10 Aug 2012

University of Iowa named a 'Best Buy' for eighth year

By Rick Martin

For the eighth straight year, the University of Iowa has been designated a "Best Buy" in the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

The UI is one of only 20 public universities from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada on the list and one of three Big Ten schools included along with Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The creation of a former New York Times education editor, the Fiske Guide has been a respected college search tool used by parents, college-bound students, and their guidance counselors for more than 25 years.

DID YOU KNOW?

To receive a "Best Buy" designation, schools had to have high academic rankings, an inexpensive or moderate price, and a high quality of student life on campus. In all, 41 schools received the "Best Buy" designation, including 21 private institutions.

FYI
For more information about applying to the UI, visit admissions.uiowa.edu.

10 Aug 2012

Brown Mackie College to hold Graduation Ceremony

By Steve Dobbins

Brown Mackie College – Quad Cities announces that the college will hold its Graduation Ceremony on Sunday, August 19, from 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. at the i wireless Center located at 1201 River Drive in Moline, Illinois. Graduates of the college will be awarded associate degrees and diplomas.

The event's speaker is the Honorable Bob Gallagher, Jr., Mayor of Bettendorf, Iowa.

Brown Mackie College – Quad Cities is one of over 25 school locations of the Brown Mackie College system of schools (www.brownmackie.edu), which is dedicated to providing educational programs that prepare students for entry-level positions or to enhance their current professions in a competitive, rapidly-changing workplace. See bmcprograms.info for program duration, tuition, fees, and other costs, median debt, federal salary data, alumni success, and other important info.

10 Aug 2012

Governor Quinn Signs Law to Boost Bilingual Education

By Nafia Khan

New Law to Pave the Way for "Parent Academies" in Illinois

CHICAGO - August 9, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today signed a new law designed to strengthen bilingual education in Illinois. The law authorizes the Illinois Advisory Council on Bilingual Education to study and make recommendations on the state of bilingual education in Illinois, as well as the role of parents of students whose first language is not English. Today's action at the Inter-American Magnet School paves the way for the possible implementation of "parent academies" and is the governor's latest to further improve education in Illinois.

"School is challenging enough for students and parents alike without having to struggle with a new language," Governor Quinn said. "This new law will keep Illinois on the cutting edge of bilingual education programs to ensure that every student is ready for the workforce."

Sponsored by Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora) and Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago), House Bill 3819 requires the Advisory Council to evaluate the success rate of bilingual programs, examine innovative initiatives such as "parent academies" and "cultural competency programs", and submit a report to the State Superintendent of Education, Governor and General Assembly by Jan. 1, 2013.

According to an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) study, there were 183,000 Illinois students in 2010 for whom English was not a first language, nearly 10 percent of the entire student population. Spanish-speakers comprise 80 percent of those enrolled in English language programs; rounding out the top ten are Polish, Urdu, Arabic, Tagalog, Korean, Cantonese/Mandarin, Gujarati, Vietnamese and Russian. While most live in Chicago, there are growing numbers of non-English speaking students in Elgin, Cicero, Aurora and Waukegan.

The Advisory Council on Bilingual Education, which was created in 1992 to propose recommendations to ISBE, will examine the feasibility of "parent academies" through which parents learn about standardized testing, homework completion strategies and student-teacher relationships. Some states offer free two-hour workshops for parents that cover "conditions for learning", such as school safety, home supportiveness and nutrition. In urban areas, the "parent academy" approach has successfully addressed the specific needs of single parents and immigrant families.

"Parents of non-English speaking students want - and need - to feel a greater stake in navigating their child's education. This new law opens the door to such innovations as 'parent academies' to accomplish that," said Rep. Chapa LaVia, who Chairs the Illinois House Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations Committee.

"We are always looking for ways to help all students maximize their academic potential. This new law will help," said Sen. Martinez.

The bill was supported by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and passed unanimously in both chambers. The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2013.

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08 Aug 2012

Cheating scandals make a mockery of school reform efforts

By Steve Gunn
Public school employees who falsify student data are making a mockery of reform efforts
By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Across the nation, lawmakers and school boards are demanding better results from public education.

They want to set the bar higher for American students by adopting a tough new set of national standards and demanding passing grades and solid attendance. They want to set the bar higher for teachers and administrators by demanding more accountability for student learning.
They've tried to put some teeth in these new policies by adopting penalties for those who do not meet standards. Failing teachers can now lose tenure protection in many states. Schools and programs that don't meet benchmarks can lose government funding or risk state takeovers.

All of this is necessary to get America's education system back on the track of excellence.

The problem is that lawmakers and policymakers have limited reach. They can establish laws and standards, but it's up to local educators to implement them, and often measure their own degree of success in meeting them.

But sometimes those educators cheat to get themselves or their schools off the hook, or to maintain a steady flow of state dollars. It's a breach of faith on the part of school employees that cannot be tolerated, and must be met with harsh and decisive disciplinary action.
Cheating accusations spreading across Ohio
The latest controversy comes from several school districts in Ohio, where officials have been accused of "scrubbing" student academic scores and attendance records to avoid penalties.
In the Columbus school district, officials are accused of withdrawing many sub-par students that are still enrolled, then re-enrolling them on the district roster. That allows them to "break a student's streak of continuous enrollment," according a story published by Cincinnati.com.

Why would they do this? Only the test-scores of students who've been enrolled without interruption are counted in the school's overall state testing data.

Tina Abdella, former internal auditor for the Columbus district, told the media that she tried to investigate anonymous tips about scrubbed attendance records, but was diverted by the superintendent and later fired by the school board.

In the Lockland, Ohio school district, officials have been accused of falsely eliminating 36 low-scoring students from its rolls in an effort to improve its state report card. An email from Superintendent Donna Hubbard appears to suggest that school officials actively "scrubbed" state testing data.

"Have we done everything we can do on the scrubbing?" according to an email, attributed to Hubbard, which was recently published by the Cincinnati Enquirer. "We are just 2.3 P.I. index points away from receiving an effective report card for the district ... If you can contact someone to find out how to recode these students so that their scores won't count against us, we may be able to pull this off."

Reports of similar activities have been reported in the Toledo school district. 

Ohio State Auditor Dave Yost is investigating the allegations in Columbus, Lockland and Toledo, and has expanded the probe to include all school districts in the state. He believes "it's likely" more school districts have been cheating in similar ways.

This story could turn much uglier very soon.
Scandals here, there and everywhere
The national focus on school employees cheating to avoid increased accountability goes back to last year's Atlanta scandal.

A total of 110 teachers in 44 Atlanta schools were accused of helping students cheat on standardized tests. All have been on administrative leave with pay, costing the district about $1 million a month in compensation for teachers who aren't teaching.
As far as we can tell, 11 of the teachers have been targeted for termination, one was actually fired and four more resigned. The district superintendent recently raised eyebrows by calling back 12 of the accused teachers to work, based on "insufficient evidence" against them.

In El Paso, Texas, Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia was fired earlier this year, and pleaded guilty to several counts of criminal charges, for "scheming with six district employees to game the federal accountability system by forcing some students to drop out of school, keeping other students from enrolling, stripping some foreign students of their credits and sending false data back to state and federal education agencies," according to the El Paso Times.

The idea was to artificially inflate the district's standardized test scores -- and the flow of government money that's tied to those results, according to media reports. Four former building principals from the district have since complained they were fired after refusing orders to participate in the cheating.

In Oklahoma City, a teacher at a district high school recently told EAGnews.org that he and others were instructed by a principal to falsify enrollment and attendance records so they appeared to satisfy federal grant requirements.

Ironically, the Oklahoma City district had already been investigating similar accusations at a different high school.
A nationwide epidemic?
To top it all off, reporters from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, which broke the cheating scandal in that city, have indicated that suspicious test scores from roughly 200 school districts across the nation resembled the false scores recorded in Atlanta.

As the newspaper noted, the analysis of scores from other districts is not direct evidence of cheating. "But it reveals that test scores in hundreds of cities followed a pattern that, in Atlanta, indicated cheating in multiple schools," the Journal Constitution wrote.

In nine of those districts, scores varied so unpredictably that the odds of the shifts occurring without some form of intervention (or cheating) were worse than one in 10 billion, according to the Journal Constitution.

In 196 of the nation's 3,125 largest school districts, there were enough suspect tests to make the odds of the scores happening by chance more than one in 1,000, the newspaper said. 

"In Houston, for instance, test results for entire grades of students jumped two, three or more times the amount expected in one year," the newspaper reported. "When children moved to a new grade the next year, their scores plummeted - a finding that suggested the gains were not due to learning."

At the Patrick Henry Downtown Academy in St. Louis, about 42 percent of fourth-graders passed the state math test in 2010. The following year, as state investigators prowled the halls looking into allegations of cheating, only four percent of the same students passed the state math test.

As the Journal Constitution put it, "Experts say student learning doesn't typically jump backwards."
Cheating can never be excused
In several districts where cheating scandals have erupted, teachers, administrators and their apologists have suggested that higher student achievement standards and the focus on high-stakes standardized testing has driven otherwise honest school employees to cheating.

Damany Lewis, the first teacher fired as part of the Atlanta scandal, said the following to the special commission that determined his fate:

"We were told failure was not an option. Teaching and learning was the primary focus of the teachers. Results were the primary focus of this district and our administration."

So the goal should have been to prepare the students to provide the best test results possible, instead of cheating on test scores to make the results look better than they were. Cheating is never an excuse.

What sort of message does this send to students? Instead of setting an example of good citizenship by living under existing rules while trying to change them, teachers simply cheated to get around the rules.

Some students in Atlanta and other districts were probably aware of this wink-and-nod system before it was exposed, and certainly knew about it afterward. Too many of them likely came away with the idea that cheating is okay in an unfair world, particularly since teachers do it.

The Journal-Constitution also noted that test scores help schools identify problem areas for individual students. "Falsified test results deny struggling students access to extra help to which they are entitled," the newspaper said.

The crucial goal of increased accountability in education is to find out if schools are getting the job done for their students, and demanding improvements if they are not. We owe that much to the taxpayers who fund the schools and the students who are depending on a quality education to prepare for the life ahead of them.

Those who lie and cheat to save their own skins are making a mockery of school reform efforts. A student with an artificially enlarged test score is not being properly served.

The only people served are the teachers and administrators who have something to gain by turning in false data. They should be tossed out on their butts as an example to others who may be tempted to doctor the documents just a bit.
08 Aug 2012

Governor Quinn Signs New Laws to Make Schoolchildren Safer and Healthier

By Leslie Wertheimer
CHICAGO - August 8, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today signed three new laws designed to make Illinois schoolchildren healthier and safer through immunizations, anti-bullying measures and alternative education programs. Today's action at Pershing West Magnet School is the latest by Governor Quinn to further strengthen education in Illinois.

"We are working every day to strengthen education in Illinois," Governor Quinn said. "As millions of students prepare to go back to school later this month, these new laws will put vital public health data in the hands of parents, protect our children from bullying and improve their health."

House Bill 5013, sponsored by Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) and Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) is designed to boost vaccination rates. The new law requires public and registered nonpublic schools to make immunization and health exam statistics publicly available. While such data is now posted on the State Board of Education (ISBE) website, this reform will make it easier for parents to see just how many of their children's classmates are not vaccinated. August is National Immunization Awareness Month.

The State of Illinois requires vaccinations to protect children from a range of diseases. Failure to be properly immunized can lead to high absenteeism, heart problems or even brain damage. According to ISBE, more than 60,000 students (about three percent) were not in compliance with immunization or health exam mandates during the 2010-11 school year. The bill passed unanimously in both chambers and is supported by public health advocates, the Chicago Teachers Union and the March of Dimes. The law is effective Jan. 1.

Governor Quinn also signed House Bill 1473, sponsored by Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) and Sen. William Delgado (D-Chicago), which allows the Chicago Board of Education to implement a program to break down barriers between students of different backgrounds. The law is inspired by the successful "Challenge Day", which employs a carefully-designed, day-long series of trust-building exercises to foster new levels of empathy and respect. The law is effective immediately.

In addition, Governor Quinn signed Senate Bill 3259, sponsored by Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) and Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora), which creates the Commission for High School Graduation Achievement and Success to help boost high school graduation rates. The Commission will examine alternative education programs in Illinois and other states, as well as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Learning Exchanges, the Illinois Pathways Initiative and other tools for keeping at-risk teens in school. The Commission's report is due to the governor and General Assembly by November 1, 2012 in advance of veto session. The law is effective immediately.

Governor Quinn continued to emphasize the need for public pension reform to ensure adequate resources for education in Illinois. Unless comprehensive pension reform is enacted, a new analysis prepared by the Governor's Office of Management and Budget (GOMB) shows that Illinois is on track to spend more on pensions than education by Fiscal Year 2016. Governor Quinn has proposed a comprehensive plan that will eliminate the unfunded liability over 30 years. The governor recently called a special session dedicated to pension reform on August 17.

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07 Aug 2012

20 More QC Students Awarded Back-to-School Shopping Sprees

By Holly Nomura
07 Aug 2012

Loebsack Encourages Students to Apply for Fall Internships

By Joe Hand
Washington, D.C - Congressman Dave Loebsack today announced that his office is now accepting applications from Iowa college students to participate in a Congressional internship program in his Washington, D.C., Iowa City or Cedar Rapids offices.  The internship program is open to undergraduate students and recent graduates, regardless of major.

"As a former educator, I have seen the benefits that internships can provide by giving students a firsthand look into the government process," said Loebsack.  "I encourage all hardworking, motivated students and recent graduates to apply."

Interns in the Washington, D.C. office will have the opportunity to learn about the legislative process and the federal government by working closely with the legislative, communications and constituent services staff members.  Interns in the Iowa offices will have the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge about how a Congressional office provides constituent services and interacts with members of the community.

Interested candidates should email their cover letter, resume, a short writing sample and a letter of recommendation to LoebsackInternship@mail.house.gov.  Please indicate which location you are applying for in the subject line.

 

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07 Aug 2012

School board member under fire for speaking her mind to taxpayers

By Ben Velderman
By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org
WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - Do individuals forfeit their First Amendment right to free speech when they become school board members?
The president of the West Hempstead Union Free (New York) school board seems to think so, but the district's official policy on free speech won't be known until board members re-examine their code of ethics in October.
This philosophical debate was sparked by a postcard board member Cynthia DiMiceli sent to the community last spring - at her own expense - explaining why she had voted against the district's $55.2 million proposed budget for the 2012-13 school year.
The postcard had no discernible effect on the budget's fate, which breezed through the board and was later ratified by the voters, but it so angered board President Walter Ejnes that he denounced DiMiceli as an "insecure megalomaniac" who generates "unnecessary controversy."
A tiny handful of community activists are calling on DiMiceli to resign her post. They claim her actions violated the board's code of ethics, which require members to "abide by all board decisions once they are made and assist in carrying them out effectively," according to the West Hempstead Herald.
DiMiceli says the Education Establishment is "bullying" her because she dared use her rights as a private citizen to question the direction of the school district.
"Just because I'm a board member, it doesn't mean I don't have a right to speak my piece," she tells EAGnews.org, adding that her comments represent her views only.
Despite the overheated rhetoric from her critics, DiMiceli is faithfully executing the official duties of her office by working with her fellow board members to lead the district and implement its policies.
This controversy is really about DiMiceli's decision to ignore the establishment's sacred teaching that all board members must march in lockstep, so as to present a "unified front" to the community.
The "united front" is believed to be an essential ingredient to a healthy school district. In reality, it's a ploy used by defenders of the status quo to supress criticism and alternative points of view. DiMiceli is standing up to those tired ideas, and is catching plenty of flak for doing so.
'We must change this way of thinking'
DiMiceli decided to run for the school board in 2010, over concerns about the deterioration of the district's facilities and the overall quality of education being provided to students. She has two children in the district, and witnessed the decline first-hand.
"Everybody can complain, but that's not my style," she says. "I wanted to find solutions to fix the problems."
And the problems are significant.
West Hempstead is located in New York's Nassau County, which has the highest median property taxes in the nation, according to CBS 880. DiMiceli says her personal property taxes have doubled over the last 15 years.
Despite all the spending, the district's test scores have mostly stagnated and student enrollment has declined. Taxpayers are paying more and more, but results aren't improving.
"That's not logical to me," she says.
So when school administrators presented the West Hempstead school board with a $55.2 million budget proposal this spring, DiMiceli grew concerned the district wasn't addressing the structural deficit that's expected to begin in 2014.
After the board passed the budget 5-2, DiMiceli shared her concerns in a postcard-letter to West Hempstead residents, explaining why she voted 'no.'
Economic conditions -- decreasing tax revenue, increasing health insurance and retirement costs for employees -- are creating "tremendous challenges for future budgets," DiMiceli wrote.
"Therefore, if we do not spend wisely and make provisions for the future now, our standard of education will drop even further along with the value of our homes."
She also noted that opposing a school budget is a sure-fire way of getting labeled as anti-public education.
"In my opinion, we must change this way of thinking," DiMiceli wrote. "I feel that in order to improve the quality of education in West Hempstead, we must have the courage to face and admit our deficiencies and work together to find new ways to raise district wide academic achievement."
The letter - which is clearly identified as representing only DiMiceli's views - did not urge taxpayers to vote a certain way on the May 15 budget vote. It only raised questions that she believes the community must begin addressing, sooner or later.
'Good board members learn to compromise'
DiMiceli's letter drew a stinging rebuke from the board president.
In a letter to the West Hempstead Herald, Ejnes wrote that "good board members learn to compromise, and if a decision does not go your way, it is unheard of to go out publicly and undermine the board's final decision."
At Ejnes' urging, the board will revisit its code of ethics in October to determine the course of action if a member violates the policies.
The school board's attorney has already reviewed the legality of DiMiceli's actions, but the board has refused to make his findings public.
"If my critics feel that they are right, they should ask the Board of Education why aren't they releasing the legal opinion of their own attorney?" DiMiCeli wrote in a recent letter to a local news site. "I will leave that up to you to assume the response."
Despite the controversy her letter has generated, DiMiceli plans to keep pushing the board to share as much information as possible with the public.
"Certain things can't be discussed publicly, such as contract negotiations or information about a certain student. But everything else should be public."
Information leads to more transparency and more accoutability, key components to ensuring that a school district is being run properly.
"This is a $55 million a year business," DiMiceli says. "I do what I think is the right thing to do."
Contact Ben Velderman at ben@eagnews.org, or at (231) 733-4202.
06 Aug 2012

Branstad, Reynolds announce upcoming Governor's Bullying Prevention Summit

By Rick Martin

(DES MOINES) - Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds at their weekly news conference today announced that they will host the Governor's Bullying Prevention Summit this fall, and encouraged all Iowans to engage on the important issue of bullying prevention.

The summit will be held on Nov. 27, at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines, and will feature a number of speakers from Iowa communities who will present their strategies at the summit. Also featured will be state and national experts about how to combat bullying, both offline and online.

Dr. Paul Gausman, superintendent of Sioux City Schools, joined Branstad and Reynolds at the news conference. He will talk about community involvement and efforts his community has taken to combat bullying.

The luncheon speaker will be Rosalind Wiseman, whose book became the basis of the movie, "Mean Girls."

Registration will begin in September, and further details will be announced as that date gets closer.

"We believe we can, and we must, do more to stand up against bullying in Iowa," said Branstad. "Iowans have a well-deserved reputation for neighborliness. Let's leverage that tradition to put an end to bullying because all children deserve to feel safe at school."

In the most recent Iowa Youth Survey of students in grades six, eight and 11, half of those surveyed reported being bullied in some way, and most youngsters witness the bullying of their peers sooner or later.

"Some people may ask, 'Why is so much attention being paid to the issue of bullying now?'" said Reynolds. "Awareness is growing that what used to be excused as 'kids being kids' is more harmful than previously realized. Additionally, with the added threats from cyber-bullying, we can no longer discount bullying as a normal phase of childhood, or hope someone else will deal with the problem."

The summit will be paid for with funding from the Iowa Department of Education, registration fees ($30 for adults older than age 22 and $20 for students) and generous support from the private sector.

For more information go to: https://preventbullying.iowa.gov.

About Iowa Interactive

Iowa Interactive built and manages the official Web site for the state of Iowa (Iowa.gov) and partners with state and local entities to bring new government services online.  Iowa Interactive is a service of IOWAccess and is managed by the Department of Administrative Services and the eGovernment firm NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV - News).

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06 Aug 2012

UNI President Allen's retirement announcement

By Randy Stalsberg
Friday, August 3, 2012

Senator Chuck Grassley issued the following comment regarding UNI President Benjamin Allen's announcement that he will retire by July 2013.

"I was sorry to hear of President Allen's retirement but I'm glad to celebrate his accomplishments.  He's an intelligent, upstanding person who's been dedicated to Iowa, higher education, and science.  The University of Northern Iowa is the smallest of the three state schools, but its reputation has grown and continues to grow, thanks to the leadership of President Allen."

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