Friday, July 25, 2014

Department of Special Education assistant professor honored with Greater Texas Foundation Faculty fellowship

11:30 PM By

Hot on the heels of being named a Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow by the National Academy of Education (NAEd), Sarah Powell has scooped up another honor. The first-year assistant professor in the College of Education’s Department of Special Education was one of four Texas university faculty selected as a Greater Texas Foundation Faculty Fellow. 

The three-year program provides each fellow with a $30,000 per year grant to support a research agenda aligned with the foundation’s mission to support postsecondary preparation, access, and completion for Texas students. 

After being nominated through an invitation-only nomination process, Powell was asked to participate in a competitive proposal process in which she was required to demonstrate significant potential in and commitment to a career in research and teaching at the postsecondary level. 

“The Greater Texas Foundation Faculty Fellowship provides me with the opportunity to extend my interest in algebraic development to students at the college level,” said Powell. “During the three-year project, I plan to work with college students with math disabilities or difficulties, a sample of students that is rarely studied. I want to learn how the math performance and math experiences of college students contribute to preparation for and success in college.”

In addition, Powell was required to identify a mentor to assist her throughout the three-year fellowship. Powell selected Sharon Vaughn, executive director of The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk.

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Eight New Schools to Join the Middle School Matters Institute

11:29 PM By

The George W. Bush Institute at the George W. Bush Presidential Center announced the selection of eight new schools to participate in the second year of Middle School Matters Institute.

The Middle School Matters Institute, implemented in partnership with The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at The University of Texas at Austin (MCPER), now encompasses a total of 16 schools in four states. The schools receive high quality research-based school improvement strategies from the Bush Institute’s national experts, yearlong professional support from MCPER, and an invitation to the three-day Middle School Matters summer conference.

Using a rigorous selection process, the Bush Institute chose eight new schools, including six Texas schools, from a nationwide pool of applicants:
  • Baytown Junior School of Goose Creek CISD in Baytown, TX
  • Grant Middle School of Corpus Christi ISD in Corpus Christi, TX
  • Lee Middle School of San Angelo ISD in San Angelo, TX
  • Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School of Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD in Pharr, TX
  • Trinity Middle School of Trinity ISD in Trinity, TX
  • Wilkinson Middle School of Mesquite ISD in Mesquite, TX
  • Woodward Elementary School of Manteca USD
  • Advanced Studies Magnet-Haut Gap Middle School
Sharon Vaughn, MCPER’s executive director, said, “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such progressive middle schools that are committed to using proven strategies for success in the middle grades with our teachers and school leaders across the nation.”

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Leading Educational Research Centers Respond to White House Report on Boys and Young Men of Color

11:28 PM By



Two University of Texas at Austin College of Education research groups have been included in a response to a task force report on the My Brother’s Keeper initiative, a project established by President Obama. My Brother’s Keeper has a goal of bringing together private sector and philanthropic organizations to improve life outcomes for boys and young men of color.
The response addresses a recently-released task force report about the initiative and is a joint effort of seven university-based research centers:
-       Project MALES and the Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color (UT Austin)
-       The Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education (University of Pennsylvania)
-       Minority Male Community College Collaboration (San Diego State University)
-       Morehouse Research Institute (Morehouse College)
-       Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male (The Ohio State University)
-       UCLA Black Male Institute (University of California, Los Angeles)
-       Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
The centers focus on the study of factors that help and limit educational, social, and occupational opportunities for boys and young men of color.
Dr. Victor Saenz, an associate professor in the UT Austin College of Education’s Department of Educational Administration, is co-founder and executive director of Project MALES as well as the Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color.
Below is the task force report that was issued:
As Black and Latino male professors and research center directors, we salute President Obama as well as the many philanthropic and private sector funders for their commitment to improving the conditions of our nation’s boys and young men of color.
The task force report offers a commendable articulation of challenges and opportunities for young men of color and various agents who play some role in their life outcomes. Recommendations offered therein are appropriately informed by research from a range of academic disciplines.
As our nation prepares to enact recommendations from the task force, we call for programs, policies, and services that are guided by research and documented effectiveness. We caution, for example, against the widespread replication of mentoring programs that haphazardly match young men with adults, as evidence concerning the outcomes of such programs is mixed. Moreover, we believe interventions should focus on better understanding and remedying systemic inequities in policies, schooling and social practices, and structures that persistently undermine the success of boys and men of color. More significant investment in the dissemination of existing research on what works, as well as funding new studies on promising policies and practices, would help ensure the success of My Brother’s Keeper and the Americans it aims to effectively serve.
We urge private foundations, federal funding agencies (i.e., the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health), and other entities that invest in projects associated with My Brother’s Keeper to take seriously the evidence base of initiatives that are proposed, as well as rigorous evaluations of newly funded projects. Funds are needed to facilitate productive collaborations among research centers such as ours, and to connect researchers with agents who lead organizations and initiatives for young men of color across our nation. The success of My Brother’s Keeper depends heavily on the quality of research produced about its effectiveness. Ultimately, strong cultures of evidence and efficacy should guide all programs, services, and interventions associated with the initiative.
My Brother’s Keeper affords our country an important opportunity to reframe hopeless, deficit-oriented narratives about boys and young men of color, schools that educate them, and communities in which they live. We are hopeful that the initiative will produce replicable models of success, but doing so requires more investment in studies of what works. To ensure the success of My Brother’s Keeper, our research centers stand ready to serve as resources to its funders and the Obama Administration.

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Low cost of new UNT Dallas law school draws high interest

11:27 PM By


Dean of Students Rebecca Greenan (right) and UNT Dallas College of Law students Craig Smith and Lauren Smith staffed an information booth at Klyde Warren Park during the Uptown Ciclovía in May



Around the country, fewer people are applying to law school. Then there’s the UNT Dallas College of Law.
It expected about 350 applications for the inaugural class — and got more than 600.
“‘Holy cow’ was our reaction,” said Royal Furgeson, a retired U.S. district judge and founding dean of the new law campus. “It tells you there’s a pent-up demand for law school here.”
The law school, part of the University of North Texas System, has enrolled about 140 students to date. Classes start in August in the UNT System building across from Main Street Garden in downtown Dallas.
UNT’s new law school has drawn interest in large part because of its low cost. Full-time, in-state students pay just $14,040 a year in tuition, plus about $500 a year in fees. That’s far less than what the state’s other law schools charge. For instance, the new Texas A&M University School of Law (formerly run by Texas Wesleyan) charges $33,000 a year in tuition and fees. Texas Tech’s law school charges $23,000.
Furgeson said UNT Law plans to stay affordable by keeping costs down in many areas, from faculty salaries to the law library. And it doesn’t plan to give fat scholarships to students with great test scores but no financial need.
Some law schools do that to move up in the national rankings, Furgeson said. “We’re not going to chase LSAT scores or GPAs,” he said. “We’re also looking at other things, like overcoming obstacles.”
UNT Law expects to enroll a diverse group of students in full- and part-time programs. A large share of incoming students are minorities. Many of them are older, with careers and families.
Melinda Chaney is one of those nontraditional students. She said she’s wanted to be a lawyer since she was 8 years old and hooked on shows like Perry Mason and Matlock. She finished high school in Dallas in three years, then college in Nevada in three more years.
Then, as Chaney put it, life happened. She moved back to Dallas to take care of family and got married at 21. Now she’s 34, an insurance agent with a husband and three children.
Southern Methodist University’s law school was too expensive. Law school in Fort Worth (formerly Texas Wesleyan, now Texas A&M) was too far away.
Chaney said the new UNT law school is “a dream” for her. As part of the inaugural class, Chaney will get a $1,500 discount each year, bringing the tuition down to $12,540.
“For three years we’re locked in. That’s amazing,” Chaney said.
As a brand-new law school, UNT is not accredited. It must operate for one year before it can apply for provisional accreditation. School leaders say they’ll make every effort to obtain that status.
It’s a risk Chaney and others are willing to take.
Craig Smith plans to attend part time and keep working in code compliance for the city of Dallas.
“I would never be able to go to another school that charges $40,000 a year. I would be laden with this burden of debt,” Smith said.
At UNT Law, Smith said he can afford to keep working in the public sector and doing what he loves — helping solve community problems, whether it’s graffiti or illegal dumping.
And that’s another goal the leaders of UNT Law have: producing lawyers to represent the middle class, small businesses and other groups.

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More universities to charge maximum tuition fees of £9,000

11:12 PM By

The average cost of a three-year course will rise to more than £26,000, with three-quarters of colleges charging the highest possible fee


The number of universities charging the maximum tuition fees has risen once again, with the cost of a typical three-year course exceeding £26,000 for the first time.
More colleges are to charge the maximum £9,000 annual fee for some or all of their courses from next year, according to figures released today by the government’s access watchdog.
The data, published by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), show that 130 out of 172 universities and colleges, 76 per cent, will charge £9,000 for at least one course in 2015-16.
It means that increasing numbers of universities are offering course charging the top fee level, introduced by the coalition government in 2012.
This is a rise on the figure for 2014-15, of 72 per cent, while the proportion was six in 10 the year before that.

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Parents 'losing faith' in the education system

11:08 PM By



Parents are losing faith in the education system as nearly two thirds admit to being worried that British children are trailing academically, a recent study suggests.
Research from tuition provider, Explore Learning, found that 72 per cent of UK parents are worried that British children aren’t leading the field in educational attainment, whilst 66 per cent have lost faith in the education system entirely.
This data comes to light following the release of the most recent PISA results, which saw the UK trailing in the international league tables, failing to make the top 20 in maths, reading and science.
The research of 1,000 UK-based parents also found that 62 per cent are entirely unaware that a new national curriculum will be taught in schools across England from September this year.
It is feared that, without awareness of the approaching curriculum changes, most parents will be ‘ill-prepared’ to aid their child with their studies and support them in their development.


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0 comments Andrew Nguy: David Douglas teen seeks to use education to elevate students

11:05 PM By



The David Douglas Science Bowl team members were exhausted as they headed to the University of Portland for a February tournament at 5 a.m., but they were excited to show the other schools what they could do.
After devouring doughnuts, hot chocolate and coffee to keep them on their toes, Andrew Nguy, the president of the team, and his teammates were pumped up to beat their competition. At David Douglas High School in Portland, they were the best of the best – and believed they were prepared for a challenge.
But after a few rounds against Westview High School's team, Andrew was shocked at how quickly his team fell behind.
Toward the halfway mark, David Douglas' team of seniors was losing by more than 50 points to Westview's team of freshmen. It was catching up during the second section, but it wasn't enough.
Andrew and his teammates went from being fearless and positive to feeling discouraged and defeated.
"I felt devastated," the 17-year-old said.
Moments like these made Andrew realize his passion in life: education. He believes all students should have an equal chance to use their education to get better positions later on in life, and stop a cycle of poverty.He was frustrated that the younger students on the other team seemed to know more calculus than his fellow seniors. To let off some steam, he wrote a story for the David Douglas Highlander newspaper to describe how he felt the school's lack of Advanced Placement courses made it harder to get a good education as his peers did in other schools.
"They deserve the best that the school can give," he said.
With his outgoing voice, Andrew knew he could use the school newspaper to show other students how they have the short end of the stick. For example, Westview High School – the team that beat them in the Science Bowl – will have 18 Advanced Placement classes in the fall. David Douglas High School has nine AP classes.
His column explained how the school board should add more AP classes, such as AP Economics.
After reading Andrew's column, many students came up to him and said they agreed with him. He and others eventually started a petition, which 500 students signed, to tell the school board about their frustrations on April 10.
The school board gave Andrew and a friend good feedback, and eventually promised to consider adding the economics course.
Andrew learned the value of a good education from his parents, who emigrated from Vietnam before he was born. His father, a grocery store worker, and his mother, a cook at Portland Public Schools, told him they couldn't do the jobs they wanted because they didn't go to college.
The pair were constantly working to support Andrew. As an only child, he sometimes felt lonely but kept himself busy.
At school, he was the president of the Science Club, an editor of the school newspaper and a member of the National Honors Society.
He also teamed up with Peter Freedman, a local game enthusiast, to start a club at his school for Go, a game that started in ancient China. Andrew even won a championship in a beginner's division for North America in his age group.
Eventually, Andrew wants to attend Pomona College in Claremont, California. He likes the school because it's a small, liberal arts college where he'll be able to develop close relationships with his professors.
He wants to become a professor because he feels education and information are "necessary to advance the community.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Utah’s Eskelsen Garcia Named New NEA President

11:09 PM By


The National Education Association (NEA) has elected a new president, former Utah educator Lily Eskelsen García, the current vice-president of the organization.
The Desert News‘ Benjamin Wood reports that Eskelsen García was elected last week and will begin her term on September 1.  Outgoing president Dennis Van Roekel praised Eskelsen García:
“Lily’s going to be the most dynamic spokesperson I think we’ve ever had, and she will make people take notice,” Van Roekel said in a prepared statement. “She will continue to push for equity in education and carry on the organization’s commitment to student-centered union leadership and social justice.”
Eskelsen García has been a lunch lady, a kindergarten aide, an elementary teacher, Utah Teacher of the Year, president of the Utah Education Association, various roles in the NEA, and was chosen by President Barack Obama to serve as a commissioner on the White House Commission on Education Excellence for Hispanics.  She was also an educator for homeless youth in Salt Lake City.
“We must measure what matters and put students’ needs at the center of the system once again. We can no longer allow politicians who have never stepped into a classroom define what it means to teach and learn,” the new president said in a prepared statement. “At a time when nearly 50 percent of public school children live in low-income families, our country must refocus its priorities on the needs of the whole child and bridge the gaps that have only grown over the last decade.”
Lisa Schencker, writing for The Salt Lake City Tribune, says that the incoming president knows quite a bit about classes that are too large and funding that is too small.
Eskelsen García notes that Utah teachers are very savvy.  They know how to “stretch a dollar” and be extremely resourceful.  She adds that teachers want common sense answers and the tools to do their jobs.  What they do not want, she says, is “toxic testing” that is punishing their kids.
Eskelsen García will preside over the 3 million member NEA and will be tackling more issues than just “high-stakes” testing.  She earned her elementary education degree from the University of Utah, graduating magna cum laude.
She earned her master’s degree in instructional technology, spent a year teaching at the Salt Lake City homeless shelter, and a year teaching abused and neglected children at the Christmas Box house.  She is well-known for her blunt language about education and for her use of music in her advocacy efforts.
Some of the issues she will face head-on when she takes her post in September are: court cases that challenge teacher tenure; the loss of support of many loyal Democrats; turmoil surrounding the Common Core; and restoring trust in the union.
Caitlin Emma , reporter for Politico, writes that Eskelsen will take a stand against the federal government’s “value-added measures”, a method of evaluating teacher effectiveness, that she feels are not valid.
The recent Vergara case in California will be another hurdle for the new president. Eskelsen García wants to be sure that everyone realizes that tenure doesn’t mean that teachers, once they have received it, have that job forever.  Tenure only means that due process is in place when they face dismissal.
Eskelsen García would like to abolish the word “tenure”, but opponents of granting teachers tenure may not feel the same way.
Joe Williams , executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, says Eskelsen García needs to make clear what the union is for — not just what it is against.


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Rob Astorino Launches ‘Stop Common Core’ Party in New York

11:07 PM By



Rob Astorino will appear on the New York State gubernatorial ballot this November as the official candidate of the “Stop Common Core Party.” Already the Republican nominee, Astorino has added the third ballot line to the ballot by gathering enough signatures to appear on the ballot with the endorsement of a second party.
“Our children aren’t guinea pigs, Governor Cuomo, and we want them educated by teachers – not faceless bureaucrats in Washington,” Astorino recently said in a video designed to attack incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pro-Common Core endorsement.
The effort will give voters a voice in undoing the Common Core standards in New York schools, a recent controversy in the state.  According to Tom Precious for The Buffalo News, Astorino believes Common Core to be a failure for teachers and students alike in the state.
“Cuomo’s Common Core has been a disaster. The role out and implementation speak for themselves in how bad it has been. But once the implementation is ironed out, some year in the future, we are still left with Common Core. It’s something New York should get out of just as other states are beginning to do right now,” said Astorino.
Cuomo claims the Common Core is needed in order to better evaluate how students perform in New York, an state in which schools have been lagging.
However, Cuomo does agree that how the Common Core standards have not been implemented well thus far.  This year test results were not used in teacher evaluations or in determining student performance, writes Joseph Spector for Lohud.
“I’m sort of where the parent is, standing outside with the sign,” Cuomo told reporters Feb. 20 in Rochester. “And by the way, I would hold the same basic sign that the parent is holding. I think the way they have implemented Common Core as failed utterly. There is massive confusion, massive anxiety and massive chaos all through.”
Astorino claims these steps are not enough, and will unveil his own curriculum plans this fall.  According to Karen DeWitt for North Country Public Radio, Astorino wants to revamp the Regents diplomas.  A New York State Regents diploma used to be the “gold standard” for the nation, and Common Core has damaged the reputation, states Astorino.
According to Astorino, the Board of Regents had a previous plan for creating demanding educational standards that were pushed aside when the federal government offered millions in funding in return for siding with Common Core standards.
He claims to have first-hand accounts of the standards in place through his children, who are elementary school-aged.  Their school district spent six weeks of school time preparing for Common Core-based tests, leaving less time for other classes, thus hurting the student’s performances.
“It is not a one size fits all for children and that is really what Common Core is,” said Astorino.
A spokesman for Gov. Cuomo’s campaign for re election, Peter Kauffman , referred to Astorino’s efforts as “pathetic pandering that will do nothing more than make New York students less competitive than their peers nationally.”



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Students, Activists Protest Race-Based Testing Goals in Florida

1:51 PM By





In October of 2012, Florida established race-based reading and math goals for students. The goals withstood a complaint filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center with the Department of Justice stating that the race-based education goals for minority students violates civil rights law, reports Lauren Roth for theOrlando Sentinel, and the state is beginning to see how the goals are playing out.
Now having completed the first school year with the goals in effect, more people are speaking up about the issue. The goals are currently set so that by 2018, 90% of Asian-American students and 88% of white students are reading at grade level versus 81% of Hispanic students and only 74% of African-American students.
In math, the goal of passing students is set at 92% for Asian Americans, 86% for white students, 80% for Hispanic students and 74% for African-American students.
Sammy Mack, an NPR reporter, sat down with high school students and discussed how they felt the race-based goals affected their experience in the classroom, reports WJCT News.
Spencer, an African American graduate of Atlantic Community High School in Boca Raton expresses his disdain for the race-based goals in a school where he is primarily surrounded by Jewish and Caucasian cultures:
 “I think it’s terrible. They’re only aiming for a certain amount of students passing. They should teach in order to have everyone pass these examinations and also it leads to self-fulfilling prophecies.”
Adriana, a Hispanic student who also recently graduated from Atlantic Community High School, explains how these goals don’t simply impact the way the student see themselves, but also how the teachers see them:
“Even the teachers, when they see these statistics they start thinking, ‘Oh this kid is going to do worse’ … instead of seeing how everyone has that potential to pass. And I think it affects they way that they teach, how they act with other people, how they answer kids’ questions … They do that subconsciously and it isn’t giving equality to all the kids.”
The race-based goals were a result of a waiver that Florida received for having hit benchmarks set in the No Child Left Behind Act, which passed during the George W. Bush administration. The waiver allowed Florida education officials to craft a plan to improve academic achievement, reports the Miami Herald.
The goals are supposed to climb to 100% proficiency for every student in 2022, but for students and civil rights activists that date isn’t soon enough for things to change. They are asking Governor Rick Scott to hold Hispanic and African-American students to a higher standard today, reports Sammy Mack forState Impact Florida.
Supporters of the race-based goals believe that Hispanic and African-American students will work harder by making the gap between their current level and the goal smaller. Students couldn’t feel more opposed to the standards set for them.


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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Headteacher's tender note to her pupils goes viral

11:05 PM By



The letter from Rachel Tomlinson, head of Barrowford school in Nelson, has made a big impression on many who read it. Photograph: Twitter
A primary school in Lancashire has been overwhelmed with support after the head sent a tender and unusual letter to pupils following their exam results.
Children at Barrowford school in Nelson, near Burnley, were told that the school was "very proud" of their effort in the Key Stage 2 (KS2) tests, but went on: "We are concerned that these tests do not always assess all of what it is that make each of you special and unique."
The letter, from head Rachel Tomlinson along with another member of staff, told children: "The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you – the way your teachers do, the way I hope to, and certainly not the way your families do. They do not know that many of you speak two languages. They do not know that you can play a musical instrument or that you can dance or paint a picture. They do not know that your friends count on you to be there for them or that your laughter can brighten the dreariest day."
Sarah Metcalfe, the head's PA, told the Guardian the school had been "overwhelmed by how the letter seems to have captured the public's imagination" after it went viral on Twitter. Another staff member said the school prided itself on having "a very different ethos from almost any other school". The school's motto is "Learn to love, love to learn" and it aims to ensure are pupils are "rounded and grounded", with the "ultimate goal" to "provide individuals with the ability to learn what we need to in whatever circumstances we find ourselves".
The school trended on Twitter on Tuesday morning, with many users suggesting that Tomlinson should take over as education secretary after Michael Gove was ousted in the reshuffle. Others said it should be the first thing in the in-tray of Gove's replacement, Nicky Morgan, as she took office.
Barrowford, a larger than average primary school, with 324 pupils on the roll, was rated "good" in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2012. Inspectors praised the staff at the school for providing "a warm, welcoming environment that builds confidence and supports children to settle very quickly".
Just over 14% of pupils do not speak English as a first language and 12.3% are eligible for free school meals: both figures under the national average.
The school's exam results have been slightly below average in recent years: last year 71% of pupils at KS2 managed to achieve Level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths, compared with 75% across England as a whole. This year's KS2 results have not yet been made public.
As the letter was picked up around the world, some Twitter users pointed out the letter's similarity to a research paper written by an American teacher and academic, Kimberley A Hurd.
In October last year Hurd wrote on her blog: "There are many more ways to be smart than what many schools are currently allowing. The current testing culture personally drives me crazy. It does not tell students that they matter. Tests do not always assess all of what it is that make each student special and unique. The people who create these tests and score them do not know each student the way I do, the way I hope to, and certainly not the way the families do. They do not know that some of my students speak two languages. They do not know that they can play a musical instrument or that they can dance or paint a picture. Doesn't that matter more?"

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