Thursday, December 20, 2007

Last Post for 2007

Today's post is the final entry in The Comp Book for 2007. We'll be taking winter break from Dec. 21 - Jan. 2 to celebrate, ring in the new year and recharge for what will hopefully be a great 2008.

Before we bid you "Happy Holidays," here are a couple of things worth noting:
  • Community farmers and environmental proponents will be urging Washington state lawmakers to consider legislation that would ease state laws so that school districts could purchase produce from local farms. The campaign is called "Local Farms -- Healthy Kids" and you can learn more here.
  • The U.S. Department of Justice is sponsoring a National Missing Children's Day Poster Contest for fifth-graders to help raise awareness and teach children about safety. State entires are due by March 14 and should be submitted to Susan Miller, Washington State Patrol, Missing Person Unit, PO Box 2347, Olympia, WA 98507-2347.
  • Is the 180-day school year going the way of the rotary-dial phone? That's the theory behind this Dec. 17 editorial that appeared in the USA Today.
As always, let us know what's on your mind about these topics or any other K-12 or principal leadership issues.

Happy Holidays!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Middle School Math Teachers in the U.S. ...

... are not as prepared to teach the subject as their peers in five other countries according to a new study out by researchers at Michigan State University.

The study, Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21), suggests the training of middle school math teachers in the U.S. is not sufficient to teach a demanding math curriculum. MT21 studied how well a sample of universities and teacher-training institutions prepare middle school math teachers in the U.S., South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Bulgaria and Mexico. Specifically, 2,627 future teachers were surveyed about their preparation, knowledge and beliefs in this area.

According to the study:

Compared to the other countries, the U.S. future teachers ranked from the middle to the bottom on MT21 measures of math knowledge.

“What’s most disturbing is that one of the areas in which U.S. future teachers tend to do the worst is algebra, and algebra is the heart of middle school math,” said William Schmidt, MSU Distinguished Professor of counseling, educational psychology and special education, who directed the study. “When future teachers in the study were asked about opportunities to learn about the practical aspects of teaching mathematics, again we ranked mediocre at best.”

You can view the entire report online or listen to a podcast by William Schmidt.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Penny for Your Thoughts

The holidays--and recent flooding here in Washington state--make us all wonder what we can do to help. And for children, that question is an even more daunting. But the folks at the nonprofit Common Cents may have found a simple and easy solution to such a difficult question. And it's likely in your pants pockets, car ashtray or desk drawer.

The Penny Harvest was started by a four-year-old (yes, 4) and her father. In 1991, young Nora Gross asked her father how she could help feed a homeless man. Searching for the "right" answer to his daughter's question, Gross' father, Teddy, was inspired by a loose change bowl in their house. Fifteen years later, Common Cents and the Penny Harvest have helped schoolchildren find a way to improve things in their communities with the smallest gifts of change. Common Cents has developed Penny Harvest Kits that schools, school groups, individuals and communities can use to start their own projects. According to the site:
During the 05/06 school year, almost a half million children from 770 New York City schools took part in the Penny Harvest, collecting nearly 185 tons of pennies or $655,508.54. After months of research and study, more than 7,000 children sitting on 521 Philanthropy Roundtables made 1,283 monetary grants to non-profits, such as women’s shelters, animal rights organizations, community gardens and senior centers, and carried out 309 Neighborhood Service projects. Every penny collected goes back to the community.
Check out the current New York City Penny Harvest in Rockefeller Center, a collection of 100 million pennies that's as long and wide as a city block! There's also Penny Harvest Centers springing up in Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and right here in Washington state.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

He Ain't Heavy (He's My Backpack)

With more and more schools opting to forgo lockers, the burden of carrying around a day's worth of books is falling heavily on the shoulders of today's students according to this article from The Olympian (republished in The Seattle Times). Parents in North Thurston Public Schools are asking district officials to provide secure storage for student backpacks and other gear since bags are now overflowing with binders, books, instruments and other school supplies.

Did your school phase out lockers? If so, what are you doing to help students better balance their academic luggage? Any thoughts of reinstalling them?

Friday, December 7, 2007

An "A" in Marketing

Schools in Seminole County, Fla. are taking some flak today over a partnership with local McDonald's restaurants. Apparently the district inked a partnership deal with the local restaurants to cover $1,600 in printing costs associated with their report card jackets (right) for the 2007-08 school year. Students who receive A's and B's received a free Happy Meal coupon on the jackets of their report cards, which they can redeem at local McDonald's restaurants.

You can read more about it here, here and here.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Caught Being Good

A nice editorial in today's Walla Walla Union Bulletin about students being singled out for positive behavior in the Walla Walla Public Schools. From raising their grades to keeping the school grounds tidy, students are being praised (e.g., noticed) for contributing in a positive way.

Does your school or district have a similar program in place? If so, how has it been received? Has it changed anything at your school?

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Reporting or Sales?

Today's New York Times has a column questioning the ranking of high schools, such as the new U.S. News & World Reports ranking mentioned in Tuesday's post. Author Samuel G. Freedman posits whether the listing of high schools is more about selling magazines than about journalism or the search for quality secondary schools:
Whatever this list represents in terms of journalism or public service, it must be understood also as an exercise in business, in extending the U.S. News brand, in helping it survive in a financial and technological climate hostile to news magazines. Having devoted annual issues to ranking colleges, graduate schools and hospitals, U.S. News has now brought the same approach to secondary education.
What do you think?

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Tuesday Tidbits - Dec. 4, 2007

It's Tuesday, so it must be time for some K-12 tidbits!
  • The Dec. 10 issue of U.S. News & World Reports includes its first ranking of "America's Best High Schools." But don't look for Washington schools on the list. The U.S. News & World Report researchers' ranking formula evaluated schools based on how well students performed on state reading and math tests, participation in AP and several other factors. You can view the list of schools in Washington state here. Schools are sorted into Gold, Silver and Bronze categories, with scores given for Poverty Adjusted Performance, Disadvantaged Student Performance Gap, College Readiness Index, Minority Enrollment and Disadvantaged Student Enrollment.
  • While we're on the subject of graduation and high schools, Tacoma News Tribune Columnist Peter Callaghan has a noteworthy column today on the debate over college readiness for all students. Should all students be required to take college prep courses regardless of their post-graduate plans?
  • Experience vs. Degrees? Apparently experience trumps degrees when it comes to K-12 teaching, according to a new study by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. “In the first few years on the job, a teacher gains considerably in her or his ability to improve the academic performance of students,” the report concluded. Members of the state's Basic Education Task Force, will use the study in its analysis of basic ed funding. (Unfortunately, it does not look like this study has been added to the WSIPP site just yet.)

Monday, December 3, 2007

School in a Box

In case you missed it last night, CBS's "60 Minutes" profiled technology thinker Nicholas Negroponte and his "One Laptop Per Child" movement. The idea is simple: provide every child in the world with a laptop computer. But as with everything, the devil is in the details.

Negroponte, a professor at MIT, engaged some of his computer-minded colleagues to design a portable, battery operated computer (named the "XO") for use in a variety of conditions, since many of these laptops are given to children that live without electricity, let alone many of the other comforts of the modern world. The resulting machine (right) is waterproof and can operate in full sunlight (try that with your Dell) for about 10-12 hours. Outta juice? Try the hand crank or a device that looks like a salad spinner, and you can generate 10-20 minutes of online reading with a minute or two of turning, according to reporter Leslie Stahl.

From a technology perspective, this is groundbreaking. Negroponte, famous for his work at the MIT Media Lab, has created something revolutionary in the personal computing world. But as the professor observes in the "60 Minutes" piece and on his OLPC Web site, "it's an education project, not a laptop project."

But educationally, Negroponte has been taken to task by groups like Geekcorps for distributing the machines to students with no formal education. The professor counters that's even more reason for children and families in extreme poverty to have access to an XO:
"You’re saying give them a laptop even if they don’t go to school?" Stahl asks.

"Especially if they don’t go to school. If they don’t go to school, this is school in a box."
What do you think about distributing these machines to students with no formal education? And, what could your students learn from being involved in this project?

P.S.: If you are interested in buying an XO, try the "Give One, Get One" program: purchase one for yourself and donate another to the program.