Pre-K Funding Will Increase, Despite State Budget Shortfalls

According to the Pew Center on the States’ Pre-K Now report, “Votes Count: Legislative Action for Pre-K Fiscal Year 2010,” state funding for pre-k is expected to see a national increase by one percent or $5.13 million. The increase is slated to occur Fiscal Year 2010, even though many states have been battling with declining revenues.

The report shows that 27 out of the 38 states that have pre-existing programs have either increased or maintained early education funding for their 2010 budgets. The District of Columbia has also seen an increase and states such as Rhode Island and Alaska have begun pre-k pilot programs this year.  

 The report also points out that 10 states have reduced funding state-based pre-k programs and 10 more states do not have any early education programs set in place, but despite budget shortfalls, many states are making an effort to increase early education funding.

For more information about the Pew Center on the States’ Pre-K Now report, visit: http://www.preknow.org/ and let NSSEA know what you think!

Link of the Week: New Digital Resource Centers are Underway to Help Teachers Find Education Materials

This week’s link of the week comes from eSchoolnews.org. Several state officials and public broadcasters are creating digital resource centers that coincide with state education standards and student data systems to help teachers find high quality education materials for their student’s learning needs. A fascinating subject indeed! Read the article and let NSSEA know your thoughts!

 

Free Digital Resource Centers on Tap
By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor

An effort is under way in several states to create digital teaching resource centers that are aligned with state education standards and connected with student data systems, so teachers can find free, high-quality educational materials to help them address their students’ learning needs.

The effort comes from a partnership between the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). It’s a way of helping states provide 21st-century tools to increase student achievement, by leveraging public television’s vast collections of educational content.

The idea for the project arose a few years ago, when Gene Wilhoit–who is now the executive director of CCSSO–was Kentucky’s education commissioner.

“It all began when we tried to solve some simple problems in the state, such as [knowing] what’s going on in schools and how can we monitor that. But we couldn’t answer anything, because there were no robust data systems in schools,” he explained. Read More (Source: eSchoolnews.org)

Perspective

By Jeff Pett

The last few weeks have brought me more than their share of times for reflection on what is important in life.  We often get so wrapped up in our day-to-day work-lives that we lose this perspective.

Item #1

I skipped blogging in September because I had the opportunity to spend two weeks on an in-depth study tour in Israel.  No matter what your religious persuasion, or lack of one, you cannot help but be in awe of the major lines of historical influence that run through this land.  This part of the world is rich in the history of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths.  Hiking in the desert of southern Israel, we were within 5 miles of the Egyptian border in this hot, dry, desolate place.  We hiked in the desert for 5 days… I cannot imagine what 40 years would be like!  We spent several days in the Dead Sea area (1,400 feet BELOW sea level!), one of those days hiking in and around where the site of the Dead Sea scrolls discovery.  Mysteries are still being revealed today from those scrolls.  The dedication of the people who made sure the old scriptures were recorded faithfully is unmatched by anything we do today.

When we spent a day in the “occupied territories” along the Jordanian boarder, we had to pick up an armed guard who spent the day with us, rifle slung over his shoulder, to protect us.  He rode on the bus sitting on the floor by the front door and went out on each hike.  We walked within a stones through of Lebanon and up through the Golan Heights within a few miles of Syria.  One day our Israeli guide told us what it is like living in a country where all of your neighbors would like to kill you.  He reminded us that, “These are not Canadians!”

For 5 days we were based in a kibbutz on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee hiking and studying within the 3 square miles where Jesus spent most of his 3 years of recorded ministry.  We walked “in His footsteps” in wonder at how those teachings spread into today’s Christian faith.  And how strongly that is rooted in the Jewish faith.

Two and a half days were spent in Jerusalem exploring on foot, overlooking the city from the Mount of Olives, to the temple mount controlled by the Palestinians, to the western wall, just a few feet from the temple mount, packed with the Jewish faithful praying.  One afternoon we left our Israeli bus, driver, and guide to cross the “border” into Bethlehem, also Palestinian controlled, to visit a man-made “mountain” where there is a significant archeological dig on one of Herod’s many palaces.  The tension in Jerusalem and the surrounding area is palpable.  The history is overwhelming.

It was an unbelievable 13 days of hiking, studying, and experiencing the geography and the culture in a way you can only understand by being there.  One of the young men along offered this observation: “I heard and I forgot; I saw and I remembered; I did and I understood.”  Perspective.

Item #2

After being home for 4 days our corporate leadership team of eight headed off to a retreat in a cabin “up north” in Michigan for three days of evaluating where we are and where we are going as a company.  Orders are down, shipments are down, our team is on reduced hours.  We want to grow the business but we are going to come in at well under plan for this fiscal year.  Our company is unusual in that we are 100% employee-owned (there is no “Mr. Fleetwood”) and profess to operate in a Christ-centered manner.  We are also debt-free.  We spent much of the time up north figuring out what we think will happen in our market over the next 18 to 24 months.  But more time was spent trying to plan how to fairly contain our costs by cutting back on hours and spending, be responsible to our “share-holders” (everyone who works here), and yet invest going forward in product and sales efforts that will position us well as we come out of these difficult economic times.  I have worked in bigger companies and smaller ones, and been through similarly tough financial times, but I have never seen such deep concern around the “leadership roundtable” to do the “right thing” for our customers and our team.  This truly is a unique place.  Perspective.

Item #3

As I write this blog I am sitting on an airplane returning to Holland, MI after spending the last several days on the west coast with some great dealers we are privileged to work with and some delightful end-customers (school administrators and teachers) in California, Oregon, and Washington.  The story is similar to what we are hearing across the country from other dealers and schools: “this year is down, our team is working together to get through it, and we are fortunate to work with great people.”  Everybody is dealing with “soft” sales, and every school seems to have unusual issues finding money to do their job to educate children.  But everyone seems to be adjusting to the prevailing conditions, figuring out ways to make lemonade out of lemons, even if it isn’t as sweet as we would prefer.  Perspective.

Item #4

While on the west coast one morning this week I got an email from the home office informing that one of our bright young engineers had suffered a heart attack at work and died in the hospital shortly thereafter.  Our team responded well per plan and training, the paramedics were there quickly, but a 31-year-old engineer, husband, and father is no longer with us.  Too young!  Tragic!  We don’t understand why bad things happen to good people.  Sometimes we suffer through things that no one should have to bear.  But often in the worst of times we see the best in people.  Mike Hall will be greatly missed at the Fleetwood Group, by his friends and his family.  We do work with good people.  Perspective.

 Life is short.  Be sure to get outside of your work-a-day box occasionally to take a good hard look at what is important, and let’s make sure we keep things in perspective.

Keeping Up to Date

By Rebecca Haden

One of the keys to success in 21^st century business is being able to see changes coming and to adapt to them.

In school supply stores, we have lots of practice in this skill. Every year or so a new set of state standards or textbooks or national tests arrives. Where the previous year everyone taught about hibernation in October, this year our teachers must also teach about estivation, and we have to have the materials ready for them (not to mention knowing what it is ourselves when they ask us).

But we seem to be on the verge of a really big change: the medium of delivery for educational materials is changing.

The paper-free classroom has been on the horizon nearly as long as the paperless office, but now it seems far closer to becoming a reality. Smart boards, Netbooks, and online testing may send our books of reproducibles the way of the mimeo machine. Kindles, wikis, and Project Gutenberg affect book orders. Schools across the country are limiting copier use and mandating certain percentages of hands-on time across the curriculum, while teachers themselves are moving toward Web 2.0 and downloads.

Where does this leave us?

Stores that jumped in with investments in teacher tech books and software programs, only to see them on the clearance table the following season, may hesitate to make changes now. Making the wrong guess about which manipulatives will be the big hit in a given year can leave us with a swollen inventory in one area and unable to keep up with demand in another, so that playing it safe with old favorites seems like a better choice in uncertain times like these. 

Even those who are willing to make changes have to wonder what kinds of changes we ought to make – after all, predictions about the future of education vary enormously. If we were willing to accept someone’s predictions, we’d still have to decide whose to trust.

Instead, perhaps we need a systemic change. We may need to give up the habit of doing our back-to-school ordering in January. We may have to give up the idea that we can restock in June and be set for the year. We may have to stop looking for the next fashion and start providing leadership.

Times have been hard for a lot of school retailers recently. It may be that we need to become more agile, more adaptable, and less resistant to change. The retailers who can do this may well be the ones who survive.

Gender Factors in E-Learning

Do boys and girls learn differently online? According to an article recently published in Education Week, some educators say they do. The article, “E-Learning Gender Factor” by Michele R. Davis, discusses ways some educators are examining how girls and boys learn differently in an online environment.

The reporter mentions Michigan Virtual University, an online virtual school for boys. The school began a course that incorporates mathematics and baseball in hopes to keep boys interested in learning math. The course spotlights baseball statistics, base running, coaching decisions, and baseball design. The article also talks about recently launched virtual private schools for girls that helps keep them interested in science and mathematics.

Davies interviews Kelley King, associate director of the Gurian Institute, about the differences in the way boys and girls learn. She mentions that girls are much better note-takers then boys. In addition, boys have a tendency to need more visual aids and movement. She reveals that online classes for boys usually have more games, videos, stimulations, and lessons that incorporate competition among the young males. Lessons for girls on the other hand usually focus on collaboration and working together.

What do you think about the differences in which boys and girls learn in an online environment?

 For more information about the article, visit: http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2009/10/21/01e-gender.h03.html and let NSSEA know your thoughts!

Study Finds Video and Interactive Games Effective Learning Tool for Preschoolers

According to a large-scale study backed by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. Department of Education, video and interactive games are beneficial and effective in teaching disadvantaged preschool students literacy skills needed to succeed in kindergarten.

The study incorporated three PBS produced television shows “Sesame Street,” “Between the Lions,” and “Super Why!” in efforts see what affect video and interactive games had on preschoolers’ development of early reading skills.

Eighty classes at forty-seven different centers participated in the spring 2009 study and for 10 weeks, preschool teachers and students were randomly assigned to use a technology-supported science curriculum or a technology-supported literacy curriculum.

Out of the 398 children who participated in the study, those who participated in the literacy curriculum outscored children in the science curriculum on four important measures. These measures include: the ability to name letters, know the sounds associated with those letters, recognize letters in their own names, and understand basic concepts about stories and printed words.

For more information about the study, visit http://cct.edc.org/ready_to_learn.asp and let NSSEA know your thoughts!

Link of the Week: 10.13.09—States Defend Their Use of Federal Stimulus Funds to Department of Education

Many states are currently in the “hot seat” for how they are using the federal stimulus money. States are finding themselves defending their actions to the public and to the Department of Education. The department’s deputy inspector general, Mary Mitchelson issued a memorandum singling out various states for undermining the school improvement purposes of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The inspector mentions that states are using stimulus funds to plug up budget holes instead of driving real reform in schools. Let NSSEA know what you think! Read the article and tell us your thoughts.

 

States Stung by Criticism on Use of Stimulus Aid
By Catherine Gewertz, Education Week

Several states are defending their use of federal stimulus money after receiving an official scolding from the U.S. Department of Education’s internal watchdog. The memorandum issued by the department’s inspector general pointed to Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania as examples of how states are undermining the school improvement aims of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in their use of fiscal-stabilization funds to avert or minimize cuts to their  education budgets. Read more 

New Report Shows High Rate of Imprisonment Among High School Dropouts

The high school dropout rate among young adults today is steadily increasing and there is a high rate of imprisonment among these dropouts, according to a new study released by researchers at Northeastern University. The researchers mention that the high dropout rate among high school students is becoming a strain on the economy.

The study finds that the average high school dropout will have a negative net fiscal contribution to society of nearly $5,200 over the course of their working lives, while the average high school graduate produces a positive lifetime net fiscal contribution of $287,000. The report indicates that taxpayers will suffer over $292,000 in lower tax revenues, higher cash and in-kind transfer costs, and imposed incarceration costs.

How do you feel about this study’s findings? NSSEA wants to know your thoughts! Take a look at the report and tell us what you think.

For more information about the report, visit: http://www.clms.neu.edu/publication/documents/The_Consequences_of_Dropping_Out_of_High_School.pdf

Modern Tools for Marketing Online

By Emily Raij, Maupin House

Online marketing today is all about creating communities. The following are some tools educational publishers and suppliers can take advantage of to reach out to customers in new, more relevant ways.

Virtual sampler. This virtual version has the same pagination and look of a print product. Most samplers let readers turn pages, click on links, and use special features like bookmarks and searches. Publishers save on production and mailing costs associated with printed review copies and can also use online sampling to draw traffic to their website and get valuable statistics on their readership. Virtual samplers are also a great way to offer up an online catalog for any type of company with links taking customers to the company e-commerce site. Sampling online also allows publishers to test a product before committing to a print version and even sell “chunks” of content that customers can personalize and select, rather than an entire book. Impelsys and Nxtbook Media are two companies that offer e-publishing solutions.

Book Widgets. A widget is a portable chunk of code that can be placed in different places like blogs, social-networking sites, and websites. Widgets can contain page samples, links, and other content that can even be updated automatically. These make nice sales tools because they provide back-links to a publisher’s website, which enhances traffic (that’s an example of SEO, or search engine optimization).

Book Previews. Similar to virtual samplers, these previews also allow publishers to limit the content available for viewing. Maybe readers can only read a certain percentage of the pages of a book or certain parts like the table of contents, introduction, and index. Amazon’s Search Inside is an example of a preview program that has had a very positive impact on book sales.

Blogs. Blogs are nothing new, but they do offer more possibilities than publishers might know about. Review blogs let publishers get (hopefully positive) feedback that can be used on social-networking sites to help spread the word about a book. Author blogs can be used to attract a following for the author before the book even comes out. These blogs let authors showcase their expertise, announce signings, share videos and free content, and interact with readers who might otherwise be inaccessible. You should definitely have a company blog, too, where you make announcements, run contests, and offer tips and tools to readers that aren’t just related to your product sales.

Author Social Network Profiles. Encourage your authors to post their profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, or more niche sites for their area of expertise. Here, authors can start groups or pages and create communities of people interested in their topic. Most sites offer tools for taking polls, sharing event calendars, hosting contests, creating subgroups, and extending the interactive relationship with readers. Having public profiles online lets readers find authors and their books more easily through simple searching.

Author Videos. From promotional book trailers to longer how-tos and demonstrations, author videos can really bring in the readers. As we all know, free video-hosting sites like YouTube (or niche video sites like TeacherTube for educational videos) get lots of traffic and can bring the same benefit to publisher websites. Through videos, authors can share readings, presentations at conferences, or quick tips with readers.

E-newsletters and E-mail Campaigns. If you haven’t done so already, take advantage of your website by promoting an opt-in e-newsletter. The email addresses you collect are invaluable, and e-newsletters are great tools for promoting new releases, offering information, providing subscriber-only discounts, and sharing other benefit-heavy content with customers new and old. Just be sure to make your newsletter information-driven and not just a sales tool. Readers should get more out of your newsletter than just a push to buy your products. Programs like Constant Contact provide easy design templates and maintenance of e-mail lists.

 Social Reading Lists. Personal online booklists maintained by readers usually show books they’ve read, books they intend to read, and books they own. Readers can share lists with each other, provide rankings, and discuss favorites, all while maintaining an online bookshelf of their reading. Social-networking sites like Facebook offer applications to post reading lists to user profiles. Popular reading list sites include Shelfari, LibraryThing, and GoodReads.

Think Tank Gives ‘Common Core’ Standards a Grade of B

Today, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation issued a new report containing its grade for the recently released ‘Common Core’ academic standards by The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (CBP) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSCO). The think tank gave the academic standards a grade of B in both language arts and mathematics. The foundation evaluated the common core standards on two-point scales that focused on “content and rigor” and “clarity and specificity.”

 When compared to other international and national academic standards, The ‘Common Core’ standards received one of the highest grades from the foundation. The other national and international academic standards were released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Here is a break down of the grades earned from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation:

• Common Core Reading/Writing/Speaking/Listening: B
• Common Core Mathematics: B
• NAEP Reading: B and NAEP Writing: B
• NAEP Mathematics: C
• TIMSS Mathematics: A
• PISA Mathematics: D
• PISA Reading: D

 Read the report and tell us what you think about the foundation’s evaluation of the ‘Common Core’ academic standards? Let NSSEA know your thoughts!

 For more information about the new report, visit: http://edexcellence.net/doc/20091008_NationalStandards.pdf.