Blog Juice for Educational Technology

It’s almost recess time for the Supreme Court justices, and we’re getting the usual flurry of decisions they hand down just before then. Passed over by most court reporters, who are focusing on higher profile rulings on campaign finance, the death penalty, and gerrymandering, was an important school law decision.

In Arlington Central School District v. Murphy, the Court ruled that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) does not require school districts to pay for expert consultant fees when parents win special education disputes. Here’s what BoardBuzz had to say most recently on this case. NSBA applauds the decision here.

The opinions
Justice Samuel Alito and four other justices found that IDEA’s mandate to reimburse attorneys’ fees doesn’t also cover the costs of consultants, especially since the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires that Congress “unambiguously” set forth what strings are attached to federal funds so state and local governments can “voluntarily and knowingly” accept these terms. BoardBuzz readers may recall that the Spending Clause argument is a key point in the lawsuits over NCLB unfunded mandates.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg couldn’t sign on to the Spending Clause part of the decision, but she was a sixth vote for the view that IDEA itself can’t be read to cover expert fees. “Congress did not compose [IDEA], as it did the texts of other statutes too numerous and varied to ignore, to alter the common import of the terms ‘attorneys’ fees’ and ‘costs’….,” Ginsburg wrote.

Justice Stephen Breyer’s dissent focused on IDEA’s legislative history and argued that paying for consultants is consistent with Congressional purposes in enacting IDEA. Much of the oral arguments in the case amounted to a debate between Justices Breyer and Scalia over statutory interpretation, in the form of questions to the lawyers. Scalia is skeptical about relying on chaotic legislative history, while Breyer is somewhat more willing to consider it.

The outlook
The decision is “decimating to parents,” says the director of the advocacy group founded by the consultant whose fee was disputed in the case, in this web-only article from Ed Week. She says the ruling “renders IDEA meaningless for those who have no resources.”

But as NSBA and its fellow amici pointed out to the Court, no one who’s ever dealt with IDEA thinks parents are powerless under this exhaustively detailed and prescriptive law. Notably, parents who disagree with a school district’s evaluation can obtain an independent evaluation, at public expense, by an education expert not associated with the district. What the decision does do, however, is avert some scary fiscal implications and limit another way to game the system. “We don’t view this as a victory for school districts over parents,” NSBA attorney Tom Hutton tells Ed Week. “It is a victory for the collaborative approach over the litigation approach.”

Georgetown law professor David Vladeck, who argued for the parents in the case, tells the Poughkeepsie Journal here that he hopes Congress will revisit this question. In fact, Justice Ginsburg wrote that it is not the Court’s role to “add several words Congress wisely might have included,” and “the ball, I conclude, is properly left in Congress’ court.” The ability of Congress to take away what the Court giveth provides even stronger incentives for school boards to make sure that districts are doing right by children with disabilities and that parents—and Congress—know it.

This latest development may be part of a trend BoardBuzz observed here when the Supremes handed down their last IDEA decision. In the last several years, all three branches of the federal government have shown that they’re a bit more willing to give America’s schools a little more benefit of the doubt when it comes to these difficult and emotional disagreements.

Considering the feds’ disgraceful bipartisan record of shortchanging IDEA and other education funding—a record that, unbelievably, is getting worse—it’s the least they can do.

There’s lots of talk about diversity among students, but rarely mentioned when it comes to teachers. But in Ithaca, N.Y., that’s precisely what all the buzz is about. An article in today’s Ithaca Journal examines the fact that while one-quarter of the student population in the district belongs to racial or ethnic minority groups, only 6 percent of the teachers are people of color.

Theory holds that minority students may benefit, both socially and academically, from having teachers with whom they feel a cultural connection. Ithaca Superintendent Judith Pastel says, “It’s very important that they experience an excellent education program with teachers from very different backgrounds because they’re going to benefit from cultural and life experiences of a variety of people.”

But how to make it happen? New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) and the National Education Association are calling for new hiring practices and reallocated resources. Says Tim Kremer, executive director of NYSSBA, “We ask boards to consider approving a policy that explicitly states their commitment to a diverse staff. Send a signal that will be heard in every corner of the community. Then boards need to examine their recruitment practices; sometimes you need to go out of your geographic region, and out of your comfort zone, to find the right people. When you get the right people, do what it takes to keep them. Create support structures that welcome individuals and help them succeed. Their talent and influence should be spread among all the students, not concentrated with just one group or a few schools.”

Ithaca pulls many of its teachers from local colleges, thus the district is “beholden to the diversity on those campuses,” reports the Journal. The article also cites that “Susan Mittler, president of the Ithaca Teachers Association, recalls a string of stories about the ones who got away: teachers who wanted wider social circles, those who sought higher salaries and a candidate who took herself out of the running upon realizing Ithaca had no subway system.” Additionally, “since teaching isn’t tied to a particular location, job-seekers often choose jobs close to home, further limiting the applicant pool.”

When BoardBuzz covered the non-crisis of boys’ achievement yesterday, we didn’t know we had struck such a chord with our readers.

A fellow blogger called our attention to USA Today’s Richard Whitmire’s rebuttal to the Post article. Another reader pointed out that “I am not sure how they can assume that gender is not at all a factor while finding that some groups of boys are ‘in real trouble.’ Isn’t it possible that cultural issues regarding gender, especially as it concerns education, are negatively impacting the performance of some boys in school in comparison to girls?”

Yet another reader called our attention to an article in Esquire on this issue that states the problem is “actually a problem with men. We’ve ignored all the evidence of male achievement and ambition deficits and stood aside as our sons have notched a growing record of failure and disengagement. It’s time we did something about it. A call to action.”

Read the complete comments here. And keep ‘em coming. BoardBuzz would love to hear more from you on this hot issue.

If you missed The Straight Story on High School Graduation Rates online discussion last Thursday, don’t fret! It’s now available in the BoardBuzz online discussion archive. The chat featured guest expert Patte Barth of the Center for Public Education with the scoop on what graduation rates really mean and how they were calculated. The Center for Public Education released its own report on Thursday, June 22.

To read the archived text of the online discussion, click here.

In a letter to the Los Angeles Times yesterday, NSBA President Jane Gallucci said that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposal to take over the Los Angeles school system will fragment the responsibility and accountability for student achievement. Read highlights here.

While Villaraigosa sells his “great deal for kids” here, many are not buying his big idea to put schools in charge of their curriculums, to create a council of mayors responsible for reviewing the district’s budget and coordinating the delivery of essential services for kids, and to give himself the power to handpick the next superintendent. While the mayor has struck a deal with the teachers union, some other teachers are opposing the mayor’s proposal saying that it “could ravage districtwide reading and math programs that they say have brought continuity to thousands of classrooms and helped drive up standardized test scores ….”

Others lined up in opposition include current superintendent Roy Romer with a thoughtful editorial in Sunday’s L.A. Times in which he says the mayor’s deal with the teachers union “is about power and money, not about children–and certainly not about education reform.” And as the California School Boards Association points out, “The mayor’s proposal would shift control from the school board to the superintendent, and the superintendent would be selected by the mayor–thus ultimately giving the mayor the keys to the schoolhouse door.”

In April, NSBA’s governing body approved a policy calling for mayors to back away from taking over school districts and concentrate on issues outside the schoolyards that impact learning, such as crime, housing costs, and healthcare. Now there’s a news flash for the mayor … get the job done that you were elected to do.

If you’ve been too busy getting into the swing of summer and haven’t gotten around to making plans to attend T+L, NSBA’s premier K-12 education technology conference in Dallas, November 8-10, then drop that trashy beach novel and get it together! Keynote addresses will be given by Ray Kurzweil, visionary technologist and educator; Professor James Paul Gee, gaming and learning theory expert; and Clyde Prestowitz, noted expert on global change and economic policy.

You’ll find information-packed pre-conference workshops and district-led workshops that will inspire and energize, arranged in programming strands that address the spectrum of technology planning and management needs with a unique dual focus on both technology planning and technology implementation. Your team will return ready to tackle tough challenges and exciting new opportunities.

Since this is T+L’s 20th anniversary, BoardBuzz recommends making your registration and hotel reservations now. More than 2,000 education leaders are expected, including school board members, superintendents, and education technology staff. (Helpful tip: NSBA has a block of rooms at Adams Mark Dallas, and most conference-goers will be staying there.) Technology Leadership Network members receive a deep discount on registration. Send a team of 10 or more and your district gets the team discount. One Kansas district is taking advantage of an even deeper registration discount for sending a team of 30 or more, literally busloads. Various airline and car rental discounts are available, including a shuttle coupon (PDF). If you register before September 15, each member of your team will be eligible to win a free half-day pre-conference workshop session. All registration information and details are now online.

A new analysis by Education Sector Senior Policy Analyst Sara Mead entitled “The Truth About Boys and Girls” highlighted in today’s Washington Post indicates that perhaps the “national crisis” of boys educational performance is more likely not that “boys [are] doing worse; it’s good news about girls doing better.”

Mead’s analysis points out that “there have been no dramatic changes in the performance of boys but instead that girls are improving at a slightly faster rate in some key areas. Overall boys are improving, too, says Mead, just not as rapidly.” The analysis examined data compiled from the National Assessment of Educational Progress since 1971. It found, according to the Post, that “over the past three decades boys’ test scores are mostly up, more boys are going to college, and more are getting bachelor’s degrees.”

The report also finds that “much of the pessimism about young males seems to derive from inadequate research, sloppy analysis and discomfort with the fact that although the average boy is doing better, the average girl has gotten ahead of him.”

BoardBuzz loves the warm fuzzies, and as the dog days of summer set in and temperatures soar, this story in the Washington Post today is perfect for some relief. With the backdrop of this week’s dismal high school graduation rates for urban blacks, the story of Wayne Nesbit and Jachin Leatherman, two high school seniors at Washington, D.C.’s troubled Ballou High School gives us more than a little hope.

The story begins when the two boys meet in middle school, one valedictorian, one salutatorian–a scenario they would repeat in high school. The boys bonded over girls, sports, and their desire to make a difference at their high school in impoverished southeast D.C. When they were offered full scholarships to an elite private high school in Maryland, the boys turned it down in favor of staying in their neighborhood. They made a pact “that by the time they graduated from high school, they would have made Ballou a better place to be young, black and male.”

Their pact paid off. Not only did they both succeed, but they raised the bar for the other students in the school. This year, six of the 11 students inducted into the National Honor Society at Ballou were male. Six of the 9 students in AP calculus were male, and six of 13 students in AP literature were male. All were record numbers of male student achievers for the school.

In his valedictory address, Jachin “chided people who criticize public schools while refusing to ‘help by becoming tutors.’ He encouraged his classmates to vote ’so outsiders are not determining the fate of our community.’ He expressed gratitude to Ballou and to his mother. ‘But most of all I want to thank my father.’”

Both Jachin and Wayne, best friends, will attend College of the Holy Cross, where they will room together and “resume their contest for valedictorian.”

BoardBuzz salutes you!

With incidents of bullying at schools and on school buses popping up on the news daily, some states are starting to take action. Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm urged the state legislature in March to put into place a policy that would protect Michigan children from harassment or bullying at school. Read the Governor’s news release here.

Just yesterday the Detroit Examiner reported that two boys in Michigan were charged with assalt for the May 12 beating of 10-year-old Chester Gala as he rode the school bus. The entire incident was caught on the bus’s surveillance cameras.

According to the Governor’s release,

“Intimidation and fear have no place in our schools,” said Granholm. “To give our kids the world class education they need, we need to make sure all schools are safe.”

Research in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that one out of every three students in grades 6 through 10 have been involved in a bullying incident. While some school districts in Michigan have established strong anti-bullying policies to address the issue, these bills will ensure that policies are in place in every school across the state.

The new tough, effective, anti-bullying policies will include teacher training programs, procedures for reporting acts of bullying, procedures for response when acts of bullying are identified, age-appropriate consequences for persons who violate the policies, and procedures for prompt investigation of reports of violations and complaints.

Other states considering anti-bullying legislation include Alaska, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wyoming. Nearly 20 other states have passed anti-bullying legislation.

Last call for our online discussion today on high school graduation rates with guest expert Patte Barth, director of the Center for Public Education. Beginning at 12 noon ET/11 a.m. CT, Barth will be answering your questions about the confusing data that have been published around grad rates. Check out the Center’s new report just posted yesterday that begins to sort out this issue.

Click here to post a question now or to join us during the live discussion hour.

Are American engineers, scientists, and mathematicians as elusive as truthful politicians and Tom Cruise’s new baby? A new poll from the Educational Testing Service would lead us to believe so. According to the poll

Fifty-five percent of adults believe the public schools are coming up short or falling behind in teaching the basics, such as math, science, and writing.

Nearly half (47 percent) believe gifted students are not being challenged enough to make the most of their talents and are not ready to compete against the best-educated scientists and engineers in the global economy.

A majority of public high school students (73 percent), teachers (54 percent) and administrators (56 percent) believe schools are doing well enough in giving students who want to go into the work force the training and skills they need to get and then succeed in a job. A majority of adults (58 percent), college faculty (65 percent), and opinion leaders (59 percent) believe just the opposite.

A majority (70 percent) believe our nation’s schools are coming up short on engaging students and preventing students from dropping out of school.

ETS noted in its release that the Protecting America’s Competitive Edge (PACE) Act, backed by Senators Alexander, Domenici, Bingaman, and Mikulski is aimed at strengthening “our nation’s education system by improving teacher training in math and science, recruiting more math and science teachers, and providing opportunities for math and science experts to fill our nation’s schools and improve the curriculum, and classroom experience for schoolchildren. Better schools, better universities, more research, more math and science–it all means better jobs,” Senator Lamar Alexander explained.

Um, at least one person might beg to disagree. At the recent Education Writers Association conference in New Orleans, NY Times columnist Richard Rothstein explained his review of labor statistics on which he bases his belief that simply adding more science and math graduates is not going to change the labor market. His point? While indeed, the fastest growing sector of the economy is related to jobs needing math and science skills, it is a very small sector. What happens then to the increased numbers of grads looking for work in math and science careers? They may end up in retail sales, which Rothstein points out, is still one of the biggest sectors of the U.S. economy, and is projected to remain that way in the next decade.

And in another angle to this story, BoardBuzz previously examined Gerald Bracey’s editorial where he debunked the myth that America is producing far fewer engineers than its Asian counterparts.

BoardBuzz found two interesting editorials yesterday about summer “homework” for students. One, in the New York Times, argued against this growing practice, aimed at keeping students on track during summer vacation. The authors argue that the homework “overburdens our children and sends many back to school burnt out and sick of learning.”

But how much is too much? A summer reading list, 10 book reports, a math packet? Again, the authors cite “one ninth grader we know was assigned a packet of materials on the Holocaust. Another must read a 656-page book on genocide, on top of three chapters of a science textbook followed by a 15-page take-home exam, prepare a 20-slide PowerPoint presentation and complete an English assignment involving three books and essays.” Phew, that hardly leaves time for soccer camp, swim team, and a trip to Disneyland!

On the other hand, an editorial in USA Today contends that while many teachers “will slip a summer reading list into their student’s backpacks,” so that “their brains don’t turn to mush,” what they should really be doing is “encouraging students to practice their math skills.” The author goes on to say that while educators have long lamented the summer break as time that “wreaks havoc on learning,” the havoc is most concentrated in math. “That’s not to say that kids don’t need to work on reading over the summer … they need active encouragement from teachers and parents to stay up on math.”

No matter what your position is on summer homework, encouraging students to pick up a book while lounging by the pool or staying sharp with a few extra math problems while on a car trip to grandma’s seems like a no-brainer to BoardBuzz. Now where’s our copy of War and Peace?

A new report out this morning, Diplomas Count: An Essential Guide to Graduation Policy and Rates, conducted by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, estimates that 1.2 million U.S. students, most members of minority groups, will not graduate with their peers. In plain terms, that’s about 30 percent of the class of 2006.

The report, the first in an annual Graduation Project series by Education Week, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, provides “detailed data on graduation rates for the 2002-03 school year, the most recent data available, for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and in the nation’s 50 largest school districts.”

Some key findings of the report indicate large racial and gender gaps in graduation rates. According to the report,

About 7 in 10 students graduate from high school with a regular diploma. But about half of American Indian and black students graduate, compared with more than three-quarters of non-Hispanic whites and Asians. The Hispanic graduation rate is 55.6 percent.

Male students are consistently less likely to graduate than females, a pattern that holds true across every racial and ethnic group examined.

The report found that graduation rates vary widely across the nation’s largest districts, from a high of 82.5 percent in Fairfax County, Va., the nation’s 14th largest district, to a low of 21.7 percent in the Detroit Public Schools, the nation’s 11th largest district.

To learn more about how these grad rates were calculated and what they actually mean, log on to the BoardBuzz live discussion on Thursday, June 22, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. ET or submit a question in advance. The guest expert, Patte Barth, director of NSBA’s Center for Public Education, will answer your questions about these and related issues addressed in a new Center for Public Education report.