Moscow Education (Idaho)

The following commentary by Michael Costello ran in Saturday’s Lewiston Tribune (subscription required). Costello is always well worth reading.

I think he hits the nail on the head concerning many of the professors in Moscow — “I have a PhD, you don’t. That means you don’t know what you’re talking about and I’m never wrong.”

I read someplace that an academic is the sort of person who will publish book after book on how to make love to a beautiful woman, without ever having had a girlfriend himself. I learned earlier this week that an academic is somebody who is so convinced of his intellectual superiority that he can lord it over the rest of us on credentials alone.

As I lifted up my Moscow-Pullman Daily News from my porch last Tuesday, I noticed that it was far heavier than usual. When I turned to the opinion page, I learned why. There was the former president of the Washington State University faculty senate proclaiming that his academic experience endowed him with a superior talent for understanding big words and thus conferred upon him the authority to call the man who stands between us and Islamo-fascism a fool and a liar.

The superior insight of the academic certainly explains Columbia University's invitation to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at that university's world leaders forum. It also helps me understand why, after all the venom Ahmadinejad has spewed over the years, it was his insistence that Iran had found a cure for homosexuality that provoked academic opprobrium.

Hofstra University's law school invited the convicted terrorist enabler and disbarred attorney Lynne Stewart to speak at a conference on legal ethics. Simpletons such as I have no hope of comprehending this. Such comprehension is only within the grasp of the academic mind.

Larry Summers was driven from the presidency of Harvard University and was recently disinvited from giving a speech at the University of California, Davis because he once raised the possibility that relatively few women enter fields like physics and engineering because of inherent differences between men and women. Even supplicating before the howls and bleats of offended feminists, whose behavior verified many cliches regarding women and feminists, earned him no credit. As I recall, he even attended a re-education camp - excuse me, I meant sensitivity training. But even though that would have earned him a second chance in a communist dictatorship, it did him no good at Harvard.

Summers' theory certainly has more supporting evidence than the Islamist thesis that Jews are not really humans, but are instead descendants of pigs and dogs. But the academic mind just knows when to rise above evidence and grasp a truth that is obscured from lesser minds by facts.

Academics are above irony. Even as feminist scholars were celebrating their latest Larry Summers snub, Columbia University invoked "freedom of speech" to defend itself against criticism that it had provided a microphone and a spotlight to a belligerent bigot.

At some point Columbia University's president, Lee Bollinger, appeared to have caught a glimpse of how the nonacademic world viewed his university and attempted damage control.

Bollinger accused Ahmadinejad of being a "petty and cruel dictator," and of being either "brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated."

"I feel the weight of the modern civilized world yearning to express the revulsion at what you stand for," he concluded.

I know not whether Bollinger's words were enough to make donors forget that Columbia lent its prestige and legitimacy to this century's Hitler. It was especially troublesome that the dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, John Coatsworth, said that Columbia would have welcomed last century's Hitler as well: "If Adolph Hitler were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion, to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him."

If academics wished to demonstrate a courageous commitment to free speech, they would exhibit the dreaded cartoons of blasphemy that American newspapers and broadcast television have refused to show. The most recent such cartoon in a Swedish newspaper resulted in a death sentence against the artist and Iranian demands that Sweden change its laws.

That would be just the sort of courage that even a dolt like me could appreciate.

Recall that I posted previously about the “form over substance” of “Walk to School Day.”

Randy forwarded the following information concerning the 2 Oct 2007 “Walk to School Day.”

A sizeable program to encourage students to walk or ride a bike to school - one day and perhaps year around.  The cost, $612 million dollars for Safe Routes to Schools program, with $4.9 going to Idaho over the last few years.  Funding is available to the local level with compliance and participation reports.

Walk to School Day is funded in part by monies from federal Safe Routes to School Program - here is more information:

• http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/safetealu/factsheets/saferoutes.htm
• http://www.saferoutesinfo.org
• http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/contacts/ID.cfm

The funding

• http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/saferoutes/fy09table.pdf

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

About 12 percent of students in Moscow and Pullman school districts receive some form of special education. Under federal regulations, districts must provide a "free and appropriate public education" to all students.

Is it just me, or does the fact that 12 percent of all Moscow/Pullman kids being special-ed seem a bit high? That means 1 out of every 8 kids are special ed?

When MSD pushes an article like this, I have to ask: what damage control are they doing?

I’m guessing it’s because of all the heat that they have taken for not having any Vo-Tech, non-college-bound programs.

And all of a sudden: wham! There’s a home-improvement class.

Funny how that works.

Not very subtle, though.

I can hear them now: OK, Jerry, call off the dogs. We’ve got a class to satisfy your concerns.

From today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Parents and friends of some Moscow students won't have to look far for help the next time they need some handiwork done around the house.

Moscow Junior High School introduced a new class this fall called "Do It Yourself Home,"which teaches students to hone their home-improvement abilities instead of always relying on the services of others.

Students learn how to paint walls, repair leaky faucets, fix toilet valves, sheetrock walls and install electrical outlets, switches and breakers.

 

Rose Huskey in the New York Times:

Over the past two decades, [Douglas Wilson] has founded a successful classical Christian K-12 school, and his congregation, Christ Church, has expanded to about 1,000 members. “It’s Wilson Inc.,” says Rose Huskey, a longtime Moscow resident who met with me for two hours to detail Wilson’s crimes and offer boxes of documentation she has filed away at home.

What the NY Times writer does not say is that every (!) time Huskey has tried to substantiate her claims, she falls on her sword.

For instance:

• She challenged Christ Church’s tax exempt status with the Idaho Board of Tax Appeals (IBTA) — and lost.
• She challenged Logos School’s tax exempt status with the IBTA  — and lost.
• She challenged Canon Press’ tax exempt status with the IBTA — and lost.
• She challenged the Nuart’s tax exempt status with the IBTA — and lost.
• She challenged New Saint Andrews College’s tax exempt status with the IBTA — and lost.
• She challenged New Saint Andrews College for violating the “exclusive use” of a building for non-profit purposes — and the Idaho State Legislature clarified the law saying that she was wrong.

Huskey hasn’t proven anything that she has claimed.

So while the NY Times may say that she details “Wilson’s crimes”, it would seem that she’s long on boxes and short on evidence.

The New York Times has a huge article about New Saint Andrews college.

The author, Molly Worthen, stayed in Moscow for a few weeks to get all the information.

Check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/magazine/30Christian-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin 

“Fourth-grade reading, math scores higher than national average.”

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune.

Idaho and Washington students scored above the national average in a reading and math assessment given by the National Assessment of Education Progress.

Test results, compiled in The Nation's Report Card, were released Tuesday.

Students in both states posted better scores than students from the same states did two years ago.

Nationally the scores were higher than two years ago.

"For the nation as a whole, this is the highest scores they have ever had, said Bert Stoneberg, NAEP state coordinator for Idaho.

"There are a lot of good things in there," he said of the results.

• Fourth-grade students in Idaho scored three points above the national average in reading and two points ahead in math.
• Washington fourth-graders scored four points higher than the national average in both reading and math.
• Eighth-grade students in Idaho scored four points higher than the national average in both reading and math.
• Washington eighth-graders scored four points higher than the national average in reading and five points higher in math.
• More than 20 percent of Idaho and Washington students tested in math still scored below basic proficiency.
• More than 15 percent of the same students tested in reading fell below the basic proficiency standard.

Both those results were again better than the national average.

Another shining example of the way that unions teachers support the students.

Notice the typical “form over function” here — the students don’t miss any school: they make it up at the end of the school year. And the teachers get paid for teaching an extra day of school. Not a bad deal.

"When school children start paying union dues, that 's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."
The late Albert Shanker, the AFT's longtime president, famously remarked in 1985

From NWCN:

SEATTLE – School will be closed in the Shoreline School District Thursday as teachers and aides plan a one-day walkout.

The Shoreline Education Association (SEA) and Shoreline Educational Support Professionals Association (SESPA) say the walkout is a protest regarding overcrowding in classrooms.

In a press release, the SEA says it approved a two-year contract on Sept. 4, after months of negations. They say that shortly afterward, the School Board implemented changes in classrooms, which it misrepresented at the bargaining table. Thee changes include cutting costs by overcrowding classes, the SEA says.

The Shoreline School District issued this statement in a press release:

"In summary, the disagreement between the District and SEA is based upon the District's decision to meet contractual class size ratios with certificated staff as opposed to extra pay for teachers or paraeducator support. State funding allocations allow the District to pay for this class size reduction model with designated funds such as I-728 and Title II. There are no special funds for extra pay or paraeducator support."

Students will make up the day on Wednesday, June 18. Athletic events will continue as scheduled.

HT: Randy S.

Some really, really scary numbers here. Ponder these numbers as you read through them.

1. There are 54.5 million students enrolled in public schools and 6.9 million students enrolled in private schools; there are also as many as 1.1 million students home-schooled.
2. Two-thirds of American students graduate from high school, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education.
3. According to the National Center for Education Statistics 9.4 percent of students dropped out of school in 2005; that is roughly 1.2 million students.
4. Teacher salaries in 2004–2005, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, averaged $47,750
5. On average the 50 states plus the District of Columbia spend $8,044 per student per year on public education, while the average private school tuition is $4,689 a year.
6. Public and charter school teachers averages 23.4 students to 23.7 students per class, respectively, while private school classes averaged 20.3 students.
7. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 26.2 percent of students are enrolled in school choice programs.
8. In a study released by the Manhattan Institute, the percentage of all students who left high school with the skills and qualifications necessary to attend college in 2002 was 34 percent.
9. 4.2 percent of students ages 12–18 reported being the victim of a crime in their school. 1.2 percent of those crimes reported were deemed violent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
10. In 2005, 73 percent of public school eighth-graders performed at or above the basic level in reading, while 95 percent of private school students performed at or above the basic level.

HT: The School Choice Advocate

According to this article, the Idaho State Board has also abandoned winter testing for all students. 

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune.

Second-graders across the state are getting a reprieve this fall as third- through 10th-graders head to the computer labs for Idaho Standard Achievement Tests.

The second grade was removed from the testing by a recent decision of the Idaho State Board of Education. The cut is part of a $2.4 million savings to Idaho taxpayers.  [DMC: OK, how many people really believe that they did this to help us taxpayers? That’s a diversionary tactic. What’s the real reason?]

…

Testing has been done in second through 10th grade in the fall, winter and spring. Fall testing is required by state code. Spring testing is required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Winter testing at all levels was also abandoned by the state board in the recent decision.

Second-grade results were not calculated into the required measures of No Child Left Behind and were therefore easily cut.

…

ISAT testing allows for 90-minute windows for each of the sections: reading, language and math. Fifth- and seventh-grade students also take a science section.

…

The state board considered dropping ISAT testing for ninth-grade students because the grade is also not a part of No Child Left Behind. But the final decision was to keep that testing. All 10th-graders are required to pass the ISAT before graduating.

From today's Idaho Statesman:

The Idaho State Board of Education will meet Wednesday and is likely to approve proposed 2008 legislation, including a measure that would allow community colleges to double their tuition limit to $2,500 annually to cover the rising cost of education.

Current Idaho law limits community college tuition to $1,250 annually, about a quarter the cost of fees and tuition at the state's four-year schools.

The two-year College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls and North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene are approaching the existing tuition limit. The new College of Western Idaho, slated to start in January in Nampa, would also be under the same restriction.

Education board spokesman Mark Browning said it's unlikely the colleges would double their tuition if the 2008 Legislature approves lifting the cap -- at least not immediately. Still, as the price of education rises and taxpayers in community college districts balk at their burgeoning portion of the bill, schools want to have more options, Browning said.

"They need some flexibility to be able to raise tuition as the market is going up," he said.

This measure -- and others to be considered by the education board -- would still have to be approved by lawmakers in the 2008 Legislature.

Notice the difference between the other major university towns in Idaho (BSU, ISU, BYU-I) and in Moscow — they embrace growth and see the student enrollment go up. In Moscow, we stop growth and continue to see our enrollment decline — as well as our economy becoming anemic.

When will the town’s liberals see the causation in this?

But even if they did, I doubt that they would change their wayward ways. They are principally committed to turning Moscow into a Mexican Fishing Village.

From the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor Office of Science and Technology:

New housing construction in Idaho jumped 3.4 percent from 2005 to 2006 to peak at a record 20,000 units, new Census Bureau estimates show. It was the third fastest growth rate in the nation and a major reason for the state’s strong economic expansion last year.

The Census Bureau report found only Nevada and Arizona with housing unit growth rates higher than Idaho in 2006. Nationally, housing units increased less than 1.5 percent last year.

Growth rates from 2000 to 2006 in two Idaho counties ranked in the top 50 among all U.S. counties with over 5,000 housing units.

Madison County ranked 19th nationally with a 41 percent growth rate as developers have been building housing at a breakneck pace to accommodate the 2001 conversion of two-year Ricks College into Brigham Young University-Idaho. Enrollment went from under 9,000 during the final year as Ricks to 14,000 this year.

Canyon County posted a 32.6 percent housing increase since 2000 to rank 49th nationally. Since 2000, the population of the county adjacent to the state’s largest, Ada, has soared by nearly 32 percent, the highest of any county in Idaho.

High schools, colleges hope to fill need for workers skilled in trades ranging from welding and carpentry to plumbing

This article sounds like it could have been written by Dr. Jerry Weitz.

While MSD continues to poo-poo the needs of non-college bound kids, the rest of the state is not being so naïve.

But it’s from today’s Lewiston Tribune.

Welding and construction classes are among the most popular elective courses at Kamiah High School.

The vocational program is back after a hiatus of six or seven years with the hire of a teacher who also covers two science classes, said Doug Flaming, the Kamiah School District superintendent. "We've wanted a shop ever since they cut it."

The welding classes may be offered to adults starting in January if an agreement can be reached with Lewis-Clark State College.

The hope is students will be better prepared for careers as electricians, plumbers and carpenters where work is readily available and the pay is high, Flaming said. "(Community members) are just not convinced every kid needs a four-year degree and I have to agree."

So do many of the state's economists who work in regional offices of the Idaho Department of Labor.

The department estimates that about 20 percent of the workers in north central Idaho are underemployed, working in jobs that don't match their skill sets or pay less than a living wage, says Doug Tweedy, regional labor economist in Lewiston for north central Idaho.

Yet certain kinds of jobs - particularly those in manufacturing that require training - go unfilled for months at a time.

The causes for the shortages are varied, with everything from housing costs to attitudes about manual labor aggravating a growing need for workers, according to Tweedy and others who gathered for a recent brainstorming session on the topic in Lewiston.

Remember this quote?

"When school children start paying union dues, that 's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."
The late Albert Shanker, the AFT's longtime president, famously remarked in 1985

Some teachers do not get rehired during those initial 4 years.

But just about anyone can hang on for 4 years and get tenure.

Then you have a guaranteed job (including annual raises) for life.

Where else in the entire world can you get a deal like that? Excellent pay, never worry about being fired, and your performance does not matter.

Think it's not next to impossible to fire a teacher? Think again.

Check out the process that you have to go thru to get rid of a tenured teacher:

http://right-mind.us/blogs/moscoweducation/archive/2006/01/15/40447.aspx

The following commentary by Michael Costello ran in today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required). Costello hits many of the same points I’ve been making for years.

Well, this should establish once and for all that it's not about the children. After Idaho Senate President Pro Tem Robert Geddes (R-Soda Springs) proposed an educational reform that would reward Idaho teachers for good work, the teachers union and the politicians on the union's leash objected that the proposal was "union busting."

A major part of Geddes' proposal would permit teachers to opt out of the "continuing contracts" they now gain after four years of employment. The continuing contract, aka tenure, makes it almost impossible for teachers to lose their job regardless of their quality of work.

The reform would offer teachers an immediate $3,000 annual pay increase in exchange for giving up continuing contracts. Teachers who believe that their work is deserving of renewed employment could, in effect, give themselves a raise. As long as the teacher's performance is found commensurate with that self-evaluation, the teacher keeps the job and the money. Geddes believes that teachers who have to earn their continued employment annually will work harder and be more accountable for the quality of their work.

Sherri Wood, the unintentionally ironic president of the Idaho Education Association, the teachers union, argued, "Teacher pay is a huge issue and needs to be discussed. But we don't believe a continuing contract has anything to do with how you pay teachers."

Of course the continuing contract has everything to do with how teachers are paid. Ms. Wood must surely know that the current system rewards length of service far more than quality of work. And as the proposed reform immediately offers a pay raise, that means that the continuing contract absolutely does impose a $3,000 penalty upon teachers who are confident in their abilities.

The union's concern is that the proposal would allow teachers to make individual determinations of their own employment circumstances and that would weaken the union's authority over teachers. This is all about protecting turf and power.

Washington should try this. In Washington, legislators have had to lower standards and push back implementation dates for Washington Assessment of Student Learning graduation standards. If Washington's teachers were held accountable for the quality of their work and faced possible termination for poor performance, it's likely that more of Washington's pupils could pass the WASL.

John Stanford, the legendary former Seattle school superintendent, once complained that too many people treated schools as employment programs for adults rather than educational opportunities for children. He may have been too kind. Idaho's teacher union seems to believe that the Idaho public schools are not even for teachers, but for the union leadership.

Education establishment groupthink has created a reverse Darwinian condition that culls the finest from the profession. Incoming education majors have the lowest college entrance examination scores on campus. Other majors see their graduating class's average scores rise as those least capable flunk out or drop out. Education schools experience a lowering average as the most able transfer to other majors, and the least capable from other majors transfer into education. This trend actually persists after graduation, as the most capable grow frustrated with stifling conditions that do not reward effort or excellence and leave the profession all together.

At the very least, Geddes' reform could keep those in this final group in the classroom.

Another interest group the union fails to consider is the taxpayers. You've heard of them. They pay the bills.

I recently had a bad experience with an auto repair shop. I fired that garage and it will never get my business again.

On the other hand, I'll gladly pay more for a mechanic whose work I trust. Taxpayers should not be forced to pay poor teachers any more than I should be forced to patronize incompetent mechanics.

This is a case where what was not said spoke more loudly than what was said. Nowhere did the union or their lapdog politicians consider what might be in the best interests of the pupils or the people paying the bills. For that matter, they really didn't even consider the teachers.

Jim raises a point here that Jack Wenders trumpeted for years — you have to look at the “value added” by a school district. Of course Moscow schools are going to do well. Duh! The demographics alone will ensure that.

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

Concerning Moscow School District Board of Trustees Margaret Dibble's claims of 126 school districts of Idaho, there are 115 not 126 (three chartered and 112 nonchartered). Of the 112 nonchartered districts only Moscow has run indefinite incremental levy increases, which should alert the trustees and the public that something is truly amiss.

The truth of the matter concerning adequate yearly progress reports is that all Moscow schools (public and private) are high academic performers.

Why? The demographics of small college towns produce high academic outcomes.

A question for Trustee Dibble: How can Pullman have equally high academic outcomes, a strong skills program and a strong dual enrollment program all done with larger class size?

Another question: Wouldn't Moscow School District's enrollment and graduation rates dramatically improve if we had a creditable skill curriculum?

Next, and most importantly, the MSD could have averted any legal challenge by simply running within the law by using regular levies for increment increases. This was a deputy attorney general's recommendation.

The district has discriminated against the needs of the noncollege-bound, has not scratched the potential of dual enrollment with the University of Idaho and with the indefinite levy, there is little accountability for those kids.

I believe running regular levies every one or two years for increases is a benefit for all concerned. The district should settle the case out of court, stop blaming others and catch up with the nation's best districts. The lawsuit is about philosophy and accountability - not about money.

Jim DeMeerleer, Moscow

Strong words from a strong lady: Dr. Alveda King. From the Times Online.

VALPARAISO | "When we say we're pro-choice, we're saying we're pro-murder," an advocate against abortion told an audience of about 50 on Thursday at Valparaiso University School of Law.

Alveda King, a former member of the Georgia state Legislature and the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. promoted abstinence and adoption as alternatives to what she called "womb lynching" of unborn children. She encouraged efforts in state legislatures to reduce abortions.

A woman can do what she wants with her body, King said. "The baby is not her body. That's not a blob of tissue, that's a person."

King claimed the abortion industry is targeting African-Americans, saying that more than one-third of an estimated 49 million abortions since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision have been performed on blacks. She characterized Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger as "a devout racist."

Abortion in cases of rape was not justified, King said. Rape is a violent act and an abortion forces further violence on the victim, she said.

King, who had two involuntary abortions as a young woman before taking a pro-life stance, called the sexual revolution of her generation a "disaster" that broke down the family.

If her uncle were alive, he could not condone abortion, King said.

"He absolutely couldn't," she said. "How can the dream survive if we murder the children?"

The talk was sponsored by the student organization Jus Vitae.

HT: Dave G.

Here’s an 8 Aug 2007 New York Times ad protesting the leftist ideologues at the British Univ-College Union.

They have banned Israeli scholars from England and won't accept students from Israeli universities.

Apparently they'd prefer Palestinians and Al Queda students.

This ad will run again in the October New York Times, but this time with more than 400 U.S. university/college  presidents signatures.

The first one had about 270.

New Saint Andrews and Albertson College signed, as did Eastern Washington University and the University of Washington.

Absent are any signatures from the University of Idaho, Boise State, Idaho State University, or Washington State University.

If you know the Presidents of these hold-out colleges, you may want to encourage them to take a stand against anti-Semitism.

Here's the ad that appeared in the 8 August 2007 New York Times:

http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/NYT_ISRAEL_BOYCOTT_AD_080807.PDF

Boycott Israeli Universities? Boycott Ours,Too!

“As a citizen, I am profoundly disturbed by the recent vote by Britain’s new University and College Union to advance a boycott against Israeli academic institutions. As a university professor and president, I find this idea utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy, where we will not hold intellectual exchange hostage to the political disagreements of the moment. In seeking to quarantine Israeli universities and scholars, this vote threatens every university committed to fostering scholarly and cultural exchanges that lead to enlightenment, empathy, and a much-needed international marketplace of ideas.

“At Columbia, I am proud to say that we embrace Israeli scholars and universities that the UCU is now all too eager to isolate—as we embrace scholars from many countries regardless of divergent views on their government’s policies. Therefore, if the British UCU is intent on pursuing its deeply misguided policy, then it should add Columbia to its boycott list, for we do not intend to draw distinctions between our mission and that of the universities you are seeking to punish. Boycott us, then, for we gladly stand together with our many colleagues in British, American and Israeli universities against such intellectually shoddy and politically biased attempts to hijack the central mission of higher education.”

—Lee Bollinger, President, Columbia University

Click to enlarge.

Travis Galloway has an interesting article in the University of Idaho’s Argonaut.  Basically, he says that the off-campus activities will continue regardless of what laws the City Council passes.

Living off-campus has its downsides, the worst of which are fun little legal matters known as “noise complaints” or “disturbing the peace” citations. Even though Moscow, is a well-known and somewhat respected college town, the locals have a thing about loud noise at night.

…

Let’s be honest Moscow town folk, what did you expect moving to Moscow? This town is home to the University of Idaho, the most infamous party school in the Northwest. Why are you surprised to wake up at 2:30 in the morning to the ominous roar of intoxicated youngsters chanting “Wu-Tang clan ain’t nothin’ to...” as loud as drunkenly possible?

The Daily News article also mentions a particular street where noise complaints are all too common, Circle Dr. is what Line St. turns into past ‘A’ St. Parties aren’t very common on Circle Dr., but the neighbors getting pissed off at noise, no matter how reasonable the volume is. Circle Dr. is home to about two dozen UI students that live in three houses. This columnist happens to live in one of them. It may be no secret to the neighbors but members of the same fraternity occupy two of the houses. The police seem to think its some sort of off-campus fraternity, which is rather entertaining.

I wonder if the zoning police are going after Travis and his friends?

Probably not. They aren’t NSA students with Intoleristas on their tails…

HT: Dave G.

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

School District students began taking the Idaho Standards Achievement Test on Monday and hit a few snags during the process.

MSD Curriculum Director Cindi Bechinski said there were a few unexpected problems when testing began.

"We had a couple surprises," she said. "We got an e-mail from the state saying the tools for the reading test weren't working."

…

The ISAT is issued in 90-minute intervals, but most students need only an hour, Bechinski said. Students are advised to bring something to read silently once they've finished so there's no disruption. Student in grades 2-10 are given three tests - reading, language-usage and math. Seventh-graders also are tested in science.

The tests are given by teachers and test proctors who review the guidelines and help with set-up before the test. Bechinski said high school juniors and seniors who didn't pass the test in the spring semester of their sophomore year will have opportunities to retake it in the fall, winter and spring.

"If they don't pass it they can show their proficience in another way," she said.

Hmmm. I wonder how they would show proficiency in math “another way”…

The LMT quotes the IEA President:

"Teacher pay is a huge issue and needs to be discussed," Wood said. "But we don't believe a continuing contract has anything to do with how you pay teachers."

How in the world can she say that? Teacher pay is based on a) how many years you have taught and b) how many college credits you receive. A continuing contract has *everything* to do with how much you pay teachers.

Nothing like tenure for life after 4 years with a guaranteed pay raise regardless of your performance.

Also, check out my post “How to Fire and Incompetent Teacher”. Compare that to what Shirley Ringo says below.

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune.

The prospect of barring a teacher from ever signing a continuing contract sounds like "union busting" to Sherri Wood, president of the Idaho Education Association.

"Teacher pay is a huge issue and needs to be discussed," Wood said. "But we don't believe a continuing contract has anything to do with how you pay teachers."

The union is writing its own proposal for paying more to exceptional teachers. The concept of some kind of "merit-based" pay has been around for decades.

Wood asked colleagues about teacher pay at a national conference in July. Of the many states looking at pay, none had pondered anything like what Geddes proposed.

"There weren't any state Legislatures or policy-makers planning to do something with alternative pay that had anything to do with continuing contracts," Wood said. "They were appalled that such a thing was even happening."

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna has plugged $60 million into his budget request to the 2008 Legislature to boost teacher pay. But Luna said he won't ask for the money if lawmakers don't give him a way to spend the money on a "teacher performance" basis.

"Most people support increasing teacher pay," Luna told the Lewiston Tribune. "What they want to see is that teachers are rewarded by their good work in the classroom."

Luna prefers to boost pay based on such traits as student achievement, teaching skill and a teacher's willingness to help new teachers. But he doesn't discount Geddes' idea.

"I'm not saying I would not support a program that was presented - that was their (teachers') option to participate in - that addressed continuing contracts," Luna said. "That's open for discussion."

Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, a member of the task force, said Geddes' idea is a bad one.

"Since it's specifically a union-busting type of legislation, it's divisive and, from that perspective, deplorable," Ringo said.

If lawmakers are serious about paying good teachers more, ideas already exist.

Idaho school districts developed "career ladders" to reward good teachers in 1983. After districts held meetings and hammered out plans, the Legislature failed to devote the money, Ringo said.

"Many school districts probably have something in their files that could be dusted off and considered."

As for whether it is too hard to fire a bad teacher, Ringo said most administrators simply lack the training to do it properly.

Really? Why is that? Check out my post “How to Fire and Incompetent Teacher”. There isn’t enough years and money to do so.

Geddes said his opposition to continuing contracts has nothing to do with "union-busting," even though the teachers' union angers many Republicans by supporting Democrats and moderate Republicans.

"I'm not saying I'm trying to bust the union," he said. "They can join the union whether they have a continuing contract or not."

Wood said pay and contracts should be separate issues.

"If we want to talk about continuing contracts, let's do that; let's make the contracts workable," Wood said. "If it's, 'we'll give you $3,000 if you give up continuing contracts,' we won't go there."

Where else in the world can you get guaranteed job security for life after just four years, regardless of how poorly you perform?

Can you imagine telling your boss that he cannot fire you, regardless of how poorly you perform?

Little wonder our kids schools are in the shape they are in.

Quite a boondoggle.

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune.

Some top lawmakers say Idaho teachers should give up job security to get higher pay.

Idaho's Superintendent of Public Instruction says the idea is worth considering as lawmakers debate ways to pay good teachers more.

The idea has the Idaho Education Association, the state's 13,000-member teachers union, worried a union-busting effort is afoot.

"How can we improve reliability and credibility of our teacher workforce?" asked Senate President Pro Tem Robert L. Geddes, R-Soda Springs. "With continuing contracts, that seems to be a little difficult to do."

Teachers with four years' experience get "continuing contracts" that offer job protection, including due process when administrators seek to fire them.

Lawmakers don't want to pay bad teachers more money, Geddes told the Lewiston Tribune. Bad teachers are hard to fire because continuing contracts let the union defend them. In cash-strapped schools, firing a bad teacher can be too costly, he said.

"What I think we need to do as we continue to increase the salary level of teachers is we need to give something back for taxpayers instead of just saying, 'Here's more money. Go be a good teacher,' " Geddes said.

Geddes backs a proposal to pay teachers $3,000 more a year if they give up their continuing contracts. If a teacher chooses that option, the teacher could never again get a continuing contract anywhere in Idaho. If it is easier for schools to cut loose bad teachers, teachers will be motivated to stay sharp, he said.

The proposal, crafted by Geddes and Assistant House Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, was discussed last week at the Legislature's Teachers Task Force meeting in Boise. After the meeting, the idea was kicked back to "step one" when other task force members saw pay and continuing contracts as separate issues.

The College Board has released its annual report, "Education Pays 2007: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society."

Among the benefits provided by a college or university education:

• The typical college graduate who enrolls at age 18 and graduates in four years earns enough in 11 years to not only compensate for borrowing to pay the full tuition at a public college, but also to make up for wages forgone while in college.
• Over a working life, the typical full-time year-round worker with a four-year college degree earns more than 60 percent more than a worker with only a high school diploma.
• Those with master's degrees earn almost twice as much per year, and those with professional degrees earn almost three times as much as high school graduates earn over their working lives.
• Low-income bachelor's degree recipients are more likely than high school graduates at any income level to report excellent or very good health.
• Children of parents with higher levels of education are better prepared for school and are more involved than other children in all types of extracurricular activities such as sports, religious and arts-related after-school activities.
• The typical college graduate working full-time year-round pays about 134 percent more in federal taxes and almost 80 percent more in total federal, state and local taxes than the typical high school graduate.
• In every age group, adults with higher levels of education are more likely to vote.
• Even workers with lower education levels earn more if others in the same metropolitan area are more educated.

Recall that UI justified their decreasing enrollment as “everyone is down”? I’m really not sure how they can say that given WSU being up and LCSC being way up.

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune.

Local institutions of higher learning have been able to put the brakes on the enrollment slides of recent semesters, according to 10-day counts of their students.

Lewis-Clark State College set the pace, posting an all-time record enrollment of 3,612, according to figures released this week. That represents a 6.5 percent increase over a year ago, when LCSC saw its student population dip by 1 percent.

The old record was 3,471, set in 2003.

Student numbers at the University of Idaho were down just 1 percent, a mild dip compared to last year's 6 percent decline. Statewide enrollment was 11,636, with 10,549 of those on the Moscow campus.

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

The Moscow School District is the only school district in the state of Idaho to run an indefinite levy on an indefinite levy. Only three school districts in Idaho (Blaine County, Moscow, and Mullan) initiated an indefinite levy, but Moscow is the only one to add to its original indefinite levy (three times).

MSD is the only non-chartered Idaho district out of 112 that runs indefinite (permanent) increases. The trouble with this action is there is no accountability to the public (taxpayers) on how that money is spent.

Running a supplemental levy (non-permanent) every two years makes the school district accountable for programs and facilities planning. We the taxpayers must hold the Moscow School Board accountable for its actions. We should encourage:

• Dual enrollment with two universities so close;
• Providing vocational education (not every child goes on to college);
• Planning for a new high school; and
• Equipping all our schools with updated technology and stay current with changes.

James DeMeerleer, Moscow

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

The final numbers are in and they confirm the largest enrollment in the University of Idaho's history. There are 12,423 students enrolled at the UI for this academic year. 

Compare that 2002 enrollment to the 2007 enrollment: 10,549.

You know that the teachers’ unions are going to have a fit about this. They exist to protect the mediocre. Merit pay benefits those who merit — the performers not the mediocre.

From today's Spokesman Review.

Idaho State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna called Monday for big raises for Idaho’s school teachers next year – but only if they come through a new pay-for-performance plan.

Luna unveiled a budget proposal that calls for putting nearly $60 million more into state teacher salaries next year – enough to give each teacher an average 8.5 percent raise in the state-funded portion of their salary. But if that money were just to go into the state’s current teacher salary structure, Luna said he wouldn’t back the funds.

“I do not support putting $50 million into the current salary grid that we have,” he told legislators gathered to discuss possible new ways of paying Idaho’s teachers. If the state’s teacher pay system stays the same, Luna said, “It’ll be considerably less.”

Tying teacher pay to certain measures of performance, such as student test scores, is a controversial concept that has gained little traction in Idaho. But Monday, an array of groups ranging from the state teachers union to the state Board of Education spoke out for some type of new pay system to reward Idaho’s best teachers for outstanding work, rather than just rewarding years of experience and additional college credits and degrees.

Luna said he’d like to see teachers get raises for acting as mentors for other teachers, gaining endorsements to teach in multiple subject areas, and helping students gain knowledge and achievement as shown on test scores. He said a new $2 million “longitudinal data system” would be key to making such a plan work by tracking how each student improves from year to year, rather than just comparing group test scores.

…

Sherri Wood, president of the Idaho Education Association, said school systems around the country have come up with innovative new ways to reward teacher performance, “none of which have done away with due process or continuing contract status.”

Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, a retired teacher, said Idaho teachers long have supported the idea of alternative ways of compensating teachers, but the money has never been there. “I think we can definitely improve the way we pay teachers to give them incentives to improve, and give them incentives to stay with us,” Ringo said. But she said trading off job security is “the wrong way to go. I think people do need protections and they need due process.”

Can someone please tell me what other job in the entire world a) lets you have tenure after 3 years, and b) gives guaranteed salary increases based on the years you work and how many college credits you acquire? What a racket!

EIA provides us with some excellent quotes from teachers/administrators concerning NCLB.

Don’t be drinking anything when you read these

Check out that last one: not even death can silence opinions on NCLB!

From The Education Intelligence Agency.

In this editorial, Craig Staszkow reflects many of my own opinions. From today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. This is the consensus of the Daily News editorial board.

The old joke goes that without universities, Pullman and Moscow would be Colfax or Potlatch.

No disrespect meant to Potlatch or Colfax, but the economy and general psyche of Pullman and Moscow is tied to the vibrance of the University of Idaho and Washington State University.

The universities are the economic and cultural engine for both cities.

Given that, the twice-yearly release of university enrollment figures tends be the most ready measure of how that engine is running.

We'll let you make your own conclusions about the most recent rounds of enrollment numbers, but it certainly appears one engine, WSU, is humming along nicely while the other, UI, could use a tune-up.

WSU this week confirmed that its freshman class is its largest ever, and that those freshmen collectively averaged 1111 on the Standard Achievement Test, the highest freshman class SAT score in school history. Total enrollment at the Pullman campus also increased, as did the numbers of out-of-state, international, minority and transfer students.

At UI, enrollment numbers in Moscow decreased for the second straight year. The decline this year was not monumental - about 1 percent - but the decline means there will be about 130 fewer rooms rented and untold fewer cases of Ramen noodles or movie tickets to be purchased. [DMC: It means a whole lot more than that! For every 1 percent decrease in enrollment, the university loses $500,000. Also, each student lost means a loss of revenue spent in town. That’s a lot more than Ramen noodles!]

While the size of the freshman class is important - and Idaho's freshman class is larger this fall than last - also key to keeping enrollment numbers steady or rising is the "quality" of those freshmen enrolled and the university's ability to retain them through graduation. Certainly a good football team may help, but we're not quite ready to put the UI's sagging numbers on the Kibbie Dome doorstep.

What we may have in Moscow is a perfect storm of sorts. Athletic struggles, some recent financial misdoings and even some backlash from recent high-profile crimes in Moscow could be conspiring to keep qualified students from coming to Moscow, or leaving once they've arrived.

We can perhaps live with that. But what should raise concern is if enrollment at UI continues the downward trend. [DMC: Isn’t that the same thing we’ve been saying for years now? What if this continues for another year?]

One UI Faculty Council member said this week that "it's just not realistic to expect the total number of students who are looking to college to increase all the time."

Perhaps he's right.

But that doesn't mean the community shouldn't twitch a little when enrollment drops.

And that statement by the UI Faculty Council member doesn’t account for the opposite effect that we’re seeing in Pullman — economic growth and enrollment growth.

You don’t think the two are linked, do you?

Most states lower standards in order to identify kids as “proficient” in math and reading, when they’re really no such thing.

Here’s an example of how improvement can appear to be made simply by asking easier questions on the tests.

What I wouldn’t give to see today’s seniors take the exact same SAT test that I had to take in the mid-70s. Or that my brothers had to take in the mid-60s.

From the New York Daily News:

When test scores rise, politicians crow that schools are getting better, but a Daily News analysis of recent standardized math exams and a News experiment suggest another reason: The questions might be getting easier.

The News obtained technical details on high-stakes math tests given to fourth-graders across the state over the past six years and found that in every year when scores went up, testmakers had identified the questions as easier during pretest trials.

In years when scores were lower, pretest trials showed the questions were harder.

"That's pretty strong evidence that something is just not right with the test," said New York University Prof. Robert Tobias, who ran the Board of Education's testing department for 13 years.

"If this were a single year's data or two years' data, I would say it would be inappropriate to make conclusions," Tobias said. "But with the pattern over time ...that's prima facie evidence that something's not right."

In 2005, for example, when a record-breaking 85% of New York State's fourth-graders passed the test, the questions had the highest average easy score in years. The easy score was .73 - meaning the average question was answered correctly by 73% of the kids who participated in pretest trials.

In contrast, when 68% of kids passed the state test in 2002, the easy score was .61.

“Hundreds of high school students across the Northwest returned to class this week without leaving the comfort of home. Full-time enrollments at online high schools are surging.”

From Northwest Public Radio:

Virtual high schools are becoming popular with students who have rigorous sports or work commitments. Also teen parents and students who used to be home schooled, like Shelman. Tuition is generally free because they’re organized as public charter schools in Oregon and Idaho. Washington State goes with a privately-run, publicly-sponsored variation.

Links to only high schools in the Northwest:

• INSPIRE: the Idaho Connections Academy
• Oregon Connections Academy
• WVA
• The Idaho Virtual Academy is a K-11 public charter school.
• Insight School of Washington