Education Week - December 10, 2014 - 5

REPORT ROUNDUP www.edweek.org/go/rr
lawmakers approve legislation to
make a 100-question exam a graduation
requirement.
The chairman of the state's House
Education Committee, Rep. Mike
Nathe, announced last week that
he would propose the measure during
the upcoming legislative session
that begins in January. The proposal
would take effect for the class
of 2016. The test would gauge what
students know about American government,
history, and civics.
Similar efforts are underway in
Arizona, Louisiana, Missouri, New
Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota,
and Utah, according to the Associated
Press.
-C.M.
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit
Over Kan. Science Standards
A federal judge last week dismissed
a lawsuit alleging that science
standards for Kansas public
schools promote atheism and violate
the religious freedoms of students
and parents.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree
ruled that a nonprofit group, parents,
and taxpayers challenging the standards
did not claim specific enough
injuries from adoption of the guidelines
to allow the case to go forward.
The standards, developed by Kansas,
25 other states, and the National
Research Council, treat both
evolution and climate change as key
scientific concepts to be taught from
kindergarten through 12th grade.
They replace evolution-friendly
standards that had been in place
since 2007.
-AP
Former Football Player Sues
Illinois Athletic Association
A former high school quarterback
is following in the steps of one-time
pro and college players by suing
a sports governing body-in this
case, the Illinois High School Association-saying
it didn't do enough
to protect him from concussions
when he played and still doesn't do
enough to protect current players.
The lawsuit, filed in Cook County
Circuit Court late last month, is
the first instance in which legal action
has been taken for former high
school players as a whole against a
group responsible for prep sports in
a state. Such litigation could snowball,
as similar suits targeting associations
in other states are planned.
The lead plaintiff is Daniel Bukal,
who received multiple concussions
at Notre Dame College Prep in Niles
and a decade on, still suffers frequent
migraines and some memory
loss, according to the 51-page suit.
It charges that the ihsa did not have
concussion protocols in place, putting
Mr. Bukal and other high school
players at risk, and that those protocols
remain deficient
-AP
Court Orders Mo. to Suspend
Smarter Balanced Payments
A Missouri judge has issued a
temporary restraining order that
requires the state to stop making
payments to the Smarter Balanced
Assessment Consortium, which
is developing tests aligned to the
Common Core State Standards.
Cole County Circuit Court Judge
Daniel Green issued the order late
last month as part of a court case
brought by a group of Missourians
who are challenging the state's
membership in Smarter Balanced
as an "illegal interstate compact,"
according to local news media.
The order notes that the consortium
billed the state for more than
$1 million in September.
A spokeswoman for the department
said that while the lawsuit
might affect the state's membership
and governance role in Smarter Balanced,
state law requires Missouri
to use the test, and that the state
will do so regardless of the outcome
of the suit.
-ANDREW UJIFUSA
Before Arizona Chief Takes
Office, Recall Effort Begins
A teacher in the Phoenix area has
announced that he is forming a political
action committee in order to
recall Diane Douglas, the Republican
state superintendent-elect who
doesn't take office until next month.
The Arizona Republic reported that
Anthony Espinoza, 25, registered the
Coalition to Recall Diane Douglas
with Arizona's secretary of state last
month. In order for an official recall
election to take place, Mr. Espinoza
and supporters of the recall have to
get at least 364,000 signatures, or 25
percent of all ballots cast in the general
election. They also have to wait
at least six months from the time Ms.
Douglas takes office before officially
launching the recall effort and circulating
petitions for signatures.
Accompanying the new recall
push is a Facebook page, Recall
Diane Douglas, which had about
9,900 "likes" as of last week. A Facebook
page also has been created by
the chief-elect's supporters called
Standing Strong for Superintendent
Diane Douglas, which featured
about 890 likes.
-A.U.
Minn. Transgender Athletes
Can Play on Favored Teams
Minnesota's high school sports
association last week passed a controversial
set of guidelines for transgender
student-athletes.
After months of delays triggered
by a public outcry on both sides of
the issue, the Minnesota State High
School League approved a policy
that gives transgender students an
option to play on teams that fit best
with their gender identity.
Supporters say the changes are necessary
to give those student-athletes
an equal shot to play and be comfortable.
Opponents cited concerns about
transgender students in locker rooms
and giving those athletes a competitive
edge in girls' sports.
-AP
CORRECTION
A story in the Dec. 3, 2014, edition
of Education Week about
school districts' pressuring publishers
to improve the delivery of
digital content misspelled Stephen
Midgley's name.
DROPOUT PREVENTION
"Stressors and Turning Points in High School and
Dropout: A Stress-Process, Life-Course Framework"
While dropping out of high school is often seen as
a long, slow process of disengagement, a significant
portion of students who drop out face sudden events
that lead to them leaving school, such as injury or
the death of a parent, according to a new report in
the journal Review of Education Research.
Researchers from the University of Montreal in
Canada, Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and
the University of Texas at Austin suggested that
outside "triggering events" at vulnerable periods
in students' academic lives-such as during the
transition to high school-can make it significantly
more likely that they will leave school. The
review recommends that policymakers consider
both students' long-term risks and the effect of
triggering events when they plan dropout prevention
strategies.
-SARAH D. SPARKS
SCHOOL CHOICE
"How Parents Experience Public School Choice"
Parents in different cities face different hurdles
to finding and choosing a school, according to the
second in a series of reports from the University
of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public
Education.
Surveying 4,000 public school parents in eight
"high-choice" cities-Baltimore, Cleveland, Denver,
Detroit, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia,
and the District of Columbia-the crpe found that
overall, parents use two to three different resources
to research schools, but school visits are far and
away the most popular method of research. Parents
of children with special needs, parents with
less education, and parents of minority students
have the most difficulty finding the right school,
but nearly half of all parents said they had no other
good option aside from their child's current school.
In Cleveland, parents are 68 percent more likely to
name transportation as a barrier to school choice
than are their counterparts in New Orleans, where
charter schools are required to provide transportation.
-ARIANA PROTHERO
COLLEGE READINESS
"The Four-Year Myth"
Since the vast majority of college students don't finish
a degree in four years, radical changes are needed
in the way higher education pathways are structured,
according to a report released last week by the nonprofit
Complete College America.
Just 5 percent of students pursuing an associate
degree finish on time, reports the Indianapolis-based
organization, which is devoted to helping states increase
certificate and degree attainment; in public
four-year institutions, just 19 percent of students at
non-flagship schools and 36 percent at flagship institutions
finish on time.
-CARALEE J. ADAMS
PRINCIPALS
"The Utility of Teacher and Student Surveys in Principal
Evaluations: An Empirical Investigation"
Adding teachers' and students' perspectives to classic
principal-evaluation tools like supervisor observations
can give a significantly more accurate picture of
a school leader's effectiveness, found a new study by
the Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest.
Researchers at the lab, housed at the American Institutes
for Research in Washington, analyzed 2011-12 data
on 39 elementary and secondary schools in a mediumsize,
urban district. They found that two teacher survey
measures-one on instructional leadership and another
on cultural press for excellence-as well as a student-survey
measure of the instructional environment in classrooms,
together explained a significant portion of the differences
among schools' gains on value-added measures:
28 percentage points in math and 26 percentage points on
a composite of math and reading scores.
-S.D.S.
Teachers Face Slow, Uphill
Salary Climb, Study Finds
"Smart Money: What Teachers Make, How Long It
Takes, and What It Buys Them"
A new report from the National Council on Teacher
Quality dissects salary schedules from across the nation's
biggest school districts to find where and how
teachers can maximize their salaries.
The nctq, a Washington-based research and
advocacy group, found that when a salary grows
slowly, that creates an adverse effect on retirement;
the more money you make earlier in your
career, the more you can invest for the future. In
that regard, teachers are much worse off than doctors
or lawyers, the report indicates: By age 42, a
teacher is earning about half of his or her highest
income. Lawyers and doctors are making 80 percent
of their top salary by that age.
Districts showed wide discrepancies in how
quickly teachers could reach a $75,000 salary,
which is the average district maximum, according
to the nctq's calculations. On average, the report
says, it takes teachers 24 years to reach their maximum
pay. In Boston, it takes just seven years. In
Oklahoma City, it takes 31 years-or almost the
entire length of a teacher's career.
Cost of living also affects how much teachers
get for their salary. For example, the actual starting
salary for a teacher in San Francisco, which is
known for being expensive, is $47,425. The nctq
uses a cost-of-living adjustment to make that only
$18,165.
The report authors, meanwhile, praised Columbus,
Ohio, schools for giving teachers the most "bang for
the buck," with the highest adjusted salary, $100,400,
that teachers can earn in the shortest amount of time,
10 years.
-ROSS BRENNEMAN
SCIENCE EDUCATION
"Business Roundtable / Change the Equation Survey on
U.S. Workforce Skills"
About 60 percent of job openings require basic science,
technology, engineering, and math literacy, and
42 percent require advanced stem skills, according to
a new survey of 126 chief executive officers.
The Washington-based groups Change the Equation
and the Business Roundtable surveyed business
leaders' perceptions of workers' skills. The report indicates
that 46 percent of respondents said "skills
shortages" are "somewhat problematic," and 52 percent
said they are "problematic" or "very problematic."
The gap between the skills that employers are
looking for and those that job seekers possess was
not stem specific.
-LIANA HEITIN
STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
"Young Adults: Then and Now"
American young adults are better educated than
older generations were at the same age, but they are
significantly more likely to live in poverty than young
adults in 1980, according to a new data analysis by the
U.S. Census Bureau.
Census researchers found Americans ages 18 to 34
earn $2,000 less per year today than Americans of
these ages earned in 1980, after correcting for inflation,
though the percentage graduating college has
risen from a little more than 15 percent to more than
22 percent since 1980. Young people's progress varied
considerably in different states. In Massachusetts,
young adults earn on average $6,500 more than they
would have three decades ago, while those in Michigan,
Wyoming, and Alaska earn $9,000 less than they
did in 1980. Similarly, college graduation rates in the
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states like Maryland and
Virginia have grown by double digits, but have flattened
in the Midwest.
-S.D.S.
EDUCATION WEEK | December 10, 2014 | www.edweek.org | 5
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Education Week - December 10, 2014

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