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Oregon may require college credit in high school

February 11, 2013 by

Oregon may require all high school students to pass college-level classes, reports Diverse.

A bipartisan group of legislators has introduced a bill that would require college coursework as a condition of graduating from high school. The move would increase the number of students going to college, make their degrees more affordable and encourage students not considering college to continue in higher education, said Sen. Mark Hass, a Beaverton Democrat who is the bill’s chief sponsor.

Oregon students must pass 24 high school classes to earn a diploma. In its current form, Senate Bill 222 would require six of those classes earn college credit, starting with the class of 2020. It promises funding — how much is unstated — to train high school teachers to teach college-level courses.

It’s nice to know Oregon students are so accomplished that all can be expected to complete high school work in three years and move on to college work.

North Carolina is more realistic: A bill backed by Gov. Pat McCrory would create a “career ready” diploma in addition to a “college ready” diploma. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and is headed for the House. “Career and technical teacher licensing requirements also would be revised to help develop more teachers in those fields,” reports AP. There are paths to a decent job that don’t require a bachelor’s degree, the governor believes.

Filed Under: Careers, College, Education Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How strong are teachers’ unions?

October 29, 2012 by

Hawaii’s teachers’ union is the strongest in the nation, followed by Oregon, Montana and Pennsylvania, according to Fordham’s analysis. Arizona has the weakest teachers’ unions, followed by Florida and South Carolina.

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Oregon school boards: Show the love!

February 9, 2012 by

How do I love thee, Oregon school boards? Let me count the ways. Rick Hess pokes fun at the state association’s memo suggesting how students can spend time showing their appreciation of school board members.

Among many suggestions:

10. Elementary students could laminate place mats autographed by the class, for each board member.
9. Provide coffee mugs filled with candy kisses and cocoa mix with rolled up and tied recognition certificates tucked inside.
8. Send a general news release to local media about the governor declaring January as School Board Recognition Month and suggest interviews with your board members on the changing roles and challenges they face in managing America’s most precious, and politically popular, issue!…Also ask the paper’s editorial board or staff to consider publishing an editorial–it’s perfect timing because it’s newsworthy!
7. Have students from foods classes prepare snack trays, (e.g. meats and cheeses) for the January board meeting, along with goodies and coffee.
6. Have schools “Adopt a board member” for the month, by sending cards, inviting him/her to lunch, etc. Make sure students and staff are involved, including teachers, secretaries, custodians.

And there’s more!

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: ,

Oregon governor will control schools

August 21, 2011 by

Oregon’s governor will control the schools under a new law passed by a Democrat-controlled Senate and a split House, writes RiShawn Biddle on Dropout Nation. By 2014, Gov. John Kitzhaber will appoint the state school superintendent and a new board of education to set policy for the elementary, secondary and postsecondary system.

 

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

States cut writing exams to save money

July 8, 2011 by

Illinois won’t test high school juniors’ writing skills, reports the Chicago Tribune. The change will save about $2.4 million. The writing assessments for elementary and middle school students were dropped last year.

Oregon lawmakers last month suspended the writing test for fourth- and seventh-graders, but retained the high school assessment. “Proficient” writing will be a high school graduation requirement by 2013.

In a cost-cutting effort last fall, Missouri education officials eliminated for at least two years the detailed, written response questions that had been hand-graded in science and math. Writing prompts in language arts also were suspended. Students still write some short answers as part of state testing.

It will be a shame if schools spend less time on writing because it’s not going to be on the test, leaving students unprepared to communicate clearly in college or on the job.

Filed Under: Testing Tagged With: , , , , ,

All your plan are belong to us

May 9, 2011 by

How many different ways can I say ambivalence?  Courtesy of Educationnews.org:

The Oregon House of Representatives recently approved a bill that would make the laying out of a future education or employment plan a requirement towards a high school diploma, The Huffington Post reports. House Bill 2732 requires students to either complete and submit an application to college or internship program, enlist in the military, or attend an apprenticeship orientation workshop before they can receive a diploma.

One the one hand: “Yes!  Kids need guidance and driving everyone to college is silly.”

On the other hand: “School isn’t shouldn’t be about getting a job or going to college.  It should be about developing skills and autonomy.”

But back to the one hand: “Yes but autonomy requires an ability to plan sensibly about the future.  No one is saying that the student has to implement the plan, are they?  Just make it.”

But the other hand replies: “Then why not require all three of every student?  Why risk derailing a kid’s self-image?  Isn’t this just the slightest bit eerie?”

But the one: “It’s no worse than the silly community service requirements that we’ve got these days.”

Then the other: “That’s your argument?  It’s not a flagrant constitutional violation?  You should be able to go to school, learn, and get a diploma based on your demonstrated learning.  What you do with it is your business and your business alone.”

“Paranoid hyper-individualist.”

“Statist commie sympathizer.”

Then my hands start to hurt each other.

Filed Under: Careers, College, Education Tagged With: , , , ,

Special ed spending in tough times

December 1, 2010 by

Special-education spending can’t keep rising without crowding out spending for mainstream students, writes Rick Hess. In a follow-up post, he prints a principal’s point of view:

At our school, we spend about twice the money given to us by the government for special education students. That extra 100% comes directly from the general operating funds. For example, when a child enrolled in our school with a need for a one-on-one adult assistant, I had to cancel the after-school tutoring that served about 60 low-income students who were behind grade level in reading and math.Budgets are simple math. You get X dollars. If you have to spend $30,000 per year on an adult assistant for one child you must cut $30,000 from other programs. I get about $8000 to educate one child for an entire year. So this child is using up his money, and the money allotted for 3.5 additional children. When we have the annual meeting to discuss what support an individual special needs child should have, we are forbidden by law to discuss or take into account the cost of the services being discussed. That is crazy.

The federal mandates and the extra spending don’t guarantee students will learn, Hess adds.

An education consultant who’s also the mother of a special-needs child laments the money spent on meetings to discuss her child’s reading problem.  A voucher for a private school specializing in teaching “students with learning differences” would have been a lot cheaper and more effective, she writes.

Despite pandering to the special-ed lobby, Education Secretary Arne Duncan mentioned reining in special-ed spending in his “New Normal” speech, notes Mike Petrilli on Flypaper.

Oregon, among other states, has managed to trim its special education budget this year (maybe by intervening earlier when kids are struggling to read?). And yet doing so violates federal “maintenance of efforts” requirements. (Yes, Uncle Sam has actually made it illegal for states to handle sped more efficiently and thus lower spending.) So Oregon needs a waiver from the Secretary or else could lose millions in federal dollars; he should grant it, and send along a “thank-you” note to boot.

“Let’s talk bluntly about the laws, policies, and practices that can help educators spend limited resources in a way that’s fair to all our kids,” writes Hess.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , , , ,

Students do worse on online writing test

June 15, 2010 by

Oregon middle school students earn lower writing scores when they take the test online instead on paper, AP reports, even though “the tests used the same prompts and were identical.”

Students said they had trouble proofreading on the screen; they’re used to printing out a draft to proofread it.  In addition, students are used to using programs that check their spelling and grammar.  “They’ve never used (a computer) that didn’t have that,” said Mark Molner, who teaches writing at Bend High. Students also said they slow down and write more thoughtfully on paper.

Molner thinks that while spell-check may make some students less inclined to proofread, it is a tool that is here to stay.

“It is going to exist on every computer they’re going to use,” he said. “People make the same argument about calculators and computation errors.

Instant messaging and texting are eroding basic skills, complains Bend High writing teacher Nikki Baird. She’s forced to reteach capitalization and punctuation skills that should have been learned in elementary school. In class, her students write with paper and pencil, just like in the old days.

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