Educator-Astronaut Says Teachers' Ability To Inspire

Is Key To Success In Classroom.

Barbara Morgan, NASA's first educator astronaut, writes in an opinion
piece for USA Today (11/3, Morgan) that last month, when "President
Obama read Dianna Hutts Aston's The Moon Over Star, about the 1969
American landing on the moon, to second-graders in Washington," the
White House said, "For the young protagonist of this lyrical and hopeful
picture book, that landing is something that inspires her to make one giant
step toward all of the possibilities that life has to offer." According to
Morgan, "despite all the debate over education spending, vouchers, and
testing, success in the classroom comes down to the ability of teachers to
inspire and energize students." She adds, "Just think, one of the students
listening as the president read about Neil Armstrong might one day be the
first person to walk on the surface of another planet. It would be another
giant leap for humankind, made possible by foresight and education."

Opinion: Curriculum Is Single Most Important Factor

In Quality Of Education.
Marion Brady, a "veteran teacher, administrator, curriculum designer and
author," wrote in the Washington Post (11/5, Brady) The Answer Sheet
blog that "when 'Race to the Top' fails, as it will, the main reason won't be
any of those currently being advanced by the corporate interests and
politicians now running the education show" such as "lack of academic
rigor, poor teaching, weak administrators, too-short school year," or "union
resistance." Instead, he writes, it will fail because of "a curriculum adopted
in 1893 that grows more dysfunctional with each passing year." According
to Brady, "the familiar, traditional curriculum is so at odds with the natural
desire to learn that laws, threats, and other extrinsic motivators are
necessary to keep kids in their seats and on task." He suggests "some
things Congress and the administration could do" to improve the
curriculum, including accepting that "if the curriculum is lousy, the
education will be lousy," despite all other factors.
First Lady Speaks To High School Girls About
Finding A Mentor.
The Denver Post (11/17, Crummy) reports that first lady Michelle Obama
visited Denver Monday "to focus attention on a program that puts students
in touch with women who can act as their mentors." She spoke "at a
luncheon at the governor's mansion," telling "80 high school girls that
through 'hard work and focus' and perseverance when someone doubts
them, they could be successful."
 The AP (11/17, Wyatt) reports that Mrs. Obama also mentioned
that she "doesn't put much stock in standardized tests." She told a
group of students, "Don't let those tests defeat you. Don't let those
tests define you." The AP adds that at the luncheon at the governor's
mansion, Michelle Obama was joined by "about 80 girls" and HHS
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "Other mentors were Latina astronaut Ellen
Ochoa, and actresses Susan Sarandon, and Alfre Woodard."
"East Wing aides said that Denver was chosen because it has such a
diverse population of young women," Politico (11/16, Henderson) reported.
"According to US Census Bureau 2008 estimates, 34.4 percent of this
city's population is Hispanic, 10.1 percent is black or African-American,
and 3.4 percent is Asian." The Denver Business Journal (11/16, Harden)
also covered the story.

California's Top Teachers Say Law Hampers

Classroom Creativity, According To Study.
California's Press Enterprise (1/26, Straehley) reported, "The best teachers
don't like the effects of the No Child Left Behind act, saying it hampers
creativity in the classroom and makes it harder to teach students to love
learning," according to a UC Riverside study published in Policy Matters
today. Researchers "surveyed 740 national board certified teachers in
California" and "found that 84 percent reported overall unfavorable
attitudes about the" law. Many teachers said that "too much class time is
devoted to teaching what's on the state tests, and there's little time left for
creative and fun lessons." Titled, "Does the No Child Left Behind Act Help
or Hinder K-12 Education," the reports also says that "teachers did see
value in the focus and high expectations set by the act, but" did not see
NCLB as helping students reach those standards.

Training Aims To Help Science Teachers Engage

Students In Higher-Level Thinking.
The St. Petersburg Times (1/30, Solochek) reported that "University of
Central Florida aerospace engineering associate professor" Larry Chew
"spent two days this week at John Long Middle School training science
teachers how to better engage their students in their daily lessons." For
one lesson, he used a game involving "straws, markers and pingpong
balls" as an introduction for "instruction on Newton's First Law of Motion,
which states that an object generally keeps doing what it has been doing --
moving or standing still -- unless acted upon by an unbalanced force."
Long "science teachers decided to bring in Chew to help them" teach
students "higher-level thinking concepts." As part of the training, Chew
also "modeled how to get the students talking in a controlled environment,
where he focused the learning but didn't dominate."
Obama Administration Proposes NCLB Overhaul
Within 2011 Budget Request.
USA Today (2/2, Toppo) reports that the Obama administration "will seek
Congress' help in overhauling a key part of the 8-year-old No Child Left
Behind education law," proposing that "a requirement that states increase
the percentage of students meeting standards each year" be eliminated.
Instead, President Obama "wants lawmakers to consider rewarding states
that show progress toward internationally benchmarked, nationally
developed standards." According to USA Today, Education Secretary Arne
Duncan "told reporters the law 'often does little to reward progress' of
schools that help students achieve - and lets states set standards that are
too low to allow U.S. children to get into college or compete
internationally."
The AP (2/1, Quaid) reported that President Obama is proposing an
NCLB overhaul, "replacing the school accountability system that has
slapped a failing label on more than a third of schools, including many that
made big gains but just missed their annual targets." According to the AP,
President Obama's budget plan aims to "recognize and reward schools for
helping kids make gains, even if they aren't yet on grade level."
The Washington Post (2/2, Anderson) reports, "As legions of schools
nationwide fall short of academic targets, the Obama administration
proposed Monday to toss out the pass-fail measure that for 15 years has
been the bedrock of the school accountability system and replace it with an
index that would reward educators who prepare students for college and
careers." Duncan "credited" NCLB "for exposing achievement gaps but
said it has focused too much on reading and math and unfairly labeled
many schools."
The Christian Science Monitor (2/2, Paulson) reports, "Included in
Monday's 2011 budget proposal were some significant - and controversial -
shifts in federal education policy, even though a formal" NCLB
reauthorization plan "has yet to be submitted. ... The administration would
like to replace the annual yearly progress (AYP) benchmarks with new
standards based on college and career readiness." Bloomberg News (2/1)
reports that according to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, "the largest
U.S. teachers' union is 'very pleased' with the administration's planned
changes to the law."

Obama Proposes $1 Billion Increase In STEM

Education Funding For 2011.
InformationWeek (2/3, Hoover) reports that President Obama's "proposed
2011 budget includes significant increases in funding for science and math
education." His budget proposal includes a nearly 40 percent increase
from 2010 -- $1 billion -- in "K-12 science, technology, engineering and
math education funding." That would be "a total of $3.7 billion in STEM
education funding overall." In addition, Obama seeks to "make $500 million
available through the Department of Education's 'Investing in Innovation'
Fund, which would allow schools to make technology-related investments
to 'infuse educational technology across a broad range of programs in
order to improve teaching and learning.'" Information Week points out,
"These funds appear to take the place of the Enhancing Education
Through Technology fund, which receives no money in next year's
proposed budget."

Georgia Officials Launch Investigation Into

Standardized Test Cheating.
The New York Times (2/12, A14, Dewan) reports, "Georgia education
officials ordered investigations on Thursday at 191 schools across the
state where they had found evidence of tampering on answer sheets for
the state's standardized achievement test. The order came after an inquiry
on cheating by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement raised red
flags regarding one in five of Georgia's 1,857 public elementary and middle
schools." According to the Times, the "inquiry flagged any school that had
an abnormal number of erasures on answer sheets where the answers
were changed from wrong to right, suggesting deliberate interference by
teachers, principals or other administrators."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (2/12, Torres) reports that in Georgia
the "state school board Thursday ordered immediate investigations of 191
Georgia schools facing questions of tampering with last spring's
standardized tests. Lawmakers, meanwhile, began work on a proposal to
make test cheating a crime." The "board's unanimous vote required local
systems to investigate schools deemed by the state to have test results of
'moderate' or 'severe' concern for erasures on the state's Criterion-
Referenced Competency Tests."
Firing Of All Teachers At High School In Rhode
Island Called "Illogical."
The Nashua (NH) Telegraph (3/1) editorialized, "The decision by the
impoverished school district of Central Falls, R.I., to fire the entire high
school staff -- teachers and administrators -- was the inevitable, albeit
illogical, result of a decade's worth of No Child Left Behind." According to
the Telegraph, the basis of No Child Left Behind "has been to identify
'nonperforming schools' on the basis of test scores and to structure
sanctions accordingly." At the center of that effort "has been the notion that
there's no such thing as a failing child, only failing schools." The Telegraph
asserts, "If we continue down this path of expecting our schools and
teachers to overcome all the factors contributing to poor student
performance, we will only drive the best and the brightest to other
professions."

Pennsylvania Plans To Use Video Games To Teach

Math And Science.
Pennsylvania's Tribune-Democrat (3/2, Evans) reports, "A new statewide
plan to use video games to help teach math, science and technology is
taking root in Johnstown." Ed Sheehan, president of Concurrent
Technologies Corp. and a member of the state Board of Education "said
CTC will field a team of 3-D gaming and Hollywood special effects experts
to be certain the new program 'fully captures the imagination of student
participants.'" The plan will seek to spur "an innovative statewide
technology program that boosts student math, science and technology
achievements by actively engaging them with cutting-edge 3-D gaming
technology, real-world, project-based internships and technology camps,"
according to Sheehan.

Survey Shows Supportive Leadership Trumps

Increased Pay In Retaining Teachers.
The Washington Post (3/3, Anderson) reports, "A national survey of more
than 40,000 public school teachers suggests that while higher salaries are
far more likely than performance pay to help keep top talent in the
classroom, supportive leadership trumps financial incentives." The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation-funded survey "also shows that teachers have
mixed feelings about proposals for new academic standards: Slightly more
than half think that establishing common standards across all states would
have a strong or very strong impact on student achievement, but two-thirds
believe the rigor of standards in their own state is 'about right.'"