Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast
"Public Involvement. Public Education. Public Benefit."
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, AMERICANS SAY
Americans believe public schools must be held accountable for
properly educating children and give the No Child Left Behind
Act (NCLB) high marks for its goals, but also think NCLB needs
dramatic changes, according to results from three years of
nationwide hearings held by Public Education Network (PEN). The
results were released by PEN this week in a new report "Open to
the Public: How Communities, Parents and Students Assess the
Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act, 2004-2007.  The
Realities Left Behind." NCLB, slated for re-authorization by
Congress this year, has been praised, vilified, noted as a
well-meaning step in the right direction, and hotly criticized
for not doing nearly enough to fix the nation's public school
woes by various sectors of the professional education community.
Little has been said about what average, everyday Americans
think about NCLB. Overall, Americans do think public schools
must be held accountable for properly educating children. Based
on the hearing and survey results, PEN recommends that NCLB's
re-authorization include:  (1) retaining the emphasis on highly
qualified teachers but providing resources to help teachers
become more effective; (2) implementing student-focused,
comprehensive accountability systems; (3) expanding
opportunities for shared accountability for including the
community as partners; (4) strengthening parental involvement
provisions; (5) increasing capacity at state and local levels to
provide school and student supports to implement NCLB,
especially for low-performing schools; and, (6) fully funding
any re-authorized act. "Over three years, and at every hearing
site, the public supported the goals of NCLB.  However, until
the act addresses the realities of inequities, limited
expectations of student and teacher capacities, and the
isolation of parents and communities from school reforms, it
will engender more rhetoric than real difference in the success
of all students," said Wendy D. Puriefoy, president and CEO of
Public Education Network. "The public voice must be part of the
process used by policymakers if they want to be trusted on
behalf of the nation's children."
http://www.publiceducation.org/

HOW SCHOOLS GET IT RIGHT
Whether they are in wealthy or poor neighborhoods, schools with
lots of high-scoring students share certain characteristics.
They have experienced teachers who stay for years, reports Liz
Bowie in the Baltimore Sun, and they offer extracurricular
activities after school. Sometimes, they have many students in
gifted-and-talented classes working with advanced material.
These are the schools that families looking for a great public
education will seek out and move close to because students are
achieving far beyond the basic levels set by state and federal
laws. It isn't just experience and tenure that seem to matter in
successful schools. Teachers also need to feel they have some
say in how their school is run, educators say. When staff
members go to the principal with a new idea, they usually will
be allowed to try it out. Top-performing schools also have a lot
of extracurricular activities. In some cases, the chess club,
writing club and geography clubs are run by parents. Principals
say the discussion in these high-performing schools has moved
away from worrying about how many students will pass to how many
students will fly through the test with ease and score in the
advanced category.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.scores22j