December 13, 2011
Well-Rounded Education Gets a Day in the Sun
A new national survey confirms what's long been suspected: Most teachers report that schools are narrowing the curriculum and shifting instruction time and resources toward math and language arts and away from subjects such as art, music, foreign language, and social studies. The survey, commissioned by Common Core (not to be confused with the Common Core State Standards Initiative), a research and advocacy group that supports a comprehensive curriculum, also reveals that teachers largely attribute this narrowing to the state math and language arts tests required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
Recent signs, however, suggest federal decision makers are finally listening to teachers' concerns. Accountability and teacher effectiveness have dominated efforts to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), but the New Democrat Coalition, a 42-member coalition of moderate House Democrats, released ESEA recommendations that prioritize the need to provide all students with a well-rounded education that prepares them for college, careers, and citizenship. The recommendations call for
- High-quality early childhood education programs.
- Enhanced public reporting of data on schoolwide achievement and growth.
- Access to a wide range of classes that contribute to school engagement and academic achievement, such as social studies, service learning, career and technical education, art, music, physical education, and health education.
- Collaboration with educators and local communities to empower students with tools that enhance learning, such as parent engagement, physical and mental health improvement initiatives, and other support services.
These recommendations stand in sharp contrast to the Senate's Harkin-Enzi bill, which largely overlooked well-rounded education until Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced an amendment to create a grant program to increase access and achievement across a broad array of subject areas. Moreover, the House's three ESEA bills don't address the topic at all, and in fact, threaten support for a comprehensive education by eliminating several federal education programs focused on subjects beyond reading and math.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan posed a central question in his speech at the National Council for Social Studies Annual Conference: "How can we promote both a well-rounded education with rich offerings across all subjects—civics, geography, economics and history, the arts, foreign languages, physical education, the sciences, et cetera—and simultaneously create a system of real and meaningful accountability that doesn't lead to narrowing of the curriculum?"
He suggested that the Obama administration's NCLB waivers balance accountability with well-rounded education by providing states and districts with flexibility to include subjects other than reading and math in their accountability systems and encouraging their development of metrics like portfolios, essays, and oral exams to reflect student mastery of critical-thinking skills.
Learn about ASCD's efforts to promote well-rounded education.
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Free LILA Webinar This Week
Join ASCD's public policy team for a free webinar this Thursday, December 15, 3:00–4:00 p.m. eastern time. The webinar will familiarize you with ASCD's upcoming Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy (LILA), including the schedule, content, and post-conference follow-up activities that will help make your participation both satisfying and successful. You'll also learn how to schedule appointments with your federal lawmakers before the conference and receive tips to make the most of those meetings once you're on Capitol Hill. Both current LILA registrants and those thinking about attending are invited to participate.
In addition, the policy team will reveal details about how LILA registrants can win an autographed copy of Joe Trippi's book, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Trippi, the famed political strategist and former Howard Dean presidential campaign manager, will be LILA's keynote speaker, providing an insider's account of a presidential campaign operation, outlining the prospects for the 2012 Republican presidential nominees, and sharing advice on how to influence officials and the media to achieve your policy goals.
The webinar will be recorded and available for viewing after the live session concludes; all webinar registrants will receive a link to the recording via e-mail.
Register now!
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FY12 Spending Deadline Looms
Congress has just three days to reach consensus on the FY12 budget before the temporary spending measure currently funding government programs expires this Friday. Their goal is to consolidate all of the government spending into a "megabus" package for a vote sometime this week.
Congressional insiders report that the portion of the bill addressing education funding is the most contentious because it also includes funding for the new health care law; some suggest bipartisan consensus on this part of the bill won't be reached, requiring yet another temporary spending measure while negotiations continue.
Regardless, the U.S. Department of Education's budget faces likely spending cuts for FY12. And that will be on top of the 8 percent ($3.5 billion) cut that will take effect in the middle of the 2012–13 school year as a result of the congressional supercommittee's failure to achieve a national deficit reduction plan.
Next week's Capitol Connection will report the result of this week's megabus vote and the implications for education.
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News You Can Use
Read on to learn about states' antibullying efforts, new guidance for schools in considering student race to promote diversity, and urban school districts' reading and math performance.
- Georgia became the first state to pass bullying prevention legislation in 1999, and since then all but four states (Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, and South Dakota) have passed bullying laws, according to a new report (PDF) from the U.S. Department of Education. The report, an outgrowth of the Obama administration's first-ever Bullying Prevention Summit, also finds that of the 46 antibullying laws, 36 include provisions that prohibit cyberbullying and 13 have provisions that grant schools the authority to address off-campus behavior that creates a hostile school environment.
- The U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice jointly released new guidance that clarifies how school districts and colleges and universities may legally consider student race in their plans to promote diversity and limit racial isolation. The guidance is based on three key Supreme Court rulings on the use of race by educational institutions, and provides options for increasing diversity through school assignments, zoning, admissions, and other efforts.
- Reading achievement in the 21 urban public school districts that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress's Trial Urban District Assessment has remained mostly flat since 2009, following the national trend, while mathematics achievement has improved in several of the districts. The districts, many of which have high concentrations of students from low-income households, posted overall low results but appear to be improving student performance at a faster clip compared to the nation. For example, 8th grade math scores for students from big cities climbed three points since 2009, compared with one point for the nation. In 4th grade reading, large cities and the nation saw no significant change since 2009, but urban students achieved a nine-point increase since 2002, compared with a three-point rise in the national average.
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