Gleaned from an abundance of
interesting items at Public Education Network newsweekly:
www.publiceducation.org
Schools
With Poor, Minority Students Get Less State
Funds
School
districts in Illinois and New York that have large numbers of poor
students get some $2,200 less in state and local funds per student
than other schools, according to a new report, "The
Funding Gap," from The Education Trust. Alaska did the best, providing
$840 in additional funds per student to school districts with
low-income students, followed by Delaware, which provided more than
$600. School districts
with large minority populations also get short-changed, the report
said. New York again has the largest gap ($2,000 per student),
followed by Kansas and Nebraska, both with nearly $1,800. On the flip
side, Massachusetts provided an extra $940 per student to school
districts with a lot of minority students and Georgia an extra $560,
reports Pamela M. Prah. All dollar figures have been adjusted to take
into account
local cost differences and
the extra cost of educating poorer students, the trust said. "In too many states, we see
yet again that the very students who need the most, get the least,"
Kevin Carey, senior policy analyst and author of the report, said. "At
a time when schools, districts and states are rightly focusing on
closing the achievement gap separating low-income and minority
students from other students, states can and must do more to close
these funding gaps."
http://www.stateline.org/stateline/?pa=story&sa=showStoryInfo&id=332153
No
Parent Left Behind
Educators
have recognized for some time that parent involvement plays a critical
role in student achievement. Especially in urban districts it has
become increasingly clear that failure to enlist parents as partners
seriously hampers any school-reform efforts. But it's only recently
that many schools, districts, and states have been taking concrete
steps to help what's often a tense relationship. Particularly in urban
areas, school officials often complain that parents are too busy or
not sufficiently caring to get involved at their childrens' schools.
Yet at the same time many parents say they feel threatened or
unwelcome, and that what many principals mean by "parent involvement"
is really bake sales and book drives. The
result: open hostility between people who ultimately all have the same
goals. To
improve this unhappy state of affairs, the sweeping 2002 No Child Left
Behind Act has for the first time put in place laws intended to foster
parent involvement. The mandates included in the federal act range
from better communication on such things as test scores and parents'
options to requirements that schools develop a "school-parent" compact
and a plan to involve parents. At this point, most of the reforms
still exist more on paper than in practice. But just formally
recognizing the importance of the issue - the need for involvement
that's truly collaborative - is a step in the right direction, say
educators. "People in the [school] community have to see that
communicating well with families is part of their professional job,"
says Joyce Epstein, director of the Center on School, Family, and
Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
"That's explicit now. If No Child Left Behind really were implemented
as intended, it would really be quite exciting." As Amanda Paulson
reports, a number of states and districts are also trying out their
own strategies. http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1028/p12s01-legn.htm
No
Cow Left Behind
Since
testing seems to be a cornerstone to improving performance, Kenneth
Remsen doesn't understand why this principle isn't applied to other
businesses that are not performing up to expectations. In this satire,
he examines the problem of falling milk prices and wonders why testing
cows wouldn't be effective in bringing up milk prices since testing
students is going to bring up test scores. Remsen doesn't want to hear
about the cows that just came to the barn from the farm down the road
that didn't provide the proper nutrition or a proper living
environment. All cows need to meet the standard. It will be necessary
for all farmers to become certified. This will mean some more
paperwork and testing of knowledge of cows but in the end this will
lead to the benefit of all. It will also be necessary to allow
barn
choice
for the cows. If cows are not meeting the standard in certain farms
they will be allowed to go to the barn of their choice. Transportation
may become an issue but it is critical that cows be allowed to leave
their low performing barns. This will force low performing farms to
meet the standard or else they will simply go out of business.
http://www.storm-lake.k12.ia.us/Admin/Pages/ncowlb.htm
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