Thursday, December 09, 2004

It's not just American blacks who can't do Math: "For a nation committed to preparing students for 21st century jobs, the results of the first-of-its-kind study of how well teenagers can apply math skills to real-life problems is sobering. American 15-year-olds rank well below those in most other industrialized countries in mathematics literacy and problem solving, according to a survey released Monday. Although the notion that America faces a math gap is not new, Monday's results show with new clarity that the problem extends beyond the classrooms into the kind of life-skills that employers care about. And to the surprise of some experts, the US shortcoming exists even when only top students in each nation are considered."




A city's schools test a new way

School privatization gets a boost from good results in Philadelphia

When the Philadelphia School District was struggling several years ago, one of the lifelines tossed to it was thrown by Edison Schools, Inc., a New York-based for-profit offering a can-do approach to public education. Since then, the nation's largest educational management company has had troubles of its own, ranging from failure to perform successfully in a number of the public schools it was serving to a virtual collapse in the value of its stock.

But if privatizing school management has not proven to be the panacea many in Philadelphia had hoped, neither has Edison been the district's undoing, as activists and others warned when the firm was brought in during the rancorous and bitter state takeover of the district in 2002. On the contrary, test scores are up district-wide, and some of the most impressive gains have come in 20 of the toughest schools, those turned over to Edison in a last-ditch effort to jump-start them into performing. "They've done a superb job with the most difficult schools," said James Nevels, chairman of the state-appointed School Reform Commission, which took over after the school board was disbanded.

Many thought the company itself wouldn't last. Stock prices had plummeted by 2003, some districts canceled their contracts, and the company went private that spring. But Edison spokesman Adam Tucker says the company's slide has been reversed and it enjoyed its first operating profit in its 12-year history at the end of last year. The district, says chairman Nevels, has seen no evidence of financial troubles, but is free to terminate the contract "at will."

"Centralized control is not working in American urban education," says Paul Peterson, professor of government at Harvard University. One way to find out what does work, he insists, is to explore a range of options in a Philadelphia-like mix. Before the state takeover, the school district, with 200,000 students and 276 schools, seemed badly in need of new solutions. The Reform Commission, which hired CEO Paul Vallas, formerly head of Chicago schools and credited with positive reforms in that district, selected Philadelphia's 45 worst-performing schools and divvied them up for intensive care.

Edison got the worst of the lot, including eight middle schools generally thought to be among the most intractable.

Edison "did a number of things right," said Nevels. They brought in their curriculum model, high in structure, heavy in math and reading, and full of opportunities for staff development. Edison's centerpiece, many believe, is a benchmark assessment component, in which students are tested every six weeks. Scores are available immediately. Unlike traditional achievement tests, where results come well after students have moved on to the next grade, the Edison model immediately detects strengths and deficiencies in classes as a whole as well as in individual students. Students are then grouped according to the precise skills needing more attention. "We can be more diagnostic in our approach," said Sharif El-Mekki, principal of Shaw Middle School.

Among the year's achievement highlights, student scores on the 2003-04 Pennsylvania state tests were up substantially in the district as a whole, and Edison's gains mirrored the district's. Edison's average annual gain in the number of students scoring at or above proficiency level was 10.2 percentage points in fifth- and eighth-grade reading, and 9.6 percentage points in math. Prior to the partnership, the same schools' average annual gain in proficiency was less than one-half of one percentage point. Having Philadelphia's worst-achieving schools hold their own is a source of pride to Edison and a confirmation to the district that private management can work.

More here





THE ABANDONMENT OF DISCIPLINE CONTINUES TO BEAR FRUIT

Teachers and class aides across New South Wales are being punched, kicked, spat at, head-butted and threatened with knives, replica guns, petrol bombs and other weapons in the classroom. The incidents, details of which have been obtained by The Daily Telegraph under Freedom of Information, are part of a catalogue of dozens of violent acts perpetrated on teachers in schools across NSW during the past year. More than 1000 serious incidents in state schools - many involving violence - have been reported to the Department of Education.

In one, a box of animal parts was left on a school teacher's desk with a "vile" letter threatening violence, rape and death against her. Police were called to Cumberland High School in the city's west after the animal parts were left for a teacher by three female students - two in Year 11 and one in Year 7. Another female teacher suffered an electrical shock from a student's "stun gun" pen, numbing her arm and hands for more than hour. At Rooty Hill High School a male student gave the pen to his female teacher saying it was jamming. When the teacher pressed the pen's top she suffered a "significant electrical shock". Teachers have had chairs thrown at them, struck with rocks, bitten and had their cars vandalised. In one serious incident at Baulkham Hills in Sydney's northwest an ex-student tried to run over a male teacher.

Cyber violence is also on the rise with the internet increasingly used to make threats against teachers and schools. Threats to a teacher's life were posted on the website of Newtown North Public School and pictures of a known terrorist pasted next to the teacher's class page. The serious incident report filed to the Department of Education said: "The teacher is experiencing extreme distress and is on leave for two weeks and has filled out a worker's compensation form." At Macquarie Boys High School a student used the school computer at lunchtime to post a request on the internet for a teacher to be killed.

Education Minister Andrew Refshauge said yesterday the safety of students and teachers was a "top priority at our schools".

"From next year principals will have even stronger authority to discipline disruptive students," he said. "Principals soon will have the power to suspend students who carry weapons or inappropriately use new technologies such as e-mail and SMS."

But parents also have made serious threats on school staff, the documents show. One father was overheard to say he would put a laser sight on a gun and put a bullet in the principal's head.

A student at Cooranbong Public School at Lake Macquarie placed nails against the teacher's tyres causing punctures. Another teacher had the bonnet of his car badly scratched. Weapons in schools are also causing concern. Scissors are frequently used but in one case a meat cleaver was produced and in another a gun was found under a demountable.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

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