Education News Roundup
Dual-language in Washington State - a view from Seattle Globalist.
A MacArthur Genius award went to an educational researcher, Angela Duckworth. From Ed Week:
Educational research psychologist and former teacher Angela Duckworth has devoted her career to understanding traits beyond IQ or test-taking abilities that predict a student's success— including grit and self-control. It is perhaps her own possession of these traits that helped lead the MacArthur Foundation to name Ms. Duckworth as one of this year's 24 MacArthur Fellows.
Duckworth and her colleagues began by developing ways to empirically measure grit and self-control. Even when controlling for cognitive ability, the presence of these traits were important predictors of success. Unlike simple measures of IQ or natural intelligence, these are traits that can be taught.
From Ed Week, an article, Misdiagnosis in the Gifted (sure to start a fight here but I hope not).
As information from the organization SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) points out, "behaviors directly associated with giftedness may mimic medical or mental health disorders." While it is entirely possible for gifted children, just like all children, to be susceptible to and diagnosed with the wide array of medical and mental health disorders that exist, there have also been documented cases of gifted children being misdiagnosed with a medical or mental health disorder because their gifted traits were misinterpreted by a medical professional who lacked training in and information about quirks and characteristics of giftedness.
Seeing the importance of this issue, SENG has launched a "Misdiagnosis Initiative" this year "to alert the pediatric healthcare community to the potential for misdiagnosis."
Logging and Washington State go together but it looks like a new logging bill passed by the House on September 23rd may threaten school funding in rural areas. From Ed Week:
The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act has given rural communities in national forest areas federal money to compensate for revenue lost because of restrictions on harvesting timber. School districts have relied on that money for decades, but the legislation expired last year. It was reauthorized last summer for one year, and this site gives a state-by-state breakdown of the funding (Oregon leads the pack with $63 million, followed by California at $35.8 million).
Although schools likely would see a funding cut, groups such as the National Education Association and the National Association of Counties were supportive of the legislation.
"This bill provides a path forward to providing a lifeline for rural schools in great need: dependable sources of funding," according to a letter from the NEA to members of the House. "Among its five titles, it provides an approach for long-term funding for communities that currently receive Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act dollars, as well as crucial transition funding."
The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill, and every major U.S. environmental group views the bill "as an ecological nightmare," according to the Huffington Post story. Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities called it "disappointing that the Obama administration continues to ignore the stark realities facing our forests and communities by threatening to veto the legislation."
To note, I went to check out where Washington State falls under in this legislation but got this message from the USDA:
Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available.
After funding has been restored, please allow some time for this website to become available again.
A MacArthur Genius award went to an educational researcher, Angela Duckworth. From Ed Week:
Educational research psychologist and former teacher Angela Duckworth has devoted her career to understanding traits beyond IQ or test-taking abilities that predict a student's success— including grit and self-control. It is perhaps her own possession of these traits that helped lead the MacArthur Foundation to name Ms. Duckworth as one of this year's 24 MacArthur Fellows.
Duckworth and her colleagues began by developing ways to empirically measure grit and self-control. Even when controlling for cognitive ability, the presence of these traits were important predictors of success. Unlike simple measures of IQ or natural intelligence, these are traits that can be taught.
From Ed Week, an article, Misdiagnosis in the Gifted (sure to start a fight here but I hope not).
As information from the organization SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) points out, "behaviors directly associated with giftedness may mimic medical or mental health disorders." While it is entirely possible for gifted children, just like all children, to be susceptible to and diagnosed with the wide array of medical and mental health disorders that exist, there have also been documented cases of gifted children being misdiagnosed with a medical or mental health disorder because their gifted traits were misinterpreted by a medical professional who lacked training in and information about quirks and characteristics of giftedness.
Seeing the importance of this issue, SENG has launched a "Misdiagnosis Initiative" this year "to alert the pediatric healthcare community to the potential for misdiagnosis."
Logging and Washington State go together but it looks like a new logging bill passed by the House on September 23rd may threaten school funding in rural areas. From Ed Week:
The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act has given rural communities in national forest areas federal money to compensate for revenue lost because of restrictions on harvesting timber. School districts have relied on that money for decades, but the legislation expired last year. It was reauthorized last summer for one year, and this site gives a state-by-state breakdown of the funding (Oregon leads the pack with $63 million, followed by California at $35.8 million).
Although schools likely would see a funding cut, groups such as the National Education Association and the National Association of Counties were supportive of the legislation.
"This bill provides a path forward to providing a lifeline for rural schools in great need: dependable sources of funding," according to a letter from the NEA to members of the House. "Among its five titles, it provides an approach for long-term funding for communities that currently receive Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act dollars, as well as crucial transition funding."
The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill, and every major U.S. environmental group views the bill "as an ecological nightmare," according to the Huffington Post story. Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities called it "disappointing that the Obama administration continues to ignore the stark realities facing our forests and communities by threatening to veto the legislation."
To note, I went to check out where Washington State falls under in this legislation but got this message from the USDA:
Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available.
After funding has been restored, please allow some time for this website to become available again.
Comments
Can someone who is more knowledgeable about this issue comment on this?
If the dual language method was the best way of teaching ELL, there could be an argument for combining ELL funds (but only if it helped the ELL students).
I like the idea, naively. I wonder what it would require in our current programs -- it would have to give priority access to native speakers of the language to the program (but not so much that there weren't native English speakers). I wonder if this concept is part of the motivation behind the language immersion school expansion.
zb
http://s3.amazonaws.com/hoth.bizango/assets/11233/PTA_Immersion_Support_Budget_09-09-2013.pdf
I'm not sure that #5 on her list is true at all. A lot more clarification is needed regarding what specific program types she is referring to because I doubt MacDonald and Stanford fit her mold.
Not sustainable.
aghast
Except tonight it was BHIS residents complaining because the sibling might have to, egad, go to Kimball! And Smith-Blum made a point of saying "we should draw boundaries to put a few more native Mandarin speakers" into one of our blessed International School so that they (and their IAs) can subsidize this pipe dream.
These schools appear to create a new entitlement that leads some of our elected leaders to jump through hoops to deliver on that entitlement. At whose expense? Those ELL students who are trying to learn English while catching up to grade level.
District leaders need to get a grip and figure out something. Do they intend to scale up this marvel? Or continue to create unsustainable islands of privilege for English speakers who want their children to grow up bilingual, without the expense.
BTW, the use of ELL funds to subsidize dual immersion is a perversion of the permitted uses of these federal funds.
Carajo!
Clearly either #5 is incorrect or the district is doing it a different way than the article says.
I think there were a couple key factors that helped make it cost neutral. For one, this was full-day immersion, not half-day. Kids were exposed to the new language all day--in the classroom, via school signage, in morning announcements, etc.--and they learned the language much more quickly. By the time the smaller class size limits for younger grades were no longer in effect, kids were more proficient.
Also, there was only one immersion language, rather than two. This resulted in greater economy of scale--no need to order duplicate materials in each language, there was increased ability to move students around to control class size or provide differentiation, etc.
Additionally, some languages are likely easier for families to help with. In our case, the immersion language was Spanish. For the families at out school, it was a lot easier to look things up and help with Spanish homework than it would have been, say, in Mandarin or Japanese. I assume that the increased ability of parents to help provide support at home could also contribute to success in the classroom.
There may be other factors as well, but all in all, it can definitely be done. Our old PTA raised about 20k per year! It was a shock to learn how much additional fundraising is required with these programs here in SPS, and I still don't really understand it. And given what appear to also be poorer outcomes* re: foreign language acquisition under the SPS model, there's always a part of me that has a tough time writing that check each year.
HIMSmom
*No, I don't have proof. But based on our experiences--as well as those of others we know who have participated in both SPS and other models--the level of fluency attained in the other model is much greater.
With that background, let me toss out the new idea I had last night. I have no idea why a public school district supports SO MANY different special programs. Yes, there should be special programming for special needs kids and the very smart, like APP. I won't say here whether those programs should be stand-alone, integrated, or co-located -- different debate.
But it seems to me in era of less than enough funding, it's a crazy waste of money for a PUBLIC school district to offer language immersion schools, alternative schools, experiential learning, and the like. Yes, those are neat and great approaches. But a public school district can't be all things. If you want something different and special like that, you'll need to look to private school. The district should focus on putting on a QUALITY education experience in each neighborhood school, using the same general model of fully differentiated but general education.
I grew up in Bellevue in the 70s and 80s. We had excellent classrooms that could reach everyone from ELL to the smart. But we had none of the unique, different, specialized offerings that SPS offers.
-- Still Getting Used to SPS
However, a couple of things to note:
- we have had alternative schools for over 20 years. Long before charters, parents in this district got together with good ideas for different kinds of learning and foci for schools. They do not cost any more than other schools. The only real benefit they get (under district rules, not their own) is that they can keep their enrollment lower. Meaning, no one has to be assigned to their schools. Most of them, though, are full with waitlists.
-foreign language immersion - a good idea but yes, they cost money (and many costs are passed on, via guilt, to parents in the schools). Very popular and the district is hell-bent on expanding them. I wish they would hit the "pause" button on these.
But this issue of the neighborhood GenEd school versus everything else seems to be rising. At the Hale meeting, I heard several parents - arguing against APP in a neighborhood school - saying they want a GenEd program for their neighborhood kids.
We are at a point where we need to - this is me - streamline and get down to basics. All the extras won't be worth anything if we aren't getting basic academics and facilities right. But the district can't even do that at headquarters so I'm not sure what that means for the district at large.
This makes me so angry, knowing the many families of students with special needs who have been managed out of MacDonald (and forced to the new area SPED GHETTO for MacDonald and JSIS - BFDAY)to make room for this immersion program. I think the somebody has run the #s -- both these programs, MacDonald and JSIS -- are not accessible to students with special needs.
This District and the Board of Directors have seriously lost the moral and legal compass. I think this is totally corrupt, what is occurring at JSIS and MacDonald.
- reader
Do you feel this way because they were neighborhood schools - and will changing them to option schools make them acceptable to you?
Spokane is the first WA district on the road to be its own charter authorizer.
EdVoter