own video, music and publishing projects. And then there’s social media — how students and teachers use social networks, Twitter, blogs and wikis to communicate with each other, parents and the outside world. We talked with Lisa Nielsen, a social media advocate, who is the first person to hold this newly created job title: director of digital literacy and citizenship at the New York City Department of Education. The 44-year-old has worked in the city’s education department since the 1990s, serving in a wide variety of posts, from librarian and reading coach to teacher trainer and professional development administrator…
…Read MoreMississippi debate over school reform evokes broader racial divide
Mississippi lawmaker Kenneth Wayne Jones, a Democrat, briefly became a political pariah last winter when he voted in favor of a proposal to expand charter schools in his state, says the Hechinger Report. He was the only African-American state senator to support the bill, which most members of Mississippi’s legislative Black Caucus disavowed. Jones liked the idea of expanded school options for families, but he also understood his colleagues’ mistrust. This winter, charter supporters will make their fifth attempt in five years to bring charters to Mississippi, one of a dwindling number of states without a real charter school law. (The state has an existing law so restrictive that no charters have opened.) But the deep-rooted skepticism of the state’s black leadership remains one of the biggest obstacles to bipartisan support for charters in Mississippi and throughout the South, where powerful white Democrats are a disappearing breed. It also speaks to broader mistrust among black officials nationwide—particularly those who came of age before or during the civil rights movement—toward contemporary school reform efforts they believe are being imposed by outsiders on low-income, minority communities…
…Read MoreEconomic reality marries age-old idea of apprenticeship with college
Five-foot-two Jesica Bush exudes confidence, whether she’s scribbling notes in a 6:30 a.m. class at Bates Technical College here or wrestling 900-pound girders atop a mock two-story building, says the Hechinger Report. With her blond ponytail tucked inside a brown hardhat, the 30-year-old is an apprentice with the ironworkers’ union, a job that starts at nearly $25 an hour and will lead her in three years to both a journeyman’s card and an associate degree. Three years back, Bush sat in the state women’s prison in Purdy, finishing seven and a half years for an armed-robbery conviction. The former addict dropped out of school in seventh grade–“Me and school, we never saw eye to eye,” she says–was convicted of her first felony at 13, had a child at 15, and was sent to prison at 19. But when it took her just six months to complete her GED in Purdy, the instructors asked her to be valedictorian at the graduation ceremony and to start thinking about college. When she got a chance to fight fires with a prison brigade instead of cleaning toilets, she jumped on it and made the discovery that “I loved hard work. I’d never worked a day in my life…
…Read MoreStudent advising plays key role in college success, as it’s being cut
Devon Mills pulls out his smartphone at a Starbucks on the Arizona State University campus, and maps out how long it will take him to finish his undergraduate degree, says the Hechinger Report. Just exactly the right amount of time, his phone tells him. Despite double-majoring in political science and justice studies with a minor in sustainability, serving as president of the college council and vice president of the Residence Hall Association, working as a page in the state Senate, and cramming for the Law School Admission Test, Mills is on schedule to become one of the distinct minority of American college and university students who actually receive their four-year bachelor’s degrees in four years.
“I can see the goal in sight,” he says, serenely scrolling through an online color-coded plan that shows him the requirements he’s finished and the ones he still needs to fulfill before graduating in 2014…
Ballot initiatives could transform state education policies
As millions of Americans head to the polls Tuesday, most of the attention will be on the tight presidential race, says the Hechinger Report. But there are a number of ballot initiatives across the country that could significantly impact state education systems. Here’s a look at how voters could change policies on school choice, merit pay and more:
Florida: A ballot initiative in Florida, if passed, will remove language from the state’s constitution that bans religious institutions from receiving taxpayer money. The measure does not explicitly reference education, but if it is successful, it will likely pave the way for private-school vouchers. While Florida currently has a voucher program for special education students and a tax credit scholarship program for low-income students, its statewide voucher program was ruled unconstitutional in 2006 because it gave taxpayer money to religious schools. If this language is removed, it seems likely vouchers could be reinstated…