Scopes, part deux

May 19, 2005

The Kansas State Board of Education has just wrapped up its evolution trial. Proponents of "intelligent design" have pushed the state to present a "more critical" view of evolution in Kansas classrooms and to move away from the definition of science in the state standards as a search for "natural explanations," which they say represents an endorsement of naturalism and atheism. It is this last part that should have scientists especially worried. If not natural explanations, will science be based on supernatural explanations? Biblical? The majority of scientists on the state's curriculum review committee opposes efforts to revise the state's standards, but largely refused to testify on grounds that the hearings were a set-up. The confession of state board member Kathy Martin that she has never actually read the report from Kansas' curriculum committee on science standards, lends credibility to the charge that the fix is in. She explains, "I'm not a word-for-word reader in this kind of technical information." Well, Fordham is a word-for-word reader and we'll be releasing an evaluation of state science standards later this year, so perhaps we'll take that task on for Ms. Martin. Expect a final decision from the Kansas state board during the summer.

"No quick vote foreseen in evolution teaching," by Diane Carroll, Kansas City Star, May 11, 2005

"What matters in Kansas," by William Saletan, Slate, May 11, 2005

"A real monkey trial," by Peter Dizikes, Salon.com, May

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Scopes, part deux

Tossing the terror tots

May 19, 2005

A new report from the Yale University Child Study Center (see here) finds that pre-Kindergarten students are being expelled from their programs at rates much higher than students in K-12 are expelled from school. "For every 1,000 preschoolers enrolled in state pre-K programs, 6.67 are being tossed out of school, compared with 2.09 per 1,000 students in elementary, middle, and high schools, according to the research," reports Education Week. Four-year-olds were 50 percent more likely to be ousted than two- or three-year-olds, and African-American children were twice as likely to be expelled as whites or Hispanics. But the real losers are boys, who are expelled at a rate four-and-a-half times greater than that for girls. Pre-K educators blame undisciplined and badly parented kids who are fed a steady diet of TV and video games, while the report's authors suggest that untrained pre-K teachers are ill-equipped to deal with aggressive behavior. Wherever this "blame" is properly assigned - and we surmise that it belongs in many places - the situation bodes ill for the elementary schools that will shortly be required to deal with students who've been expelled before they made it to Kindergarten, and for efforts to expand pre-K access as a tool to close achievement gaps.

"Preschoolers expelled from school at rates exceeding that of K-12," by Linda Jacobson, Education Week, May 18, 2005

"Study finds higher expulsion rates for pre-Kindergarteners," National

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Tossing the terror tots

D-U-H

May 19, 2005

The Christian Science Monitor reports a resurgence of interest in spelling in American classrooms, a subject which, according to author and spelling zealot Richard Gentry, was dealt a setback by whole-language instruction in the 1980s. Recent emphasis on basic skills has prompted "more teachers to return to explicit spelling instruction - instead of simply assuming that it's a skill that kids will pick up as they go along." According to Gentry, "Spelling . . . is proving much more important than we've ever thought it to be." Welcome, folks - reality is where Gadfly has lived for years (though we only learned to spell it recently). Unfortunately, as matters alphabetic improve here, they're deteriorating across the pond. The London Telegraph reports that 600,000 English 14-year-olds won't be penalized for incorrect spelling on their major writing exam, mainly because "ministers are particularly concerned about exam results this year." English teacher Andrew Cunningham noted, "All teachers are having to spend time going over these basics, which should have been sorted out at an earlier age." So, although the Brits beat us in math (see "This PISA is falling"), we'll put our money on the U.S. in the event of a trans-Atlantic spelling bee.

"Spelling makes a comeback," by Stacy A. Teicher, Christian Science Monitor, May 17, 2005

"Incorrect spelling will not be penalised in English tests," by Julie Henry, London Telegraph, May 17, 2005

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D-U-H

Small jumps in the Big Apple?

May 19, 2005

Given Gadfly's many doubts about Mayor Michael Bloomberg's education efforts (see "A rush to judgment?"), we pondered how to present the news that proficiency scores for Big Apple fourth graders have jumped 10 percent this year (accompanied by a slight dip among eighth graders). We considered quoting the late Senator Russell Long's apothegm that even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while. We pondered voicing widespread doubts about inordinate numbers of ELL students who were exempted from the test. We contemplated cautioning that it's comparatively easy to effect gains in fourth grade but unless they're sustained in eighth grade (and beyond) they're just a candle in a cave. In the end, however, let us simply note that we're pleased to see these gains in New York, as we are everywhere they actually occur.

"Literacy test scores rise for urban students in N.Y.," by David Herszenhorn, New York Times, May 18, 2005

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Small jumps in the Big Apple?

State of the Charter Movement 2005: Trends, Issues and Indicators

Eric Osberg / May 19, 2005

Gregg Vanourek, Charter School Leadership Council
May 2005

The CSLC and charter school expert Gregg Vanourek have produced a terrific guide to the charter movement that should find a home on the bookshelf of any education reformer. Its purpose isn't to provide new research or data but rather to offer one-stop-shopping for those seeking the best available information about the charter school world. To offer just a sampling, it provides data on the number of charters (3,400), their enrollment (300,000), waiting lists (39 percent have them, averaging 135 students each), and locations (more than half are in three states, California, Arizona, and Florida). One learns that 10 percent of these schools are managed by EMOs, perhaps as many as 14 percent use the Core Knowledge method, and 16 percent were converted from existing public schools. Twenty-seven states have caps on charters; about half of traditional schools have started new programs in response to charter competition; and half of all authorizers work with just a single charter school. Of paramount interest to some charter followers, it summarizes the research on academic achievement (leaning heavily on Bryan Hassel's meta-analysis), noting the mixed but "encouraging" results. There's much more and you'd be well served by downloading a copy. Though it doesn't offer a fancy layout, the brief explanations interspersed with useful charts and graphs make it an easy read. It also lays bare the gaps in current research by suggesting issues for future study.

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State of the Charter Movement 2005: Trends, Issues and Indicators

Bible Literacy Report: What Do Americans Need to Know and What Do They Know?

May 19, 2005

Bible Literacy Project
May 2005

What do Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, William Blake, John Winthrop, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King have in common? The works of all these writers are deeply imbued with the phrases and rhythms of the Bible. Not to know the Bible is to be unable to grapple successfully with a sizable chunk of Western literature and philosophy. But schools are understandably confused about legal issues surrounding the Bible's presence in the classroom and teachers worry about giving offense or being sued. That's a tremendous loss to students who are being denied access to an important cultural artifact - a loss for cultural literacy that the Bible Literacy Project is attempting to rectify. This month, the Templeton-funded project (which has the support of both major Christian churches and the ACLU) released this survey of students and teachers to test their knowledge of important stories, phrases, and concepts from the Bible. Results are decidedly mixed. Almost three-quarters of students know that Moses "led the Israelites out of bondage," while more than 90 percent know who Adam and Eve are. (Unfortunately, 8 percent "believe that Moses is one of the twelve Apostles.") But get beyond a few key concepts, as David Gelernter notes in the Weekly Standard, and knowledge falls off dramatically - two-thirds of teens couldn't identify the phrase "Blessed are the poor in spirit" from the Sermon on the Mount, while similar numbers were ignorant of phrases such as "the

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Bible Literacy Report: What Do Americans Need to Know and What Do They Know?

Restoring the Balance Between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public School

Eric Osberg / May 19, 2005

Bruce O. Boston, America Youth Policy Forum and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
2005

This semi-sensible manifesto calls for a focus on civic engagement in our schools. It argues that training students to be engaged citizens should be given the same importance as "core subjects" such as reading and math. Importantly, it distinguishes civic education from civic engagement and focuses on the latter. Thus it lauds service learning, providing evidence of its academic benefits and highlighting some programs worth emulating. To us, the key is to not let such "applied" civic learning supplant the important work of teaching content, and in this the report strikes a decent balance, paying reasonable attention to knowledge and content. And though they want to teach "the whole child," they are not so foolish as to believe that this is solely the job of schools. You can find it online here.

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Restoring the Balance Between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public School

Americans' Commitment to Quality Teaching in Public Schools

May 19, 2005

The Teaching Commission
April 2005

The latest Teaching Commission poll takes the temperature of both the general public and teachers with regard to its primary concerns: boosting and changing teacher compensation, raising standards and increasing accountability, and improving professional development and training. Overall, the poll finds broad public support for such initiatives, including a compensation system that provides "larger increases for teachers who improve student achievement, raise teaching standards, and increase accountability for teachers." However, only 16 percent of adults identify teacher quality as a main problem facing public schools, and in their own schools, 64 percent rate the quality of teachers as "excellent or good," a figure at odds with well-known data on out-of-field teaching and related matters. The survey captures the great challenge facing education reformers: many folks agree that those schools need improvement while insisting that my school is doing just fine. To read the complete findings, click here.

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Americans' Commitment to Quality Teaching in Public Schools

Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2002-03

May 19, 2005

J. Carl Setzer, Laurie Lewis, and Bernard Greene, National Center for Education Statistics
March 2005

NCES has released the first report that gives a nationally representative study of technology-based distance education and its availability, course offerings, and enrollment patterns. The study also examines the technologies used to deliver distance education, the reasons such classes are developed, and hindrances that districts face in expanding distance education. Specifically, in school year 2002-3, 36 percent of districts and 9 percent of schools had students enrolled in distance education, disproportionately (but logically) in rural areas. Unfortunately, technology moves faster than NCES, so one can only wonder how much more distance learning has spread in the ensuing two years. But have a look, if you like, by clicking here.

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Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2002-03