Federal Update 02.29.08
NEA Set to Become Aggressive in the 2008 Campaigns
Study on the Effectiveness of Smaller Class Sizes
Virginia Considering Opting Out of NCLB
High School Students Lacking in Knowledge of History
Deadline Approaching to Fund Programs for English Language Learners in Arizona
“How to Make Great Teachers”
Union is Yesterday: A Modern Alternative for Teachers
NEA Set to Become Aggressive in the 2008 Campaigns
The NEA announced recently in an interview with The Hill, a newspaper covering issues on Capitol Hill, that they plan to spend $40-50 million on presidential, gubernatorial, congressional and Senate races in 2008. “We plan to be very aggressive,” stated Reg Weaver, president of the NEA. The majority of the candidates that the NEA will be supporting will be Democrats, but Weaver has indicated that they will sometimes be supporting Republicans. “I made it very clear that we cannot afford to be in the pocket of one party anymore,” he stated.
In order for the NEA to become more aggressive in this year’s election cycle they have hired Karen White, longtime political director of Emily’s List, a group that recruits and promotes pro-choice Democratic women, to run the NEA’s new Campaigns and Elections division. White has helped the NEA overhaul their political operations to be more aggressive.
The NEA has yet to endorse a presidential candidate, but Weaver has said that his staff has almost daily contact with the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns. The NEA has not met with presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, and Weaver has indicated that a meeting is unlikely. Weaver has promised that if and when the NEA endorses either Obama or Clinton, the NEA will run an aggressive campaign against McCain in key states.
For more information about the NEA’s upcoming political activity please read the following article titled, “Teachers’ Union Set to Play Big Part in 2008 Campaigns.”
Study on the Effectiveness of Smaller Class Sizes
The idea that smaller class sizes are instrumental in raising student achievement has been called into question by a new study by Spyros Konstantopoulous, an assistant professor of education and social policy at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Data was used from Project STAR- a longitudinal research study on reductions in class sizes in Tennessee. Konstantopoulous’ research found that smaller class sizes do not inevitably reduce achievement gaps. In his study Konstantopoulous actually found that achievement gaps are greater in smaller classes of 13 to 17 students than in larger classes of 22 to 26.
Prior to this study not much research had been done on the effectiveness of class sizes although a great deal of money has been allocated for the reduction of class sizes. During the Clinton administration, $1.6 billion was appropriated annually to help states implement smaller classes. On the state level, California spends $2 billion a year on a voluntary class-size-reduction program. The effects, however, have not been studied; a practice Eric A. Hanushek, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, calls “outrageous.”
Regardless of whether smaller class sizes are effective in closing the achievement gap ,class-size reductions are still a popular issue for policymakers and the public. “Once it’s in, it’s hard to take away,” stated Hanushek. “It’s an idea that has such popular appeal.”
On February 25, representatives in the Utah House addressed this issue and passed a bill that would create a grant program to lower class sizes in the early grades. If signed into law the bill will appropriate $26 million for the K-3 Class Size Reduction Incentive Program. The intention of the bill is to create situations where younger students receive more individualized attention, which proponents of the bill believe is critical. Under the bill Kindergarten classes would need to be reduced to 18 students, first grade would have 20 students and second and third grades would have 22 students. Currently the bill is in the Senate, having previously passed the House.
For more information about the study on class-size reductions please click here.
For more information about the K-3 Class Size Reduction Incentive Program in Utah please read the following article titled, “House Approves $26 Million Class Size Reduction Bill.”
Virginia Considering Opting Out of NCLB
Virginia has asked for certain exemptions from NCLB in the past but now some members of the House and Senate in the commonwealth have attempted to take actions one step further by introducing bills in the legislature that if passed will withdraw Virginia from NCLB by July 2009, which would make Virginia the first state to set a formal deadline from withdrawing from the law.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) has announced that he will not support the withdrawal from NCLB. If Virginia opts out of NCLB the state will lose between $100 million to $300 million-plus per year. Prior to the Senate and House considering opting out of NCLB the state had asked the federal government for waivers on certain provisions of NCLB, which Gov. Kaine has stated that he supports.
One of the waivers Virginia has asked for is sanctions to be reversed in regard to schools that fail to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP). Under NCLB schools that fail to meet the set standards in the state for two years must allow low-income students to transfer to another school. In cases where this situation arises Virginia has asked that the schools be allowed to provide tutoring to low-income students and if in the third year the school still does not meet AYP the students would then be allowed to transfer to another school. This request was granted in seven districts. Legislators in Utah have also taken measures this legislative cycle in regards to NCLB. A bill was introduced in the Senate that would require the legislature and/or governor to approve any future education plans before the state enters into them. The bill is currently being considered in the House.
For more information about Virginia attempt to withdraw from NCLB please read the following article titled, “Virginia Considers Leaving Education Act Behind.”
For more information about Utah and future federal education plans please read the following article titled, “Education Bills Need State’s OK?”
High School Students Lacking in Knowledge of History
Often educational policy analysts do no focus on language arts. This is a result of increased pressure for our students to perform well on math and science assessments in order for America to remain competitive in a global economy. However, a new study by Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute titled, “Still at Risk: What Students Don’t Know, Even Now,” and a new book, The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby examine American students’ knowledge of the language arts, including such areas as history, civics, science and languages. The researchers believe that students today are lacking basic knowledge about historical events and that this is an issue not to be taken lightly.
“What we know helps to determine how successful we are likely to be in life and how many career paths we can choose from. It also affects our contribution as democratic citizens,” stated Lynne Munson, executive director of Common Core, the group that commissioned the study, “Still at Risk: What Students Don’t Know, Even Now.”
In a survey of 1,200 17 year-olds, almost 20 percent did not know who the U.S. fought in World War II, believed that Christopher Columbus sailed after 1750, do not know what the Renaissance was, and nearly a quarter of the students surveyed did not know who Adolph Hitler was. Critics believe that young “Americans are overfed on self-esteem, pop culture and digital entertainment,” and therefore are “starved for genuine literary, historical, scientific and mathematical knowledge.”
E.D. Hirsch, who has championed a “core knowledge” curriculum which emphasizes history and literature, believes the lack of knowledge in language arts is not a new development. “I’ve come to realize that this was a slow march from the beginning of the 20th century,” Hirsch said. He also believes that the K-12 education system focuses too much on critical thinking instead of content.
Not everyone agrees with the critics’ belief that students are lacking knowledge in language arts. “I get tired of hearing it. I look at my kids’ faces, and it’s not really an accurate portrayal of what exists,” stated Leslie Edwards, a high school English teacher in Rochester, N.Y. “At the high end, our best 5% to 15% of high school kids are pretty well-educated,” said Chester Finn of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC. "Those are the ones who go on to college and keep America the successful nation that it's been. But we’re still doing a pretty crummy job with the rest.”
For more information, read Rick Hess’ report, “Still at Risk: What Students Don’t Know, Even Now."
To find out more about the American students’ knowledge of language arts, please click here.
Deadline Approaching to Fund Programs for English Language Learners in Arizona
The state of Arizona is facing daily fines of up $1 million if the state does not obey a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. The ruling mandates that the state must adequately fund programs for English Language Learners by March 4. According to state education officials there are around 130,000 English Language Learners in Arizona. Under a 2006 law states are required to give all students the opportunity to learn English. The law reduces each school district’s state funding by the amount of federal funds the school receives for similar programs. Last year U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins ruled that the deductions are illegal, meaning that in order to comply with the law the state must fund programs for English Language Learners without the offset. This could cost as much as $50 million. If the ruling regarding the deductions is overturned the cost could be cut in half.
For more information about English language learning programs in Arizona please read the following article titled, “Lawmakers to Seek Extension on English Funding.”
Recently Time magazine wrote an extensive article that examined what qualities great teachers possess, how teachers should be evaluated, and the question Time believes is most important, “How should excellent teaching be rewarded so that the best teachers- the most competent, caring and compelling- remain in a profession known for low pay, low status and soul-crushing bureaucracy?”
Currently there are 3.2 million teachers in the United States, but the demand for teachers will grow drastically in the future. In the next eight years baby-boomer retirements, growing student enrollment and staff turnover will result in the need for 2.8 million new teachers. Some researchers have suggested that a good teacher is the most important factor in raising student achievement, even more so than class size, the per student expenditure, or the quality of textbooks and materials. Therefore, recruiting a number of quality teachers is paramount. School districts across the country have experimented with a variety of methods to attract and keep good teachers.
Some school districts have offered teachers extra pay who teach in hard-to-fill subjects or in hard-to-fill schools. Time magazine points out that the method that is gaining the most momentum, along with the most controversy, is merit pay, a system that rewards quality teachers for their achievements. The magazine admitted that there were instances where merit pay systems did not run as planned; however, there have been notable successes in many school districts.
One school district that has seen success in regards to merit pay is the Denver Public Schools Professional Compensation, or ProComp, which took seven years worth of planning by the teachers’ union, the district and city hall before it was implemented. Teachers enrolled in the plan have nine different ways in which they can raise their salary. Taylor Betz, a teacher at the Bruce Randolph School, a struggling school in Denver, stated she can earn up to $4,268 this year if the school meets all its goals. Before ProComp she was maxed out on the district’s pay scale and would have only received an annual cost-of-living raise, which is currently $260, for the rest of her career.
“I’ve worked in hard-to-serve schools my entire career,” stated Betz. “I make home visits. I make phone calls. I’m looking at ProComp as compensation for the things that are above and beyond. Now I refuse to let kids fail. I’m going to bulldoze whatever the problem is and solve it. I’m not a money grubber. Most teachers aren’t. But people in other professions get raises,” she said. “Why shouldn’t we?”
To read more, check out Time’s article, “How to Make Great Teachers.”
Union is Yesterday: A Modern Alternative for Teachers
On February 20 the Colorado Springs Gazette ran an editorial emphasizing the benefits of joining AAE and its Colorado state chapter, Professional Association of Colorado Educators. The paper also brought up the fact that teacher unions are out of step with today’s society and do not represent the best interests of children and teachers. The article in its entirety is copied below. You can also find the editorial at http://www.gazette.com/opinion/teachers_33352___article.html/union_school.html.
Our View - Wednesday
Union is yesterday
A modern alternative for teachers
Free our teachers from the union. Introduce them to the Association of American Educators — an alternative, nonunion organization that gives them benefits without burden. If you can afford to, offer to pay the nominal fees for a favorite teacher or two in order to show support. Teachers in every state may join (www.aaeteachers.org).
Teachers comprise any community’s most important professional community. They earn their higher educations and certificates in order to accept jobs that pay ridiculous wages and garner inadequate respect. They do so in order that commerce and industry will thrive with an educated workforce. Think a brain surgeon is more important than a teacher? Think again, unless you want an unschooled doctor digging into your skull.
In a perfect world, all teachers would work for competitive private schools that excel by attracting and rewarding the best, most dedicated and innovative professionals. In the world we have, however, most teachers work for the government, under contracts that encourage mediocrity. The contracts mostly represent the interests of a union that no longer cares much about kids, education or teachers.
Throughout the country, most teachers belong to a chapter of the National Education Association. The Colorado branch is known as the Colorado Education Association, which is broken down by local chapters. Dues exceed $600 a year, which can be tough for teachers supporting families on wages that average $40-some thousand a year.
In some school districts, such as D-11 in Colorado Springs, the union assumes membership and takes dues from a teacher’s wages unless the educator jumps through hoops to opt out during a short window of opportunity. The union has never succeeded at getting teachers the wages they deserve, and it typically works against efforts to reward excellence with above-average pay. The only tangible benefit most teachers see for their membership fee is liability insurance to cover lawsuits.
Because of international trade and wondrous new technology, today’s business world is more hyper-competitive than ever. Barriers to entry are low, meaning new companies can challenge older businesses. The older companies must innovate or die. The workforce must be better prepared than ever to compete in markets that guarantee nothing and reward energy, quick thinking and ingenuity. Teachers are trying to respond by creating ever-improving, competitive schools — charter schools and neighborhood schools alike. But the union — stuck in the old world of institutionalized entitlement — gets in the way.
Take, for example, the experience of teachers at Denver’s Bruce Randolph Middle School. Principal Kristin Waters and her heroic staff lifted the school in recent years from among the worst in Colorado to one of the best, using what the Rocky Mountain News called “out-of-the-box strategies,” such as refusing to promote students with failing grades.
Realizing the union resisted most innovative measures, Waters and her staff sought to free the school from union rules that were holding it back. For example, they wanted the freedom to determine how much time children should spend in school each day. But the union — supposedly dedicated to the interests of education — balked. Union leaders wanted to maintain control over a variety of everyday decisions at the school, including hiring practices, thus impeding progress.
In addition to maintaining educational mediocrity, the NEA and its affiliates have used the hard-earned money of teachers to fund a variety of endeavors unrelated to education. A report by the U.S. Department of Labor showed the NEA funding Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition, People for the American Way, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, among an array of other noneducation-related causes.
While thousands of teachers struggle to make ends meet, more than half the NEA’s 600-plus employees and officers earn salaries of six figures and up — wages paid by teachers who typically earn far less than half that much for more important work.
The American Association of Educators, by contrast, is designed for today’s more competitive, progressive schools. It offers teachers twice the liability coverage of the NEA policies, with fees that are less than a third of the union dues. Teachers can pay as they go, and may opt in or out any time. Money collected in excess of the cost of liability coverage pays for continuing education courses offered through major universities — open to members and nonmembers alike. None of the money goes to fund activism or political lobbyists.
Colorado teachers have been choosing the Association of American Educators over the union in such numbers that the organization opened its own Colorado chapter last year, known as PACE — the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (www.coloradoteachers.org). Still, few teachers know about it. That’s because local NEA chapters have worked hard to prevent PACE representatives from distributing literature in schools or setting up tables at teacher orientation functions and benefit fairs. At one school in the Harrison School District of Colorado Springs, CEA representatives physically blocked a hallway to prevent teachers from reaching the PACE table.
The NEA is yesterday’s union, with no place in the cutting edge classroom. To usher in a new era, introduce teachers to the Association of American Educators and its local branch, PACE — a non-coercive association designed around modern educational needs. Young minds are too important for an outdated union to waste.