District Administration - July 2007 - (Page 12)

BRIEFINGS NewsUpdate By Zach Miners History and Civics Test Scores Improve TWO REPORTS RECENTLY RE leased by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federal government’s standard measure of public school achievement, point to improvements in U.S. history and civics test scores among fourth-graders, as well as improved history (but not civics) scores for eighthand 12th-graders. What the Data Say The reports say the percentage of fourthgraders performing at or above the basic level in U.S. history increased from 64 percent in 1994 to 70 percent last year, and in civics the percentage scoring at or above basic climbed from 69 percent in 1998 to 73 percent last year. The percent of 12th-graders scoring at or above basic in U.S. history increased from 55 percent in 2001 to 61 percent in 2006. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings didn’t waste any time tying the higher scores to a greater focus on reading spurred by NCLB. “The [NAEP] release today proves NCLB is working and preparing our children to succeed. … While critics may argue that NCLB leads educators to narrow their curriculum focus, the fact is, when students know how to read and comprehend, they apply these skills to other subjects like history and civics,” Spellings said in a statement. The National Assessment Governing Board, which conducts the regular test sampling of U.S. schools, said in a statement that this is “the ﬁrst time since 1998 that high school students have had a signiﬁcant increase in achievement on a NAEP assessment.” How Students Really Stack Up Some experts are using the opportunity to make the case that our nation’s students are still performing well below the level 12 July 2007 where they should be. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, said the following in a statement: “The results today are encouraging, but it must be noted that while these scores are headed in the right direction, they still remain alarmingly low.” Wise used the results to push for greater attention to reading, saying that the NAEP reading and writing results “show that roughly two-thirds of America’s eighthand 12th-graders lack proﬁciency in these basic skills. Students unable to read or comprehend their daily newspaper will not understand complex historical documents like the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation.” While increased percentages of eighthand 12th-graders performed at or above the basic level in U.S. history, 83 percent of eighth-graders failed to perform at grade level, as did 87 percent of 12th-graders. Interestingly, what may be at the root of all the debate is student apathy towards U.S. history and politics. A 2006 Reality Check survey found that only 49 percent of high school students consider it “absolutely essential” to “understand current events and how our government works” for success in the real world. But 69 percent said knowing the rules of grammar and spelling were essential. The complete results of the NAEP assessment are available at nces.ed.gov/ nationsreportcard. Schools Turn Junk Foods into Pseudo Health Foods IN AN EFFORT TO IMPROVE STUdent nutrition and combat the nation’s obesity problem, some schools are sneaking healthy ingredients into junk foods that kids already enjoy. West Virginia schools, for example, are cutting fat and calories by supplementing their hamburgers with soy and substituting applesauce for shortening in cake. A breakfast item sold in the state and elsewhere— deep-fried donuts—is now being fortiﬁed with 5 grams of protein and 14 vitamins and minerals. Experts worry that serving children nutritionally modiﬁed junk foods will impede their ability to make good food choices as adults. “There are ways to prepare healthy foods to make them more palatable, but I’m not sure we need to hide them in a donut or a hot dog,” says Stephen Daniels, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. To learn what other strategies schools are adopting to improve their food service programs and encourage children to make healthier food choices, please see our DA Leadership Series Web Seminar story in this issue. AP Images / Jeﬀ Gentner Martha Pickens prepares food at Piedmont Elementary School in Charleston, W. Va. District Administration http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July 2007

Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Facilities/Construction Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Cover Story: Rethinking School Bus Safety
Broadening Collective Bargaining
Searching for Subs
Jersey City’s Broad Appeal
Improving Nutrition in Schools
New Products
Computer Literature
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Research Corner
Problem Solution
Online Edge
Speaking Out
Supervisor’s Opinion
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - July 2007