Moscow Education (Idaho)

A press release from Bob Hieronymus, Executive Vice President of Administration and Advancement at New Saint Andrews College:

Dear Madam Mayor and Honorable City Council Members:

On behalf of New Saint Andrews College, I am writing to express our strong opposition to the proposed changes to the Moscow City Zoning Code related to the definition of family and boarding houses. While we whole heartedly oppose “party houses” and agree that any behavior which disturbs the peace of our neighborhoods should be prohibited, we believe the proposed changes to the code will not correct these behavioral problems and will unjustifiably encroach on the property rights of the vast majority of people in Moscow, who are not now part of the problem.

Consider how the proposed ordinance will affect five nuns living next door to a party house of four young men? The nuns will be told to get a conditional use permit, but the four next door continue to throw parties, make noise, park on lawns and litter yards. What’s been accomplished?

We ask you to reject the proposed zoning changes for following reasons:

1. The proposed zoning changes will not correct problems identified. The proposed changes supposedly address behavioral problems limited to a few individuals at even fewer houses in our community. The current law-breakers who ignore the noise ordinance or act thoughtlessly toward their neighbors will not suddenly become sensitive renters and neighbors. Adding new, more complicated sections to the zoning regulations will do nothing to change the attitude and behaviors of those inclined to disrespect their neighbors and their neighborhoods. Neighbors will still need to call the police when the four unrelated students next door throw a drunken party. Unless the code addressing the current behavioral problems is enforced, nothing will change. The proposed changes will be ineffective and should therefore be rejected.
2. The proposed zoning changes are overbroad and create new problems for law abiding citizens. Not only will the proposed zoning changes not fix the real and perceived problems, they will erode the rights of all Moscow property owners. In effect, the changes will turn many families and renters who are currently law-abiding citizens into potential law-breakers or force them to seek special governmental permission for just doing what was never a problem for anyone else in the first place. The proposed changes not only smash a gnat with a sledgehammer, it is the wrong gnat. Moreover, the proposed changes needlessly push the nose of city government under the doors of all Moscow homes to address a small and isolated problem. The proposed changes are to zoning what DDT is to pest control. They are overbroad and over-reaching, they multiply problems, and should therefore be rejected.
3. The proposed changes will likely result in arbitrary and selective enforcement with discriminatory motivation. Unfortunately, those of us at New Saint Andrews are all too familiar with zoning regulations being used against the College by those with anti-religious and ideological motives. The abuse of zoning regulations for discriminatory reasons has a long and ugly history. We believe the changes proposed will almost certainly be abused – arbitrarily and selectively – via citizen complaint in a way that has nothing to do with behavioral problems that the changes were originally intended to fix. Our suspicion is that the proposed changes, by their over-reaching nature, have less to do with fixing a party house problem than with giving handles to those who would seek to harm those associated New Saint Andrews and members of Christ Church. Let me remind the Council that a certain citizen in Latah County has already filed a blanket discriminatory zoning complaint against all the members of Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church who have had a New Saint Andrews student live with them, not because of any bona fide reports of behavioral problems, but simply because the students and families were associated with the College and Christ Church or Trinity Reformed Church. The proposed changes before you open the door for further unwarranted and discriminatory action against us. Unless that is your intention, I urge you to vote against these changes.
4. The proposed changes will actually magnify the kinds of problems it claims to fix.

As many in Moscow know, for the past 14 years New Saint Andrews has, in harmony with the current law, encouraged its students to live with local families when possible and appropriate. We believe this encourages responsible behavior among college age students better than them merely having them live in apartments or shared rental units on their own. Almost by definition, New Saint Andrews students who live with families cannot become the creators of the “party houses” that the proposed zoning changes claim to address. Yet many of these students who now live quietly and peaceably with local families will, if these proposed zoning changes pass, most likely move into apartments or rental houses together. That will expand the potential for more, not fewer, “party houses” in the absence of more senior adult supervision. Parental oversight and maturity will give way to more groups of 18-21 year olds trying to oversee themselves. While most will continue be quiet and peaceable neighbors, the proposed change will actually encourage more, not less, of what is perceived as the problems these changes seek to correct. We urge you to reject the proposal for it will potentially undermine what has been an excellent environment for our students, and exacerbate, not fix, the problems it purports to correct.

To summarize, the proposed zoning changes:

1. Do not address the principal problems of behavior in “Party House” neighborhoods,
2. Unnecessarily intrude city government into families and homes that are not now and never have been a problem,
3. Will likely lead to arbitrary and selective enforcement with discriminatory intent, and
4. Will actually encourage housing arrangements that will potentially lead to more of the kind of problems the changes are intended to solve.

For these reasons, I urge the City Council to reject the proposed zoning changes. As an alternative, I encourage you to enforce – and strengthen if necessary – the existing disturbing the peace laws.

Thank you for considering our comments and concerns,

Sincerely,

Roy Alden Atwood, Ph.D.
President

Convince me that this is not yet another nail in the coffin for Moscow.

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

Idaho Repertory Theatre in Moscow is considering a future presence 130 miles north in one of the fastest-growing regions in the state.

Plans to divide the University of Idaho's professional summer theater company season between Moscow and Sandpoint, where a more than $30 million branch campus is being developed, are in the brainstorming stage, says Jere Hodgin, the theater's producing artistic director.

"All we know is there is going to be a wonderful facility created up there and there is an opportunity for the University of Idaho and the Idaho Repertory Theatre to play a part in that. At this point it's just considered an expansion or extension."

Plans are under consideration for the theater to relocate its base of business operations to Sandpoint and divide its season between the cities, according to a statement from UI Director of Media Relations Tania Thompson.

"There has been a pretty strong commitment, it feels to me, to maintaining the relationship here and in Sandpoint," Hodgin says. "As long as that's true, I don't think there are any concerns."

The theater has been staging productions in Moscow for more than half a century. It is second only to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival at Ashland as one of the longest running summer companies in the Northwest.

One of the challenges Idaho Repertory Theatre has faced is Moscow is not considered a destination location. Sandpoint, however, is home to Idaho's largest lake, Pend Oreille, the top-rated Schweitzer Mountain resort and is close to three state parks.

And our anti-growth liberals can be proud of the fact that their actions to keep Moscow a runt-town is running the UI off to other locations.

Here are some pictures of the UI stripping the daisy off of the water tower.

This is part of the $1m ad campaign to make Moscow more attractive to new students.

Do you think this change in the water tower is going to do that?

Perhaps they should stick with friendly squirrels?

My, how times have changed.

Recall that we were coming off of a recession, causing the UI enrollment to explode. That recession is long-ended, and so has the enrollment explosion.

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

UI's student population has increased between 3 percent and 4 percent for this school year. The increase includes the largest freshman class in UI history and a jump of 15 percent in the number of graduate students.

Those against NCLB have complained that it’s “teaching to the test”, and kids are not taught to actually learn. However, that “teaching to the test” has clearly not worked either.

Is it time to outsource government education to China, India, and South Korea? Now they know how to educate kids.

As reported in the New York Times:

The average score on the critical reading portion of the SAT, which used to be known as the verbal test, was 502 out of a possible score of 800 — a decline of one point from last year. The average math score declined by 3 points, to 515. The average score on the SAT writing test, which was introduced two years ago, was 494, a drop of 3 points.

It was the second year in a row that that the College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers the SAT, reported score drops on the college entrance exam.

What Mike writes here about this North Carolina school district could be said for the Moscow School District as well — they have increased the staffing at a positive rate while the enrollment was slipping quickly.

But no one bothers to call them on that fact.

From EIA:

This morning New York Times reporter Sam Dillon has a lengthy piece headlined, "With Turnover High, Schools Fight for Teachers." And for those keeping score, yes, he does repeat the half-of-all-new-teachers-leave-in-five-years canard. So let's not go over the same arguments again. Let's just provide Dillon with some data from the district he chose as ground zero of the teaching hiring crisis.

 

Guilford County, North Carolina, had 5.9% more K-12 students in 2005 than in 2001. But the district had 12.8% more full-time equivalent K-12 teachers in 2005 than in 2001.

 

In raw numbers, over that four-year period Guilford enrolled 3,713 additional students and hired 494 additional teachers, or one additional teacher for every 7.5 additional students. The district's overall student-teacher ratio is 15.4 to one. All figures are derived from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data.

From The Education Intelligence Agency.

I was surprised by this list.

From Dr. Mark Perry, professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan:

The chart above (click to enlarge) shows the total capitalization of the world's stock markets, measured in trillions of US dollars, from Global Financial Data.

During the 19-year period between 1980 and 1999, there was increase in world stock market value of $32.25 trillion, to about $35 trillion. In just the 5-year period between 2002 and 2007, there has been an increase in world stock market value of almost $35 trillion.

Bottom Line: There has been as much global wealth (measured by stock market value) created in the last 5 years ($35 trillion), as was created during the thousands of years it took to create the first $35 trillion (1999) of wealth. Not a bad record for globalization and the significant amount of wealth created in its wake.

From today's Idaho Statesman:

This year's 10th-graders in Idaho likely won't have to pass a science test to get a high school diploma.

The state board of education today asked Tom Luna, state superintendent of public instruction, to come to the board in October with a recommendation for when passing a science exam ought to be included as part of the state's graduation requirements.

Board officials say that would likely be too far into the school year to require this year's 10th-graders to pass the exam.

The board also said that 11th- and 12th-graders who were not required to take a science test to graduate would not be required to do so.

Oh, this is going to raise a stink.

Ed Iverson has a column in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Benevolent dictatorships have this much in common with benevolent monopolies - they are extremely rare. They also share the same destiny.

They are doomed. Benevolent dictatorships invariably become brutal tyrannies. In a like manner, what began as a benign monopoly inevitably becomes an insatiable monster, gathering unto itself all things.

One lesson of history is that brutal tyrannies eventually overstep. By way of comparison, insatiable monopolies become so bloated as to crumble under their own unsustainable bulk. Our generation has watched a number of brutal tyrannies overstep and collapse. Will we also be on watch while the government school monopoly crumbles under its own unsustainable weight?

I am pro-choice. As one of many who anticipate the separation of school and state, I look forward to the day when each American family will freely choose the school they want to send their children to. Along with others, I take heart from the small signs that indicate the government death-grip on schools is weakening.

The acceptance of home schooling is the first sign that the monopoly is crumbling. According to the Web page of the Home Schooling Legal Defense Association, 27 states now have low regulations or none at all for those who choose to educate their children at home. Many others are listed as imposing only moderate regulations. Only five states still impose the onerous regulatory burden upon home schoolers that was common to every state a short 30 years ago. As one might expect, these include Massachusetts and its neighbors (along with North Dakota).

We can thank the abysmal failure of the monopolistic government schools for another challenge to their monopoly. Vito Fossella represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn in the U.S. House of Representatives. He introduced legislation creating a $4,500 federal tuition tax credit for K-12 parochial and private-school education. He argues that low-income students find themselves trapped in failing schools, where academic achievement - and the accompanying opportunities - are all but nonexistent. He points out that up to 80 percent of students in New York's 116 Catholic schools live under the poverty line. In Milwaukee, more than 90 percent of the students participating in a school-choice program during the first four years were black or Hispanic. Opponents fret that his bill will lead to an exodus of students and destroy public education. Fossella says their worry indicates a lack of confidence in the very system they are fighting to protect.

Many of the government schools' strongest supporters are beginning to doubt. Albert Shanker is the former president of the American Federation of Teachers. He is on record as admitting

"It's time to admit that public education operates like a planned economy - and there are few incentives for innovation or productivity. It's no surprise our school system doesn't improve. It more resembles the communist economy than our own market economy."

After Katrina, hell nearly froze over. Ted Kennedy is one of the last you would expect to hand over authority to the private sector. Yet he sanctioned the inclusion of private schools in a rescue effort for more than 300,000 children displaced by the hurricane. Tens of thousands of kids are attending private schools using federal funds, amounting to the largest (albeit temporary) voucher program ever enacted.

The fact is the school-choice genie is out of the bottle and it's working. According to Parents for Choice in Education, 19 states now have in place some form of school choice. The most comprehensive programs are to be found in Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, and the District of Columbia. School choice is the hottest political issue facing residents of Utah, where voters will soon decide whether the school-choice program implemented by the Legislature in February is ever implemented.

As the new school year begins, each family should be challenged to consider the many advantages of the separation of school and state.

Ed Iverson is the head librarian at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow.
He earned a master’s of library science at the University of Southern Mississippi
and studied theology at Regent College in Vancouver, BC.
In 1990, he ran for the Idaho Senate as a Republican from Mullan.
He lives with his wife at Viola.
They have two children and six grandchildren.

A couple weeks ago, the UI College of Agricultural and Life Sciences sent out a water survey to select individuals in Moscow and Pullman.

I’ve attached a copy of the survey. File Attachment: UIWaterSurvey.pdf (286 KB)

There are some very peculiar things about this survey.

The first one that stands out: the surveys are sequentially numbered. That means the survey takers can track the answers back to a specific household.

What’s more, UI mailed one of the recipients, telling them that they had not completed their survey and to please do so.

Second, this non-anonymous survey is asking for very personal demographic data.

Third, they are seeking permission to access your water usage statistics from the city water department.

Fourth, the actual survey looks like it was written by a high school student. Just flipping through the survey, I was astonished at the mediocrity of it. Just a couple examples:

1. The household income demographic is broken up into <$20k, $20k-$60k, $60k-$80k, $80k-$100k, $100k-$120k, $120k-$140k, >$140k

But with the average income in Moscow between $25k and $35k, just who are they targeting in this survey? Looks to me like the high-end employees in Moscow: UI professors and MSD teachers.

2. “Which of the following emotions do you feel about…”: bored, frustrated, happy, contented, embarrassed, guilty, proud, pleased, irritated, enthusiastic, other.

And then the Gaia questions:

• The balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset
• When humans interfere with nature, it often produces disastrous consequences.
• Humans are severely abusing the environment

I could go on.

I’m including pictures of the survey for you to laugh at.

But if you got it, I would recommend you think twice about filling it out. This is not an anonymous survey.

And here’s the kicker in my mind — a “reminder” sent out from the University of Idaho.

From the Idaho Statesman:

When Idaho 10th-graders return to school this month, they could find one more hurdle to getting a diploma: passing a statewide science achievement test next spring.

This fall's 11th- and 12th-graders who have not passed the state's exams in math, reading and language by January also could have to pass a science test before graduating, as first reported at IdahoStatesman.com.

But Tom Luna, state superintendent of public instruction, said he favors phasing in the new science exam.

The State Board of Education hasn't "approved the science standards yet that this test is already aligned to," said Luna, also a State Board member.

Teachers need time to understand the standards outlining what the state expects students to know in science, and students need time to become familiar with being tested on the information, Luna said.

Bad news for Idaho’s students. They cannot pass the ISAT as it is now. Just add science to the mix!

What’s a State to do? How about raise taxes and pay teachers more. Yea, that’s always fixed the problem in the past.

Did anyone else know that Moscow Junior High did not make AYP this year? I recall that MSD was trumpeting the fact that all MSD schools made AYP.

According to today’s Lewiston Tribune:

• Moscow Junior High
• Potlatch Elementary, year 2
• Potlatch Junior-Senior High
• Troy Elementary
• Troy High School
• Prairie Middle, Cottonwood
• Culdesac
• Lapwai Elementary
• Lapwai Junior High, year 2
• Lapwai High School
• Clearwater Valley Elementary, year 2
• Clearwater Valley Jr-Sr High
• Grangeville Elementary-Middle, year 3
• Salmon River High School
• Kamiah Elementary
• Kamiah Middle
• Juliaetta Elementary
• Kendrick High School
• Camelot, Lewiston
• Centennial, Lewiston
• Jenifer Junior High, Lewiston, year 4
• Lewiston High School
• McGhee Elementary, Lewiston
• McSorley Elementary, Lewiston
• Orchards Elementary, Lewiston
• Sacajewea Junior High, Lewiston
• Whitman Elementary, Lewiston
• Orofino Elementary
• Orofino Junior High
• Orofino High School
• Weippe Elementary, year 2

Come one, come all!

University of Idaho President Tim White told faculty members Monday that the number of incoming freshman is up.

That’s the opposite of what one of the deans told me for his department. I’m curious to see if White is referring to state-wide enrollment as opposed to enrollment on the Moscow campus.

We’ll see what the truth is on 1 Sept.

As reported in Tuesday’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The number of incoming freshmen is up compared to last year, according to preliminary data. However, total undergraduate enrollment has remained flat. The number of graduate and transfer students is down. Thompson said official enrollment numbers will not be determined until the 10-day enrollment numbers are calculated Sept. 1.

Whenever you take out a bond, you’ve got to have the money in the future to pay it back…

As reported in Tuesday’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

University of Idaho President Tim White told faculty members Monday that the university is considering selling bonds to pay for several significant capital improvements to its Moscow campus.

White addressed the issue during a start-of-semester faculty meeting. He said the university is looking into improvements for several of its buildings, including the Wallace Residence Center and the Kibbie Dome.

The university has many needs, White said, and these projects are just the starting point.

"None of these things are very glamorous, but they add up to a lot of money and they are absolutely vital," White said. "These are not randomly chosen projects."

White said the university's recent "prudent" financial management will make bonding possible the next three to 10 years.

"We are in a position to start thinking about the next generation of Idaho," White said. "We have the vision and the courage to make decisions and now we are stepping forward."

UI Director of Media Relations Tania Thompson said it is too early in the process to determine the exact figures of bonds and the university still must get final approval from the Idaho State Board of Education before moving forward.

As reported in today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Two current University of Idaho football players, one former Vandal and a track and field athlete were charged Sunday with misdemeanor marijuana possession. All were given criminal citations and released.

Idaho’s third string quarterback Chris Joseph, injured wide receiver Wes Williams, former Vandal defensive lineman Ryan Davis and track athlete Lindsey Goodman were stopped Sunday heading westbound on state route 270 toward Pullman. The car the four were traveling in was stopped after the police received a call at 7:40 p.m. from another motorist complained the car was tailgating her.

After stopping the car, officers on the scene detected a strong smell of marijuana and asked the four occupants to step out of the vehicle. Pullman police commander Chris Tennant said officers discovered less than 40 grams of marijuana, a misdemeanor amount in the state of Washington.

All four occupants were issued a criminal citation for possession and released. An arraignment in the case will be held next month.

If convicted, the athletes face a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. The charge carries a minimum penalty of 24 hours in jail and at least a $250 fine.

The following letter to the editor appeared in today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

I have voted in several of the bond levies over the years, and there is one thing that I do not understand. The balloting was all done in pencil.

How can elections done in pencil be legal?

Robert Seward, Moscow

It worked so badly in higher ed, it just had to come to the secondary level.

As reported in the New York Times:

Ninth graders often have trouble selecting what clothes to wear to school each morning or what to have for lunch. But starting this fall, freshmen at Dwight Morrow High School here in Bergen County must declare a major that will determine what electives they take for four years and be noted on their diplomas.

For Dwight Morrow, a school that has struggled with low test scores and racial tensions for years, establishing majors is a way to make their students stay interested until graduation and stand out in the hypercompetitive college admissions process.

Some parents have welcomed the requirement, noting that a magnet school in the district already allowed some students to specialize. But other parents and some educators have criticized it as preprofessionalism run amok or a marketing gimmick.

“I thought high school was about finding what you liked to do,” said Kendall Eatman, an Englewood mother of six who was president of the Dwight Morrow student body before graduating in 1978. “I think it’s too early to be so rigid.”

Debra Humphreys, a spokeswoman for the Association of American Colleges and Universities, called high-school majors “a colossally bad idea,”
saying youngsters should instead concentrate on developing a broad range of critical thinking and communication skills.

“Today’s economy requires people to be constantly learning and changing,” Ms. Humphreys said. “A lot of jobs that high school students are likely to have 10 years from now don’t yet exist, so preparing too narrowly will not serve them well.”

 

From EIA:

The National Education Association board of directors held an urgent meeting via conference call last Friday concerning the upcoming referendum on school vouchers in Utah.

 

The NEA Executive Committee has the authority to unilaterally approve affiliate requests for money from the union's national ballot measure fund up to $500,000. But the request from the Utah Education Association was for $3 million, and required the sanction of the NEA board of directors.

 

Union officials felt the decision was too time-sensitive to wait for the board's regularly scheduled meeting of September 28, hence the conference call. The Utah campaign was discussed and board members voted electronically via a secure website.

 

EIA has not yet heard the official results of the vote, but feels confident stating the request was approved.

From The Education Intelligence Agency.

The 2008 rankings are out.

There have been longstanding problems and complaints about the way that US News & World Report’s annual “College Rankings” edition doesn’t tell the whole truth.

In 2008, UI is ranked 3^rd Tier (not ranked); WSU is ranked 118^th. BSU is rated 48^th in the west (not far below EWU). And there are other colleges who refuse to play their game.

From the Washington Post:

U.S. News will release the 2008 rankings online today and in the magazine Monday. But this year's list comes amid a growing backlash. Critics, some of whom produce their own college guides, have questioned the magazine's methodology. At least 63 college leaders have signed a letter agreeing not to fill out the reputation survey, which now accounts for 25 percent of the rankings. More are expected to join in the boycott.

Over nearly 25 years, U.S. News has seen its rankings gain unprecedented influence among schools; some have changed policy and awarded bonuses to presidents and administrators who spearhead a leap in rankings, according to educators. But as the magazine's influence has grown, so has the competition.

Princeton Review has a guide. So does Fiske. And Kaplan, which is owned by The Washington Post Co., does, too.

There also are efforts to find new ways to present information on colleges and universities without ranking them. The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities will introduce the University and College Accountability Network online next month with profiles of hundreds of schools.

It is not, association spokesman Tony Pals said, a direct challenge to the rankings but a response to a plea by families for better information.

Others are not shy about challenging the magazine.

"The existing rankings fall incredibly short of providing a comprehensive picture of the quality of a university or college," said Tori Haring-Smith, president of Washington and Jefferson College, whose Pennsylvania school has fallen in ranking as it grew in size and became more selective. 

This was just as I predicted: if Idaho wants to have the highest graduation rate, all it needs to do is to lower the bar.

And the recent ISAT results show that the bar in Idaho is already mightily low.

From today's Spokesman Review.

A national report ranks Idaho near the top of all states for its high school graduation rate but calls for higher expectations nationwide to encourage improvement.

The state's 81 percent rate for the class of 2005 was eighth in the nation and 6 1/2 percentage points behind the leading state, Nebraska.

The report from the Education Trust, a Washington, D.C.,-based education think tank, details what the organization says is a problem of low expectations for graduation rates and inflated results from states, highlighted by mismatched rates that differ depending on where the numbers were crunched.

Idaho reported its 2005 graduation rate to be 86.6 percent. The Education Trust got its numbers from the U.S. Department of Education, which uses an enrollment database to calculate graduation rates, going as far back as the eighth grade to determine how many students left before earning a diploma in their fourth year of high school.

Until recently, Idaho based its rate on the number of freshmen who earned a diploma within five years. The state now counts those who finish within four years, beginning with the class of 2007, whose graduation rate hasn't yet been figured.

The state's goal of a 90 percent graduation rate is among the highest in the nation – only Indiana and Iowa, with 95 percent targets, are higher. But how the state encourages schools to reach that goal "sort of renders that irrelevant," said Anna Habash, a policy analyst with the Education Trust. Idaho high schools will meet the state's yearly progress standards if they post any improvement in the graduation rate, no matter how slim.

A school with a 50 percent rate "could move up to 50.1 percent, and that's fine because you made a little bit of progress," Habash said.

Today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News carried a report about how the rural Latah County Schools are failing to meet the NCLB requirements.

The devil is in the details, as the saying goes.

Recall the previous post about Getting tough on truancy? As I said then: the only reason that MSD is getting tough on truancy now is because it’s costing them something. That something is both cash from the State (they are paid “per head” in daily attendance) and not meeting NCLB Annual Yearly Progress (AYP). Now we’re going to see other schools get tough on truancy as well.

But we wouldn’t have this problem to begin with if we stuck with the “no standards” policy for a high school diploma.

Rural schools in Latah County joined most of their state counterparts in failing to meet the Idaho Board of Education's annual progress requirements for the 2006-2007 school year.

Only 167 of 626 public schools in Idaho made "annual adequate yearly progress," which is measured by student performance on the Idaho Standards Achievement Test taken in the spring. The criteria is part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Schools that did not perform as well or better than the previous year are put on alert with indications for which areas they missed their goals for the year.

"There's a couple of different messages from this: The test was tougher and benchmarks went up," SBOE spokesman Mark Browning said.

Browning explained that Idaho changed to a test vendor with a more stringent test, so this year's results cannot easily be compared to past years.

The NCLB breaks down district statistics by categorizing students by race, income level, disabilities and those learning English as a second language. The NCLB Act provides formulas by which the state evaluates districts, based on the percentage of students within a district who take the test, the district's graduation rate and a formula that determines a district's writing proficiency - called "language usage."

If one category of students fails to meet standards, a school and therefore its district fails the adequate yearly progress, or AYP, designation.

The Potlatch School District met its goals in math, but was put on alert by the state to improve reading proficiency for its 496 students.

Potlatch Superintendent Joseph Kren said the school already has pinpointed its problem.

"As we went back and looked, we had severe attendance issues last year," he said. "It was a challenge because several students had a high number of absences."

…

Merle Jaques, principal at Troy Elementary School and the test coordinator for the Troy School District, said the district's schools failed to meet their AYP goals because of a relatively small group of economically disadvantaged students who failed to progress.

The district has approximately 300 students, Jaques said.

Idaho categorizes students who qualify for free and reduced lunches separately from other students, and those students in the Troy district failed to meet math and reading proficiency.

Troy's "free and reduced lunch rate" is 46 percent at the elementary school and 35 percent at the high school, Jaques said.

"Since we have a smaller group that takes the test, if some students don't do as well, it shows up more," she said.

Should there be a 100% graduation rate? Listen to what Bertelsen says.

Daryl Bertelsen, superintendent of IDEA, said home school students tend to excel in reading and writing, but continually fail to meet math standards.

"We aren't all created equal," he said. "The state wants us to expect 100 percent from all the students. It isn't going to happen."

Bertelsen criticized NCLB for requiring districts to improve every year, because he said that's impossible.

"Eventually, everyone's going to fail AYP," he said.

Does the State expect 100% from all students? Or all students to pass? There is a difference.

Second, if a high school diploma means anything, it means that not everyone can get one. Otherwise, it is meaningless.

Which, in my opinion, it has been for years. It simply shows that everyone has been vertically promoted and survived. Nothing more.

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

A new charter school - the Palouse Prairie School - is being proposed in Moscow. The school will serve students in kindergarten through sixth grade, with plans to eventually include seventh and eighth grades.

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Farrah Matty, from Iraq, is an incoming freshman at New Saint Andrews College. Matty, 20, came to the United States about three weeks ago and arrived in the Palouse about two weeks ago. It's her first time in the country.

The plot thickens.

Dr. Don Harver sent the following letter to the Idaho Department of Education:

Timothy D. Hill
Deputy Superintendent
Division of Finance & Information Technology
Idaho Department of Education

Dear Mr. Hill:

On August 7, 2007 a patron of Moscow School District 281 has shared the following information, in quotes, with me. Please respond soon by e-mail to indicate whether the information is correct or to edit for clarification.

"Current DOE records show that three non-charter school districts have indefinite term supplemental levies: Blaine, Mullan, and Moscow. Among these three non-charter school districts only Moscow has incrementally increased the amount of it's indefinite term supplemental levy since the original indefinite term levy election."

I look forward to your reply. My e-mail is copycourt@verizon.net. Thank you so very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Dr. Don Harter

Here is the response:

Mr. Harter,

My records show that:

• There are three school districts (other than charter school districts) that have indefinite term supplemental levies: Blaine County, Moscow, and Mullan.
• That Blaine County and Mullan have not increased the amount of their indefinite term supplemental levies since the elections.
• That Moscow has three indefinite supplemental levies $3,796,000 (election date 5-19-92); $750,000 (election date 5-16-95); and $1,100,000 (election date 4-23-02).

Timothy D. Hill
Deputy Superintendent
Division of Finance & Information Technology
Idaho Department of Education

"Do you send a person to prison before they're convicted?"

—Alabama Education Association Executive Secretary-Treasurer Paul Hubbert, explaining why teacher Alvin Penez Taylor, fired in March 2005 for inappropriate sexual activity with a student, is still collecting paychecks – and raises – from the Talladega County school system. (August 11 Associated Press)

From EIA:

Washington Post reporter Michael Alison Chandler suggests a significant amount of the No Child Left Behind Act's professional development funding isn't being spent wisely or well. Chandler cites U.S. Department of Education statistics that reveal about half of the federal teacher quality money was used to hire teachers to reduce class size.

 

So, I have a teacher, and I want to improve his/her quality. The federal government gives me money, and I hire another teacher. Eh, OK. Now how do I improve the second teacher?

From The Education Intelligence Agency.