From the Inquirer
Karen Heller: Health, education foremost for voters
By Karen Heller Inquirer Columnist
In an economy that resembles a natural disaster - except that it was man-made and avoidable - Americans are concerned about health care and higher education, and how they're going to pay for them.
These are universal concerns. Without health or education, we can't go forward. We can't even tread water. Education is the great equalizer and the biggest key to financial advancement and independence, far more than race, ethnicity, country of birth, or your parents' financial situation.
Educated citizens land better jobs, ones with health insurance. A healthy, educated country is a more prosperous one. If that's elite, we should all be for it.
When Americans are uninsured and sick, they drain the entire system. We all end up paying for it. And the nation suffers.
During the Republican National Convention, education came up maybe twice. You can't have the "best workers in the world," as both candidates claim, without educating them well.
Otherwise, you don't simply leave a child behind, you leave a nation.
The McCain campaign rarely mentions education. On health care, it applies the same marvelous free-market applications that got us into this fiscal disaster. The campaign is too busy fighting community organizers and former domestic terrorists, who often amount to the same thing. Who knows, they could be anywhere. I attended the same school as Bill Ayers' wife, in the neighborhood where they live. Possibly some errant terrorist dust rubbed off on me.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Philly Is Hiring Teachers
From the Inquirer.
Phila. district lags in filling teacher vacancies
By Kristen A. Graham Posted on Tue, Oct. 14, 2008
Inquirer Staff Writer
New York City, Chicago and Boston all opened school this fall with no teacher vacancies.
But a month into the new school year, Philadelphia's public schools had 144 unfilled teaching jobs - down from a seven-year high a few weeks ago - and officials warn that about 70 positions will go unfilled all year, with those classrooms staffed by substitute teachers.
Officials say the current spike in vacancies is due to turnover in district brass and a resulting slowdown in this year's hiring process. They also blame national shortages in some subjects.
But teacher-recruitment experts point to other, systemic problems, saying Philadelphia's hiring process is outdated and overly complex.
The 144 vacancies represent a little more than 1 percent of the district's 10,000 teaching jobs. But the impact is significant, said Sheila Simmons, education director for Public Citizens for Children and Youth, a nonprofit advocacy group.
"One percent may not look bad at an administrative level, but if you're a parent or a child and the vacancy is at your school, it's huge," Simmons said. "I think 1 percent is still too much."
The 70 permanent vacancies would mean that at a minimum, 2,300 students would spend the year without a permanent teacher.
That other districts have fixed the problem and Philadelphia has not is particularly frustrating, advocates say.
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is not pleased, either, but she said the problem was not entirely district-made.
"We're handicapped in our ability to hire teachers," Ackerman said. The current teacher contract, she said, sets up a system where some teaching candidates cannot be interviewed until two weeks before school starts.
Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, rejected the notion that the contract hurts hiring.
"After all these years, the district should be able to project the number of teachers they're going to need," Jordan said. "There's no reason they can't pre-hire teachers. I don't see the contract as prohibiting them from hiring."
Michael Masch, the district's chief business officer and temporary head of human resources, and Dina Hollingsworth, the new head of recruitment and retention, said the district was improving its hiring practices.
Officials have begun a campaign to recruit more aggressively, including internationally; hire earlier; and reach out to more partners.
Historically, the number of city classrooms without a permanent teacher in September has fluctuated, from a low of 62 two years ago to 169 a month ago, the highest in seven years. The vacancies are concentrated in hard-to-staff subjects like math, science and vocal music, and at the city's neighborhood high schools.
Cecilia Cummings, a district spokeswoman, said that the 70 unfilled jobs were typical for the district and that she could not say when they would be filled.
"In a workforce so large, you're always going to have vacancies," Cummings said. "In most cases, we have qualified, long-term subs who are certified to teach the courses."
Substitute teachers are not all state-certified, though 37 percent of Philadelphia's do have state credentials, officials say. In many cases, though, their areas of certification do not match those needed for open jobs.
The teacher shortage really hits home for Candace Carter and Isiah Enoch, both 17.
Carter and Enoch, seniors at Sayre High in West Philadelphia, spent the first three weeks of school without a permanent English teacher. Last week, their third teacher arrived.
Initially, "we weren't doing anything," Carter said. "We were just sitting there, doing nothing."
Work was assigned and ignored. Students were confused and acted up.
"We're really behind," Enoch said. "It's a shame."
Success elsewhere
Unlike suburban districts around the region, where earlier hiring timetables, higher salaries, and fewer classroom challenges mean a smoother hiring process, big-city schools have long wrestled with vacancies.
But in the last five years, other urban districts have ramped up their efforts, said Allan Odden, a University of Wisconsin professor and codirector of Strategic Management of Human Capital, a nonprofit that works with the nation's largest districts.
"Unless a district mounts and maintains a comprehensive hiring strategy, they're going to open with vacancies," Odden said. "But if New York, Chicago and Boston can do it, anybody can do it."
In the past, city districts in general did little recruiting, and rarely looked at applications before August, when most of the top talent had already been snapped up by suburban districts.
Now, successful districts have revamped and automated cumbersome hiring processes, Odden said. They have begun recruiting at better universities, partnered with "talent organizations" such as Teach for America, negotiated changes in seniority with powerful teachers unions, and moved up hiring schedules with the goal of filling every vacancy by the beginning of summer.
Philadelphia has taken some of those steps, but has been hampered by uncertainty in a contract year, the teachers union says - its current pact expires at the end of this month. Researchers also point to a hiring process that's "mind-numbingly complex and slow," according to a 2007 report by Research for Action.
Elizabeth Useem, a researcher who has studied Philadelphia teacher recruitment and retention for years and coauthor of several reports on the subject, said that recruitment and retention must be a top priority for the district's new superintendent and her human-resources team.
"HR needs to be leading reform," said Useem, senior research consultant for Research for Action. "It's a crucial issue, and I don't know why it's slipped."
A multi-level system
Philadelphia made some progress in streamlining and decentralizing hiring in the Paul Vallas era, but still grapples with a teacher contract that sets up a multi-level system of hiring.
Some jobs are filled by "site selection," in which members of a school community pick the teachers themselves. Others are staffed by seniority. In some cases, hiring begins the May before a new school year. In others, it doesn't happen until August or later.
The process makes it tough to hire top candidates in a timely way, critics said.
Ackerman has said moving up the timeline was a priority for a new teacher contract.
Officials said the district was tackling the problem by attending more recruiting events, advertising more nationally and internationally, cold-calling universities to identify job-hunting graduates, and using online recruiting tools - clearinghouse sites such as Pa-Educator.net.
The district is also looking into programs such as Math Immersion, which trains college graduates with good math aptitude to teach arithmetic.
And Masch said the district must automate its hiring.
"My first day on the job, I filled out my name and Social Security number on 20 different pieces of paper," said Masch, who started in July. "I am determined that in the future, no hire should have to do that."
Ackerman has other proposals to pay teacher specialists - such as those who work in hard-to-staff jobs or schools - more money, and to require teachers to give more notice when they retire or resign.
In September alone, more than 50 teachers departed the district, some with little warning.
Phila. district lags in filling teacher vacancies
By Kristen A. Graham Posted on Tue, Oct. 14, 2008
Inquirer Staff Writer
New York City, Chicago and Boston all opened school this fall with no teacher vacancies.
But a month into the new school year, Philadelphia's public schools had 144 unfilled teaching jobs - down from a seven-year high a few weeks ago - and officials warn that about 70 positions will go unfilled all year, with those classrooms staffed by substitute teachers.
Officials say the current spike in vacancies is due to turnover in district brass and a resulting slowdown in this year's hiring process. They also blame national shortages in some subjects.
But teacher-recruitment experts point to other, systemic problems, saying Philadelphia's hiring process is outdated and overly complex.
The 144 vacancies represent a little more than 1 percent of the district's 10,000 teaching jobs. But the impact is significant, said Sheila Simmons, education director for Public Citizens for Children and Youth, a nonprofit advocacy group.
"One percent may not look bad at an administrative level, but if you're a parent or a child and the vacancy is at your school, it's huge," Simmons said. "I think 1 percent is still too much."
The 70 permanent vacancies would mean that at a minimum, 2,300 students would spend the year without a permanent teacher.
That other districts have fixed the problem and Philadelphia has not is particularly frustrating, advocates say.
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is not pleased, either, but she said the problem was not entirely district-made.
"We're handicapped in our ability to hire teachers," Ackerman said. The current teacher contract, she said, sets up a system where some teaching candidates cannot be interviewed until two weeks before school starts.
Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, rejected the notion that the contract hurts hiring.
"After all these years, the district should be able to project the number of teachers they're going to need," Jordan said. "There's no reason they can't pre-hire teachers. I don't see the contract as prohibiting them from hiring."
Michael Masch, the district's chief business officer and temporary head of human resources, and Dina Hollingsworth, the new head of recruitment and retention, said the district was improving its hiring practices.
Officials have begun a campaign to recruit more aggressively, including internationally; hire earlier; and reach out to more partners.
Historically, the number of city classrooms without a permanent teacher in September has fluctuated, from a low of 62 two years ago to 169 a month ago, the highest in seven years. The vacancies are concentrated in hard-to-staff subjects like math, science and vocal music, and at the city's neighborhood high schools.
Cecilia Cummings, a district spokeswoman, said that the 70 unfilled jobs were typical for the district and that she could not say when they would be filled.
"In a workforce so large, you're always going to have vacancies," Cummings said. "In most cases, we have qualified, long-term subs who are certified to teach the courses."
Substitute teachers are not all state-certified, though 37 percent of Philadelphia's do have state credentials, officials say. In many cases, though, their areas of certification do not match those needed for open jobs.
The teacher shortage really hits home for Candace Carter and Isiah Enoch, both 17.
Carter and Enoch, seniors at Sayre High in West Philadelphia, spent the first three weeks of school without a permanent English teacher. Last week, their third teacher arrived.
Initially, "we weren't doing anything," Carter said. "We were just sitting there, doing nothing."
Work was assigned and ignored. Students were confused and acted up.
"We're really behind," Enoch said. "It's a shame."
Success elsewhere
Unlike suburban districts around the region, where earlier hiring timetables, higher salaries, and fewer classroom challenges mean a smoother hiring process, big-city schools have long wrestled with vacancies.
But in the last five years, other urban districts have ramped up their efforts, said Allan Odden, a University of Wisconsin professor and codirector of Strategic Management of Human Capital, a nonprofit that works with the nation's largest districts.
"Unless a district mounts and maintains a comprehensive hiring strategy, they're going to open with vacancies," Odden said. "But if New York, Chicago and Boston can do it, anybody can do it."
In the past, city districts in general did little recruiting, and rarely looked at applications before August, when most of the top talent had already been snapped up by suburban districts.
Now, successful districts have revamped and automated cumbersome hiring processes, Odden said. They have begun recruiting at better universities, partnered with "talent organizations" such as Teach for America, negotiated changes in seniority with powerful teachers unions, and moved up hiring schedules with the goal of filling every vacancy by the beginning of summer.
Philadelphia has taken some of those steps, but has been hampered by uncertainty in a contract year, the teachers union says - its current pact expires at the end of this month. Researchers also point to a hiring process that's "mind-numbingly complex and slow," according to a 2007 report by Research for Action.
Elizabeth Useem, a researcher who has studied Philadelphia teacher recruitment and retention for years and coauthor of several reports on the subject, said that recruitment and retention must be a top priority for the district's new superintendent and her human-resources team.
"HR needs to be leading reform," said Useem, senior research consultant for Research for Action. "It's a crucial issue, and I don't know why it's slipped."
A multi-level system
Philadelphia made some progress in streamlining and decentralizing hiring in the Paul Vallas era, but still grapples with a teacher contract that sets up a multi-level system of hiring.
Some jobs are filled by "site selection," in which members of a school community pick the teachers themselves. Others are staffed by seniority. In some cases, hiring begins the May before a new school year. In others, it doesn't happen until August or later.
The process makes it tough to hire top candidates in a timely way, critics said.
Ackerman has said moving up the timeline was a priority for a new teacher contract.
Officials said the district was tackling the problem by attending more recruiting events, advertising more nationally and internationally, cold-calling universities to identify job-hunting graduates, and using online recruiting tools - clearinghouse sites such as Pa-Educator.net.
The district is also looking into programs such as Math Immersion, which trains college graduates with good math aptitude to teach arithmetic.
And Masch said the district must automate its hiring.
"My first day on the job, I filled out my name and Social Security number on 20 different pieces of paper," said Masch, who started in July. "I am determined that in the future, no hire should have to do that."
Ackerman has other proposals to pay teacher specialists - such as those who work in hard-to-staff jobs or schools - more money, and to require teachers to give more notice when they retire or resign.
In September alone, more than 50 teachers departed the district, some with little warning.
Show Me the Signs
Here's a short story from the BCCT about McCain signs being removed from a Morrisville homeowner's property.
Respect for the other person's political viewpoint and rational discussion of that viewpoint is at a premium in general, but in Morrisville, it's an ancient art that is almost extinct.
Vote for McCain. Vote for Obama. Vote third party if you want. Just make sure to VOTE.
And leave the signs alone.
Joe Hurchick of Morrisville shows where someone came onto his property at Jefferson Ave and stole his McClain for President signs. Signs were stolen all along Jefferson Ave down to Pennsylvania Ave.
“People can vote for whoever they want to,” Hurchick says,”but I don’t like people coming onto my property and stealing my signs.
Respect for the other person's political viewpoint and rational discussion of that viewpoint is at a premium in general, but in Morrisville, it's an ancient art that is almost extinct.
Vote for McCain. Vote for Obama. Vote third party if you want. Just make sure to VOTE.
And leave the signs alone.
Joe Hurchick of Morrisville shows where someone came onto his property at Jefferson Ave and stole his McClain for President signs. Signs were stolen all along Jefferson Ave down to Pennsylvania Ave.
“People can vote for whoever they want to,” Hurchick says,”but I don’t like people coming onto my property and stealing my signs.
Peers influence students
Another dispatch from the front lines in the education wars from Captain Obvious, as printed by the BCCT.
Study: Peers influence students
Overall, students were nearly as likely after three years of college to call themselves “conservative” or “far-right.”
By JUSTIN POPE
On issues such as abortion, gay marriage and religion, college students shift noticeably to the left from the time they arrive on campus through their junior year, new research shows.
The reason, according to UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, isn’t indoctrination by left-leaning faculty but rather the more powerful influence of fellow students. And at most colleges, left-leaning peer groups are more common than conservative ones.
After college, students — particularly women — move somewhat back to the right politically.
The research is the latest of several efforts by academics to lend analytical rigor to an emotional debate. Overall, college faculty lean left politically, but there’s sharp disagreement on whether they impose their views on students. The UCLA researchers are among several social scientists who have tried to undermine the argument that students respond strongly to their teachers’ opinions.
Overall, students were nearly as likely after three years of college to call themselves “conservative” or “far-right,” according to findings, and only somewhat more likely to call themselves “liberal” or “far left.”
On specific policy questions, they moved to more liberal positions.
Sixty percent of the college juniors said they support legalized abortion, up from 52 percent who said so as freshmen. The percentage supporting “legal marital status” for gay couples rose from 54 to 66. The percentage supporting increased defense spending fell from 34 to 25.
“People are moving out of the center to the left during college,” said one of the researchers, Alexander Astin.
Studies dating back decades have noted the trend of college students moving to the left during their college careers. But finding a representative snapshot of overall college opinion is difficult, because colleges have such varying student bodies.
The new figures from UCLA — which has been tracking attitudes of freshmen for more than 40 years — give a fresher and, the authors contend, more valid portrait. Based on a sample of nearly 15,000 students who entered 136 colleges in 2004, the results are carefully weighted to represent the full college population. Unlike some other such surveys, UCLA was able to pose its questions to the same students when they started college and after junior year.
Among other findings:
The percentage of students who support laws prohibiting homosexual relationships fell 10 points, from 31.5 percent to 21.5 percent after three years of college.
The percentage who never attend religious services nearly doubled to 37.5 percent.
There were exceptions to the leftward trend. A majority continued to support the death penalty, though the percentage saying it should be abolished rose 5 points to about 37 percent. On taxes, the percentage strongly agreeing the wealthy should pay a larger share rose slightly, but there was otherwise little change.
Study: Peers influence students
Overall, students were nearly as likely after three years of college to call themselves “conservative” or “far-right.”
By JUSTIN POPE
On issues such as abortion, gay marriage and religion, college students shift noticeably to the left from the time they arrive on campus through their junior year, new research shows.
The reason, according to UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, isn’t indoctrination by left-leaning faculty but rather the more powerful influence of fellow students. And at most colleges, left-leaning peer groups are more common than conservative ones.
After college, students — particularly women — move somewhat back to the right politically.
The research is the latest of several efforts by academics to lend analytical rigor to an emotional debate. Overall, college faculty lean left politically, but there’s sharp disagreement on whether they impose their views on students. The UCLA researchers are among several social scientists who have tried to undermine the argument that students respond strongly to their teachers’ opinions.
Overall, students were nearly as likely after three years of college to call themselves “conservative” or “far-right,” according to findings, and only somewhat more likely to call themselves “liberal” or “far left.”
On specific policy questions, they moved to more liberal positions.
Sixty percent of the college juniors said they support legalized abortion, up from 52 percent who said so as freshmen. The percentage supporting “legal marital status” for gay couples rose from 54 to 66. The percentage supporting increased defense spending fell from 34 to 25.
“People are moving out of the center to the left during college,” said one of the researchers, Alexander Astin.
Studies dating back decades have noted the trend of college students moving to the left during their college careers. But finding a representative snapshot of overall college opinion is difficult, because colleges have such varying student bodies.
The new figures from UCLA — which has been tracking attitudes of freshmen for more than 40 years — give a fresher and, the authors contend, more valid portrait. Based on a sample of nearly 15,000 students who entered 136 colleges in 2004, the results are carefully weighted to represent the full college population. Unlike some other such surveys, UCLA was able to pose its questions to the same students when they started college and after junior year.
Among other findings:
The percentage of students who support laws prohibiting homosexual relationships fell 10 points, from 31.5 percent to 21.5 percent after three years of college.
The percentage who never attend religious services nearly doubled to 37.5 percent.
There were exceptions to the leftward trend. A majority continued to support the death penalty, though the percentage saying it should be abolished rose 5 points to about 37 percent. On taxes, the percentage strongly agreeing the wealthy should pay a larger share rose slightly, but there was otherwise little change.
Bristol Twp Updating Report Cards
From the BCCT.
District to make improvements to secondary students’ report cards
The revisions for secondary students could take effect next school year.
By JOAN HELLYER
Bristol Township secondary students may soon take home clearer, concise and more upbeat report cards, according to district officials.
The school board is considering whether to make numerous changes to the current secondary report card. The changes would take effect in 2009-10, district officials said.
At the urging of Bristol Township teachers, district staff worked on the proposed changes for about a year to create “a more positive line of communication with parents about the students,” Assistant Superintendent Parthenia Moore said. The changes include:
The student’s school will be more readily identifiable. Right now all four of the district’s secondary schools are listed on every report card with no clear indicator of which school a student attends.
The demographic information of the student and his or her parents will be clearly visible at the top of the report card. Currently, the student’s name is buried between grade descriptions and achievement information.
The district will move from listing just letter grades to also showing students’ numerical grades in an effort to be more precise with grade point averages and class ranking, Moore said.
Comments about student achievement listed on the evaluation will be positive in nature compared to the generally negative comments on the existing report cards, the assistant superintendent said.
Students attendance will be tracked not only on a daily basis but also for each individual class he or she is scheduled to attend.
Internet links will be included for parents to access the state standards for which their child is being evaluated.
The proposed changes were listed on the agenda reviewed by the board during its planning session Monday night. The board is expected to decide during its Oct. 20 meeting whether to move forward with the suggested changes.
District to make improvements to secondary students’ report cards
The revisions for secondary students could take effect next school year.
By JOAN HELLYER
Bristol Township secondary students may soon take home clearer, concise and more upbeat report cards, according to district officials.
The school board is considering whether to make numerous changes to the current secondary report card. The changes would take effect in 2009-10, district officials said.
At the urging of Bristol Township teachers, district staff worked on the proposed changes for about a year to create “a more positive line of communication with parents about the students,” Assistant Superintendent Parthenia Moore said. The changes include:
The student’s school will be more readily identifiable. Right now all four of the district’s secondary schools are listed on every report card with no clear indicator of which school a student attends.
The demographic information of the student and his or her parents will be clearly visible at the top of the report card. Currently, the student’s name is buried between grade descriptions and achievement information.
The district will move from listing just letter grades to also showing students’ numerical grades in an effort to be more precise with grade point averages and class ranking, Moore said.
Comments about student achievement listed on the evaluation will be positive in nature compared to the generally negative comments on the existing report cards, the assistant superintendent said.
Students attendance will be tracked not only on a daily basis but also for each individual class he or she is scheduled to attend.
Internet links will be included for parents to access the state standards for which their child is being evaluated.
The proposed changes were listed on the agenda reviewed by the board during its planning session Monday night. The board is expected to decide during its Oct. 20 meeting whether to move forward with the suggested changes.
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