| Missouri Education News – February 2010 |
Queue, Inc. Offers FREE Previews Queue, Inc. is offering public schools free previews of Queue’s best-selling test prep and curriculum-based workbooks. Queue publishes test prep workbooks in reading comprehension and math for grades 2-8 based on MAP standards as well as a a wide variety of workbooks in language arts, reading comprehension, math and science ideal for test prep. Order previews online, or call Queue at 800.232.2224. Report Gives Missouri a Grade of 'D' for Policies That Impact Quality of Teachers A new reportby the not-for-profit, non-partisan National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) finds that Missouri's teacher policies largely work against the nation's goal of improving teacher quality. While the national focus on teacher quality has never been greater, the broad range of state laws, rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession too often impede rather than promote serious reform. NCTQ's 2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook examined state policy across five areas that include teacher preparation, evaluation, tenure and dismissal, alternative certification and compensation. Missouri earned the following grades, resulting in an overall grade of D: • Delivering Well Prepared Teachers: C- NCTQ President Kate Walsh said, "The release of the 2009 Yearbook comes at a particularly opportune time. Race to the Top, the $4.5 billion federal discretionary grant competition, has put unprecedented focus on education reform in general, and teacher quality in particular. We believe that the Yearbook provides a road map for achieving a Race to the Top grant, identifying where states are on the right track and where they have considerable work to do. Walsh continued: “Unfortunately, states have tremendous ground to make up after years of policy neglect. There is much more Missouri can do to ensure that all children have the effective teachers they deserve." Among the findings about Missouri: • Missouri makes it too difficult for districts to attempt to dismiss poor performers by failing to articulate a policy for dismissing teachers for poor performance separate from dismissal policies for criminal and morality violations. Missouri also allows multiple appeals of dismissals. • Although Missouri claims to offer an alternative route to certification, its burdensome requirements block talented individuals from entering the profession. • Missouri's requirements for the preparation of elementary teachers do not ensure these teachers are well prepared to teach mathematics. While the state's policies do address the science of reading instruction, Missouri fails to ensure that its elementary teachers are well prepared to teach reading through an appropriate test. • Missouri sets low expectations for what special education teachers should know, despite state and federal expectations that special education students should meet the same high standards as other students. • Missouri fails to exercise appropriate oversight of its teacher preparation programs. It could do more to hold programs accountable for the quality of the teachers they produce. • Missouri's pay and benefit policies for teachers—including the state-run retirement system—offer inadequate incentives to stay in teaching. The financial sustainability of Missouri's retirement system is also uncertain, based on the state's own report. Despite these findings, Missouri has some bright spots, including requiring induction for all new teachers. Missouri's Educational Data System Evaluated A new Data Quality Campaign (DQC) report finds that states are making impressive progress toward building longitudinal data systems and are taking the first steps to ensure that new information is used to improve student outcomes and system-wide performance. But the results, which are based on a survey of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, also show that most states have much work to do around key practices, such as following student progress from pre-school through college and the workforce, sharing student-level progress reports with teachers, and providing adequate training around data use. Complete Missouri report: State Submits Ambitious, Multifaceted Proposal for “Race to the Top” Nicastro: “No time for half measures.” In a dramatic bid to grab an inside lane in the national competition for education-reform funding, Missouri officials have submitted an ambitious, multifaceted proposal that could bring almost $750 million to the state’s public schools over the next four years. The Department of Education yesterday completed and submitted its application for “Race to the Top” funding to the U.S. Department of Education. Race to the Top is a $4.3 billion competitive grant program designed to reward – and challenge – states that develop significant school-improvement initiatives. Applications were due in Washington, D.C., at 4 p.m. yesterday. Missouri’s plan lays out a total budget of $743 million, most of which would go directly to public schools across the state. “If Race to the Top is going to be this decade’s ‘moon shot’ for public education, we want to be among the first to fly,” said Commissioner of Education Chris L. Nicastro. “We intend to establish Missouri’s position as a leader in improving America’s public schools over the next decade. This is no time for half measures. I think we have a game plan that is bold, smart and comprehensive – and we can execute it,” she said. Missouri’s proposal calls for action on several fronts: curriculum and testing; expanding the role of technology in schools; expanding educational services and options before kindergarten; improving the way teachers are evaluated, rewarded and supported; focusing resources on low-performing schools; and revamping the structure of the state education agency, among others. “There is no question that this is an ambitious agenda. It will require collaboration and cooperation with all stakeholders. Whether or not we get funding under this program, we now have a plan we can use to propel Missouri’s public education system into the Top 10, nationally and internationally,” Nicastro said. For more information, see the Executive Summary or full text of Missouri’s Race to the Top application. Missouri's Other Achievement Gap While NCLB is closing the gap between rich and poor and ethnic groups at the proficient level, the gap at the advanced level is widening. Complete Missouri report: Missouri's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 15th Annual National Awards Program Honors also bestowed on youth volunteers in Springfield, Marceline, St. Joseph, Creve Coeur, Blue Springs, and Kansas City JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Simone Bernstein, 17, of St. Louis and Alexander Wood, 11, of Lee's Summit today were named Missouri's top two youth volunteers for 2010 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 15th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). “it was tough to find an organization that would allow me to volunteer.” Simone was nominated by Clayton High School in Clayton, and Alexander was nominated by Cedar Creek Elementary School in Lee's Summit. As State Honorees, each will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for several days of national recognition events. Ten of them will be named America’s top youth volunteers for 2010 at that time. To start, Simone purchased a domain name, searched for a reasonably priced server, and learned how to build a website. She contacted dozens of agencies and nonprofits to inquire about volunteer opportunities for middle and high school students, and in the process, encouraged many of them to change their volunteer age policies. To promote her website (www.stlouisvolunteen.com), Simone sent e-mails to local schools, churches, and youth and scout groups; and sought publicity from radio and television stations and local magazines and newspapers. Simone’s site currently lists more than 40 organizations offering youth volunteer opportunities, and provides links to online applications for many of them. From the website grew the idea for a “youth and family volunteer fair,” which Simone is planning for April. “I hope the website will motivate students to come up with creative ideas and solutions for the challenges facing our communities,” said Simone. Alexander, a fifth-grader at Cedar Creek Elementary School, has raised more than $3,000 over the past five years for a variety of hunger-related charities by selling lemonade and baked goods that he makes himself. When he was just 5, Alexander heard his church minister talk about hungry children in Haiti. “I felt bad for those kids and wanted to give some money to help them,” he said. Since he loved to bake, he asked his parents to help him make brownies and lemonade, and then set up a lemonade stand at a neighborhood garage sale to sell them. Over the next several years, Alexander recruited friends to help him run more lemonade stands and conduct food collection drives to feed the hungry through his church’s food pantry and organizations such as City Union Mission and Meals on Wheels. Last year, he launched his own baking business, “Clean Hands Bakery.” He passes out fliers, takes orders, and delivers the cookies, cakes, and breads that he makes from scratch. The proceeds from this business help provide livestock to poor families through Heifer International. “Each batch of cookies means one less hungry person at home and around the world,” said Alexander. In addition, the program judges recognized six other Missouri students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion: Megan Corbin, 17, of Marceline, a member of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri in St. Louis and a senior at Marceline R-V High School, started a recycling program in her town using a $15,000 grant that she applied for. Megan purchased a recycling trailer with the grant money to collect recyclables, which are now delivered to an organization for developmentally disabled adults who earn money from the sale of recycled items. Ashley Howery, 13, of St. Joseph, a seventh-grader at Bode Middle School, helped arrange for a mobile health unit to offer free healthcare services to homeless people at various locations in St. Joseph. Ashley, who worked closely with a friend to implement the project, applied for and received a $17,500 grant to underwrite the program. Emily Mazzoni, 17, of Creve Coeur, a senior at Parkway North High School in St. Louis, raised more than $6,000 for the American Cancer Society over the past two years by helping to create and coordinate a “Mini Relay for Life” event at her school. After a friend died from cancer in the sixth grade, Emily joined the committee that produces her community’s summer Relay for Life fund-raiser, and then decided to enhance the effort by introducing a smaller version at her school. Jacob Mozer, 13, of Blue Springs, a seventh-grader at Moreland Ridge Middle School, has helped his family raise hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past six years by hosting a series of lemonade stands for the national organization, “Alex’s Lemonade Stand.” Jacob, a cancer survivor and the motivation behind his family’s volunteer efforts, also has met with congressmen in Washington to urge passage of a law that would provide $30 million dollars to fund research into childhood cancer. |