T C E B TRIANGLE COALITION ELECTRONIC BULLETIN APRIL 26, 2001 VOL. 7, NO. 17 _____________________________________________________ Published by the TRIANGLE COALITION FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION _____________________________________________________ THIS WEEK'S TOPICS: SENATE DEMOCRATS, WHITE HOUSE SPAR OVER EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS LOWERED TO FIND SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS EDUCATION GROUP TO CONTROL ".EDU" DOMAIN U.S. SEEN LOSING EDGE ON EDUCATION MEASURES 1ST-GRADE TEACHERS DON'T TEACH MUCH, STUDY SAYS FCC ISSUES RULES FOR FILTERING ACCESS TO INTERNET SITES INTEL TEACH TO THE FUTURE WILL TRAIN 5,400 NEW ENGLAND TEACHERS TO USE CLASSROOM COMPUTERS COLLEGE BOARD AP GEOLOGY INTEREST SURVEY ____________________________________________________ SENATE DEMOCRATS, WHITE HOUSE SPAR OVER EDUCATION (Source: AOL News, April 24, 2001) Senate Democrats and the White House sparred on Tuesday over funding for a far-reaching education reform bill, jeopardizing President George W. Bush's first legislative priority. Democrats want to sharply increase funding for a range of elementary and secondary education programs, and have threatened to block Senate debate on the bill until an agreement is reached with the White House. "You cannot educate on the cheap," said Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health and Education Committee. Despite negotiations with the White House over funding, Kennedy said, "We're not within a range to think that we could bridge that gap at the present time." Under a tentative accord between Democrats and the White House, the Senate bill would require mandatory student testing, help children learn to read by the third grade, and give states more leeway in spending federal education funds -- signature issues for Bush during the presidential campaign. The bill does not, however, incorporate Bush's hotly contested private school voucher initiative, which would have allowed students in poor schools to receive $1,500 in federal aid to attend other public or private schools. Instead, it would allow students in failing schools to use some federal funding to pay for private tutoring and to transfer to another public school. Despite the tentative agreement on reforms, Democrats have dug in over funding, and have threatened to use procedural rules to block the bill's consideration. With the Senate divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, Republicans are unlikely to garner the 60 votes needed to break a vote-blocking filibuster. Specifically, Democrats want to increase fiscal 2002 funding for elementary and secondary education programs by $8.8 billion over the 2001 total of $18 billion. The White House was pressing for a much smaller increase of $1.3 billion to $2 billion. Kennedy said Democrats were also seeking a $6.4 billion increase for programs targeting students in low-income areas, following by increases of $5.5 billion each year for the next four years. So far the White House has balked at those increases, insisting that Bush's budget provided enough funding. ************************************ REQUIREMENTS LOWERED TO FIND SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS (Source: Washington Post, April 12, 2001) A Washington Post survey of more than 1,000 local schools found that on average, students spend two weeks a year with substitute teachers, both short-term and long-term. On any given school day, as many as 10 percent of the nation's classrooms have substitute teachers. But the supply of qualified instructors to fill those slots has dwindled as a teacher shortage and strong economy have siphoned them off. So school districts across the nation have dropped their once stringent requirements in the scramble to staff their classrooms. Now, most hire substitutes without teaching certificates or even college degrees, and with little or no classroom experience. In many cases, substitute teachers need nothing more than a high school degree or GED, according to a national survey of 500 school districts conducted by Utah State University and the U.S. Department of Education. Studies show that by the time high school graduation arrives, the typical student will have spent the equivalent of at least one full school year with substitutes. ************************************ EDUCATION GROUP TO CONTROL ".EDU" DOMAIN (Source: Ed.Net Briefs, April 16, 2001; Original Source: Yahoo! News, April 11, 2001) A university technology consortium will become the new gatekeeper of Internet addresses for educational institutions. The Commerce Department selection of EDUCAUSE, a non-profit consortium, may open the door for all community colleges to obtain ''.edu'' addresses, making their web sites easier to find. EDUCAUSE replaces VeriSign as the assignor of Internet addresses ending in ''.edu.'' VeriSign, a private firm, retains the right to assign addresses ending with ''.com,'' ''.org,'' and ''.net.'' As the managers of ''.edu'', EDUCAUSE will be responsible for handling the registration of web sites for colleges and universities. The ''.edu'' domain category has been restricted to four-year colleges and universities almost since its inception. But about a quarter of community colleges got ''.edu'' addresses before the restriction took effect. EDUCAUSE plans to allow the rest of the community colleges to obtain ''.edu'' addresses. For more information, visit www.educause.edu. ************************************ U.S. SEEN LOSING EDGE ON EDUCATION MEASURES (Source: Education Week, April 4, 2001) Poor literacy skills among high school graduates and too few opportunities for adult education put the United States in danger of losing its competitive edge in a rapidly changing global market, according to a report from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The United States is now behind, or has lost ground, on several important education measures among countries in the OECD, an economic- and social-policy organization of 30 industrialized countries, OECD officials said in releasing the group's annual education policy analysis. OECD countries have made lifelong learning a priority over the last five years because of demands for citizens to continually improve their skills in a "knowledge economy." But the report suggests that member counties still have a long way to go before systemic changes take root. For international comparison, the OECD analyzed results from an 18-nation literacy survey conducted between 1994 and 1998, which looked at scores from 16- to 25-year-old high school graduates. In the United States, excluding individuals who go on to acquire further education, nearly 60 percent of graduates performed below a literacy level international experts consider necessary to cope with "the complex demands of modern life." That percentage was the highest among the 18 nations studied. Finland, with only 10 percent lacking those literacy skills, performed the best among the countries surveyed. The percentages for other countries ranged from 20 percent in Germany to 50 percent in Poland. Thirty years ago, the United States was the "undisputed leader" in educating its population, said Gregory Wurzburg, the director for education, employment, labor, and social affairs for the OECD. But other countries are quickly catching up to or exceeding the United States. The United States leads all other countries surveyed for high school completion rates and postsecondary education among 50- to 54-year-olds, showing that it once dominated the education scene. But the report says that the United States ranks fifth in that category for 25- to 29-year-olds. The countries that bested the United States in that category were Korea, the Czech Republic, Norway, and Switzerland, the report says. For more information visit www.oecd.org. ************************************ 1ST-GRADE TEACHERS DON'T TEACH MUCH, STUDY SAYS (Source: Los Angeles Times, April 20, 2001) First-grade teachers across the country spend very little time actually teaching academic skills, instead focusing on classroom management, according to a national study. The study, based on observations of 827 first-grade classrooms in 26 states, also found that there seems to be no uniform standard for what a proper first-grade instructional program should be. In addition, researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development said there was no correlation between the number of children in a class or the teacher's level of education or experience and the amount of time devoted to teaching as opposed to filling out work sheets or playing. Researchers did not look at whether there was a link between what went on the classroom and how children performed academically. The findings, which were presented at a meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Minneapolis, should prompt further studies, said Robert C. Pianta, a professor of education at the University of Virginia and one of the lead researchers. The results were received with outrage and puzzlement by many first-grade teachers, who said there is plenty of teaching going on in their classrooms. Pianta said the study should not be interpreted as an indictment of teachers. Rather, the data should be a sign that policymakers need to decide what they want instructors to accomplish and find ways to help teachers achieve it. The observations of first-grade classrooms are part of the same study that produced findings, released earlier, saying that the more time children spend in child care, the more likely they are to display behavior problems in kindergarten. In the government-funded study, researchers in 10 cities across the country have followed 1,300 children since birth. Most of the children are now in fourth grade, but it takes years to analyze the data. In the study of first-graders, researchers observed 687 public school classrooms and 140 private school classrooms. Many teachers devoted significant amounts of time to leading large groups in reading, with scant attention to science, math, or social studies, the study said. (Editor's Note: For more information on the report, visit www.nichd.nih.gov.) ************************************ FCC ISSUES RULES FOR FILTERING ACCESS TO INTERNET SITES (Source: Education Week, April 18, 2001) Schools must take steps toward filtering the Internet access they provide to children and adults, or they will be denied federal E-rate support for Internet access and classroom wiring starting July 1, the Federal Communications Commission has announced. The agency, which oversees the federal "education rate" program of discounts for school and library telecommunications services, issued rules April 5 for implementing the federal Children's Internet Protection Act, which became law in December. The law states that any school or library receiving federal technology money, under the E-rate, Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or the Library Services and Technology Act, must enforce an Internet-safety policy. The policy is to include technological measures to block or filter Internet access to "visual depictions" that are deemed obscene, child pornography, or "harmful to minors." Schools or libraries that receive E-rate discounts only for basic telephone service are exempt from the new rules. Schools and libraries will have to certify by Oct. 28 that they have Internet-safety policies and filtering-technology measures in place, or that they are undertaking such actions to put filtering in place for the following funding year. Despite the fall deadline, schools and libraries cannot receive any discounts for the E-rate's Year 4, which runs from July 1 of this year to June 30, 2002, unless plans for filtering are already under way. An E-rate recipient that runs afoul of the requirement will have to reimburse the E-rate program for any discounts received after July 1. Two federal lawsuits -- led respectively by the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union -- were filed last month in a bid to block implementation of the Children's Internet Protection Act on constitutional grounds. ************************************ INTEL TEACH TO THE FUTURE WILL TRAIN 5,400 NEW ENGLAND TEACHERS TO USE CLASSROOM COMPUTERS Intel Corporation has launched the Intel Teach to the Future program in New Hampshire and four other New England states, with the goal of training 5,400 teachers over the next three years. The teachers learn to do research on the Internet, build web pages, and give multimedia presentations so they can use these skills in their classrooms to stimulate student learning. The program is presented with support from Microsoft Corporation. "Intel Teach to the Future relies on teachers training fellow teachers, so all can relate the new technology to their common classroom experience," said Ann S. Hurd, Intel's East Coast public affairs manager. "The master teachers, already familiar with computer technology, receive 40 hours of technology training, and 24 more hours of leadership training provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation." Intel Teach to the Future will eventually train more than 400,000 teachers and millions of students in 20 countries around the world. The WGBH Educational Foundation manages the program in New England for Intel. Over three years, Intel will invest $100 million in cash, equipment, curriculum development, and program management. Microsoft will contribute $344 million in software (estimated retail value) and program support, which is the single largest software donation in the company's history. In addition, leading computer manufacturers including Hewlett-Packard Company, Premio Computer, IBM, and Toshiba have joined Intel with equipment donations and discounts to make this the largest private industry effort to date -- worth nearly a half-billion dollars. For more information visit www.intel.com. ************************************ COLLEGE BOARD AP GEOLOGY INTEREST SURVEY The American Geological Institute (AGI) urges secondary school teachers to respond to an AP Geology Survey at www.collegeboard.org/ap/newsubjects/geology.html. AP Geology is one of nine courses currently being considered for the AP program and the only science course of the nine. AGI also urges university faculty and professionals to get the word of the AP Geology Survey out to education departments, urging them to participate in the survey. _____________________________________________________ This TCEB is made possible by a grant from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. Please visit their web site at www.dupont.com for more information about their educational support programs. The TCEB is a newsletter provided to members of the Triangle Coalition. Members may forward individual articles or the issue in its entirety providing that credit is given to the Triangle Coalition, and all of the following contact information is included in any republication. For TCEB subscription or membership information, contact: Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education 1201 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005 phone: 800-582-0115 fax: 202-289-1303 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.triangle-coalition.org To submit information for possible inclusion in TCEB, contact: Joanne Van Voorhis, Target Marketing, Editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************ THE MISSION OF THE TRIANGLE COALITION IS TO FOSTER COLLABORATION AMONG LEADERS IN EDUCATION, BUSINESS, AND GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION. The Triangle Coalition membership includes business, labor, education, science, mathematics, technology and engineering organizations, and community and state-based alliances. ************************************ -- This is the ISTA-talk mailing list. To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://www.ista-il.org/ista-talk.asp> To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/ista-talk@lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
