Abstract
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) released a report on the teacher preparation, research, and service happening at colleges of education. Far fewer U.S. students than European students are studying foreign languages. A study of the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program shows reduced math achievement among students using vouchers to attend private schools. Education Week presents stories of and data on incidents of hate and discrimination in schools. Students can now use their mobile devices to apply for federal financial aid for college. Education Week is tracking teachers who are running for state legislatures. A Thomas B. Fordham Institute survey examines whether and how English language arts instruction has changed since the launch of the Common Core State Standards.
In August, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) released a report on teacher preparation, research, and service at colleges of education. These are a few of their findings:
Two- and four-year colleges and universities make up 88% of all teacher preparation programs.
Around 2,300 colleges and universities awarded more than 300,000 degrees and certifications in 2015–16.
Special education is the only high-need field that is popular with undergraduate students of education.
Women earn 80% of education degrees, and expanded opportunities for women in other fields may be contributing to declines in teacher education enrollment.
Education is the second most popular field for graduate degrees, making up 19% of all degrees conferred.
The executive summary of Colleges of Education: A National Portrait is available at http://bit.ly/TeacherEdPortrait. The full report is available to AACTE members only.
Stories of hate in schools
Are racism and other acts of hate on the rise in schools? According to Education Week's “Hate in Schools” report, the lack of consistent data over time makes it hard to say for sure. But with the help of ProPublica's Documenting Hate database, it is possible to get a sense of the current situation. Since January 2017, the database has received more than 5,000 reports of hate crimes and acts of racism, xenophobia, and homophobia; more than 600 of these incidents occurred in schools.
Francisco Vara-Orta and the reporting team at Education Week drew on ProPublica's data as well as other media reports to paint a picture of what kinds of hateful acts are occurring in schools and what education leaders are doing about it. The full report includes statistics, stories, a survey, and a short video with advice for teachers, from teachers.
U.S. foreign language learning lags
The Pew Research Center has recently reported that only 20% of U.S. students are learning a foreign language in school. In comparison, 92% of European students study a foreign language, typically starting at ages 6–9.
Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Austria, Romania, and France all report that 100% of their students learn a foreign language. Belgium, at 64%, has the lowest rate of language learning among European nations.
Even the U.S. states with the highest rates of language learning lag behind Belgium. At 51%, New Jersey tops the language learning rankings, followed by the District of Columbia (47%) and Wisconsin (36%). At 9%, Arkansas, Arizona, and New Mexico have the lowest rates of foreign language study.
Consequences of choice in Indiana
In the 2017-18 school year, 35,458 Indiana students received vouchers to attend 318 private schools in the state through the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program, the largest such program in the United States and one that is aimed specifically at low- and modest-income families. (The amount of tuition paid was based on family income.)
A study by R. Joseph Waddington and Mark Berends has found that the program did not have the desired effect of improving student achievement. In fact, test scores on the state's mathematics exam showed that these students achieved less growth than similar students who remained in public schools. That effect persisted over the following three years. The authors note that these findings are consistent with studies of programs in Louisiana, Ohio, and the District of Columbia.
The researchers also studied English language arts scores, but the differences were not statistically significant.
FAFSA goes mobile
Students seeking financial aid for college can now complete their applications on their mobile devices. During the summer, the U.S. Department of Education's Free Application for Federal Student Aid program launched a mobile-friendly site (http://fafsa.gov) and a new myStudentAid app. Both the app and the mobile-friendly site allow users to complete the FAFSA application and access resources about the financial aid process. Future plans for the app include the ability to make loan repayments, compare aid packages, and transfer information to state applications for aid.
Teachers on the ballot
Education Week is collecting information on U.S. teachers who are running for seats in their state legislatures. Currently, their list includes more than 150 verified campaigns, with links to their websites, candidates’ political parties, and current teaching position. View the list and submit information on candidates at http://bit.ly/teachersrunning.
ELA instructional shifts
The Common Core State Standards required English language arts teachers to reexamine their curricula and instructional approaches to ensure they were incorporating complex texts, including both creative and content-rich informational texts, and helping students build text-dependent arguments. A Thomas B. Fordham Institute report, based on teacher surveys from 2012 and 2017, shows how their instructional practices have changed.
Here are a few of the things they learned:
In 2017, 54% of teachers reported choosing texts based on students’ reading levels. This number was up from 39% in 2012, even though the standards recommend using grade-level texts.
When asked to compare their current practices to those of a few years ago, 75% of respondents said they were asking more questions requiring textual evidence, 48% said they were discussing authors’ word choices more often, and 53% said students’ abilities to cite textual evidence were better than a few years ago.
When asked about standards implementation in their schools, 54% said that not enough attention was being given to helping students become better writers. And 56% said not enough attention was being given to building students’ knowledge of basic facts.
In 2017, respondents said they devoted 41% of their time to fiction texts (down from 54% in 2012), 24% to literary nonfiction (up from 21%), and 35% to informational texts (up from 26%).
When asked about classic texts, 40% of respondents said they were using them less, 9% were using them more, and 43% were using them about the same amount. For texts reflecting students’ cultures, 37% were using them more, 9% were using them less, and 52% were about the same.
The full report with complete findings is available at http://bit.ly/FordhamELAshifts