Fast Report

6/06/06 -- Pilot on NCLB sanctions extended

• The U.S. Education Department will expand a pilot program that allows school districts to reverse the order of sanctions under the No Child Left Behind Act for schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress.

Last year, four districts in Virginia were allowed to offer supplemental educational services (SES) to students attending schools in the first year of improvement before offering school choice. NCLB requires school choice the first year and SES the second year.

A May 15 policy letter from the Education Department to the chief state school officers invites all states to apply for this pilot program for the 2006-07 school year, citing “the positive results we have seen in Virginia.”

The letter also chides states for low participation rates in SES and school choice. In 2003-04, only 17 percent of eligible students took advantage of SES, and only 1 percent participated in school choice.

The letter threatens sanctions -- including the withholding of federal funds -- when districts fail to adequately inform parents about their choice and SES options.

Court upholds rights of employers

• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 May 30 that public employees cannot claim free speech rights in the workplace when speaking in an official capacity. The case (Garcetti v. Ceballos) involved a Los Angeles prosecutor who claimed he was demoted for  being a “whistleblower” after he charged that a sheriff’s deputy had lied to get a search warrant.

The majority opinion, by Justice Anthony M. Ken­nedy, says government employees have the same free speech rights as other citizens when not on the job, but “when a citizen enters government service, the citizen by necessity must accept certain limitations on his or her freedom.”

The ruling is important for school boards because it upholds school districts’ rights, as employers, to control the speech of teachers in the classroom. NSBA had filed a brief supporting the Los Angeles County prosecutor’s office.

NSBA is pleased with the decision, says General Counsel Francisco Negrón. “It says to public employers that they’re no different from regular private employers,” he says. “Private-sector employees are not allowed to invoke the First Amendment for internal company memos and conversations, and neither should school district employees.”

Minority students face ‘hostile climate’

• Black and Hispanic students are more likely to face learning environments that are full of serious disruptions and distractions, reports a study released by Public Agenda May 31.

“If an adult were forced to work in an environment where disrespect, bad language, fighting, drug and alcohol abuse, and other bad behavior are inflicted by a relative few -- but tolerated or winked at by management -- it might be considered a ‘hostile workplace,’” states Public Agenda.

Yet, it says, that is the reality faced by substantial numbers of black and Hispanic students.

According to Reality Check 2006: How Black and Hispanic Families Rate Their Schools:

• 30 percent of black students report that teachers spend more time trying to keep order than teaching.

• 32 percent report “very serious” problems with fighting and weapons.

• 33 percent say their school is not consistent in enforcing discipline and behavior rules.

• 37 percent say their school has a very serious problem with students cutting class.

• 52 percent say their school has a very serious problem with students who lack respect for teachers and use bad language.

The report also offers some good news: Majorities of black and Hispanic students said they have had a teacher who was able to get them interested in a subject that they hadn’t really liked before.

Study questions national certification

• A study commissioned by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) found that teachers who earn National Certification are not more effective in raising student achievement than teachers who have not earned that credential.

The study was conducted by statistician William L. Sanders and his colleagues at the SAS Institute. It was completed in March, but the full report was not posted on the NBPTS website until May, after complaints that the board was suppressing the results.

The study looks at more than 260,000 student records for fourth and eighth-graders in two large North Carolina school districts, Charlotte-Mecklenberg and Wake County, from the 1999-2000 to the 2002-03 school years.

According to the study, students who had National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) “did not have significantly better rates of academic progress than students of other teachers.” There was a large variation in teacher effectiveness within both groups -- those with national certification and those without it.

“As a result,” the study says, “a student randomly assigned to a NBCT is no more likely to get an ‘effective’ (or an ‘ineffective’) teacher than a student assigned to a non-NBCT.”