To:     LWVO
From:   Joan Platz
Education Update for March 6, 2006

1)  126th General Assembly: 
The Ohio House and Senate will hold  hearings and sessions this week.

*The Ohio Senate accepted the resignation of Senator Dan Brady (23 Senate District), and approved Representative Dale Miller (14th House District) as his replacement.  No replacement has been named to replace Representative Miller in the Ohio House.  Senator Tom Roberts was also voted assistant minority whip in the Ohio Senate, replacing Senator Robert Hagen, who resigned as assistant minority whip.  He is currently running for a seat in the Ohio House.

*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey, will meet on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 2:30 PM in the Finance hearing room. The committee will hear testimony on HB478 (Wagoner), which allows for the combination of the University of Toledo and he Medical University of Ohio.  The House and Senate Education Committees will not be meeting this week.

*Lawmakers continue to work on a bill that would include some capital reappropriations and budget corrections.  The bill is expected to be introduced soon.

2)  Federal Update: 
The U.S. Senate Education and Early Childhood Development Subcommittee, chaired by Lamar Alexander, held hearings last week on S. 2198 (Domenici), Protecting America's Competitive Edge:  Helping K-12 Students Learn Math and Science Better (PACE - Education Act).  The bill includes provisions to improve math and science education, teaching math and science, increase the high school graduation rate, encourage students to pursue careers in math, science, engineering, health, technology, and foreign languages, and prepare students for higher education and the workforce.  Information about the bill is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas and information about the hearings are available at http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2006_03_01_a/2006_03_01_a.html

3)  Education Vital Signs: 
American School Boards Journal released in February 2006 the 21st edition of "Education Vital Signs". This special report on the state of education in the nation includes state by state data on student enrollment, teacher salaries, per-pupil expenditures, and assessment scores of our nation's schools.  The issue also includes articles about international comparisons of student performance, preschool education, high school graduation, student health, education law and finance, and the No
Child Left Behind Act.  According to this report, the status of American education is mixed:

*A three-year assessment of students in 11 urban school districts showed improvement in reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

*The U.S. Census reports an increase in the percentage of adults with college and graduate degrees.

*The proportion of minority students who take the SAT for college entrance has increased. (Center on Education Policy).

*The average SAT verbal score rose from 504 in 1984 to 508 in 2005, and the average math score increased from 497 to 520.

*Children who attend state-funded preschool increase their vocabulary and math skills compared to those who do not. (National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University).

*Nationally, schools receive 49.4 percent of their revenue from states, 42.8 percent from local sources, and 7.8 percent from the federal government. (U.S. Census)

The full report is available at www.asbj.com/evs.

4)  Opposition to Federal Voucher Program: 
The National Coalition for Public Education (NCPE) released a letter in opposition to the "American Opportunity Scholarships for Kids", included in President Bush's FY07 budget recommendations to Congress.  The NCPE is a coalition that has worked to support public education since 1978, and includes over 50 education, civic, civil rights, and religious organizations  The NCPE opposes vouchers for several reasons:

*A free, high quality public education system is a cornerstone of our democratic form of government.  It provides educational opportunities for all children regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or economic status, so that all children can pursue higher education, get a job, and participate as citizens.  Voucher and tuition tax credit programs undermine public education and its national purpose, because they divert scare public resources to private entities, that do not have the same mission as public schools in a democracy.

*Private schools are not held accountable under the No Child Left Behind Act, even when they accept public funds.

*Ninety-nine percent of children attend public schools, yet many public school programs are underfunded, including special education. Diverting public funds to private schools when the public schools are struggling financially will not lead to overall improved student achievement.

*The voucher proposal allows public funds to be used for practices that may be discriminatory.

*There is no strong evidence that vouchers or education tax subsidies improve student achievement.  According to a large-scale study released in January 2006, if the effects of income and school and home circumstances are taken into account, students in regular public schools do as well as or significantly better than comparable students in private.

To read the letter visit
http://www.pta.org/documents/NCPE%20to%20Congress%202-26-06.pdf

5)  NASSP Releases Breaking Ranks in the Middle: 
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), Gerald Tirozzi executive director, released on March 1, 2006 another study of American schools called "Breaking Ranks in the Middle:  Strategies for Middle Level School Reform".  This study focuses on students in grades six through eight and proposes nine strategies and thirty recommendations to improve academic achievement and prepare students for high school.  The study was done in collaboration with the Education Alliance at Brown University and a commission of middle level practitioners and experts. The nine strategies follow:

"1. Establish the academically rigorous essential learnings that a student is required to master in order to successfully make the transition to high school and align the curriculum and teaching strategies to realize that goal.

2. Create dynamic teacher teams that are afforded common planning time to help organize and improve the quality and quantity of interactions between teachers and students.

3. Provide structured planning time for teachers to align the curriculum across grades and schools and to map efforts that address the academic, developmental, social, and personal needs of students, especially at critical transition periods (e.g., elementary to middle grades, middle grades to high school).

4. Implement a comprehensive advisory or other program that ensures that each student has frequent and meaningful opportunities to meet with an adult to plan and assess the student's academic, personal, and social development.

5. Ensure that teachers assess the individual learning needs of students and tailor instructional strategies and multiple assessments accordingly.

6. Entrust teachers with the responsibility of implementing schedules that are flexible enough to accommodate teaching strategies consistent with the ways students learn most effectively and that allow for effective teacher teaming, common planning time, and other lesson planning.

7. Institute structural leadership systems that allow for substantive involvement in decision making by students, teachers, family members, and the community, and that support effective communication among these groups.

8. Align all programs and structures so that all social, economic, and racial/ethnic groups have open and equal access to challenging activities and learning.

9. Align the schoolwide comprehensive, ongoing professional development program and the Personal Learning Plans (PLPs) of staff members with the requisite knowledge of content, instructional strategies, and student developmental factors."

For the full report or the summary, please visit the NASSP website at
www.principals.org.

6)  Update from the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign:
*The Ohio Fair Schools Campaign is sponsoring again this year a student essay contest on the topic of school funding.  Students in public schools in grades 7-12 are invited to submit essays on one of the following topics:
* How can Ohio fix its school funding system?
* Why is a high quality education necessary for the public good?
* How my school is affected by Ohio's school funding problems.

This is the fifth year that the OFSC has sponsored this contest, which raises awareness about how young people are affected by Ohio's unconstitutional system of funding schools.  The purpose of this contest is to provide a way for student voices to be heard in the debate about school funding in Ohio.  Winning essays from previous years are posted at http://www.ohiofairschools.org/students/EssayContest/2005Winners.htm

In recognition of their outstanding work, the authors of selected essays will receive $150 cash scholarship, and will be invited to read their essays at a public statewide event.  The deadline for submitting an essay is March 31, 2006.

For information about guidelines and curricula materials to help develop the essay, please visit the website:
http://www.ohiofairschools.org/2006EssayContest.pdf

The contest organizers reserve the right to publish essays in print and in electronic formats in order to share these voices with Ohio citizens and policymakers.

*The Ohio Fair Schools Campaign is also conducting a survey on "How Should Ohio's Schools Be Funded?"  The survey can be submitted online or printed off and mailed to the OFSC, and only takes a few minutes to complete.  The OFSC will hold local meetings in March and April to discuss the results after they are tallied.  To participate in the survey online visit http://www.ohiofairschools.org/

7)  Advice for Working with Boards of Education: 
National School Boards Association president Joan E. Schmidt writes in an article called "Music advocacy: dancing with the school board", that collaboration and innovation are needed to keep quality music and arts education programs in schools.  The joy of music and the arts will be lost if raising test scores is the only goal for education.

"Our nation's children deserve better. They need to master reading and math, but they can do so in places of learning where artwork adorns the hallways, music lifts the spirit, and hope abounds. High-quality education for each child is a moral imperative; making it happen requires a magnificent collaborative effort from all of us."

Ms. Schmidt recommends in the article the following six basic steps for working with boards of education:

"*The big picture. Instead of pitting one subject against another, look at the comprehensive needs of students in the context of educating the whole child.

*The long-term perspective. Although it is tempting (and sometimes necessary) to do battle for survival of a program, seek long-term reform of education financing and of state and federal policy.

*The locus of power. Target advocacy efforts where they will be most effective. Support funding from the state legislature and standards from the state board of education. And then support implementation at the local level.

*The window of opportunity. Take advantage of times when advocacy efforts are especially effective. New research often piques the interest of policymakers. And funding lawsuits at the state level provide splendid opportunities to speak out for adequacy and equity.

*The guardian of high-quality programs. Be proactive in protecting a standards-based music curriculum, preserving physical space in the building for music instruction, and ensuring that certified music teachers are in charge of school music programs.

*The ethical center. Always, without exception, place the well-being of children at the heart of every advocacy effort."

The article is available at www.nsba.org/site/view.asp?TRACKID=&VID=55&CID=682&DID=37777 - 53k -