Education Week - August 22, 2018 - 4

NEWS IN BRIEF
Most Principals Like Jobs, Though Plenty
Would Leave for More Lucrative Offers

John Woike/Hartford Courant via AP

Principals love their jobs, but some would ditch
them immediately if a higher-paying gig came along,
a new survey of the profession reveals.
Some 94 percent of principals say they are satisfied at their current schools. About a quarter, though,
would leave as soon as possible if they got a betterpaying job, according to the new principal-attrition
and -mobility survey released this month by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Nearly 30 percent of principals say they don't have
as much enthusiasm for the job as they did when
they started, and 16 percent say the stress and disappointment are just not worth it.
A 2015 report by the School Leaders Network estimated that a quarter of principals leave their schools
each year, and nearly half leave in the third year.
Such churn continues to be higher in charter schools
than at traditional public schools, according to the
NCES, and is also higher in schools serving larger
percentages of poor students.
-DENISA R. SUPERVILLE

Homeland Security Wants Students
Trained to Stop Traumatic Bleeding
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans
to award $1.8 million in grants for the development of
School-Age Trauma Training programs to teach students how to respond to tramautic hemorrhaging during "mass casualty events," including school shootings.
The suggestion has stoked frustration, and some
sarcasm, from gun-control advocates who believe
Congress and federal officials have not done enough
to change gun laws and boost school safety after two
large school shootings in Florida and Texas.
Descriptions for the grant program say the training is to prepare students for mass-casualty events,
which could include natural disasters. But a statement of objectives for the program specifically discusses school shootings. Though posted in July, plans
for the program have been in development for about
a year, a DHS spokesman said, predating the Parkland, Fla., shootings.
-EVIE BLAD

PRIMARY WIN
Jahana Hayes, a former
National Teacher of the
Year, celebrates her
victory last week in the
Democratic primary for
Connecticut's 5th
District seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives.

For 2019-20, Only One District Seeks
To Use ESSA's Weighted-Funding Pilot

New Mexico to Appeal Court Ruling
On Adequacy of School Funding

New flexibility offered by the Every Student Succeeds Act so far is not turning out to be the bonanza
for school choice that some supporters had hoped.
A new pilot program in ESSA allows districts to
combine federal, state, and local dollars into a single

State officials plan to appeal a judge's ruling that
New Mexico's funding for schools is inadequate.
Advocacy groups and school districts sued in

WHICH TYPES OF SCHOOL SECURITY DO PARENTS SUPPORT?
Placing armed police in schools was the most widely supported school security
option among K-12 parents in a recent national poll, followed by comprehensive
mental-health screening and metal detectors.

80%

Support
Oppose

74
63

37
19

Armed police
in school

Mental health
screening

Metal
detectors at
entrances

SOURCE: PDK Poll

4 | EDUCATION WEEK | August 22, 2018 | www.edweek.org

funding stream tied to individual students. English- learners, poor children, and students in special
education would carry with them more money than
other students. The program could be used to help
districts set up public school choice programs.
The law allows up to 50 districts to participate in
the first few years of the pilot, with the possibility of
more joining in down the line. But only Arizona's Roosevelt district No. 66 had applied to use the flexibility
in the 2019-20 school year by the July 15 deadilne.
Roosevelt joins just five other districts that raised
their hands to try the pilot in the 2018-19 school
year. So far, none of those districts is planning to
use the pilot to create a school choice program, with
the possible exception of Puerto Rico. -ALYSON KLEIN

Allowing
armed staff

Armed
staff with
conditions

Report Roundup

2014, accusing the state of failing to meeting
constitutional obligations to provide a sufficient
education for all students. The case highlighted
the plight of English-language learners, Native
American youths, and students from low-income
families.
The ruling late last month gives the state 60 days to
craft a plan and sets an April 15 deadline for ensuring
that schools are adequately funded to provide at-risk
students a sufficient education.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS

Man in Isolated Compound Suspected
Of Training Children to Attack Schools
A man arrested at a ramshackle New Mexico compound where 11 hungry children were found living in
filth was training youngsters to commit school shootings, prosecutors say in court documents.
The allegations against Siraj Ibn Wahhaj came
to light as authorities awaited word on whether
human remains discovered at the site were those of
his missing son, who is severely disabled and went

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GROWTH MINDSET
"Effects of Teaching the Concept of
Neuroplasticity to Induce a Growth Mindset on
Motivation, Achievement, and Brain Activity: A
Meta-Analysis"
Teaching students the science of how
their brains change over time can help
them see intelligence as something they
can develop, rather than innate and unchangeable, finds a new analysis of 10 studies online in the journal Trends in Neuroscience and Education.
Teaching the ability of the brain to make
new neural connections based on experience
is a common tactic in helping students develop a so-called "growth" rather than a "fixed"
mindset.
The Canada-based Laboratory for Research
in Neuroeducation researchers found a moderate benefit from the interventions for all
students but stronger effects from the inter-

ventions when used for improving growth
mindset in math or with students who fear
being stereotyped if they perform poorly.
-SARAH D. SPARKS

EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
"Are Educational Preschool Apps Designed to
Teach? An Analysis of the App Market"
Although educational apps for preschoolers
abound, many don't include sound teaching
strategies, says a new study in the journal
Learning, Media and Technology.
Researchers at the University of California,
Irvine, analyzed feedback and teaching methods and the skills targeted in the most popular 171 free and paid math and literacy apps
targeting children 5 and younger on the Apple
and Android platforms.
The researchers found 1 in 5 of the apps reviewed provided no instructions, and only 4
percent modeled how to solve problems. Despite

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Education Week - August 22, 2018

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