 |
| State & Local Education News |
Q&A: Anne Holton, Clinton Ally, on Education
Philadelphia
October 10, 2016
Anne Holton is a former judge and education secretary of Virginia, and VP candidate Tim Kaine’s wife. We talked to her about education while she was in Philly.
Last Thursday, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine stopped at Spring Garden Elementary School to stump for votes and brandish his education credentials. He was joined at the stop by American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.
Over the weekend, Anne Holton — a former judge and Kaine’s wife — was also in the Philadelphia area campaigning. She made stops in West Mount Airy, Ardmore, and West Chester.
Virginia's new Education Secretary talks issues at stop in Norfolk
The Virginian Pilot
October 8, 2016
Virginia recently got a new secretary of education. Dietra Trent moved into that role in late July, after Anne Holton stepped down to campaign with her husband, Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democrat nominee for vice president.
Trent, who grew up in Halifax County and graduated from Hampton University, developed an interest in education from her grandmother, who also was her first-grade teacher. Before becoming secretary of education she served two stints as deputy education secretary.
On Saturday, Trent spoke in Norfolk at a conference hosted by the nonprofit Educational Services of Hampton Roads. Afterward, she talked with The Virginian-Pilot about education in Hampton Roads and beyond.
Study finds 10 percent of Virginia schoolchildren are chronically absent
Washington Post
October 5, 2016
A University of Virginia study found that about 1 in 10 Virginia schoolchildren missed 18 or more days of school in the 2014-2015 school year, offering the first statewide look at a problem that research has shown can derail a child’s education.
The study’s report aims to shine a light on the issue of chronic absenteeism across Virginia. Luke C. Miller, a research assistant professor who co-wrote the report, said he hopes it inspires more research into why students miss class and how to address it.
Educators have long focused on attendance issues, aware that students who miss class can quickly fall behind and have a difficult time catching up. Schools were previously more focused on overall attendance rates, which can mask the fact that some students are consistently missing class.
|
National & Federal Education News
|
First Lady Michelle Obama Champions Education on 'Day of the Girl'
NBC News
October 11, 2016
Michelle Obama will step back from the Clinton campaign Tuesday to host a global conversation about girls' education.
The first lady will partner with Glamour's editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive, to hold an international Skype discussion about the challenges girls face in accessing education.
The event will mark the United Nation's International Day of the Girl and encourages young women around the world to participate by sharing their experiences and aspirations on Skype and Facebook Live.
Globally, more than 62 million girls do not have access to education, according to USAID.
Elizabeth F. Rohatyn, Supporter of Education and the Arts, Dies at 86
New York Times
October 11, 2016
Elizabeth F. Rohatyn, a major supporter of numerous arts and educational organizations, including the New York Public Library, died on Sunday at her home in Manhattan. She was 86.
Ms. Rohatyn, the wife of the financier Felix G. Rohatyn, was a former chairwoman of the library, a board member of Lincoln Center, a former president of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association and the founder of Teaching Matters Inc., a nonprofit to help teachers use technology in the classroom. She also worked with New Visions for Public Schools and WNET/Channel 13.
Sharp Differences Between Clinton and Trump on Education
ABC News
October 11, 2016
A quality education for all students, especially young children, is something Hillary Clinton has been talking about for decades. It's mostly new territory for Donald Trump, who more recently has been touting his education ideas beyond his oft-repeated criticism of Common Core.
The Republican presidential nominee added plans for education to his still relatively thin roster of policy proposals last month, unveiling an effort to spend $20 billion during his first year in office to help states expand school choice programs.
Trump wasn't shy about his intentions, debuting his ideas at an inner-city charter school in Cleveland as part of a new outreach to minority voters. "There's no failed policy more in need of urgent change than our government-run education monopoly," Trump said at the school, blaming the Democratic Party for having "trapped millions of African-American and Hispanic youth in failing government schools."
|
|
|
How are schools combating absenteeism?
This
past June, we featured information from the U.S. Department of Education's
report on the prevalence of chronic absenteeism in schools across the country. Based on data from the 2013-14 Civil Rights Data Collection, the report's main headline was that 6 million children in the U.S. (about 13%) were chronically absent from school, meaning they missed more than 3 weeks of school across the school year. Levels of absenteeism, the report found, were greater in high school.
The report detailed how widespread absenteeism has become across the country.
One out of every eight students missed three weeks or more of school in 2013-14. That translates to 93 million school days lost. Research suggests the reasons for chronic absenteeism are as varied as the challenges our students and families face—including poor health, limited transportation, and a lack of safety—which can be particularly acute in disadvantaged communities and areas of poverty.
Since we've reached the time of year where a student's absences can begin to pile up and endanger their chances to succeed for the rest of the school year, we thought we would return to this theme, including looking at some Virginia specific data and an example of a program at the national and state level that is seeking solutions for absenteeism.
A Nationwide Initiative
Every Student, Every Day
This program is a nationwide initiative aimed to eliminate chronic absenteeism.
In early June, the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Justice (DOJ) sponsored
Every Student, Every Day National Conference: Eliminating Chronic Absenteeism by Implementing and Strengthening Cross-Sector Systems of Support for All Students. This conference, held in Washington, D.C., sought to support state and local efforts to address and eliminate chronic absenteeism among our nation’s most vulnerable students, particularly those attending low-performing schools. The conference initiatied collaboration among educators and highlighted best practices from across the country that can help inform effective chronic absenteeism policy and practice.
The distribution of absenteeism in Virginia
In Virginia, some local school systems have particularly large numbers of students with chronic absences, including the state capital. Richmond City had the highest number of truancy conferences (6,946 students) of any locality in VA according to 2014-15 statistics from the Virginia Department of Education. The visuals below display that data by mapping the number of students with whom a conference was held after the student had accumulated six absences during the 2014-2015 school year.
(Click on each visual to view an interactive version.)
A Virginia Initiative
LIFE Progam in Richmond
The Richmond Police Department and Richmond Public Schools launched the LIFE Program (Law enforcement Intervention Focused on Education) in Richmond this past spring. The Richmond Police Department's
news release stated that this program's purpose is to keep kids who have run into legal trouble in school as opposed to juvenile detention.
A
Richmond Times Dispatch article gave specfic details on the program. The program accepts students who commit certain crimes like larceny and minor vandalism and gives these students the tools they need to make better decisions as opposed to commiting them into a juvenile justice system. Students who commit major felonies are not admitted into the program.
The program accepts students who are between the ages of 13 and 19. The students who are accepted attend a 90 minute after school class once a week over a nine week period that teaches them about conflict resolution, drug and alcohol awareness, gangs and respect for themselves as well as others.
Dr. Dana Bedden, Superintendent of Richmond Public Schools summarized the LIFE Program this way in the news release to which we linked earlier.
“The launch of the LIFE program is a clear representation of the strong partnership between the Richmond Police Department and Richmond Public Schools,” said Dr. Dana Bedden, Superintendent of Richmond Public Schools. “We commend our local law enforcement for recognizing the need to provide our at-risk students with a positive alternative to help get their life back on the path to success and directly contribute to uplifting their communities."
Given numerous recent stories in other parts of the country about the tension between communities and the police department, part of the goal of this program is to bridge a gap between students and the police force. It allows for a collaboration between the school system and the police force which will give students a different perception of the men and women in blue. We'll look forward to seeing reports of progress from this initiative in the coming years.
As with the LIFE program, efforts to understand how to mitigate chronic absenteeism depend on a positive interface between schools and law enforcement. So we also wanted to note two expert resources that we are privileged to have among our VCU Wilder School faculty. Two professors focus their current research on the intesection of policing and the school system.
- Dr.
Trisha Rhodes is an assistant professor in the Wilder School at VCU who focuses her research on policing in schools, policing strategies and juvenile delinquency.
- Dr.
Hayley Cleary is also an assistant professor in the Wilder School at VCU who focuses her research on best practices in police interrogation of youth and juvenile corrections.
Finally, one of the impacts of chronic absenteeism is the erosion of students' readiness for college or the workforce where showing up on time is increasingly important. For this reason, based on our 2015-16 Commonwealth Education Poll we share
below a quick look at the public's perception of high school graduates readiness for college and the workforce.
Have a great week!
Sincerely,
CEPI
|
CEPI Poll Snapshot - Perceptions of High School Graduates readiness for college, world of work?
A short data insight from our
Commonwealth Education Poll.
A majority don’t see high school grads as ready for workforce
Workforce readiness is a key area for policymakers because of its connection to attracting business to the commonwealth and long-term economic growth. Workforce development, though often thought of in terms of higher education, is also a topic in K-12 discussions both in terms of immediate readiness to join the workforce and preparation to pursue further training in college. To get a sense of public perception on how ready graduates of high school, community college and four-year colleges are, we asked respondents about how prepared graduates of each level are to move into the next phase. The responses suggest that the public generally thinks high school graduates are not ready to join the workforce, but have been prepared to go to college.
 |
|
A strong majority (63%) think that high school graduates are not prepared for the workplace, strongly or somewhat disagreeing with the statement that high school graduates are ready for the world of work. Respondents with a college degree or more are more likely to disagree strongly or somewhat (71%) that high school grads are ready for the workforce, compared to those with some college (63%) and those with a high school diploma or less (53%). Household income levels also mark a difference of opinion on the question. Seventy-six percent (76%) of those with an annual income of $100,000 or more disagreed strongly or somewhat with the suggestion that high schools graduates were ready for the workforce. This compared to 60% among respondents with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 and 54% for respondents with incomes below $50,000.
Overall, however, Virginians believe that high school graduates are prepared for higher education, which may indicate that public opinion of workforce readiness of high school graduates is less an indictment of the K-12 educational system and more a belief that the current system is geared more towards preparing students for college than it is toward preparing them for a specific career. A majority (64%) agreed that high school graduates are ready for college, with significant differences of opinion based on age, gender and income. Respondents aged 35-44, at 76%, were most likely to agree strongly or somewhat that high school graduates are ready for college, followed by those aged 18-34 (69%), those aged 45-64 (59%) and those 65 or older (57%). Likewise, 70% of women agreed strongly or somewhat with high school graduates being ready for college, compared to only 59% of men. Also, those with an annual household income of less than $50,000 (72%) were most likely to agree compared to those with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 (60%) and those with incomes above $100,000 (61%).
(To read the full poll, visit our
website.)
|
|
