Education Week - April 11, 2018 - 4

NEWS IN BRIEF
Only Three Jurisdictions Apply
For ESSA's Innovative Test Pilot
Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Puerto Rico
alone have officially submitted applications for
the Every Student Succeeds Act's Innovative Assessment pilot, according to the U.S. Department
of Education.
The pilot, which was initially one of the most
buzzed-about pieces of ESSA, allows up to seven
states to try out new forms of testing in a handful of districts, with the goal of eventually taking
them statewide. More than a dozen states-including large ones like New York-mulled applying but
ended up deciding against it.
The rules don't make participation easy. States
must make sure the new tests are comparable to
their state exam and are accessible to Englishlanguage learners and students in special education-
all without additional financial resources. -ALYSON KLEIN
John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP

Recipients of 'Dead' DACA Program
Reap Educational Benefits, Study Says
While President Donald Trump was tweeting that
DACA is "dead," new research concludes that the
program, which protects hundreds of thousands of
undocumented immigrants from deportation, has
important educational benefits for recipients.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program had a "significant impact" on the educational
outcomes of undocumented immigrant youths, including a 15 percent increase in high school graduation rates, a 45 percent drop in teenage births, a 3
percent increase in the school attendance of highschool-age students, and a 22 percent increase in
college enrollment among Hispanic women, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research
working paper.
The researchers did caution that the study has yet
to undergo peer review. Despite that, the findings
could emerge as a rallying point in the ongoing debate over immigration reform.
-COREY MITCHELL

A Clear Choice
Students wear clear
backpacks as they head
to classes at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Fla.,
last week. The bags
are one of a number
of security measures
the school district has
enacted as a result of
the Feb. 14 shooting at
the school that killed 17.

California Unveils Policy Guide to Help
Schools Shield Undocumented Students
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has
released a policy guide for school officials that lays
out how they can protect students from immigration
enforcement on school grounds.
The guide details the steps school officials should
take if federal immigration agents try to detain
someone on campus or if a child's parents have
been detained or deported. It also instructs schools
on how to shield the immigration status of stu-

A new Gallup poll suggests a deep disconnect between parents and teachers
on the value of education technology for student learning.

4%
55
4
69
42
28

PARENTS
All things considered, do you believe your
childs' use of digital devices including
smartphones, tablets, and computers is more
helpful or harmful to their _________?
59%

PHYSICAL HEALTH

41
69

MENTAL HEALTH

EDUCATION

n Mostly helpful

31
87
13

n Mostly harmful

SOURCE: Gallup

4 | EDUCATION WEEK | April 11, 2018 | www.edweek.org

GAO: Thousands of Compliant Teachers
Forced to Repay Federal TEACH Grants
More than 60 percent of teachers who received a
grant from the U.S. Department of Education prior
to July 2014 were forced to repay the money as an
unsubsidized loan, a government report says-even
though many of them were meeting the program's
requirements.
Candidates who plan to teach in a high-needs
field and school for at least four years are eligible
for the up-to-$4,000 TEACH, or Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education,

Report Roundup

EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY DIVIDE
TEACHERS
Do you believe that students' use of
digital devices such as smartphones,
tablets, and computers has helpful or
harmful effects in the following area?

dents and their family members and illustrates
the kinds of court records federal officials must
present before entering campuses.
The policies are the result of a new state law
that was passed to safeguard undocumented immigrants from President Donald Trump's call for
increased deportations.
-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

grant. If they don't meet those requirements-and
annually certify they do-the grant converts to an
unsubsidized loan.
The government report, first obtained by National Public Radio, found that 19 percent of recipients whose grant had been converted into a loan
didn't know about the annual certification process,
13 percent weren't able to certify because they
encountered challenges in the process, 15 percent
said they were very likely or likely to fulfill the
requirements, and 17 percent said they already
had met them. (The Government Accountability
Office report notes that it's possible respondents
didn't understand the survey questions or their
grant status.)
-MADELINE WILL

Puerto Rico to Close 283 Schools
Amid Sharp Enrollment Drop
Puerto Rico's Education Department announced
Thursday that it would close 283 public schools in

www.edweek.org/go/rr

STEM EDUCATION
"Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics Education: Actions Needed to
Better Assess the Federal Investment"
Federal STEM education programs need
better coordination, finds a new report by the
Government Accountability Office-the federal
government's watchdog arm.
In 2010 Congress created the Committee on
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to review some 163 STEM education
programs in 13 federal agencies, totaling nearly
$3 billion. The GAO found the committee did not
review or document performance evaluations of
the STEM programs, nor did it report the programs' participation rates for underrepresented
groups. Nearly every program overlapped with
another program-for example, serving the
same field, objective, or groups, though many

served different subpopulations or had different
areas of emphasis.
-STEPHEN SAWCHUK
MATH ANXIETY
"Indexing Crazy 8s: Measuring the Effects of an
Extra-Curricular Math Experience on Children's
Math Attitudes"
Extracurricular math may help young students with math anxiety, finds a new study.
Johns Hopkins University researchers evaluated the Crazy 8s Club, a play-based math afterschool program for K-5 students developed by
the Bedtime Math Foundation.
Through a randomized control trial, the
researchers found that after participating in
Crazy 8s for eight weeks, students reduced
their math anxiety by about 50 percent. This
reduction applied at all ages and for both girls
and boys.
-MARVA HINTON
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Education Week - April 11, 2018

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