Where the schools are
Bangor Daily News, September 23, 2006

(excerpt) Where schools are built can have a major impact on the character and growth of a community. With a push from state education officials, communities are consolidating small schools and building new ones near town centers. This is a welcome change.

For years, many believed the state's school construction policy contributed to sprawl by requiring large lots for new buildings. Such lots are typically found at the edges of town, not near their centers. In July, the State Board of Education removed the minimum acreage requirements from the site-selection criteria. The rules had required that an elementary school site have at least five usable acres, a middle school at least 10 acres and a high school 15 acres.

The acreage was needed not just for the building, but for parking, bus traffic and recreation areas and playing fields. The acreage could be noncontiguous and the board could waive the minimum acreage requirement if a district proved there was no alternative site and that a smaller one met the board's other criteria. Removing the minimum acreage requirement eliminates a problem, whether real or imagined.

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For some schools, mandate lacks bite
Morning Sentinel, September 23, 2006

(excerpt)Lawrence Junior High School found itself on the No Child Left Behind failure list for the fifth straight year this week, but that distinction has yet to result in any sanctions against the school.

Don't expect that situation to change either, according to a Department of Education worker involved with No Child Left Behind.

"The federal government requires a listing of the performance of all schools under No Child Left Behind," said Rachelle Tome, director of accountability and school improvement for Title I, "but the sanctions only apply to those schools that receive federal funding under Title I. (Title I is a program that provides federal funds for public schools aimed primarily at disadvantaged children.)

Lawrence Junior High School, which is part of School Administrative District 49, is hardly alone in this regard. Of the 23 middle schools that failed to achieve adequate yearly progress in the same subject for two years -- a group the state dubs Continuous Improvement Priority Schools -- only six are schools that receive funding through that federal program.

That means the state cannot send intervention teams, which are funded by Title I money, to 17 schools on the continuous improvement list, although Tome said education officials are happy to answer any questions those schools have in regard to No Child Left Behind compliance.

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TABOR's school impacts debated
Portland Press-Herald, September 21, 2006

(excerpt) The proposed spending cap known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights would likely result in widespread cuts and inadequate funding for Maine's public schools, according to a legal review written for school officials. Backers of the bill, though, said the review is part of a campaign to scare voters and protect special interests. The proposal will appear as Question 1 on the Nov. 7 statewide ballot. It basically provides a variety of caps on government spending, and sets up a voter-approval requirement for any increases beyond those limits. Local officials, school leaders and business groups continue to study the proposal. They're trying to determine how it would affect everything from per-pupil spending to public safety response times. Portland attorney Richard Spencer of Drummond Woodsum prepared his analysis at the request of the Maine School Management Association, an advocacy group comprised of school board members and superintendents.

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Merrill proposes teacher pay plan
Bangor Daily News, September 21, 2006

(excerpt)Independent candidate for governor Barbara Merrill detailed her plan to provide merit pay for teachers, telling a Bangor audience on Wednesday the financial incentive will help the state attract highly qualified teachers and improve students’ academic performances. "Every successful business rewards extra skill and commitment, and there is no business more important than educating our children"...

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New York Reading Skills Drop After 5th Grade
New York Times, September 21, 2006

The proportion of New York students reading and writing on grade level drops sharply between the fifth and sixth grades, and continues to plunge through middle school, according to the first results of a new, comprehensive state testing system that was adopted in the last school year to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The results show a sharp fall-off in the number of students performing at grade level after fifth grade.

The scores, released today by the state education commissioner, Richard P. Mills, show more than two-thirds of students reading and writing at the appropriate level in fourth grade but fewer than half doing so in eighth grade. The results offer a clear trend of declining literacy skills that helps explain the state’s low high school graduation rates.

“The overall pattern is disturbing — relatively high performance in grades three, four and five, which is still not as high as it should be, and a downward trend in grade six that accelerates in grades seven and eight,” Mr. Mills said. “Literacy is the problem. This pattern is not inevitable. This pattern has to change. All youngsters have to emerge from middle school ready for high school. We still have a lot of work to do.”

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Report Critical of Training of Teachers
New York Times, September 19, 2006

Most American teachers are trained in university programs with low admission and graduation standards, and with faculty members and courses that are often unimpressive and disconnected from what takes place in elementary and secondary schools, according to a study released yesterday.

Some education departments and schools should be shut down and others need vast improvement, said the report, “Educating School Teachers,” released by the Education Schools Project, a research group.

“Teacher education right now is the Dodge City of education, unruly and chaotic,” said the author of the report, Arthur Levine, the president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the former president of Teachers College at Columbia University.

“There is a chasm between what goes on in the university and what goes on in the classroom,” Dr. Levine said yesterday at a news conference in Washington.

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Ten percent of schools fail to meet standards
Portland Press Herald, September 19, 2006

Fifty-five public elementary and middle schools in Maine failed to meet federal accountability standards last year, the state Department of Education announced on Monday.
Although the number of schools on the list dropped from 92 the previous year, education officials said the introduction of a new standardized test makes it pointless to compare the year-to-year results.
The schools on this year's list, which the state is required to compile under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, represent about 10 percent of the Maine schools where fourth- and eighth-graders were tested in mathematics and reading. Twenty-five of the 55 schools were put on notice for failing to make what is called "adequate yearly progress" for the second, third or fourth consecutive year.
Districts with schools that make the list for three straight years must give students the choice of attending another school in the district. In past years, few if any Maine students have been known to change schools as a result of the law.

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Walking distance to school weighed
Bangor Daily News, September 19, 2006

While Brewer school officials and local architects review cost comparisons for building a new elementary school and renovating the existing buildings, a visiting State Planning Office official offered a suggestion Monday: Add walking distance to the list of desired criteria.

"Maximizing the potential for being able to walk to school is my message, plain and simple," John Delvecchio, special projects coordinator for the State Planning Office, told the school building committee. "Ideally, we're talking about five to seven minutes [of walking time]."

Improving the health of pupils, reducing sprawl and keeping busing costs low are several of the reasons the state Legislature is suggesting that schools be built in residential zones, Delvecchio said.

Some committee members, including City Councilor Joseph Ferris, were surprised by Delvecchio's message.

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Report Urges Changes in the Teaching of Math in U.S. Schools
New York Times, September 13, 2006

(excerpt) At a time when most states call for dozens of math topics to be addressed in each grade, the new report sets forth just three basic skills for each level. In fourth grade, for example, the report recommends that the curriculum should center on the “quick recall” of multiplication and division, the area of two-dimensional shapes and an understanding of decimals. It stopped short of a call for memorization of basic math facts.

The 1989 report is widely seen as an important factor nudging the nation away from rote learning and toward a constructivist approach playing down memorization in favor of having children find their own approaches to problems, and write about their reasoning.

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NCTM report here.

The Myth About Homework
Time, August 29, 2006

(excerpt)...two new books assailing this bane of modern family life: The Homework Myth (Da Capo Press; 243 pages), by Alfie Kohn, the prolific, perpetual critic of today's test-driven schools, and The Case Against Homework (Crown; 290 pages), a cri de coeur by two moms, lawyer Sara Bennett and journalist Nancy Kalish.

Both books cite studies, surveys, statistics, along with some hair-raising anecdotes, on how a rising tide of dull, useless assignments is oppressing families and making kids hate learning. A few highlights from the books and my own investigation:

• According to a 2004 national survey of 2,900 American children conducted by the University of Michigan, the amount of time spent on homework is up 51% since 1981.

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Think tank releases TABOR analysis
MaineToday.com (AP), September 12, 2006

(excerpt)Mainers would have more money in their pockets and the state economy would grow if voters in November approve the Taxpayer Bill of Rights referendum, according to a study released Tuesday.

The analysis by the Maine Heritage Policy Center concludes that a cap on state and local government spending would give the average Maine household $500 in extra cash the first year it goes into effect. In 2019, the study says, the average household would have an additional $3,782 to spend: $2,893 from lower taxes and $888 from higher incomes.

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The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon?
Newsweek, September 11, 2006

(excerpt)In the last decade, the earliest years of schooling have become less like a trip to "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and more like SAT prep. Thirty years ago first grade was for learning how to read. Now, reading lessons start in kindergarten and kids who don't crack the code by the middle of the first grade get extra help. Instead of story time, finger painting, tracing letters and snack, first graders are spending hours doing math work sheets and sounding out words in reading groups. In some places, recess, music, art and even social studies are being replaced by writing exercises and spelling quizzes. Kids as young as 6 are tested, and tested again—some every 10 days or so—to ensure they're making sufficient progress.

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How we dummies succeed
Washington Post, September 6, 2006

(excerpt)...let me offer a distinction between the U.S. school system and the American learning system .

The school system is what most people think of as "education." It consists of 125,000 elementary and high schools and 2,500 four-year colleges and universities. It has strengths (major research universities) and weaknesses -- notably, lax standards. One reason that U.S. students rank low globally is that many don't work hard. In 2002, 56 percent of high school sophomores did less than an hour of homework a night.

The American learning system is more complex.

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Surveys back on Union 42 agenda
Kennebec Journal, September 6, 2006

(excerpt)The School Union 42 Board of Directors will meet to discuss goals for the year and set ground rules for meetings.

The meeting -- the first regular meeting this school year -- will be held at 6 p.m., Thursday, at the Maranacook Community High School performing arts center.

The board will also discuss the results of exit surveys given to the parents of any student leaving Maranacook area schools -- whether moving or graduating.

The exit surveys will be discussed during the informational portion of the meeting, Superintendent Richard Abramson said, which means there will be no action or vote. But Abramson said board members will be able to suggest areas for the administrative team to examine.

Three plans for SAD 48 offered
Public to have say on district buildings
Bangor Daily News, September 1, 2006

(excerpt) Mike McCormick of Dexter, hired by SAD 48 to conduct an assessment of the district's 10 buildings and make recommendations about replacement, renovation or removal, has offered three plans for the future.

The plans proposed by McCormick for SAD 48 include:

• Renovate Nokomis High School into a middle school; convert two existing middle schools into elementary schools; construct new elementary school for Plymouth, Palmyra and Newport; close all existing elementary schools; construct a new high school with a career-vocational center, sports complex and arts center.
• Renovate Nokomis and keep it as a regional high school; construct a new career-vocational center; construct a new arts center; close the Newport-Plymouth Elementary School and construct a new one; two existing middle schools, Palmyra, Corinna and St. Albans schools will exist as is.
• Do nothing different.

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SAD 4 panel favors current cost formula
Bangor Daily News, September 1, 2006

(excerpt)An attempt by Abbot town officials to convince a SAD 4 committee that changes should be made in the local education cost-sharing formula has failed to garner support.

An 18-member committee of school board members and residents from Guilford, Sangerville, Abbot, Parkman, Cambridge, and Wellington on Wednesday voted 15-3 to keep the same funding formula that has been in place since 1958.

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No Mercy
Tne New Yorker, September 4, 2006

A discussion of schools' zero-tolerance policies.

(excerpt) Schools, historically, have been home to this kind of discretionary justice. You let the principal or the teacher decide what to do about cheating because you know that every case of cheating is different—and, more to the point, that every cheater is different. Jimmy is incorrigible, and needs the shock of expulsion. But Bobby just needs a talking to, because he’s a decent kid, and Mary and Jane cheated because the teacher foolishly stepped out of the classroom in the middle of the test, and the temptation was simply too much. A Tennessee study found that after zero-tolerance programs were adopted by the state’s public schools the frequency of targeted offenses soared: the firm and unambiguous punishments weren’t deterring bad behavior at all.

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Report backs regional schools
Portland Press-Herald, August 31, 2006

(excerpt) The Maine Children's Alliance, which released the report to the business and education community on Wednesday, urged local school districts to regionalize and pool their resources to cut costs and increase educational offerings to head off a taxpayer revolt that would harm children's educational opportunities.

Read the whole article. Report ("A Case for Cooperation") will be available here. PPH reader poll here.

Residents back Dexter golf course
Bangor Daily News, August 31, 2006

(excerpt) For fiscal year 2006-2007, which began in July, the Town Council budgeted $23,700 for the entire golf course operation. Of that, $11,500 will be reimbursed by Costedio, so the net amount paid by property tax payers will be $12,200, residents were told.

Putting that amount into perspective, resident Tom Tillson noted that a high school basketball program cost $15,000 a year and a football program cost $25,000 a year, both of which last about 10 weeks and have limited players. Golf operates 26 weeks and any age person can play, he said.

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