Education Week - September 11, 2013 - 5

EDUCATION WEEK
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SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 www.edweek.org
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5
REPORT
ROUNDUP
TRANSITIONS
WALT MACDONALD will take over as the president
and CEO of the Educational Testing Service on Jan. 1.
He is currently the executive vice president and chief
operating officer of the Princeton, N.J.-based nonprofit
company. He will replace Kurt M. Landgraf, the
president of the organization since 2000.
SHEENA ALAIASA, the principal of Samuel Wilder
King Intermediate School in Kaneohe, Hawaii, has
been named the 2014 MetLife/NASSP National Middle
Level Principal of the Year. After taking over the
position in 2008, the New Zealand native led the
school out of state restructuring. The school was
recognized by the state in 2012 for its success
in narrowing the achievement gap.
tricts required and 32.4 percent
recommended that elementary
schools provide students with regularly
scheduled recess.
At the middle school level, the
percentage of states that provided
lesson plans or learning activities
for physical education doubled
from 30.6 percent in 2000 to 60.8
percent in 2012, the CDC found.
Professional development for
physical education teachers has
also shown a significant increase
since 2000.
More Variation Seen
In Evaluation Scoring
Early results from Louisiana’s
most recent teacher evaluations
show more variation in teachers’
scores than appeared in prior
systems, though a big majority
of teachers—89 percent—were
deemed proficient or “highly effective”
in 2012-13, according to a
report issued last week.
The analysis from the Louisiana
education department found that
4 percent of teachers were rated
ineffective, an increase from less
than 1 percent in 2010-11 under
the previous system.
Like many other states, Loui-
siana has revamped its teacherevaluation
system to use both
observations of teachers and student-achievement
data. For about
30 percent of teachers, the ratings
include “value added” information
based on growth in test scores.
The results are roughly in line
with early results from other revamped
evaluation systems, most
of which continue to show a relatively
small percentage of ineffective
teachers.
—STEPHEN SAWCHUK
Calif. Board Adopts
Science Standards
The state board of education in
California voted last week to adopt
the Next Generation Science Standards,
bringing to six the number of
states to take such action.
California, the nation’s most
populous state, joins Kansas, Kentucky,
Maryland, Rhode Island,
and Vermont. (However, in Ken-
–BRYAN TOPOREK
California students and teachers
could receive a one-year reprieve
from standardized-testing requirements
that have become a part of
school culture each spring.
A plan introduced in the state
legislature last week would end
the use of state tests in math and
English for the school year already
underway—a year earlier
than planned.
In their place, schools could opt
in to computer-based assessments
aligned to the new common-core
standards. Any district could opt
in to the computer-based tests this
school year.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s office offered
strong support for the bill last
week.
Student Promotions
Faulted in St. Louis
An audit of the St. Louis schools
says the district is violating state
law by promoting to the next
grade level thousands of students
who cannot adequately read.
The finding was part of a report
released last week by Missouri’s
state auditor, Thomas Schweich,
who took the district to task on a
number of issues, from financial
planning to inadequate measures
to prevent test fraud.
More than 2,000 students tested
at the “below basic” level—the
lowest performance category—in
the 2011 and 2012 reading section
of the Missouri Assessment Program.
Yet just 158 and 128 students
were held back those years,
respectively. Holding back each
child who is behind in reading, as
mandated by state law, would be
too costly, administrators told Mr.
Schweich’s staff.
—MCT
—McCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING
“Preschool Classroom Processes
as Predictors of Children’s
Cognitive Self-Regulation Skills
Development”
A 4-year-old’s relationship with a
teacher and a positive preschool
climate can be as—or more—important
to cognitive development
than the amount of time spent
learning numbers and letters,
finds a new study in School Psychology
Quarterly.
Vanderbilt University researchers
tracked 803 diverse prekindergarten
students in their
classrooms. After controlling for
students’ demographic differences,
the researchers found that students
developed more sustained
focus, working memory, and
self-control in classes where
teachers more often praised
their positive actions and less
often pointed out misbehavior
and where teachers spent
more time listening to students.
—SARAH D. SPARKS
TEACHING
“Mindfulness Training and
Reductions in Teacher Stress and
Burnout: Results From Two
Randomized, Waitlist-Control
Field Trials”
Teaching educators mindfulness
may help them cope with
classroom-related stress, finds a
study in the August Journal of
Educational Psychology.
Researchers led by Robert W.
tucky, the standards are still in the
midst of a regulatory process that
includes legislative review.)
All those states were among
the 26 “lead state partners” that
worked with several national organizations
to develop the standards.
—ERIK W. ROBELEN
Testing Cuts Mulled
For California Students
For links to these reports, go to
www.edweek.org/go/rr.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
“Improving Post-High School
Outcomes for Transition-Age
Students With Disabilities: An
Evidence Review.”
Relatively little research on
transition programs meets What
Works Clearinghouse standards
for evidence of effectiveness, according
to a report released this
month by the Institute of Education
Sciences.
Based on an analysis of 43
high-quality studies of high
school transition programs for
those students, researchers found
community-based work programs
showed some potential benefits
for students with disabilities
transitioning into college but
mixed results on helping them
eventually prepare for work.
Programs focused on helping
students develop functional life
skills had “potentially positive”
effects on independent-living outcomes.
The analysis suggests linking
program components—such
as connecting community-work
experience to vocational or technical
training—may make transition
programs more effective.
—CHRISTINA A. SAMUELS
School Disaster Plans Lacking
“Unaccounted For: A National Report on Protecting Children
from Disaster”
More than half of states do not have adequate plans in place to
deal with disasters in both K-12 schools and child-care facilities,
concludes a report by the Washington-based advocacy group Save
the Children.
The study judges states’ readiness based on standards set by the
National Commission on Children and Disaster after Hurricane
Katrina. For child-care facilities, it evaluates plans and policies
for evacuating children, reuniting
families after a disaster,
and safeguarding children
with special needs. For K-12
schools, the report looks at
whether states have multihazard
emergency plans.
Twenty-two states meet the
standards in all four areas—
up from four in 2008. Four
fall short in every category.
—ALYSSA MORONES
Number of Emergency
Standards States Meet
4
Roeser, a psychologist at Portland
State University in Oregon
tracked the stress levels of 113
K-12 teachers in the United
States and Canada, 54 of whom
attended eight weeks of training
in guided yoga, group discussions
of mindfulness, and practice in
real-life scenarios.
While there were no differences
between the participating and
control groups in biological-stress
indicators, 87 percent of teachers
who participated in the mindfulness
training reported lower levels
of teaching stress and burnout as
well as fewer symptoms of anxiety
and depression.
—ALYSSA MORONES
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT
“School Enrollment: 2012”
Nearly a half-million fewer students
enrolled in college in 2012
than 2011, driven largely by
fewer adult learners, according
to new data from the U.S. Census
Bureau. Yet Hispanic students’
college enrollment surged by
nearly 450,000 during the same
time.
Census researchers found col-
lege enrollment among white
students dropped by 1.1 million,
and 108,000 fewer black students
enrolled in 2012. As of 2012, Hispanic
students made up 17 percent
of the nation’s nearly 20 million
college students, with black
students accounting for 15 percent
and white students, 58 percent.
—S.D.S.
AFTER SCHOOL
“Measuring Collective Efficacy
Among Children in CommunityBased
Afterschool Programs:
Exploring Pathways Toward
Prevention and Positive Youth
Development”
Students whose peers in afterschool
programs would intervene
when students misbehaved
were less likely to misbehave
themselves, according to new
> > For links to these reports, go to www.edweek.org/go/rr
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ALABAMA
ARKANSAS
CALIFORNIA
CONNECTICUT’
HAWAII
KENTUCKY
LOUISIANA
MARYLAND
MASSACHUSETTS
MISSISSIPPI
NEBRASKA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NEW JERSEY
NEW MEXICO
NEW YORK
TENNESSEE
UTAH
VERMONT
WASHINGTON
WEST VIRGINIA
WISCONSIN
WYOMING
ALASKA
DELAWARE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
MISSOURI
NORTH CAROLINA
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
PENNSYLVANIA
TEXAS
VIRGINIA
COLORADO
FLORIDA
INDIANA
MINNESOTA
NEVADA
RHODE ISLAND
SOUTH CAROLINA
ARIZONA
GEORGIA
ILLINOIS
MAINE
NORTH DAKOTA
OREGON
SOUTH DAKOTA
MONTANA
IDAHO
IOWA
KANSAS
MICHIGAN
research from Pennsylvania
State University published in
the American Journal of Community
Psychology.
The researchers observed elementary
students’ relationships at
three after-school programs, and
surveyed those students about relationships
within the group and
about how often they engaged
in behaviors like shoplifting or
damaging property. Students
who felt connected to their afterschool
group and thought that
the group was likely to intervene
when children were misbehaving
were more likely to exhibit positive
social behaviors like sharing.
—JACLYN ZUBRZYCKI
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Education Week - September 11, 2013

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