Outcome of House Vote on IDEA cuts

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The House voted on the Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations bill for FY 1996 and it passed 219 – 208.  There were no amendements from the floor, so all cuts to IDEA in special education research and teacher training remained.  The Senate taks up the issue when it returns from August recess.

To reiterate, this bill does not cut from IDEA funding to States to support special education services, but eliminates all funded research in areas like early childhood and severe and profound disabilities. Many of the leading researchers in this area rely on these funds as their primary source of funding to conduct research and develop programs.   Here are some of the currently funded programs that would be cut: An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Staffing Patterns for Young Children Attending Natural Group Environments for Early Intervention (Dr. Mary Beth Bruder, Univ. of Conn) the project will expand current knowledge and practice in the effects of receiving early childhood intervention in natural group environements.

Efficacy of Early Intervention:  Long Term Effects (Dr. Carl Dunst, Western Carolina Center): project will produce a database on the effectiveness of early intervention. Differential Characteristics and Effects of Family-Oriented Approaches to Early Intervention (Dr. Jackqueline Epstein, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) Examine the best ways to approach family-oriented early intervention services.

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure and Social Development of Young Children (Dr. Scott McConnel, Univ of Minnesota).  Examine effective strategies for education of children exposed to cocain in utero. Investigations of Early Motor Procedures (Dr. Gerald Mahoney, Kent State).  Investigates the relative effectiveness of two motor intervention approaches (NDT and Peabody Developmental Motor program) fo children with Down Syndrome and children with cerebral palsy. Proactive schooling:  Preventing Dropout in Highest Risk Adolescents (Dr. Katherine Larson).  Examining procedures to prevent dropout among Hispanic students in the LA area.

Transition to adulthood for students with developmental disabilities: The role of Siblings (Dr. Russell Gersten, Eugene Oregon)  examine ways that siblings influence educational outcomes. And, I would be less than forthcoming if I did not confess that one of our very own projects will be cut: Is there a causal relationship between self-determination and positive adult outcomes for youth with mental retardation?  A follow-up study part of the work we are doing in self-determination for youth with mental retardation.

I give you these to provide a sense of the types of research that is impacted.  I don’t think I have to illustrate the difficulty in recruiting and retaining good teachers in special education if the personnel training funding disappears. Nothing is more effective than a family member telling his or her Senator that these cuts are impact their son or daughter.  It puts a face to those budget cuts.  The Senate takes their appropriations bill up in Septemeber.  Contact them at their home office during the recess and let them know that these cuts represent a failure on their part to support the nations responsibility to educate all students.

 

Filed Under: Childhood Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

JOB OPENING – RESEARCH ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN VERMONT

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

JOB DESCRIPTION

Title:  Research Assistant Professor – Early Childhood Special Education. The University Affiliated Program of Vermont, University of Vermont

Qualifications: Background in early childhood special education.Three years work experience with young children with disabilities and their families in inclusive early childhood settings.  Focus upon community-based, integrated service delivery to families of children birth through five.  Experience teaching graduate courses, superving students, working with public school administrators and teachers and related community service agencies, particularly experience providing training and consultation, is highly desirable.  Ph.D. preferred.

Responsibilities: Teaching graduate courses, supervising student teachers, advising students, collaborating with the Childcare Division of the Agency of Social and Rehabilitative Services, coordinating off-campus training activities and other grant related activities.  To work with other project staff as part of the Early Childhood Team in the development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of model practices in early childhood special education/early intervention.  Responsibilities to these projects will include the development, validation, and dissemination of model instruments, materials, and guidelines; provide training and technical assistance to early childhood programs and related agency personnel; collecting and analyzing evaluation data; and disseminating project findings through written and oral presentations.

 

Filed Under: Career Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

High Costs and Low Results Incurred by Early Education Programs

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Expanding the number of children required to attend school increases state education costs and thereby may mean an increase in taxes. Such an instant expansion of the student population requires the hiring of more teachers, more truant officers, and more administrative staff. While the change in some school districts may be negligible, the change to the combined school districts of a state would produce a significant impact on state revenues.

When a lowering of compulsory attendance age was considered in Alabama in 1991, the Alabama Legislative Fiscal Offices estimated the cost of the change to be at least $4.7 million per year.10 In 1998, when Connecticut considered lowering its compulsory attendance age, a state department of education representative testified that one town (Enfield, CT) would require 13 new classrooms while another (Meridian, CT) would need 20 additional classrooms.11

Also consider Head Start, a federal program that began providing services in 1965 with an enrollment of 561,000 children and a budget of just over $96 million. By 2000, the enrollment had only grown to 860,000 children, but the budget had increased dramatically, costing taxpayers over $5 billion dollars. That is a 5,108% growth rate in spending with only a 53% increase in enrollment.

The most important goal of any education program is that children be educated. Studies of Head Start, however, demonstrate that early education produces no apparent academic benefits. In its early years, extensive studies were undertaken to prove Head Start worked. But the opposite turned out to be true. In 1969, the Westinghouse Learning Corporation found no difference in the behavior and educational achievement between Head Start and other underclass children.

Sixteen years later, the CRS Synthesis Project study, commissioned by HHS, came to the same conclusion. Although children showed “immediate gains,” by the second grade “there are no educationally meaningful differences.”12

 

Filed Under: Childhood Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

DC Proposes Mandatory Schooling at Age 3

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7) plans to introduce a bill today that would lower from 5 to 3 the age at which schooling is compulsory, part of a push among school and elected officials to expand early childhood learning. If the legislation passed, the District would be the first jurisdiction in the country to mandate school attendance or home learning for all children at such a young age, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

But although D.C. officials offered support yesterday for the concept behind Chavous’s bill, they said the hurdles in designing and funding a universal program for 3- and 4-year-olds would be significant. The bill would require a child to be enrolled in a public, private or parochial school or in “private instruction” if the child turned 3 before Dec. 31 in that academic year. Chavous, chairman of the council’s education committee, said that home schooling by parents would qualify as private instruction. But it is unclear in the bill what guidelines stay-at-home parents would be required to follow and how they would document those efforts to the school system.

Chavous said his proposal is consistent with national efforts to lengthen the school day and the academic year and with research demonstrating the cognitive benefits of early childhood intervention. “It would force the school system to take charge and responsibility for every 3- and 4-year-old in the city to make sure they are prepared for kindergarten,” he said. The bill envisions a pilot program in fall 2003 and full access to public schooling by 2004. But the source of funding — estimated by the school system at up to $51.6 million in the first year of full access and $32 million a year after that — is unclear.

Joan Logue-Kinder, communications director for Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), said the mayor agreed with the need for expanded early learning. But given limited resources, she said, “the primary purpose is to solidify our base and give the students we presently have the best possible education.” School officials estimated they would need to provide 10,000 slots for 3- and 4-year-olds, compared with the 4,200 slots they currently provide for children of that age enrolled in optional programs. City officials have long been worried about the low enrollment of low-income children in pre-kindergarten classes, Head Start and subsidized child care.

Superintendent Paul L. Vance said he supported the proposal, citing research pointing to the positive benefits linked to early childhood learning. “The earlier you can get these youngsters to make social and cognitive impressions, the better your chances of having productive learners,” he said. “I’d like to get all of these youngsters in school as early as possible.” But D.C. Board of Education President Peggy Cooper Cafritz raised the issue of funding. “Theoretically, it’s fabulous, but to enact such a piece of legislation without an appropriate appropriation is disingenuous and totally bamboozling us,” she said.

School officials said that in addition to increased operating costs, they would face higher capital costs associated with more classroom space. The long-range master plan for school facilities also would need to be revised. They also said they would need to provide transportation to 3- and 4-year-olds if Chavous’s proposal were enacted. The school system currently buses only special education students, and that service is often late and irregular.

Education analysts said the proposal also is likely to raise thorny questions of parental choice. School officials “would need to do some hard calculations and have to make sure they provide generous options for parents,” including home instruction, said Sharon Lynn Kagan, co-director of the Center for Children and Families at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Barbara Willer, deputy executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, said her group supports expanding early childhood education programs, but she raised the question of whether such programs should be mandatory. She said that compulsory attendance would pose the specter of a “Big Brother-type approach” and could be seen by some families as an intrusion.

 

Filed Under: Early education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Group to Label Video Games That Teach

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

*Associated Press/AP Online        

        DALLAS – Does “The Sims” video game accurately depict human psychology? Does a train simulator like “Railroad Tycoon” broach some basic engineering ideas? A group of educators, developers and game publishers believe they might. The consortium, calling itself The Education Arcade, is launching a “games for learning” seal of approval to help consumers identify titles that teach more than hand-eye coordination.
        The labels are to be announced Monday to kick off the   Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles and should begin appearing this fall. Members of the consortium include MIT’s Comparative Media   Studies program, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education and LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., an educational toy maker.”What we hope is something that looks like the Good   Housekeeping seal of approval,” said Alex Chisholm, LeapFrog’s director of content. Beyond labels, the group hopes to persuade game companies to   make more educational games. It could be a tough sell, though, in an industry that favors low-risk, high-profit sequels built on established franchises.
        “Learning multiplication tables on an Xbox hasn’t  exactly happened,” American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy said. “People would rather shoot people, punch somebody or throw a football than learn math.”
        Top titles often take millions of dollars and years to produce, and putting that amount of effort into an educational game is simply too risky, said Warren Spector, studio director of game company Ion Storm in Austin. “In the same way that documentaries don’t really compete with fiction films, I don’t ever expect to see educational games succeed at the financial level expected of a commercial entertainment game,” Spector said. He said educational games will be harder to find and won’t be as well produced.
        So-called “edutainment” titles, which blend fun with learning, account for a sliver of the $10 billion North American video game business. U.S. educational PC software sales have plunged to $191 million last year, from $340 million in 2001, according to The NPD Group, a market research firm.
        LeapFrog, long seen as a success story with its line of   handheld educational game devices, has stumbled lately, posting first quarter losses of $11.8 million on sales of $72 million. Many edutainment products simply have been squeezed out of   store shelves to make room for better-selling shooters and sports titles, said Deborah Forte, president of Scholastic Entertainment in New York. In fact, many companies have gone to great lengths to make educational programs more like recess and less like a final exam. THQ Inc. of Calabasas Hills, Calif., spent several years and   millions of dollars converting a realistic Army training program called “Full Spectrum Warrior” into a commercial video game.
        When it debuts this summer, players will still learn the   intricacies of urban warfare, but only as a side effect of winning, THQ chief executive Brian Farrell said. “We’re in the business of entertaining our   consumers,” he said. “That’s a very separate market, I think. They’re two different kinds of experiences and they’ll stay that way for the foreseeable future.” Such sentiment isn’t stopping MIT and Colonial Williamsburg from collaborating on an online role-playing game, “Revolution,” in which players experience the American Revolution in a three-dimensional virtual world. They hope to license it to a game company this summer.
        “Games can be both entertaining and educational,”   said Henry Jenkins, head of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program and co-director of The Education Arcade. “The challenge is to get companies to realize there is some good in the ‘L’ word” – for learning. For now, The Education Arcade is tweaking the labeling   guidelines. Issues include whether labels should have detailed information about age-appropriateness or simply specify topics the game addresses, like math or reading.
        There’s a risk that overlabeling could confuse consumers.   Already, game boxes are littered with sales information,   hardware requirements and ratings information from the nonprofit Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Similar to those for movies, the software ratings consider   violence, language and other factors. Ratings range from “EC” for early childhood to “AO” for risque, adult-only content. The ratings board has advised The Education Arcade and supports “more information for parents in any format,” said its president, Patricia Vance.
       Andrew Bub, a stay-at-home father of two who created the video game Web site gamerdad.com, said labels would be nice but only go so far. Rather, he said, parents need to stay involved with their children’s gaming habits. “My belief is you should play games with kids rather than just hysterically assume they’re going to be bad for them,” he said.
        Not all parents believe video games need to be educational.Monica Martin, a mother of two in Frisco, Texas, said the  time her 6-year-old son, Alex, spends playing “Pokemon Coliseum” is all about having fun. “He goes to school for seven hours. He just wants to go   home and play,” Martin said. “I clean houses for a living, and let me tell you, the last thing I want to do when I get home is clean some more.”

Filed Under: Active Learning Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Lack of Results in International Early Education Programs

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Early education is a growing concern to many countries around the world. Much of this concern has been centered in Europe, where governments provide care and schooling for children as young as 1. Billions of dollars are spent on these programs, which are designed to give children a head start in their education and socialization. But is there documentable evidence that early education has made a difference in the academic progress of these children?

This question can be answered by a recent study that compared the academic scores of children from many of the industrialized nations of the world. In 2000, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was conducted, which tested children from 32 nations in the areas of reading literacy, mathematics, and science.5 The results showed that children who have to start school at a very young age did not consistently do better than those who can start later. A similar assessment, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), revealed comparable results.6

The country of Finland was a standout in both of these international assessments, ranking near or at the top in all tested subjects. These impressive results were achieved despite the fact that school attendance in Finland is not compulsory until age 7, later than almost any other European country.7

Japan, Korea, and Singapore also had some of the highest scoring students in the PISA and TIMSS assessments, but none of these countries have fully developed early education programs. Japan’s early education is probably the most comprehensive out of the three, and even there, substantial numbers of children do not attend any school before 1st grade. Singapore does not have any publicly funded early education.8

Some of the lower scoring countries in PISA were Sweden and Greece, which both emphasize early education. Sweden has some of the most comprehensive childcare in Europe, with the vast majority of children ages 1-12 having a place in a publicly funded child-care center. Even with this emphasis, however, Sweden ranked among the average countries in the PISA test, and Greece was among the five worst nations in all three subject areas.9

Filed Under: Home Schooling Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Data Tapes Available for the NHES:91 Early Childhood Education and Adult Education Data Files

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) announces the availability of data tapes and users manuals for the 1991 National Household Education Survey (NHES), the Early Childhood Education (ECE) component and the Adult Education (AE) component.  NHES:91 was a random-digit-dial telephone survey developed by NCES.  The sample for the NHES is drawn from the noninstitutionalized civilian population in households with a telephone in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.  The survey was conducted between late January and early May of 1991.

NHES:91 collected data on 3- to 8-year-old children’s experiences in a wide range of settings, including their homes, childcare arrangements, early education programs, and schools. A survey of participation in adult education among person 16 years of age and older was conducted simultaneously.  Data were collected on the level and characteristics of adult education participation. The files for these two general components of NHES:91 are described below.

Preprimary and Primary Files.  Data from the Early Childhood Education component are divided into two separate data files–the Preprimary File and the Primary File.  The Preprimary File contains responses from completed interviews with the parents of 7,655 children who have not yet enrolled in kindergarten.  The Primary File contains responses from completed interviews with the parents of 6,237 children enrolled in grades 1 and above. Users will be able to merge the Preprimary File with the Primary
File for the purposes of conducting analyses involving all 13,892 children.

Adult and Course Files.  During NHES:91, a sample of adults were questioned about their educational activities over the previous 12-month period.  Data from the Adult Education component are divided into two separate files–the Adult File and the Course File. The Adult File contains responses from each completed AE interview.  There is one record for each completed AE interview; thus, there are 12,568 records in this file.  The Course File contains a record for each part-time course reported by participants in the AE interview (up to four course were allowed).  The file is intended for analyses in which the course, rather than the individual, is the unit of analysis (aggregated course information is also included in the Adult File as part of the record of each adult).  The Adult and Course Files can be merged using a common identifier.

Ordering Information.  The NHES:91 files are available as magnetic tapes.  The ECE Component Files and the AE Component Files are sold separately.  In addition to the raw data files, each tape has SAS system files and SPSSX  and SAS control cards for converting the raw data to SPSSX and SAS formats.  These tapes can be purchased for $175 each, or $250 for both.

 

Filed Under: Adult Education, Early education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

“But, Studies Show…!”

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Since the Communism thread has morphed into a home-schooling debate, I thought I’d share some thoughts on that here. The current thread has become almost impossible to follow. There are many reasons why home schooling is becoming such a popular option for parents in the United States, among them the overall failure of the public school systems, a recognition among fly-over folk that children need parents more than they need institutions, and the growing realization that home-schooled kids are outperforming their counterparts. I could relate my own experiences, and will if anyone asks, but that would be anecdotal and so not relevant.

The discussion underway focuses on very young children, so the thing that I wish to refute is this vague, airy dismissal of the concerns voiced over compulsary attendance for small children and the natural rights of human beings as affirmed by the Consitution in the United States. If one is going to use the “studies show” gambit in defense of one’s pre-conceived notions, then one had damned well better be prepared to cite those studies. In this case, “studies show” exactly the opposite of the position held.

Below is the entire text of the HSLDA’s position on the issue of early education, complete with citations. Mandatory Kindergarten Is Unnecessary Compelling children to attend school at an earlier age does not yield consistent results.

Compulsory attendance or mandatory kindergarten at early ages is not the way to improve academic excellence. In fact, it may harm the development of young children to force them into the school system at a young age. The studies below demonstrate that compelling 5 and 6 year olds to attend school is not only unnecessary, but also violates a parent’s fundamental right to direct the education of their children, as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S.
510 (1925); Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 at 233; Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000).

 

Filed Under: Childhood Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Building knowledge for better early childhood learning

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Additional funding of nearly $2 million will see three new early childhood education Centres of Innovation next year, Education Minister Trevor Mallard announced today. “These new centres, in addition to the six begun last year, will strengthen quality in early childhood teaching and share knowledge of what works best for New Zealand children,” Trevor Mallard said.

“This government is committed to lifting participation in early childhood education and to improving children’s learning and development in these critical years which set the foundation for future learning.” “By being better informed about quality teaching practices we can provide our children with the best possible learning opportunities.”

Trevor Mallard said the Centres of Innovation are supported for three years through assistance and funding to research and develop innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Centres of Innovation support continuous improvement in early childhood education, encourage provider collaboration, facilitate networks of learning support, build research capability, share information, develop leadership and strengthen quality teaching and learning.

“Centres of Innovation are a significant way of improving quality in early childhood education, one of the key goals in Pathways to the Future: Huarahi Arataki, the early childhood education strategic plan, launched in 2002. “The ECE Centres of Innovation programme has shown how vibrant and innovative the early childhood education sector is and reflects its commitment to developing the best teaching practice to support effective learning for children.

The first six centres focused on innovations in the use of ICT, improved links between services, and quality practices in M=E4ori and Pasifika bilingual and immersion services. The Ministry of Education is currently analysing the focus for the next three centres and the selection process would get underway later in the year.

 

Filed Under: Childhood Learning Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Bipartisan Education Reform

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Bipartisan Education Reform – President Bush submitted his framework for education reform, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), three days after taking office and secured overwhelming bipartisan support less than a year later. NCLB represents the most significant overhaul of Federal education policy since 1965, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. NCLB creates strong standards in each state for what every child should know and learn in reading and math in grades 3-8 and holds schools accountable for closing the achievement gap between students of different socio-economic backgrounds.

High Standards and Accountability – Since President Bush signed NCLB into law, all states have developed a plan to ensure that every student becomes proficient at reading and math and that achievement gaps are closed between students of different socio-economic backgrounds. States, districts, and schools are using their unique accountability plans to measure the progress of student achievement, report student and school progress to parents, identify for improvement those schools not making adequate yearly progress, provide support for the improvement of schools and districts, and provide options – including public school choice and tutoring – for children in underperforming schools.

Historic Levels of Funding – President Bush’s overall Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget represents a 49% increase for elementary and secondary education since FY 2001. It includes an additional:

  a.. $1 billion in Title I funding for disadvantaged students, for a total that represents a 52% increase since FY 2001.
  b.. $139 million for reading programs totaling four times the amount spent in FY 2001.
  c.. $1 billion for special education programs, for a 75% increase since FY 2001.
Reading First and Early Reading First – President Bush proposed and signed into law the Reading First and Early Reading First initiatives as part of his unequivocal commitment to ensuring that every child can read by the third grade. These programs enable more children to receive scientifically-based reading instruction programs in the early grades. Over $1.8 billion in Reading First funds have been distributed to the 50 states and the District of Columbia to provide training and instructional materials to tens of thousands of teachers. In addition, since the passage of NCLB, states have received almost $200 million in funds for early childhood reading efforts through such initiatives as Early Reading First and the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development program.

Options Available for Parents – Using tutoring money provided under NCLB, low-income parents of children in schools that have been identified as needing improvement can select from the over 1,600 supplemental service providers approved by the states. With this option, parents, for the first time, can find a program that is focused, rigorous, and directed at the specific needs of their child. Under NCLB, states and school districts publish report cards showing how well students in each socio-economic
sub-group are achieving so that communities and parents can know how well their schools are doing.

Providing Parents with School Choice – President Bush worked with Congress to include a school choice program in the FY 2004 Omnibus Appropriations bill for approximately 1,700 low-income children in the District of Columbia to attend the school of their choice. The President has also requested funding in his budgets for a Choice Incentive Fund, which would support efforts to provide parents, particularly low-income parents, of students who attend low-performing schools with opportunities to transfer their children to higher-performing public, charter, or private schools.

 

Filed Under: Education Reforms Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »