Education Week - October 10, 2018 - 5

Kent D. Johnson/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP-File

Judge Dismisses Tribes' Challenge
To Indian Education Plan
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by Native
American tribes in South Dakota over the government's reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Education.
The Cheyenne River Sioux and Rosebud Sioux
tribes contended that the U.S. Department of Interior failed to properly consult with them about
the reorganization of the tribes' education services
agency, as required by federal law. The Bureau of
Indian Education is a division of the Interior Department that operates schools on reservations.
But Judge Karen Schreier ruled that the department's consultation with the tribes met federal law
requirements, the Argus Leader reported.
Consultation sessions were held with tribes in
2015, including individual consultations with the
Cheyenne River and Rosebud tribes.
-AP

Kentucky Board Offers Permanent Job
To Interim State Education Commissioner
The Kentucky Board of Education voted to make
Wayne Lewis the state's education commissioner.
Lewis has been in the job on an interim basis since
April, when a newly appointed board forced out former Commissioner Stephen Pruitt despite having
more than a year left on his contract.
Pruitt's exit prompted protests from some teachers' unions that viewed it as a power grab by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. Last week, the state board
of education gave Lewis a glowing evaluation and
authorized board chairman Hal Heiner to negotiate
a contract with Lewis for the full-time job.
Lewis said he was "incredibly humbled" by the appointment and urged the state to come together and
"put foolishness aside and focus on our kids."
-AP

Chicago District Loses Federal Grant
Over Title IX Violations
The Chicago school district will not receive a
$4 million federal grant this year because the district
has failed to demonstrate that it is sufficiently addressing complaints of sexual violence, the U.S. Department
of Education said.
The department informed district officials last
month that it had suspended this year's installment
of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant,
The Chicago Tribune reported. The third-largest district in the U.S. was awarded a $14.9 million grant
last year to be distributed over five years.

It found 17 programs have income limits for participating families, ranging from
$32,000 to $136,500 per year for a four-person household. In six of the 17 programs, the
income limits exceeded their state's median
income.
-ARIANNA PROTHERO
SCIENCE EDUCATION
"Changes in the Demographics,
Qualifications, and Turnover
of American STEM Teachers, 1988-2012"
Over the last two decades, the science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics
teaching field has become more diverse, finds
a new study published by the American Educational Research Association.
Female STEM teachers increased from
43 percent in 1988 to 64 percent in 2012.
And while STEM teachers are still mostly
white, racial diversity in the field has slightly
improved: In 1988, just 2 percent of STEM

Tamara Cotman,
center, a former
Atlanta educator
convicted in a
cheating scandal,
will soon begin serving
a three-year prison
term after exhausting
her appeals.

The department said the district hasn't demonstrated that it is meeting civil rights obligations to
address specific sexual violence complaints or larger
patterns of harm. The district can restart the grant
next year if it comes into civil rights compliance.
The district said it will appeal.
This summer, the district formed a new 20-person
office to oversee investigations of student bullying
and abuse, following a Chicago Tribune investigation
on lapses in the district's response to sexual abuse.
The office for civil rights said it found "serious and
pervasive" violations of Title IX, which is a federal
law designed to protect students from abuse, harassment, and gender-based discrimination.
-AP

Costs of DeVos Security Detail Expected
To Increase to $8 Million Annually
The cost to taxpayers of protecting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is going up and is expected to be
nearly $8 million over the next year, a report says.
The Washington, D.C.-based website and publication POLITICO reported this week that the cost of
the security detail for the Michigan millionaire is
expected to be $7.74 million between now and the
end of September 2019, which is when the new fiscal
year ends.
That's according to the U.S. Marshals Service,
which provides around-the-clock security for DeVos,
who was a former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman, school of choice advocate and conservative
fundraiser and donor before heading to Washington
in 2017 to serve the Trump administration.
A Marshals Service spokesman-who declined
to say how many people are assigned to providing security for DeVos - said the final cost in the
fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was $6.79 million.
That was about $250,000 more than originally anticipated.
-AP

teachers identified as Hispanic-that increased to 6 percent in 2012. And the percentage of Asian STEM teachers increased from
1 to 3 percent over the same time period. -M.W.

programs. Reading performance was mixed.
Students did not spend more time on homework, but they did spend more homework
time using a computer.
-LAURAINE GENOTA

EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY

DROPOUT PREVENTION

"One-to-One Technology and Student
Outcomes: Evidence From Mooresville's
Digital Conversion Initiative"

"The Long-Term Impact of Systemic Student
Support in Elementary School:
Reducing High School Dropout"

One-to-one technology programs may boostmath scores over time, finds a new study in
the Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis journal.
Using North Carolina school data from
2005 to 2013, the study found math performance increased significantly in both the
short and long term after implementation of
a laptop program in the Mooresville Graded
school district in 2009, compared to both the
district before the laptop program and to
neighboring school districts without 1-to-1

Elementary supports may help keep high
school students in school, finds a study in
AERA Open.
Over more than 12 years, researchers
tracked students in six Boston primary
schools who used City Connects, a Boston
program which provides extra academic and
social support for students in poverty. Students who used the program in elementary
school later had a 9.2 percent dropout rate,
compared to 16.6 percent of non-intervention
students who later left high school.
-S.D.S

Atlanta Educators
Headed to Prison
Two former Atlanta Public Schools
educators, convicted in the district's
cheating scandal in 2015, soon will head to
prison after exhausting the appeals of their
2015 convictions.
They will be the first to begin serving
their sentences, out of the 11 teachers and
administrators convicted of a conspiracy to
boost student scores on state tests.
The latest turn in the long-running case
comes after the U.S. Supreme Court last
week declined to hear an appeal filed by
Tamara Cotman and Angela Williamson.
Cotman was a regional administrator and
Williamson taught 4th grade at Dobbs
Elementary School. Both women have been
free on bond during the appeals process.
State investigators said Cotman
threatened educators with their jobs if they
didn't boost scores by "any means possible."
Williamson reportedly prompted students
to change incorrect answers and told them
they'd be held back in 4th grade if they told
of the cheating.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul
Howard, who prosecuted the case and
offered them plea deals said, "We are not
happy or elated about what is to happen
with them. We would have preferred they
would have taken responsibility many days
before and we would hope we would not be
at this point."
After their convictions, they appealed to
the Georgia Court of Appeals, which upheld
the convictions. When the Georgia Supreme
Court declined to review the case, they
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Williamson "is shaken by the decision of
the Supreme Court, but she is resolute in
her maintenance of her innocence," said
attorney Gerald Griggs. "She is preparing
to turn herself into the Fulton County
Sheriff to begin serving her sentence."
Williamson faces up to two years in prison.
Cotman was sentenced to three years.
Nearly 200 Atlanta educators were
initially linked to systematic cheating,
either by guiding students to correct
answers or erasing and changing
answers after students turned in their
tests. Prosecutors said educators were
under enormous pressure from thenSuperintendent Beverly Hall to boost test
scores.
Hall was also charged in the case but
died from cancer before going to trial.
Of the 11 educators who were
ultimately convicted, Cotman and
Williamson were the only ones who
appealed directly to the higher courts.
Two others accepted plea bargains, and
the remaining seven defendants plan to
ask for a new trial.
-LISA STARK

Education Week - October 10, 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - October 10, 2018