VIA THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:

Montgomery County Public Schools’ tax-supported operating budget has grown by more than 75 percent in the last decade, far outpacing the growth of other county agencies.

Even this year, as the county and schools fight over potential cuts to the schools’ funding and the county faces a $1 billion shortfall, the schools’ share of the budget is poised to grow to 57 percent of all agency operating budgets, the most in more than 11 years.

The figures, compiled by County Council staff, are giving ammunition to some county lawmakers who are pushing for a reduction in school funding as a way to prevent more drastic fiscal measures elsewhere.

“The school system needs to be asked to help more,” said Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville.

County government’s share is about 34 percent of the county’s $4 billion budget, while the county’s parks and planning budget has grown 30 percent in the last decade.

The county is trying to bridge a nearly $1 billion budget gap. County Executive Ike Leggett has proposed funding the schools at the same amount as this year while other county departments see their budgets cut by more than 20 percent next fiscal year. Leggett also is asking that one-fifth of county employees take 10 days of unpaid leave while leaving school employees alone.

Leggett also is proposing doubling the county’s energy tax, a move the business community says will unfairly burden local companies.

To offset the proposed energy tax increases and spread the budget pain in what it considers a more equitable way, the County Council has expressed support for furloughing school employees, who make up two-thirds of the county’s work force. A five-day furlough would trim the schools budget by more than $30 million.

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VIA THE WASHINGTON POST:

Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has fired ten DCPS teachers for administering corporal punishment and two for sexual misconduct since July 2007, according to a report she has submitted to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.

Another 28 served suspensions ranging from two to ten days for some form of corporal punishment, defined by District law as the use or attempted use of physical force against a student, “either intentionally or with reckless disregard for the student’s safety, as a punishment or discipline.”

(Click here for the accompanying letter from Rhee to Gray.)

The report, which comes in the form of a spreadsheet, does not supply names or other identifying details and offers only cursory descriptions of the offenses. It was requested by Gray after the uproar Rhee triggered by telling “Fast Company” magazine that an unspecified number of the 266 D.C. public school teachers who were laid off in October had physically or sexually abused students. She later revealed that five had been suspended for corporal punishment and one was under investigation for sexual misconduct. That teacher allegedly had sex with an 18-year old special needs student, resulting in her pregnancy. That case is not included in the report, Rhee said, because the investigation was still pending — an assertion disputed by the Washington Teachers’ Union, which says the charges were found to be unsubstantiated.

The document discloses only a bit of information about two incidents of sexual misconduct. On Feb 12, 2008, an unidentified teacher “sexually assaulted a student.” On May 8, 2009, another teacher “purchased expensive gifts for male student and made sexually suggestive comments to the student,” according to the spreadsheet. Both instructors were fired, the report said.

In all, the document sent to Gray lists 68 incidents reported to D.C. police from the beginning of Rhee’s tenure in July 2007 through this past Feb. 5. In eleven other corporal punishment cases, according to the report, there was no record of disciplinary action taken but the teachers in question either resigned, retired or were fired at the end of the school year because they did not satisfy the terms of probation, were not properly licensed or had unsatisfactory performance evaluations. Five other teachers received verbal or written reprimands.

The corporal punishment incidents include grabbing, shoving, slapping, scratching and arm-twisting. Others are in categories of their own. One teacher drew a five-day suspension in February 2008 for putting a student in a closet and turning the light off. Another educator was given a five-day suspension in January 2009 for instigating a fight between students. There was one incident of spanking in November 2007, which resulted in a teacher being fired and then reinstated in early 2009 after a hearing officer’s decision. In April 2009 a teacher received a 1-day suspension for threatening students with a knife if they misbehaved.

The report suggests that most corporal punishment and sexual abuse allegations are ultimately not substantiated — or remain unreported. The Post reported on Feb. 9 that school security personnel delivered 220 accusations of corporal punishment or verbal abuse to police during the 2008-2009 school year. According to Rhee’s report, five teachers were fired and 17 suspended.

The report suggests a lack of consistency when it comes to offense and punishment. A teacher was suspended for three days after grabbing a student, slamming him into a wall, then lifting him by his backpack in September 2007. Another drew two days after striking a student in the mouth in Oct. 2008, hurting the student badly enough that medical attention was required.

But a teacher was fired for striking a student on the knuckles with a pencil in September 2008.

Asked about what seems to be a lack of coherence or proportion to the discipline, Rhee said she didn’t have an immediate response. She said she would look into it.

On late Friday afternoon, about 90 minutes after I first asked her to comment on the report, Rhee sent a letter to teachers expressing regret about the comments to “Fast Company.” She said that the item was out-of-context as written and that educators “ended up unfairly and inaccurately portrayed with a broad brush.” She gave them a heads up that they might be reading more about assault and sexual misconduct as a result of the report to Gray.

“I am concerned that media reports may again leave the impression– unfairly and inaccurately–that this is a broader problem in DCPS than it is. It’s not true, and I know the Council will join the Mayor and I in making that clear if and when they choose to make this report public. The vast majority of DCPS teachers are the hardest working people I have ever seen, dedicated to making sure our students succeed and going beyond their job descriptions every day to make a difference in the lives of the children in their classroom.

“Since coming here, I have learned the true meaning of dedication – it lives in DCPS classrooms across our city. So it is important that the Members of the Council, the news media, and DCPS officials make it clear that the instances documented in the report to DC Council reflect the conduct of a very small portion of our teachers. We also want you to know that we are deeply committed to making sure that you — hard working teachers who are doing amazing work to move our children forward-are not implicated by the mistakes of a few. I am dedicated to supporting and protecting the incredible advances you have made over the last several years. I know you are the most important part of this reform. When you thrive, when you succeed, our students do the same.”

Source

VIA THE WASHINGTON POST:

Mathematics achievement has surged in D.C. public schools over the past six years and risen sharply in large cities that are the focus of a major turnaround movement, the federal government reported Tuesday.

The District’s schools, the report showed, no longer rank last in math among major urban systems. They are now roughly on par with counterparts in places such as Los Angeles and Milwaukee.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress found the D.C school system was the only one of 11 studied in 2007 and 2009 to make significant strides in math in grades 4 and 8. The two-year analysis relied on calculations that excluded scores from the city’s independently operated public charter schools.

Scores in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland and Charlottehad no significant change from 2007. Fourth-grade scores rose significantly in Boston, and the same was true for eighth-grade marks in San Diego and Austin.

But Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, said that overall, cities with population of more than 250,000 showed outsized gains since 2003 — 7 points in fourth grade on a 500-point scale compared with a 5-point advance for the nation, and 9 points in eighth grade compared with 6 for the nation.

“The data are clear that we are catching up with the nation,” Casserly said.

The report bolstered D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s argument that she has set the long-troubled school system on the right track.

“We grew significantly whereas other districts remained pretty flat,” Rhee said at a news conference. “That, for us, speaks pretty loudly.”

Rhee took office in mid-2007 with a mandate from Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) to overhaul the schools from the ground up. Her combative style, especially in challenging the teachers union, has made Rhee a celebrity among some advocates of data-driven and market-based reforms. But the chancellor also has alienated many political constituencies along the way.

The report showed that the upward trend in the District began well before Rhee’s arrival. The city’s fourth-grade math scores have climbed from to 220 this year from 205 in 2003. Only Boston had greater fourth-grade gains (16 points) in that time among the cities studied.

Eighth-grade scores for the District have risen to 251 this year from 243 in 2003; that advance is comparable to the six-year gains in New York (7 points) and Chicago (9).

Although D.C. scores remain below average for the nation and for large cities, the capital city’s schools have managed to climb out of the cellar in math standings.

In previous studies, the District had ranked last or tied for last in math. This year its fourth-grade average, 220, is ahead of Fresno, Calif. (219), Cleveland (213) and Detroit (200). In eighth grade, the District tied with Milwaukee for second-to-last place, at 251, while Detroit again was at the bottom (238).

Fresno, Detroit, Milwaukee and four other cities participated in the study this year for the first time. The other newcomers were Philadelphia, Miami-Dade County, Baltimore and Jefferson County (Louisville), Ky.

Detroit sticks out as the school system with by far the lowest scores. Casserly called its scores “an outrage.” In addition, the stagnation of achievement in Cleveland is notable. Austin and Charlotte, meanwhile, are at the head of the pack.

Now, the District’s peer group appears to be Baltimore, Cleveland, Fresno, Milwaukee and Los Angeles — and possibly Atlanta and Chicago. The Chicago schools were led by Arne Duncan until he joined the Obama administration this year as education secretary.

The report can be found at nationsreportcard.gov. For more education news, go to washingtonpost.com/education.

Source

VIA WASHINGTON POST:

A two-decade climb in fourth-grade mathematics achievement across the country ended this year, while eighth-grade performance edged upward, the federal government reported Wednesday. D.C. public schools posted sharp gains in math in both grades.

Nationally, results from the 2009 federal testing led many politicians and educators to conclude that the United States must accelerate progress in math to compete in the global economy. Many also asserted that advances made under the 2002 No Child Left Behind law, which stressed annual testing and school accountability, are petering out. They pointed to the disappointing scores as a rationale for a new round of school reform.

Locally, the National Assessment of Educational Progress data showed that students from D.C. schools — regular and charter — are making significant strides in math even though they still lag far behind the national average. The federal scores also validate, to some extent, gains made on annual citywide tests in the past two years for the independently operated charter schools and by the school system under Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee.

“This is progress in the face of challenge,” said Peggy Carr, associate commissioner for assessment with the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the Education Department.

On a 500-point scale, scores for the District’s public students rose to 219 in fourth grade, from 214 in 2007; and to 254 in eighth grade, from 248 in 2007.

The average fourth-grade math score for national public and private students was 240 on the same scale. Viewed another way, 39 percent of the students tested nationally were rated proficient or better in the subject. Both results were unchanged from the last round of testing in 2007. Black and Hispanic students, who historically trail white students in academic achievement, did not narrow the disparities. The black-white score gap in fourth-grade math remained 26 points and the Hispanic-white gap held at 21 points.

“Seeing stuff flat-line is not what we want as a country — seeing achievement gaps that are unacceptably large,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. “The status quo isn’t good enough. We have to get dramatically better.”

David P. Driscoll, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets testing policy, said schools need better-trained math teachers, common academic standards and perhaps longer school days and years. Above all, he said, they need more public awareness and pressure for action.

“We’re losing ground to our international competitors every year,” Driscoll, a former math teacher, said. “It’s a situation that calls for dramatic improvement. Unfortunately there seems to be apathy across the country.”

Scores on the fourth-grade math test had risen at every previous interval since 1990, when the national average stood at 213.

The 2009 national testing sampled 168,000 fourth-graders and 161,000 eighth-graders nationwide to gauge knowledge and skills in five areas: number properties and operations; measurement; geometry; data analysis, statistics and probability; and algebra. The national results include scores from public and private schools. Separately, an analysis of state and D.C. scores shows trends in public schools.

In fourth grade, students were expected to solve a problem such as 301 minus 75 (67 percent found the correct answer of 226). They were also asked to plot a set of three given points and fill in three others on a two-axis grid to create a rectangle. (Twenty-seven percent answered fully and correctly.)

In eighth grade, they were asked to analyze the probability of picking a green pencil, sight unseen, from a stack of six red, four green and five blue pencils. (Seventy-seven percent answered correctly that the odds were four out of 15.) They were also asked to find an algebraic expression for the length of a rectangle, given that the length is 3 feet less than twice the width (w in feet). Fifty-one percent got that right: 2w minus 3.

The eighth-grade average score on the test rose to 283, from 281 in 2007. In 1996, the eighth-grade score had been 270.

Among states, Maryland was one of a handful to post gains in fourth-grade math. Its average score of 244 was up from 240 in 2007. There were no significant changes in Maryland’s eighth-grade math score or in Virginia’s scores.

Maryland officials credited a move toward a statewide curriculum, as well as renewed focus on teacher training, for gains in math. In the District, Michael Moody, a special assistant to Rhee for academics, said math instructional specialists have been placed in schools in the past two years and that teachers have been trained in how to make the subject more fun for students through games.

“It got them to push into higher-level thinking rather than just memorizing their times tables,” Moody said. But D.C. officials stressed that it was still unclear exactly which factors led to the rise in scores.

The D.C. gains were notable, federal officials said, in part because a higher proportion of city students with disabilities took the national test this year than in 2007. In addition, the D.C. scores compare well to those from urban public schools nationwide, which rose four points on the eighth-grade math test but saw no significant change on the fourth-grade math test.

However, the D.C. scores were far below the national public school averages of 239 in fourth grade and 282 in eighth grade.

Source

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Budget problems will force $40 million in budget cuts by D.C. Public Schools by the end of October. The move announced Wednesday could prompt teacher layoffs and increasing class sizes.

The D.C. schools budget is estimated at $700 million, and the budget ax has fallen. It’s still uncertain of the effect it will have on which schools, but we do know many teachers will soon be out of a job. It’s the biggest hit they have faced since 2003. The cuts come less than a month into the new school year.

The city’s budget problems mean $40 million will have to come from the classroom. In short, teachers will be pink slipped.

The anger is already mounting.

“I don’t see how we can absorb these types of cuts without it having an impact on our ability to educate our children and give children a quality education,” said George Parker, President of the Washington Teachers Union.

At a late afternoon press conference, the mayor and D.C. schools chancellor announced the bad news. Both were short on specifics, but did their best to assure parents and staff.

Read more here.