January 29, 2016
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January 29, 2016
Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice
A beloved Bronx teacher retires after a conflict with his principal
David Gonzalez, The New York Times
Tom Porton is used to drama: Since arriving at James Monroe High School as an English teacher 45 years ago, he has taught and staged plays. Outside, in the Bronx River neighborhood where the school is, there was plenty of drama in the 1980s, when AIDS and crack ravaged the area. His response then was to establish a group of peer educators who worked with Montefiore Medical Center to teach teenagers about H.I.V. prevention. His efforts earned him awards, including recognition from the City Council and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and led to his induction into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.
Few African-American school superintendents in California
Louis Freedberg, EdSource
When Michelle King was appointed to head the Los Angeles Unified School District last week, she became the most prominent African-American school superintendent in the state and the nation.
Guidebook: Six proven practices for effective civic learning
Lisa Guilfoile, Brady Delander, and Carol Kreck, Education Commission of the States
The purpose of this guidebook is to serve as a resource—a what’s next?—for teachers, administrators, policymakers, and other education leaders who want to put these practices in place but are not sure how to begin. For those who already are sold on the idea of the six proven practices but need ideas for how to promote and utilize them, this document highlights research that confirms these practices as proven strategies for implementing high-quality civic learning, and provides practical suggestions for how to implement each practice in schools and classrooms and how to model state-level policies that support these practices. This guidebook also outlines various programs that align with each practice.
Language, Culture, and Power
English one day, Español the next: Dual-language learning expands with a South Bronx school as a model
Margaret Ramirez, The Hechinger Report
At Public School 73 in the South Bronx, 8-year-old Arlette Espallat is reading aloud in Spanish about animals found in “el bosque” or, the forest. Her voice rises as she brings the faraway images to the noisy classroom. Later in the week, Arlette and her classmates will read in English about the life of Olympic medalist Wilma Rudolph.
Congress puts new spotlight on English learner performance
Alisha Kirby, Cabinet Report
Advocates for one of the fastest growing subgroups say one pivotal change called for in the Every Student Succeeds Act has gone largely unnoticed. Under the new law, English learner accountability will be included as part of Title I – the section dedicated to the performance of students – instead of Title III, which dictates the allocation of funds for English language acquisition.
How fears of deportation harm kids’ education
Melinda D. Anderson, The Atlantic
For many, the New Year represents new beginnings, a chance to start fresh with a clean slate. But this was not the case for hundreds of undocumented adults and children swept up in deportation raids in the first days of 2016.
Chicago teens and combat veterans join forces to process trauma
Audie Cornish, NPR
For kids in some Chicago neighborhoods, walking up and down the same street where there was a beating or a shooting or a body is just part of life — one that isn't always talked about. That's something the Urban Warriors program is trying to change.
Access, Assessment, and Advancement
Amid preschool seats shortage, LAUSD has hundreds of openings
Deepa Fernandes, KPCC
Even as nearly hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles County preschoolers miss out on formal early education because there are simply not enough licensed seats, Los Angeles Unified school officials said this week that its preschools are not at full capacity.
Reforming the community college, Part I
Mike Rose, University of California, Los Angeles
Rather than the neglect that community colleges typically endure, lately they have been in the spotlight of reform, originating both from federal and state governments and from non-profit advocacy organizations and philanthropies. Many of the reforms target significant problems (e.g., low graduation rates) and offer reasonable remedies – for example, rethinking how colleges conduct developmental education. For some time now, I have been involved with these issues, and I would like to use my blog to reflect on current community college reform efforts, particularly those recommended in a heralded, widely circulating book that reflects years of work at Columbia University’s Community College Research Center: Thomas Bailey, Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Davis Jenkins’ Redesigning America’s Community Colleges.
Education spending gap widens between college haves and have-nots since recession
Jill Barshay, Hechinger Report
Students are getting the message that a college education is a necessary prerequisite for a middle class life. Today, more than 85 percent of high school graduates eventually make their way to college. But much of the increase in college-going isn’t at traditional four-year universities with grassy quads and intellectually stimulating seminars. Instead, the nation’s community colleges are absorbing the largest chunk of the new students.
Inequality, Poverty, Segregation
'High-impact' step for schools: Help students get health insurance, feds say
Jane Meredith Adams, EdSource
Lengthy, complicated and expensive programs are used in schools every day to improve student performance, but last week the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services kept it simple. If schools want to take one action to boost student attendance, health, behavior and learning, they should help uninsured students enroll in health insurance, the departments said.
Civil rights groups state concerns in implementing new federal education law
Fermin Leal, EdSource
A coalition 37 of education advocacy and civil rights groups from across the country want more input into how states and the federal government implement the new Every Student Succeeds Act to ensure it better serves high-needs students, such as low-income children and English learners.
Acting Education Secretary champions economic, racial integration
Richard Kahlenberg, The American Prospect
Acting Education Secretary John B. King has signaled that racial and socioeconomic integration will now take center stage in federal education policy.
Public Schools and Private $
School desegregation lawsuit threatens charters
Rachel M. Cohen, The American Prospect
A provocative civil rights case in Minnesota could influence school integration efforts nationally.
Former dean questions costs of ‘no excuses’ charter schools on students of color
Valerie Strauss, The Answer Sheet
Here is an open letter from Ramon Griffin, the former dean of students at a New Orleans “no excuses” charter school, who urges teachers and staff at such schools to question the model’s social and emotional costs on young people.
Other News of Note
A bold shift to make public schools serve poor students
Abigail Savitch-Lew, Yes! Magazine
Last year, New York City began turning schools in poor neighborhoods into community schools—combining rigorous instruction and extracurricular enrichment with a broad social support system.
Just News from Center X is a free weekly education news blast edited by Jenn Ayscue.
