From the Blackboard
Crazy for Statistics: Boot Camp Deadline Extended
Have you wanted to learn how to use an Excel spreadsheet so you can better analyze the dropout statistics in your school district? Or wanted to learn Access so you could do a more sophisticated analysis of teacher benefits or college faculty salaries? The Education Writers Association is here to help you with our annual Education Research and Statistics Bootcamp. The bootcamp runs from January 8-11 at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. EWA pays for three nights of hotel and most meals, as well as up to $250 for airfare, train fare or mileage. Deadline is Nov. 14.
Sign Up for New Collective Bargaining Webinar!
EWA and the National Council on Teaching Quality will host a webinar about collective bargaining what’s at stake for students, teachers and the district for K-12 reporters on Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EST. Panelists will include: Emily Cohen, NCTQ policy analyst; Bess Keller, NCTQ issues director about collective bargaining what’s at stake for students, teachers and the district for K-12 reporters on Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EST. Panelists will include: Emily Cohen, NCTQ policy analyst; Bess Keller, NCTQ issues directors; Steve Lopes, director, Six Rivers Uniserv District, Kansas NEA; Dan Weisberg, chief executive, New York City Schools/Labor Policy and Implementation. If you want to sign up, email Raven Hill by Wednesday, Nov. 10.
Let’s Talk Education
The 2008 presidential campaign is coming to an end and EWA has kept you up to date on the candidates, and issues through our election blog. The candidates haven’t talked much about education in this year’s campaign (to the chagrin of ed reporters and policy wonks). EWA extended an invitation to all presidential candidates in June 2007 to share their perspectives. No one took us up on the offer, but we’ll intend to watch after the election to get ed reporters connected to the incoming administration at the blog. In the meantime, you still have time to check out our election blog for what the candidates did say so you can watch after the election.
BEYOND ACCESS: WHAT ELSE TO WRITE ABOUT COLLEGE, VOLUME 1
by Linda Perlstein, EWA’s public editor
Newspaper and magazine journalists write a whole lot of stories about getting into college. They write a whole lot about paying for college. But what about going to college?
Consider this column the first in a series encouraging you to think more broadly about higher ed stories. To me, there’s one big bald spot in college coverage: what, and how, students are learning. These may not be the easiest stories to find, or to write, but we owe it to our readers to explain what they and their children and grandchildren are getting for that $2,000, or $20,000, or $200,000.
And not just in an “Is America developing its workforce?” sort of way. But rather by looking at trends in teaching and learning, the same way we do when we write about third-grade reading interventions, or high school forensic science classes, or the loss of arts classes in middle school, or standardized test prep.
Of course, everyone who writes regularly about colleges should read Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education, which both cover academic issues very well. (See, recently, Jennifer Howard on a new focus on teaching writers about reading, on or the latest translation sensation: the Aeneid. Subscription required for both articles.) Meet not necessarily with the university president but with the provost, the dean of arts and sciences, or the dean in charge of teaching, and ask them who is doing creative work with curricula and teaching methods. Colleges often highlight interesting professors on their home pages; click through to see if there are any worth meeting.
And, of course, get into the classroom. Narrow down the vast universe of learning by following your own knowledge and interests: Check out the subjects you studied in during college and see how things have changed, by visiting classrooms and disciplinary conferences. Did you major in romance languages? Because among today’s practical-minded students, there’s perhaps no more endangered species than the Italian or French major.
What other stories might you find on campus? Scott Jaschik, the editor of Inside Higher Ed, suggests several trends worth watching, which his site has covered: The adoption of a new approach to the hard sciences—less technological, more humanitarian—that appeals to female students. Attempts not just to catch students plagiarizing—we’ve all seen those stories—but to nip cheating in the bud by teaching, preemptively, what academic integrity looks like. The massive roadblock of remedial math, which might be the highest-enrolled subject on campuses today.
John Plotz, an English professor at Brandeis University in Boston, suggests that reporters look at the huge emphasis colleges today place on experiential learning, credits granted for practical experience such as internships. (This is also called active or integrated learning.) The bigger picture, he suggests, is how the outside world is now enmeshed in the university experience; no longer is college seen as four years within a bubble that you then pop out of.
Nor is it necessarily seen as four years. To save money, Plotz points out, students are piling on credits to graduate in three years. There are lots of questions to raise here. Do students in these circumstances choose majors based not on their interests but on which they can complete most quickly? Do they game the system by picking courses just because they count for two or three different graduation requirements at the same time?
Finally, Plotz says, “the digital version of everything is the huge question on campus.” What’s interesting, he says, is not so much that students are using laptops or iPods in class, but that technology has transformed even humanities education. He points to his colleague Leonard Muellner, who has been translating the Iliad for ages. Muellner now has the project online, where undergraduates can weigh in on it, line by line.
One of the biggest stories in higher ed today is, of course, online learning. Instead of just writing about increased enrollment in such courses, investigate what it looks like for students. Spend some time with them as they do their work, and visit a live class covering the same subject, for comparison.
A “university,” by definition, encompasses a massive range of experiences and ideas. A reporter could write only about academic life and never run out of things to say. “The story of the intellectual trajectory through those four years isn’t one story,” Plotz says. “If it’s successful, it’s a thousand stories.”
THE EDUCATED REPORTER
The only thing certain about No Child Left Behind’s future is that you’re going to have to write about it when politicians finally decide what to do about it. So this is a good a time as any to brush up on the history of federal education policy. You could read Diane Ravitch’s Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms, and you probably should one day, but I’m going to pitch something a little more accessible. (And anyway, I’m saving my Ravitch allotment for the next column, because there’s a book of hers I like better.)
I’m talking instead about Political Education: National Policy Comes of Age (Teachers College Press, 2004). This book, by Christopher Cross, couldn’t be more straightforward. But it’s unwonky to be given five stars on Amazon.com, it’s only 171 pages, and every K-12 reporter should understand the history Cross lays out.
Cross, who has worked on congressional staffs and at the Education Department, takes the reader through not just the what of federal education policy—post-World War II school construction, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s place in President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, the history of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, and the evolution of the current accountability movement—but he also clearly explains why. Now more than ever, what happens among politicians in Washington affects what happens in the classroom. It’s a great idea to understand how we got here.
Linda Perlstein can be reached at lperlstein@ewa.org.
Reports: Math, More Federal Support and Student Loans
Mandating Algebra for Eighth Graders
California’s decision to require all eighth graders to take Algebra I garnered plenty of praise and criticism. Supporters say students will be challenged more and better prepared to take advanced courses such as calculus in high school. However, opponents say not every student is prepared to take algebra by eighth grade and such mandates are harmful.
The Brookings Institution held a panel discussion based on its report “The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra.” Tom Loveless, senior fellow and director of the Brown Center on Education, is the lead author of the report. Algebra in the eighth grade was once reserved for mathematically gifted students. However, after a federal push in the 1990s algebra enrollment reached 31 percent in 2007, doubling the 1990 number. The push came after two major reports: one noted that algebra was a gateway course toward getting into college. Another noted that students in middle school learned little new math.
Loveless says eighth graders taking algebra aren’t necessarily learning more math today. He analyzed data from the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and found some states scoring high on NAEP are enrolling fewer eighth graders in algebra. For example, states like North Dakota and Vermont rank third and fourth on NAEP math testing, but only enroll 21 and 26 percent of their students in algebra. On the other hand, the District of Columbia enrolls more than half of its eighth graders in algebra but scores last on NAEP testing. Loveless also finds while scores for NAEP have risen since 2000, the scores of eighth graders in advanced math have not. He concludes that the “right goals” should focus on actually teaching students algebra, instead of mandating attendance in algebra classes.
Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, challenged Loveless’ analysis. She says even students scoring in the bottom 10th percentile learn more in algebra than in a general math course. So until school systems offer better math teaching in the lower grades to better prepare students for algebra, it's unfair to relegate such students to basic classes where they learn nothing, she said.
More Math
If you can’t get enough of math then check out this new study released by the American Institute for Research (AIR) that finds U.S. students from six cities perform equal to, or better than their peers in other countries. The study says student math scores in grades 4-8 in Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, New York and San Diego were on par with their peers internationally. Students from Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, the District of Columbia and Los Angeles performed below the international average. AIR used a combination of statistics for its results including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2003 and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2003, when both assessments were conducted within the United States in the same grades. The United States and the 11 districts fall in the middle of the international rankings at grades 4 and 8, the report says.
Taking a Stand
College students may feel anxious because of the gloomy economic outlook, especially if they’ve taken out student loans to cover school tuition. Students may worry about the amount of debt they are accumulating while racking up other living expenses. With top economic advisers to President Bush saying parts of the U.S. are experiencing a recession, several think tanks have teamed up for a new initiative designed to raise students’ awareness of the country’s fiscal challenges. Students Face Up is a set of learning materials that include readings, films, slides, student discussion guides, surveys, web links and more. The project encourages faculty and students to use materials in class, or other campus based events to spur meaningful conversations on the national debt. The organization is also sponsoring a contest asking students to submit their ideas on how they would change America’s financial picture. The Brookings Institution, Concord Coalition, Heritage Foundation, Public Agenda, and Viewpoint Learning are sponsoring the project.
It seems you can’t go anywhere today without hearing how the economy is affecting college students and families. Whether it is shortening their commutes because of gas prices, railing against the cost of textbooks, or taking on more loans to pay for tuition, the economy is a major concern for families. Read this Boston Globe story about parents and students taking a second look at public universities. Also read this Philadelphia Inquirer story about how colleges are feeling the sting of the Wall Street meltdown.
Engineering’s Big Dilemma
The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering says the lack of people of color pursuing careers in the field is the “new American dilemma.” The group has just released “Confronting the New American Dilemma,” a report based on its national symposium in May. NACME says that 68,000 bachelor degrees in engineering were awarded to students in the U.S. in 2006, but fewer than 8,500 were awarded to African American, American Indian and Latino students. You can read short narratives from NACME symposium presenters like Juan Williams, senior correspondent for National Public Radio and Fox News analyst, Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, and Jaime P. Meriotis, president of Lumina Foundation. The presenters talk to K-12 and higher education administrators, government officials and business leaders about moving beyond the academic and social barriers to build diversity in the field. You’ll also find statistics, graphs and other data in this report.
Weathering the Student Loan Scandal
The student loan scandal is fresh on the minds of many in the higher ed community, especially with a shaky economy. The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities examines the severity of the fallout for institutions. NAICU released a survey that finds private colleges aren’t suffering a deep crisis over lending practices, but they are scrambling to keep aid flowing to students. In September, NAICU surveyed 953 of its members about the effects of the credit crunch on student loan availability for this academic year. Institutions reported that some students unable to secure private loans were asking their parents to make greater financial contribution to their education. About three-quarters of private colleges say they have experienced an increase in demand for student aid this year. Yet two-thirds of respondents reported no negative impact on student enrollment. NAICU says the long-term effects of the student loan scandal aren’t known yet. The group says it will monitor the credit crisis and current economic slowdown on institutions and students. Read this Inside Higher Education story about the survey. If you want to review some of the excesses of the student loan crisis read this story.
A Game Changer
New America Foundation’s Sara Mead and Education Sector’s co-director Andrew Rotherham teamed up for “Changing the Game: The Federal Role in Supporting 21st Century Educational Innovation”. The report was released by the Brookings Institution.
To ensure that American workers are competitive globally, the federal government needs to spur a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in public education through a new Office of Educational Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OEEI) within the U.S. Department of Education. Mead’s and Rotherham’s report says public education would expand. The office would collaborate with entrepreneurs, innovators, philanthropists, state and local governments. The project would help ‘scale up’ successful educational entrepreneurs, foster transformational educational innovations, and build a stronger culture of entrepreneurship and innovation with the support of the federal level.
Could This Be the End of Journalism Internships?
We’ve all seen the stories of newspapers trimming staffs and newsprint. However, do you think it is fair for newspapers to employ interns, and ask colleges to chip in to cover stipends as they lose money? A miscommunication between the Philadelphia Inquirer and the dean of the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications raised some questions over newspapers and their budgets. Jean Folkerts, the dean of UNC’s journalism program, says the paper asked the institution to allocate money for student internships. The money would guarantee a slot for a journalism student enrolled at UNC for a summer internship. As Folkerts sees it students from schools who didn’t pitch in wouldn’t receive internships. You can read the saga here. The newspaper says it asked colleges for help. And they say they wouldn’t be able to support the 12 positions they designate for interns each summer if they didn’t get supplemental money from schools. “Why deprive a student of an internship, if a college journalism school is able to help fund part of its cost?” asks Vernon Loeb, the Inquirer's deputy managing editor. “For $3,000 -- less than the cost of a course at many universities -- a journalism school can help propel a top student into the work world through the experience he or she is able to get in our newsroom." Which side do you support?
Media Jobs and Upcoming Seminars
Chicago Public Schools seeks a media pro to handle spokesperson's responsibilities for country's third-largest school system. You will need at least seven years of media experience, strong writing skills, the ability to handle multiple assignments and meet tight deadlines. Send cover letter, resume, and two brief writing samples by Oct. 31 to Michael Vaughn, Director of Communications, at mvaughn@cps.k12.il.us.
The Red Cross National headquarters in Washington, D.C. is looking for a senior communications specialist. If interested, apply online or send application materials to simmons@usa.redcross.org to hiring manager.
The Collaborative Communications Group is seeking a director of content publishing. The person will oversee print publications, websites and other reports. Please send application materials by Oct. 31.
How has the web and social media empowered consumers to hold the government and corporations accountable for products? If you want to learn more, sign up for “Consumer Revolution the Web: Opportunities and Dangers for Journalism” sponsored by Consumer Reports and the Columbia Journalism Review. The one-day conference will be held Nov. 20 at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City. David Pogue, New York Times technology columnist will give the keynote address. Deadline for registration is Nov. 7.
IRE is hosting “Unleashing the Watchdogs Workshop” for reporters, editors, and producers Saturday, Nov. 15. The workshop will be held at Southern Connecticut State University. You can register online for the conference until Nov. 4.
From the Beat
Bethlehem, Pa. district losing on money deal
Steve Esack,
The Morning Call
Several years ago, Bethlehem Area school officials knew they had to borrow money to renovate and expand the district's two high schools. They didn't know that decision would lead to a chain of events that would cost the district plenty and threaten its financial stability.
The High School Dropout's Economic Ripple Effect
Gary Fields
The Wall Street Journal
As the financial meltdown and economic slump hold the national spotlight, another potential crisis is on the horizon: a persistently high dropout rate that educators and mayors across the country say increases the threat to the country's strength and prosperity.
The Lightning Rod
Clay Risen
Atlantic Monthly
Michelle Rhee charged in as chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools wielding BlackBerrys and data—and a giant ax. She has made a city with possibly the country’s worst public schools ground zero for education reform, and attracted a cadre of young zealots some critics call “Rhee-bots.” Now the changes that she insists schoolchildren need are colliding head-on with the political wants of adults.
Expanded GI Bill Too Late for Some
Christian Davenport
The Washington Post
The new GI Bill passed by Congress over the summer, which dramatically expands veterans’ benefits, was lauded as a sign that the country was looking after this generation of warriors. But don't extol its virtues to Grey Adkins, who served two tours with the Navy off the coast of Iraq, is $10,000 in debt and won't see a dime of the new benefits.
Professors Use Technology to Fight Student Cheating
Kim Clark
U.S. News and World Report
Teachers, long behind in the cheating arms race, may finally be catching up. They are using new technologies, including text-matching software, webcams, and biometric equipment, as well as cunning stratagems such as Web "honey pots," virtual students, and cheat-proof tests.
Please send your best stories and member news to Mesha Williams at publications@ewa.org.
**About us**
The Education Writers Association is the national professional organization of education reporters dedicated to improving education reporting to the public. Contact us by email at ewa@ewa.org, by phone at (202) 452-9830, by fax at (202) 452-9837 or by mail at 2122 P Street NW, Suite 201, Washington, DC, 20037.Our officers include: Richard Whitmire of USA Today, president; Kent Fischer, education reporter at the Dallas Morning News, vice president/actives; Marie Groark, senior policy officer and spokeswoman for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, vice president/associates; Kathy Baron, morning host/education reporter at northern California's KQED-FM (on leave), secretary; Linda Lenz, publisher of Catalyst, immediate past president. Our board members include Dale Mezzacappa, former reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and now a Philadelphia-based freelance writer, Tanya Schevitz, higher education reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle; John Merrow of Learning Matters Inc.; Rodney Ferguson, executive vice president of Lipman Hearne Inc. Find contact information at our Web site, http://www.ewa.org.
