Education Week - October 2, 2019 - 4

BRIEFLY STATED

At Hearing on Giving
Fewer Exams, N.Y.C.
Talks About Adding
Surreal may be the best way to describe a recent
city council hearing in New York.
New testing requirements are in the offing for city
schools-even as teachers, students, and advocates
blasted a culture of excessive exams at the hearing.
District officials said schools may soon be
required to test students several times a year to see
how they're doing before the high-stakes, statemandated exams arrive at the end of the year.
The irony wasn't lost on City Council member
Mark Treyger, who convened the hearing.
"We just had a whole discussion on the impact
tests have on our schools," Treyger said, "and we're
saying we're going to implement another one."
Linda Chen, the district's chief academic officer,
said the new city tests will be "low stakes" and
simply give schools more data on how prepared
students are before the all-important state exams
come along, allowing schools to adjust their
teaching if necessary.
But Treyger questioned the need for any new
exams. "You could just call the school and talk to a
teacher rather than investing in a new fancy test," he
said. "You will save money, headaches, bad press."
New York already has one of the most extensive
testing regimens in the country.

CORRECTION: A U.S. map accompanying an
article in the Sept. 25, 2019, issue on a surge in
teenage voters transposed the states of Kansas
and Nebraska. The data within the states were
correct.

DonorsChoose: It's Not Just for Teachers Anymore
When crowdsourcing sites came along to help teachers acquire
classroom materials, it felt like manna from heaven. But that
laissez-faire way of operating looks to be turning the page.
One of the most popular sites, DonorsChoose, is entering
formal partnerships with a handful of districts, hoping to make
what's generally been a diffuse, teacher-by-teacher effort into
something districts can support in a more coordinated manner.
The partnerships, announced last week, would also seem to be
an attempt by the nonprofit to further distinguish itself from other
providers in the crowd-pun intended-and a response to some
districts putting the kibosh on teachers' crowdsourcing efforts.
To kick off the effort, DonorsChoose will work with 10 districts,
ranging from biggies like Los Angeles to small, rural ones like the
350-student Richland R1 district in southeast Missouri. It also

plans to match up to $250,000 in donations across those districts
for teachers' proposed projects.
Each of the districts will have its own landing page on
DonorsChoose.org, where it will be able to put teachers' proposed
projects in one place. Then they'll be able to monitor what's been
donated. Principals will be notified each time a project is funded
so they'll be able to be on the lookout for materials shipped to their
school, while administrators will receive early notification when
donors or philanthropies list new opportunities. Teachers still will
get to be creative and flexible with what they want funded.
A more philosophical question about crowdsourcing begs to be
answered: Are districts sending the message that they can simply
fundraise to make ends meet-and, by implication, that they don't
need property tax increases or other revenue-raising methods?

'Trump Effect' on Foreign Students Infecting High Schools
Those figurative "keep out" signs are not just at U.S. colleges
and universities anymore. High schools are also feeling the chill of
the so-called Trump effect that discourages students from coming
to the United States for an educational experience.
Administrators at high schools that have traditionally attracted
large numbers of foreign students say it's become more difficult
to recruit them. Those who have been able to maintain large
international student populations say it's only because they've
become more aggressive in their recruitment efforts so they can
counteract the visa denials and the impression that the United
States has become less welcoming.
Take Orono High School in Maine. At present, it has three
international students-one of the smallest groups the school has
had in recent memory.
At Maine's Fryeburg Academy, more than 14 percent, or 84, of
the 575 students at the private school this year are international.
"It's a big number, but it used to be bigger, almost entirely

because of a decrease in enrollments out of China," said Erin
Mayo, the head of school. "The Chinese demand, which had
been really hot and heavy in the past few years, has decreased
significantly in the past two years."
Public high schools trying to recruit foreign students find
themselves in an even more challenging situation. They can admit
international students for only one year under U.S immigration law.
Then, some transfer to another school. Others attend only in their
senior year, then might try to attend college in the United States.
Still, administrators from public and private schools agree that
having foreign students contributes essential diversity to the
learning experience for all students. The tuition and boarding
costs that international students pay also don't hurt.
After the nationalistic speech President Donald Trump gave at
the United Nations last week, the welcome mat might get dustier:
"The future," he said, "does not belong to globalists. The future
belongs to patriots."

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Education Week - October 2, 2019

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