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It's no secret that the Bush Administration has never taken fondly to NEA's slate of ideas about how to improve the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the so-called No Child Left Behind law. For two years the Administration has brushed aside criticism about the law's unfunded mandates and balked at pleas to correct many of its flaws. But when Department of Education Secretary Rod Paige recently described the 2.7 million-member Association as a "terrorist organization" because of its criticism, the depth of the animosity sizzled to the surface.Paige made the charge in a private meeting with governors, but he was quickly forced to fess up, recant, and reach out. Yet few were feeling the love, mainly because the secretary has been there before—not only with NEA ("the coalition of the whining," he once dubbed it), but with numerous other critics, whom he's called "nihilists" and compared to racial segregationists. Even in his "apology" to NEA, the secretary couldn't bring himself to call a truce, describing the Association's concerns as "obstructionist scare tactics" and attempting to draw a line between the leadership and teachers themselves. But NEA members would have none of it. At a meeting last month between Paige and Teachers of the Year from across the country, North Carolina middle school teacher Melissa Ellis Bartlett sat next to Paige and discreetly slid a button to his side.
It was a measure of just how charged members had become. NEA President Reg Weaver already had panned Paige's terrorist remark as "morally repugnant" and called on President Bush to ask for his resignation. The real work followed as members redoubled efforts to get the word out about the law's flaws. Thousands of e-mails poured into the White House, the Department of Education, and congressional offices, many pleading for true reform that helps kids. As Arkansas Teacher of the Year Katherine Wright Knight put it after the meeting with the secretary, "It's really not about Secretary Paige. It's about a law that disrupts our classrooms and communities and labels our children and teachers failures." Added James Kerr, Oklahoma's Teacher of the Year: "The [testing provision of the] law fails to demonstrate the growth of students from the beginning of the year to the end. [All you get] is a snapshot." And that "huge flaw," says Lorynda Sampson, Colorado's top teacher, "ends up leaving many kids behind." Got something to say about ESEA? Contact your congressional reps and encourage support for NEA-backed legislation that makes it live up to its name. As Deborah Smith, Tennessee's Teacher of the Year reminds: "There's not a teacher in the U.S. who doesn't live or breathe by the philosophy of leaving no child behind—long before it was made a policy by this Administration."
Leap of Faith
"The religious community has a responsibility to become an advocate for public education," says the Rev. Oliver "Buzz" Thomas, former legal counsel for NCC and a presenter at the symposium. "This is not optional. It's commandment." Fowl Play
Some 470 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) were backed to the wall. Until January, they waged an 11-month strike—in the face of 300 "replacement" workers who crossed their picket line—before ratifying an inferior contract that included most of Tyson's take backs. The choice: Settle the contract or watch strikebreakers use their right under federal law to vote out the union. UFCW members must now continue their battle inside the plant, but they know they've rallied thousands of Wisconsin residents, including members and staff of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), to their side. WEAC folks walked the line, spoke at plant gate rallies, and donated money, food, and even toys for strikers' kids during the holidays. Meanwhile, merchants, even those in rural Jefferson, pulled Tyson products from their shelves, neighbors brought coffee and doughnuts to the picket line, and members of other unions picketed alongside the strikers. The "world's largest protein producer" may have starved its Jefferson workers, for now, of a living wage, but their dignity is intact. "We kept the union in there," says UFCW steward Dave Reed. "They didn't bust us." For more, go to www.ufcw.org/press_room/ fact_sheets_and_backgrounder/factsontysons.cfm. Er, Smile? You're On Camera
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona installed the equipment at Royal Palm Middle School in Phoenix, not because the school has experienced specific problems with sex offenders, says school principal Michael Christensen. It simply wanted to see how well the equipment would work in schools. "Anything to create a safer environment for kids is a good development," he says. The cameras, which cost between $3,000 and $5,000 and were paid for by a grant, scan the faces of people who enter the school. It then matches 28 different facial features to images stored in databases. The "stored" faces include those of known sex offenders, missing children, and alleged abductors. Individuals wanted for other crimes are not part of the system, so the school hasn't become a checkpoint for catching anyone and everyone who's on the lam. But, if the cameras make a match, the sheriff's department receives a notification automatically. Other images captured by the cameras, such as those of teachers and students coming and going, are not stored. And, so far, parents and staff seem "supportive," says Christensen. For strangers who get flashed, though, "creepy" may be the better word.
It's hardly the first time Bush has funneled federal funds to the voucher movement. Since Bush took office, the Department of Education has doled out more than $75 million in grants to pro-voucher advocacy groups, according to People for the American Way, a pro-public education organization. The grants, many of them unsolicited, focused on educating the public about the school choice provisions of the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the so-called No Child Left Behind law. In reality, though, the grants presented a not-so-veiled opportunity to tout the benefits of vouchers, championing them as a benefit for poor minority children. Voucher advocates are misguided if they think such programs will help anyone, says Gabriela Lemus, national director of policy and legislation for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), an NEA partner. "The perception that vouchers create choice for parents and kids is erroneous," she says. "It really creates choice for private schools, which have the right to pick and choose who they will accept." Charge It!More than 20 percent of students between the ages of 12 and 19 have their own credit card or access to a parent's. Hmm... so much for saving allowance. College BoundThe face of public education in the United States is changing—or, rather, changing complexion.
Chances are more of those students will go on to college as well. During the past 20 years, total minority enrollment in higher education has more than doubled—up from nearly 2 million students in 1980 to 4.3 million in 2000. But the gap in college participation rates between Caucasian and minority students has widened, according to the American Council on Education. From 1978 to 1980 about 30 percent of students of all races attended college. But, from 1998 to 2000, 46 percent of white high school graduates were in college, compared with only 40 percent of Blacks and 34 percent of Hispanics. No Longer Alone"The word colored...need not paint our lives. Indeed, by our own definition we were dear colored people, and the colors were the same as the love that our families and friends had for us....And so it was that we were able to spread dignity in the face of indignity, and dignity cannot really be taken away by someone else's poor choice of words."
Author, poet, and former teacher Joyce Carol Thomas edits the collection, which includes selections from both African-American and Caucasian authors who speak with sometimes-painful honesty. Powerful pastel illustrations from artist Curtis James accompany each piece. As educators honor the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board decision next month, they will find many teaching resources to use in the classroom. But those trying to capture the heart and soul of this era should take a look at this moving collection.
You Bet If they had to do it again, 82 percent of new teachers still would become educators. That's the finding of The Voice of the New Teacher, a new survey from the Public Education Network, a coalition of community-based organizations that support public schools. Beginning educators enjoy teaching, according to the report, and they find their jobs much more satisfying than do their peers working in other professions.
What will it take to keep these teachers at the head of the class? High-quality mentoring programs, more contact with administrators and fellow teachers, and ongoing support, say novice educators. (A new teacher handbook wouldn't hurt, either. It topped the survey's new teacher wish list.) [ Nobody Ever Told Me ] Sparking InterestAs a first-year teacher, I went to a veteran colleague and asked for some advice about keeping my fifth-grade students' attention. "Mr. Barzso" showed me a simple science experiment to perform and told me to dispose of the materials in the school dumpster once I was finished. It sounded easy enough.
Later that day, I attended a staff meeting where the school principal announced that the recycling dumpster had caught fire. Mr. Barzso and I looked at each other and I sheepishly explained about the botched science experiment. "I guess I threw it in the wrong dumpster," I said. The entire staff, including my principal, burst out laughing. Apparently, the experiment worked after all, and my colleagues now call me, "Sparky." —Anna Hallock
Lending A Helping HandCovering life's necessities can be a tall order for members of the Special Education Employees Association (SEEA) in St. Louis County, Missouri. The average paraeducator in the district makes about $17,000 a year— hardly enough to make ends meet when it costs nearly $27,000 a year to care for a family of three in the area.
And the local is seeing results. In four years, membership has soared to 800 from 238, with about 150 joining in the past seven months, says UniServ Director Terri Coburn. Meanwhile, new and veteran members have increased their presence in the community by collecting items for the local homeless shelters and food pantries. The local hopes to rally additional community support this month with a petition signing. "I anticipate it will let the district see we have the community behind us," says Canaday.
Tune in to your local PBS station on any given day, and you might catch a glimpse of students from Jim Wojcicehowski's broadcasting class talking about the good news of seat belt safety.
But Wojcicehowski's students haven't let fame go to their heads. They already are working on a new PSA about the dangers of drinking and driving for this year's contest. "I wanted my students to gain a sense of pride in doing a major project like this, and to do it well," says Wojcicehowski, a social studies teacher. "They used all the skills and techniques of broadcasting that we have learned. I was very proud of my students when they won because I was proud of their finished product." —Urmila Subramanyam Power Up Your BrainNeed your brain to work better? Don't be a racist.
In a study, white participants completed a test that measured their racial bias, then interacted with an African American. Afterward, they worked on a simple, yet challenging, mental task. The result: Those who registered higher degrees of racial bias had a harder time with the task. Did the interaction put their gray matter on "E?" Dr. Jennifer Richeson, a specialist in race-relations research at Dartmouth, thinks so. People with racial biases experience stress when they try to hide their true feelings, she says. And that stress wears out your brain, just like a strenuous workout exhausts your muscles. But more frequent workouts can build muscle strength, and people can overcome their biases by spending more time with members of different races, Richeson says. The verdict? Becoming more mentally efficient could be as easy as freeing your mind. —Chris Kotterman Chew On ThisCould gum chewing (the bane of teachers and school custodians everywhere) improve learning?
Allen didn't plan on getting into the Bazooka business. He originally wanted to compare two different methods of teaching dental anatomy, but he couldn't find any funding. When he learned that chewing gum maker Wrigley might underwrite a study, Allen decided to let his students start smacking. Half of his students chewed sugarless gum while they studied, while the others went gumless. After three days of instruction, the gum-chewers scored, on average, a B-minus on a written test while the abstainers pulled only a C-plus. Because only 56 students took part in the study—too few to be statistically meaningful—Allen's applied for another wad of funding for a larger follow-up.
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