New Study Finds Early Predictors of Charter School Success

A charter school’s performance in its first three years of operation is a solid predictor of the program’s long-term chances of success, a new study by Stanford University researchers concludes.

On Wednesday Stanford's  Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) published Charter School Growth and Replication, which focuses on what can be learned from the track records of  more than 1,300 independently managed public schools and nearly 170 Charter Management Organizations (CMOs).

From the study’s lead author and CREDO director Margaret Raymond:

This report’s findings challenge the conventional wisdom that a young underperforming school will improve if given time. Our research shows that if you start wobbly, chances are you’ll stay wobbly. Similarly, if a school is successful in producing strong academic progress from the start, our analysis shows it will remain a strong and successful school.

We have solid evidence that high quality is possible from the outset. Since the study also shows that the majority of charter management organizations produce consistent quality through their portfolios – regardless of the actual level of quality – policy makers will want to assure that charter schools that replicate have proven models of success.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a statement from its president and chief executive Nina Rees in response to the latest CREDO study:

The charter school movement is making great strides at advancing quality as it continues to grow. Policy makers are working tirelessly to strengthen charter laws and educators and advocates are increasing their focus to ensure that growth and achievement can happen together, particularly for low-income and minority students. These efforts are continuing to show in recent research.

The CREDO report also validates the importance of charter school authorizers – groups that are able to hold charter schools accountable for student achievement, and ensure that those that are not serving students with a high-quality public education no longer have that privilege. Over the past several years, between 100 and 200 public charter schools have closed annually and that’s largely a good thing.

Among the study’s key findings:

*Charter schools can start off with high-quality programs, “disproving the notion of a universal rocky start-up period.” Strong starters can grow into successful charter school networks.

*CMOs had better learning gains than traditional public schools and independently operated charter schools when it came to certain student populations. The greatest impact was seen among minority children living in poverty.

*When CMOs add new schools, the quality of the programs is consistent with the other campuses already operating in the network. That finding should serve to remind policymakers and educators to consider track records carefully when deciding whether a CMO should be allowed to expand, the study concluded.

For more on these issues, visit the EWA Story Starters online resource on Charters & Choice.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Rates States' Laws

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, an advocacy organization, has released its new report "Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws." States were ranked based on a variety of factors including how difficult it is for charters to get up and running, whether states allow multiple authorizers (which typically means organizers have more opportunities to win approval), and whether there is a cap on the total number of charter schools allowed to operate.

It's worth noting that some researchers question the methodology and usefulness of ranking states based on the perceived strengths or weaknesses of charter school laws. (Click here for the National Education Policy Center's 2008 report.) At the same time, many states are looking for new approaches to education reform, and charter schools remain an important element in that equation.

From the alliance's report:

Ten states lifted their caps on charter school growth (either partially or entirely). Most notably, North Carolina eliminated its cap of 100 charter schools, Michigan phased out its cap on the number of charter schools that can be approved by public universities, and Indiana and Wisconsin removed their limits on virtual charter school enrollment.

Seven states strengthened their authorizing environments. Most significantly, four states created new statewide charter boards (Illinois, Indiana, Maine, and Nevada), while New Mexico and Rhode Island passed major quality control measures setting the stage for the future growth of high-quality public charter schools in these states.

Ten states improved their support for charter school funding and facilities. Of particular note, Indiana enacted legislation that creates a charter school facilities assistance program to make grants and loans to charter schools, appropriates $17 million to this program, and requires school districts to make vacant space available to public charter schools to lease for $1 a year or to buy for $1. Also, Texas enacted a law that allows state-authorized charter schools that have an investment grade rating and meet certain financial criteria to apply to have their bonds guaranteed by the Permanent School Fund.

What conversations are you hearing in your districts and states around charter schools? For more on this important issue, including the latest research and news coverage, visit EWA's Story Starters page on Charters & Choice. Nina Rees, president and CEO of the alliance, was featured as part of EdMedia Commons' "Five Questions For ..." series, and you can read the full interview here.
Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Guns in Schools: Parents, Teachers Ask Tough Questions

I've been writing The Educated Reporter blog for about 18 months now, and nothing I've written has come close to drawing as much response, discussion and debate as my post on states' plans to allow teachers to bring concealed weapons to campus.

I've heard directly from dozens of readers, with hundreds and hundreds of additional comments posted over at The Atlantic, where my blog also was published. There have been some common themes in the responses, including the contention that teachers didn't get into the profession to be armed guards. But I've also heard from educators who say they want to know every option for protecting themselves and their students, in the unlikely event that a person armed with a gun were to breach their classroom.

Another concern is whether arming teachers sets up unrealistic expectations for how future scenarios might unfold. Here's just one example from the readers' comments:

So a teacher has to chose between seeing her charges to a safe place or unlocking the gun safe (under fire) acquiring the gun (under fire) and trying to disable the intruder without injuring a child (under fire). There may be some highly trained military or law enforcement personnel who can do this, but how realistic is this expectation for a teacher?

Some interesting quandaries have been also been raised by parents, and they focus more on the practical aspects of how states intend to put legislation into action. Among those questions: Will parents be notified if their child's teacher opts to carry a weapon? Can parents request a transfer to a different classroom, or to a gun-free school? Who will pay for the teachers to be certified, and pay for their weapons? If an innocent bystander (including students) is injured in crossfire on campus, will school districts be liable?

These are good questions, and state lawmakers are going to have to be prepared to answer them. And for anyone who thought the concept of arming teachers was a passing fancy, think again: legislation is being debated in at least a dozen states that would allow educators to bring weapons onto what are currently gun-free campuses.

Roughly a third of the states already allow teachers to carry concealed weapons. I'm curious as to how many educators in those communities were already taking advantage of that option prior to Sandy Hook.

I had the opportunity to discuss some of these issues with Michel Martin for her NPR program "Tell Me More." You can listen to the audio here.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

New Report Suggests States Set Bar Too Low For Teacher Licensing

A new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality contends that states are producing more elementary school teachers than are needed, and the bar is set too low for them to demonstrate that they have been adequately prepared for the work.

The council, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, today releases its 2012 State Teacher Policy Yearbook, which contains a wealth of data on preparation programs across the country. The yearbook also rated states based on policies and procedures surrounding teacher preparation and licensing. Alabama, Florida, Indiana and Tennessee earned B- grades, the highest given. Twenty states had grades ranging from "C+" down to "C-," and two dozen states had grades from the "D+" to "D-" range. Three states - Alaska, Montana and Wyoming -- received failing grades. The state average was a "D-." That's a slight improvement from the state's average "D" grade in 2011.

From the council's report:

Overall, 14 states (Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin) improved their teacher preparation grades since 2011, with the most progress made by Alabama, Connecticut, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

NCTQ President Kate Walsh said,

"With so much attention on the issue of teacher effectiveness, the relative lack of attention to how candidates for teaching are prepared for the job in the first place is puzzling. The Yearbook provides a roadmap for policymakers on how to get teacher effectiveness right from the start – by setting higher expectations for what teachers need to know and are able to do before they are licensed to become teachers. Our teachers deserve the very best preparation so that they can step into the classroom and help our students prepare to be the most successful in the world."

However, the report is getting some pushback. Education officials in California are challenging the state's "D" grade, and questioning the council's methodology and data.

The nonprofit education blog EdSource reports that Erin Sullivan, spokesperson for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, said "“Some of their information is just wrong."

From EdSource reporter Kathryn Baron's story:

For example, the section of the report on California cites the state for not requiring middle school teachers to pass content area tests in each subject they’re licensed to teach and doesn’t require high school science teachers to pass a test for each discipline – such as biology, chemistry, etc. – that they’re licensed to teach. Sullivan said the state does require those exams. “It’s a little bit perplexing where they got some of this information,” she said.

Education Week's Stephen Sawchuk dug deep into the council's report and provides additional state-level analysis. He also explores the broader question of what it means if states are producing more teachers than are needed. The council's "one compelling argument" for why "policymakers should be concerned with supply-and-demand mismatches," Sawchuk writes:

If colleges produced fewer elementary-level teachers, the council argues, they could be more selective about whom they admit and give candidates more intensive experiences, including the full year of student-teaching that national organizations for teacher-college accreditation have endorsed.

It's the latter argument that appeals to Arthur E. Wise, an independent consultant and a former president of the Washington-based National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

"I think this is the real conundrum in all of this, because of course we lose approximately half of new teachers, which means we have not fully prepared many of these people. Or we want them to learn on the job, some of whom succeed and some of whom do not," he said. "We could improve, enhance, and extend the quality of teacher preparation, and therefore produce better-qualified new teacher graduates, but probably fewer in number."

How did your state rate on the NCTQ report? What is the response from state education officials, as well as local colleges of education? Are there reforms underway at the district or state level to improve the quality of teacher preparation, or to raise the bar for teacher licensing?

*Portions of this post were also published at EdMedia Commons. 

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

States Push Ahead With Plans to Arm Teachers

In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, lawmakers are moving quickly to respond to the public outcry to do more to ensure schools are safe. But will arming teachers – or putting an armed guard at every school in the nation, as the NRA has suggested – make a meaningful difference? Or would it actually increase the risk of harm, as some gun control advocates contend?

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky recently addressed those concerns with a degree of candor that might not help advance his crusade to allow educators to pack heat. At an event with business leaders in Oldham County (as recorded by the Louisville Courier-Journal), Rand said the following: “Is it perfect? No. Would they always get the killer? No. Would an accident sometimes happen in a melee? Maybe."

Labor groups and associations representing the nation’s school teachers and principals have already said that asking educators to be prepared to respond to an armed intruder with similar firepower is an unreasonable burden. At the same time there’s also been a reported spike in interest among some teachers who say they want to know what their options are when it comes to protecting themselves – and possibly their students – from an armed intruder on campus.

For more than decade, the Utah Shooting Sports Council has offered free weapons training to teachers. The first class of the new year brought 10 times the normal enrollment, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. The class covers the fundamentals of applying for a concealed weapons permit, carrying a weapon, and using it to respond to an emergency. And the training doesn’t just focus on how to respond with a gun. Teachers are also taught techniques such as “gouging an attacker’s eyes, choking an attacker and how to hide,” according to the Tribune.

Utah teachers are far from the only ones expressing increased interest in concealed weapons. There has also been a jump in inquiries at gun training clinics in Florida, according to the Palm Beach Post, even though the state bans nearly all weapons at public schools.

“It’s frightening to be a member of a profession that’s just been attacked,” Palm Beach County School Board member Jenny Prior Brown told the newspaper. “It is a terrible feeling to feel helpless. Is it surprising they would go and get firearms even if they can’t bring them on school property? No.”

Districts in a number of states, including Florida and North Carolina, have opted in the short-term for adding more campus resource officers (their level of training and the weapons they’re allowed to carry vary widely from state to state).

At the federal level, President Obama has signed nearly two dozen executive orders related to gun control. His decisions were influenced by input from a committee created post-Sandy Hook and headed by Vice President Joe Biden (U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is one of the appointed members). The president has also proposed $150 million in funding to address campus climate and safety issues, including adding more school counselors, and more extensive training to help staff recognize and address students’ mental health issues. However, as Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog sagely notes, some of those dollars would be restoring school climate and safety programs and positions previously cut by the administration.

Nationally, there’s been a spate of new bills proposed at the state level – including in Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Virginia -- to either allow educators to carry weapons or to add armed guards to public schools. (In New Jersey, those newly added guards are already on duty.) It’s worth pointing out that about a third of states already allow school personnel to carry concealed weapons on campus. The Harrold Independent School District in Texas has been arming its school staff since 2007.

In Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, said she wouldn’t support allowing principals to carry weapons, as proposed by the state’s superintendent of public instruction. A bill to arm teachers in the Evergreen State faces an uphill battle as Democrats have the supermajority, Colorado Public Radio reports. But in Tennessee, where the Republicans control both houses of the state legislature, talk of arming teachers is more likely to gain momentum.

It’s understandable that the public – particularly parents – are seeking reassurance that schools are prepared to respond to what were once unimaginable threats. But is shifting even more responsibility to teachers’ shoulders appropriate? Will a license to teach require a passing score in target practice as well as the Praxis?

This isn’t about whether teachers would be willing to risk their own lives for their students – sadly, educators at Newtown have already had to answer that question, as several of them died trying to shield first graders from the gunman. In Utah, a teacher told the Salt Lake Tribune that a student had asked him what he would have done if a similar situation happened at their school. The teacher told the student "he would have given his life to help them."

But let's consider what occurred more recently at a high school in Taft, Calif. After a 16-year-old student with a shotgun seriously wounded a classmate, his science teacher reportedly distracted him with conversation so that others could escape. The teacher and a school counselor -- both unarmed -- eventually persuaded the shooter to surrender.

So what might be one of the lessons from Taft? Sometimes, words are more powerful than weapons.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Should Schools Stay Open?

It's inauguration day, but it's also the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Here's my post on the topic from last year.

Today is a federal holiday, which means schools -- and pretty much every office -- is closed here in D.C. However some districts nationwide opt not suspend classes for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Many schools use the day as an opportunity for special assemblies and workshops, while others simply continue with their regular schedules. Last year, two counties in northern Georgia were soundly criticized by civil rights groups when they scheduled classes to make up for "snow days."

There are many sides to this argument, and it's easy to see why some educators are conflicted about the decision to either hold classes or observe the holiday. The truth is that most people associate today (along with Columbus Day, Veterans Day and a host of other federal holidays) as a free pass from work or a day to score big on shopping bargains. The time isn't often used for reflection and appreciation. 

Given that reality, might it be better if students didn't miss a day of instruction? Would you support having classes today if the lessons included specific exercises related to social justice, civil rights and King's legacy? Would you still support a school day if it was just "business as usual," with no extra effort to relate the day's lessons to civil rights?

One of the more interesting interviews I've heard recently on King's legacy was an episode of "Fresh Air With Terry Gross" that aired last year. Guest host Dave Davies interviewed Clarence Jones, who helped draft the historic "I Have a Dream" speech.  (Click here for the link.) I was fascinated to learn how King and his organizers leveraged the media, particularly the television news cameras, and why it turned out to be critically important that the speech was copyrighted.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Reporter Shares Lessons From Visiting Family of Sandy Hook Shooting's Youngest Victim

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the remarkable work of Naomi Zeveloff, a reporter at the Jewish Daily Forward. She received well-earned praise for her detailed and sensitive profile of the mother of the youngest victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I've since had the opportunity to talk with Zeveloff, and you can find my "Five Questions" interview over at EdMedia Commons.

One of the things I wanted to know was how Zeveloff prepared for an assignment as potentially laden with emotion as visiting a family while they were sitting shiva -- the traditional Jewish period of mourning -- for a 6-year-old. Here's what Zeveloff, a 2011 graduate of the Columbia Journalism School's political reporting program, told me:

There’s another reporter at The Forward, Paul Berger, who writes a lot about families who have gone through trauma. I called him the night before (the visit with the family), and I was very nervous. He told me ‘they invited you; they want you there.’ He was right. When people invite you into their lives in the darkest moments of their lives, it’s because they have something to tell you. I was so worried about being intrusive that I couldn’t believe or trust it. This experience has taught me to trust my sources when they say they want to talk.

For more on reporting techniques to handle difficult situations -- specifically, how to talk to children who are witnesses to traumatic events -- catch a replay of EWA's recent webinar. You can also get the latest on school climate and safety issues with our new Story Starters online resource.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Common Core State Standards: New Assessments Mean New Challenges

My EWA colleague Mikhail Zinshteyn has a fine write-up over at EdMedia Commons on a new report digging deeper into plans by consortia of states to use the same assessments to measure the effectiveness and impact of the Common Core State Standards. Education Week's Catherine Gewertz also has a solid overview, which you can read here.

The report, published Wednesday, comes from the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) at University of California, Los Angeles. Among the highlights: the bar is definitely going to be raised for student learning, and the new assessments will focus more on measuring higher-order thinking than the prior state tests.

I've written recently about why Common Core will be one of the big education stories of 2013, and I've also looked at the confusion over what the new requirements for what students will read in class. EWA also hosted a seminar in Los Angeles to discuss what the Common Core will mean for English-language learners, teachers and tests.

And while we're on the topic of EWA seminars, we have a few travel scholarships still available for qualified journalists who want to learn more about STEM education next month at the University of Maryland. Click here for the details.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Charter Schools Hit Milestone Twenty Years in the Making

The number of charter schools in the United States has topped 6,000 for the first time since the first independently operated public campus launched 20 years ago.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools points out that the threshold was crossed due to record growth for the 2012-13 academic year. There were 237 new campuses in five states: California (81); Florida (67); Texas (41); New York (25) and Michigan (23). In fact, those five states account for about 2,400 of all charter schools nationwide. As the chart below shows, charter school enrollment now tops 2.3 million students, also a record high, according to the national alliance.

“The growth of the public charter sector continues because parents are demanding quality options for their children,” said Nina Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Charter leaders are opening schools to respond to parents and to provide more students with a quality education that meets their needs.”

As I've written recently, charter schools are shaping up to be one of the top topics of the new year. 
Interest in charters as an alternative to traditional public education remains high, even if the research suggests that the model is still evolving.

For more on charter schools and choice, check out EWA's new Story Starters resource. And in a shameless bit of self promotion, here's an interesting conversation I had on charter schools with host Dave Becker of KNPR's "State of Nevada."



Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

What Do Reporters Need To Know About STEM?

Looking for one of the more pressing topics on the education beat right now? It's science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- known collectively as "STEM." The acronym has become an essential component to conversations about the new Common Core State Standards, the forthcoming Next Generation Science Standards (which are now open for public feedback), and concerns about the nation's ability to produce students ready to compete globally.

EWA will be tackling these issues inside and out at our one-day seminar for journalists on STEM. "Under the Microscope: Examining STEM Education" will be held Friday, Feb. 8 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County campus. There's a limited number of travel scholarships available, so be sure to apply by Jan. 19.

In the meantime, for more on these issues, visit EdMedia Commons' STEM Express for a weekly roundup of the latest news. If you're a journalist on deadline, the new Story Starters online resource is a fantastic place to start your reporting on STEM and a wealth of other topics. Check it out today!

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

School Climate, Safety and Discipline Focus of New Report

There's a wealth of information -- and food for thought -- in Education Week's new report Code of Conduct: Safety, Discipline, and School Climate.

These issues are moving to the forefront of the national debate. As the Philadelphia Inquirer's Pulitzer-winning package made clear last year, when it comes to issues of student safety and discipline, schools are struggling to balance policy against reality.

Ed Week -- particularly the project's lead reporter Nirvi Shah -- has assembled an insightful overview including data on student suspensions and expulsions, how some districts have gone to arguably unreasonable extremes in enforcing zero-tolerance policies, and alternative programs that seek to keep kids learning even when they're removed from their regular school settings due to behavior issues.

I was particularly interested in Sarah D. Spark's piece on how the school's climate impacts the overall learning experience and a student's long-term emotional and academic growth:

"There's anti-bullying, which is sort of the top, the visible part of an iceberg, and those are the formal policies where we tell kids, 'OK, don't bully each other,' " said Meagan O'Malley, a research associate at WestEd who specializes in the research group's middle-school-climate initiative in Los Alamitos, Calif. "But then under that, there's everything else that happens in that school, the interactions between people every single day that create an atmosphere that's either supportive of a bullying atmosphere or not. Programmatic interventions have to be one piece of a much larger body of work."

Given the recent school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., it's understandable that the safety aspects of Ed Week's new report will take the spotlight. But there are also the annual state report cards, which consider a number of key elements to the quality of public education including teacher factors, student achievement indicators, school finance and the equity of funding distribution. Maryland was first in the nation for a fifth consecutive year with a grade of B+. Nationally, schools earned a C+, up from a C last year.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Study of Teacher Effectiveness: Two Sets Of Eyes Better Than One

There's plenty to consider in the final report of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's* three-year Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study, which was released Tuesday.

Here's one of the interesting highlights: Researchers found it was better to have two different evaluators observe a classroom, rather than have one evaluator make multiple visits to watch the same teacher. Additionally, the study concludes that using multiple measures -- test-score growth data, feedback from students, and the observations of teachers at work -- also helped craft a fairer portrayal of a teacher's effectiveness.

The MET project has been a source of contention and controversy from its inception.  As Education Week's Stephen Sawchuk notes:

Taken as a whole, the final MET findings provide much food for thought about how teacher evaluations might best be structured. But they are not likely to end a contentious, noisy debate about evaluation systems, and they are almost certain to be intensely debated, in part because of Gates’ separate support for advocacy organizations that have already staked out positions on teacher evaluations.

For the full background on MET, check out my EWA colleague Mikhail Zinshteyn's write-up over at EdMedia Commons.

*The Gates Foundation is among a range of funders providing ongoing support to EWA.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Michelle Rhee: Getting as Good as She Gives

I've put together a round-up of the latest coverage of Michelle Rhee, from the new Frontline documentary airing tonight to her advocacy group's new report grading states for how well they hew to StudentsFirst's agenda. You'll find it all at EdMedia Commons.

I've also got an in-depth Q&A with veteran education journalist John Merrow of PBS Newshour -- The Education of Michelle Rhee is the result of five years of work on his part to examine the effects of her rocky tenure in as the District of Columbia Public Schools chancellor from 2007-10.

Here's just a sampling from our thought-provoking conversation: Merrow (who's been in the  business nearly 40 years) told me that while looking for sources to talk about Rhee, the number of times people hung up on him or refused to go beyond "no comment" set a record for his distinguished career.

"Michelle Rhee is certainly feared," Merrow told me. "One of the remarkable aspects in reporting this story is the level of fear she produces."

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Ergonomic Chairs vs. Standing Desks: Which Is Better For Students?

New York Times' reporter Al Baker's piece on the evolving design of classroom chairs includes this gem of a quote about the seemingly eternal "super stackers" that are the most common model nationally:

“They don’t die,” said Ali Salehi, the senior vice president for engineering and operations for Columbia Manufacturing, a 135-year-old company in Westfield, Mass., that makes the super stacker. “They just don’t die.”

Ergonomics are an increasingly important element of campus climate and the conversations about how to improve the overall learning environment for students.  But is it possible those futuristic chairs are actually behind the curve, rather than ahead of it? Given the scary studies we're seeing about the negative effects of sitting for hours on end, I wonder if standing desks are headed for the fast track for schools as well as workplaces. 

Some campuses are already experimenting with alternative seating and work stations that give students more options to move at will in open-classroom settings. We might not yet be seeing students on treadmills, trotting along with a computer monitor suspended in front of them -- one of the Mayo Clinic's recommendations for a healthier work environment. But based on the latest research and growing trends, it might not be that far-fetched a scenario for the near future.

In a recent pilot study published in the American Journal of Public Health last year, first graders at a Texas elementary school were given the option of using chairs or standing at workstations. Six weeks in, 70 percent of the students had given up their chairs entirely, while the remaining 30 percent spent the majority of their time using the standing desks. Students in the class who were in the upper percentile for weight also burned 30 percent more calories standing than their similarly heavier peers did while sitting. 

“What we found was that most students want to be standing, to be moving,” the study's author Monica Wendel told the Chicago Tribune. “They don’t want to sit still — it’s against their nature. We are the ones who teach them to be sedentary.”

I do wonder what the results of a similar study would be if it were conducted at the high school level. Would students still prefer standing? How tough might it be to convince teenagers to reverse a less-healthy habit that's likely been a hallmark -- and requirement -- of their public school experience thus far?

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

Sandy Hook: In One Mother's Story, a Lesson For Journalists

Students from Sandy Hook Elementary School returned to class this week, although they were relocated to a different campus seven miles away. The Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Conn., the site of one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, is likely to remain closed indefinitely. A gunman broke into the school last month and killed 20 first graders and six staff members, before taking his own life.
 
There's been some remarkable reporting on the tragedy, but nothing more poignant than a profile of Veronique Pozner, whose son Noah was the youngest victim of the massacre. Writing for the Jewish newspaper The Forward, reporter Naomi Zeveloff crafts an intimate, painful, heart-wrenching portrait of a grieving mother. It wouldn't surprise me if her work becomes required reading for students of narrative journalism.

And equally valuable reading is Zeveloff's explanation of how she approached this difficult assignment, as published by Columbia University's Dart Society blog. Her instincts as a journalist to "get" the story were balanced against the potential risk of contributing to the family's grief  by publishing more than they might have really intended to share with a wider audience.

As Zeveloff explains:

"I worried about sharing what seemed to be the most personal, most painful details. Would I be unnecessarily exposing the family? Were these details gratuitously violent? Would I be shocking readers instead of informing them?"

While the story is graphic in its description of how badly damaged Noah's body was by the gunman's bullets, she now believes Noah's mother shared those details to "give the public a clear picture of the brutality of the Sandy Hook shooting," Zeveloff says.

On a related note, EWA recently held a webinar for reporters discussing how to handle interviewing children, including challenging situations such as Sandy Hook. The presenters included Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma, Columbia Journalism School Professor LynNell Hancock, and veteran education reporter Sarah Carr of the New Orleans Times Picayune. You can watch the webinar here. 

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.

EWA Seminar for Journalists: Get the Scoop on STEM

Happy New Year!  There's quite a bit to look forward to in 2013, including EWA's upcoming one-day seminar for journalists on STEM. This is a terrific opportunity to get ahead of the curve on these crucial topics, which are sure to factor heavily into education coverage in the coming months.

"Under the Microscope: Examining STEM Education" will be held Friday, Feb. 8 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County campus. There's a limited number of travel scholarships available, so be sure to apply by Jan. 19.

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.