Education Week - May 22, 2013 - 15

EDUCATION WEEK

OPEN AND SHUT

BLOGS of
the WEEK
| NEWS | Politics K-12

No Staff Furloughs
For Ed. Department
Employees at the U.S.
Department of Education won’t
face furloughs because of the cuts
from sequestration, according to
a memo sent to staff members
May 10. In an email to his staff,
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne
Duncan said furloughs would
make it tough to get grants
to school districts, states, and
universities.
Overall, the department is
facing $2.5 billion in sequestration
cuts. The cuts will affect Title
I, special education, career and
technical education, and just about
everything else.
And the reductions do not
change rules when it comes to
maintenance of effort, time periods
for using funds, supplementnot-supplant rules, or required
set-asides of funds. Districts
and states had been asking for
flexibility on those provisions.
When it comes to competitive
grants, the department will try
to scale back new competitions.
But reducing continuation grants
might also be necessary. That
could have an impact on programs
such as Promise Neighborhoods,
the Teacher Incentive Fund, and
trio (a college-access program),
all of which are funded through
continuation grants.
The department has cut back
on hiring. It is also planning
to cut back on salaries, travel,
contracts, conferences, and other
administrative expenses, trimming
about $85 million from those areas
—ALYSON KLEIN
overall. 

| NEWS |

Curriculum Matters

Math Is New Weapon
Against Violence
An initiative that blends
intensive math tutoring with a
group-counseling intervention
to keep students from getting
involved in violent activity will
soon be offered to up to 1,000
adolescent boys in a dozen Chicago
public schools, the school district
announced last week.
The tutoring component is
based on a program developed in
2004 at the Match public charter
schools in Boston, where math
tutoring is incorporated as a
period in the school day. Several
districts in Massachusetts and
beyond have since started to
replicate that program, including
Houston and Denver.
In Chicago, a news release
says, the math tutoring will be
offered alongside the Becoming
a Man program, a school-based
counseling and mentoring
initiative that focuses on violence
prevention and educational
enrichment for urban youths.
The schools targeted for the

initiative are located in some of
the most dangerous neighborhoods
in Chicago, according to district
officials. The idea of combining
the two programs was piloted
this school year at Harper High
School in Chicago’s Englewood
neighborhood.
The University of Chicago
will conduct an evaluation to
gauge the joint program’s impact
on student achievement and
involvement in violent crimes. The
new initiative is a collaborative
effort of the University of Chicago
and Match Education and is
receiving financial support from
the Chicago-based MacArthur
—ERIK W. ROBELEN
Foundation. 

| NEWS |

If two Republican lawmakers
in Michigan get their way, the
state’s civil rights department
could soon be out $3 million for
raising concerns about the use of
Native American mascots in K-12
schools.
Two bills introduced in the
Michigan House would require the
state’s department of civil rights
to cover any expenses for schools
forced to change their American
Indian mascots.
The department initially filed
a complaint in February with the
U.S. Department of Education’s
office for civil rights asking for a
ban on the use of American Indian
mascots and imagery in K-12
schools that receive federal funds.
It charges that the use of such
imagery denies equal rights to
American Indian students.
The legislation introduced May
15 by Reps. Bob Genetski and Dan
Lauwers would create a $3 million
“school mascot reimbursement
fund” that would cover the cost
of changes to mascots, uniforms,
billboards, gym resurfacing, and
other expenses generated if the
ocr approves the complaint. The
money would be paid from the
Michigan civil rights department’s
budget.
“The civil rights department
filed its complaint independently,
without input from local citizens,
so it can pay for any necessary
changes it may have caused,” said
Mr. Genetski in a statement.
Vicki Levengood, a spokeswoman
for the state civil rights
department, told the Detroit FreePress that it would model its policy
after Oregon, whose state board
of education voted in 2012 to bar
K-12 public schools from using
Native American mascots. Any
school affected by the new policy
has five years to make the change.
The legislation from Mr. Genetski
and Mr. Lauwers was referred
to the House committee on
—BRYAN TOPOREK
appropriations. 

>>

n

MT
OR

Permits
disclosure
of individual
evaluation results
only to parents.
NH ME
VT

ND
MN

ID
WY

UT

CO

CA
AZ

WI

SD

PA
IL

KS

MO
OK

NM

IN

OH
WV VA

KY

MS

AL

NJ
DE
MD
DC

RI
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NC

TN

AR

MA

NY

MI
IA

NE

NV

15

www.edweek.org

WA

SC
GA

LA

TX

FL

AK

HI

Exempt from disclosure

Offers disclosure
only in cases of
“compelling public
interest” in which
the evaluation leads
to suspension or
termination.
As of 2011-12,
requires notification
to parents of
students taught by a
teacher with a series
of low evaluation
ratings.

Released only with the
consent of the teacher
Released at the discretion
of a third party (records
custodian, school district
official, or state official)
Release permissible

States Tighten Disclosure
Of Teacher Evaluations
In the wake of several newsmedia projects disclosing how
teachers fared under studentachievement measures, Education
Week produced a story and chart
early last year outlining each state’s
laws regarding access to teacherevaluation ratings.
At least five states subsequently
altered their education codes or
open-records laws in 2012.
   • March: A new law in UTAH
strengthens existing prohibitions on
the release of personnel evaluations.
   • April: TENNESSEE, previously a
state in which evaluation results
were open, passes legislation
closing evaluations off from public
disclosure.
   • June: NEW YORK legislators
>>

To see all Education Week blogs,
go to edweek.org/go/blogs.

MAY 22, 2013

Beginning
2015-16, requires
notification to parents
of students taught by
a teacher with two
successive poor
ratings.

Twenty-three states exempt individual
teacher-evaluation ratings from
disclosure under open-records laws.
The others permit disclosure, though
often under specific conditions.

Schooled in Sports

Bill Would Force State
To Pay for New Mascots

n

craft a law narrowing eligibility
for accessing these records.
The measure specifies that, on
request, parents can view the final
effectiveness rating for each teacher
in the building to which their child
is assigned.
   • June: Though case law in
MASSACHUSETTS already tilted
in this direction, a new law
explicitly puts teacher evaluations
under the definition of “personnel
information” exempt from
disclosure under open-records laws.
   • August: NEW JERSEY’s new
teacher-evaluation measure
specifically states that teachers’
evaluation results are confidential
and not subject to public disclosure.


—STEPHEN SAWCHUK & AMY WICKNER

The TEACHER BEAT blog tracks news and trends on this issue.

www.edweek.org/go/teacherbeat
http://www.edweek.org http://www.edweek.org/go/teacherbeat http://www.edweek.org/go/blogs
Education Week - May 22, 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - May 22, 2013
