Education Week - September 17, 2014 - 4

NEWS IN BRIEF
New Research Panels
To Take Pulse of Educators
The RAND Corp. has launched
two large-scale longitudinal surveys
intended to create a nationally
representative pool of teachers and
principals for researchers to explore
changing perspectives on education
policy and practice.
The American Teacher Panel and
American School Leader Panel, based
on the group's long-standing American
Life Panel, are recruiting about
4,600 district and charter school
teachers and some 2,300 principals
to take part in 30-minute online surveys
a few times a year.
RAND researchers will ask a standard
set of questions for about a
third of the survey, covering topics
from common standards and assessments
to teacher evaluations
and new technology on campus. A
portion of each survey will also be
sold to researchers, on the condition
that the resulting findings be made
public and not used for proprietary
work.
-SARAH D. SPARKS
Majority of Americans Favor
More Federal Pre-K Funding
Seven in 10 adults in the United
States are in favor of using more
federal money to ensure that highquality
preschool is available for
every child in the country, according
to a poll released last week by the
Gallup organization. Twenty-eight
percent are opposed to the idea, and
3 percent had no opinion.
But the support for federally
funded preschool breaks down
around party lines. Fifty-three
percent of Republicans favored expanded
federal investment, compared
with 87 percent of Democrats.
Similarly, when respondents were
asked about the importance of different
education levels, 50 percent
of Democrats said preschool is "extremely
important," compared with
34 percent of Republicans and Independents.
-CHRISTINA
A. SAMUELS
Federal Grants Given to Aid
School Counseling Services
The U.S. Department of Education
has awarded $14.7 million in
IN MEMORIAM
Members of the Choctawhatchee
High School Junior Reserve
Officers' Training Corps display a
flag during a Sept. 11 remembrance
service in front of the school in Fort
Walton Beach, Fla., last week.
grants to establish or expand school
counseling programs in 40 districts
in 20 states, the federal agency announced
last week.
The grants aim to expand the
range, quality, and availability of
counseling services in elementary
and secondary schools, and programs
will be designed with input
from parents of students who will
benefit from the programs, the Education
Department said.
National groups, including the
American Counseling Association,
have called for more counselors in
schools. In the 2011-12 school year,
there was one school counselor for
every 470 students in the United
States.
-EVIE BLAD
Suspensions Banned
For Youngest Pupils
Minneapolis schools Superintendent
Bernadeia Johnson has placed
a moratorium on suspending pupils
for nonviolent behaviors in prekindergarten
through 1st grade.
"For some of our youngest scholars,
this is their first time in a structured
learning environment," Ms. Johnson
said in an announcement posted on
the district's website. "Understanding
and navigating the new rules and
environment simply takes longer for
some students than for others."
As the Minneapolis Star Tribune
notes, the district is under investigation
by the U.S. Department of
Education's office for civil rights for
"inconsistent suspension practices."
-E.B.
Boston Mayor Appoints
First 'Chief of Education'
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh
has named the city's first-ever
Scammers Target Schools With Bogus Math-Workbook Invoices
Thousands of schools have received an invoice for
$647.50 for 50 common-core-aligned "Math Practice"
workbooks that they didn't order or receive.
The realistic-looking but bogus invoice is popping
up in school purchasing offices nationwide, according
to Ronald A. Skinner, the deputy executive director
of the Reston, Va.-based Association of School
Business Officials International, or ASBO.
Invoices from "Scholastic School Supply," with
an address in either Sewell, N.J., or Las Vegas, are
being sent to individual schools. Better Business
Bureau offices in Nevada and New Jersey report
having received more than 3,000 inquiries and 87
formal complaints originating in 26 states about
the invoices. The Nevada office released a "scam
alert" on Sept. 5.
Scholastic Inc. issued its own statement saying
that many of its customers have received invoices
from a company calling itself Scholastic School Supply,
which has no affiliation with the New York Citybased
children's book publisher.
Officials with the FBI, various state attorneys
general, and the U.S. postal inspector's offices in
Nevada and New Jersey have been notified of the
invoices, according to business officials posting comments
on an ASBO listserv.
Darren King, the purchasing manager for the
13,000-student Central Valley School District
#356 in Spokane Valley, Wash., said that in his
17 years working in purchasing for a school
system, he had never seen anything like the
invoice scam. What flagged the invoice was
that there was no purchase order matching it,
he said.
-MICHELE MOLNAR
"chief of education," a new Cabinetlevel
position charged with coordinating
school improvement efforts
across public, charter, and private
schools, as well as colleges and universities.
Turahn
Dorsey, an evaluation
director for the Boston-based Barr
Foundation, will serve in the new
post.
Mr. Walsh touted the position as a
first of its kind in the nation, though
other big-city mayors' offices, such
as in the District of Columbia, Los
Angeles, and New York City, also
have high-level advisers focused on
education issues.
Mr. Dorsey will not have direct
authority over any of the school systems,
but will advise the mayor on
ways to improve education.
-LESLI A. MAXWELL
National Group Launched
For Chemistry Teachers
The American Association of
Chemistry Teachers, which is billing
itself as the "first national chemistry
association for K-12 teachers," is officially
up and running.
The group, founded by the American
Chemical Society, will host webinars,
conferences, and other professional-development
opportunities,
and will offer lesson plans, activities,
and videos on its website. For a $50
membership fee, educators also get
print and online journal subscriptions,
as well as access to additional
members-only resources.
Adam M. Boyd, who worked in
the ACS education division for eight
years, will serve as the program director.
The group is still building its
governing board.
-LIANA HEITIN
Citing Curriculum Problems,
Phila. Parents Sue State
Pennsylvania's state education
department has violated its legal
obligation to investigate claims of
4 | EDUCATION WEEK | September 17, 2014 | www.edweek.org
"massive curriculum deficiencies"
in city schools, a group of parents
whose children attend Philadelphia
schools claimed in a lawsuit filed
last week.
During the 2013-14 school year,
parents filed 825 complaints with
the state education department on
issues ranging from overcrowding
to "squalid and insufficient toilet facilities."
The problems all stem from
district-level budget cuts made necessary
by a lack of state funds, the
parents said. The complaints were
met with either a form letter saying
the matter was a local one or no response
at all.
A spokesman for the education department
had no comment.
-McCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
New Social Studies Texts
Challenged in Texas
Four years after state board of education
members clashed over history
standards in Texas schools, publishers
are facing criticism over new textbooks
based on those changes.
The Texas Freedom Network, an
education advocacy and watchdog
group, set up a panel of university
faculty to review the books. It found
numerous errors and shortcomings.
Among them: books that negatively
portrayed Muslims as more prone
to violence and inaccurately described
religions other than Christianity.
Two
texts were cited for misinformation
on the constitutional requirement
of separation of church
and state. Another was singled out
for using outdated and offensive
racial terminology in describing Africans.
-MCT
Harvard
Survey Reveals
Pessimism About K-12
A survey of nearly 2,000 Harvard
Business School alumni reveals
continued pessimism about
Nick Tomecek/Northwest Florida Daily News/AP
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - September 17, 2014

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