School Board News

In November, as BoardBuzz reported, the House rejected the fiscal year 2006 spending bill, H.R. 3010, by a vote of 224-209. This was good news, albeit temporary, for education because of the cuts the proposal contained.

For one, the bill would have imposed a drastic, 45 percent cut in funding to Enhancing Education Through Technology grants (aka EETT or E2T2, as some ed techies call it) from $496 million to $275 million. NSBA has lobbied against funding cuts to EETT, along with other education groups, since February when the President proposed eliminating program funding as part of his 2006 budget proposal. Though funding for the program is partially restored at $300 million through December 17, a House—Senate conference committee is scheduled to renegotiate H.R. 3010 to provide more funding for education and other discretionary programs. A vote on that measure is expected this week.

Also, based on recent proposals to impose roughly a 2 percent across-the-board cut to federal programs as an offset to hurricane relief funding, EETT could be affected even more before Congress adjourns this year. NSBA is urging Congress to reject cuts in spending to education programs that are already underfunded, and are key to student achievement, special education, and NCLB compliance. EETT is the largest single source of federal funding for instructional technologies.

But the Bush administration doesn’t see it quite that way. According to Ed Daily, ed department folks believe that “many schools have invested in technology infrastructure over the past several years and no longer need a technology grant program.” Besides, they say, schools can use Title I funds for technology, which they report, has increased by 45 percent since NCLB became law. School district costs for upgrading technology, maintaining Internet access and telecommunications services, as well as software licenses are always ongoing.

Want to learn more about what’s happening in your state with ed tech funding? Here’s how.

More stuff here from Education Week about the growing popularity of podcasting in schools. Kids love it, and teachers are finding new ways all the time to make use of such a simple but powerful technology.

Podcasting, like blogging, is another “Web. 2.0″ tool that turns the Internet from something we all browse passively into a useful and powerful environment that is easy to work in, create community around, and learn from. Want your own newspaper or syndicated opinion column with instant worldwide distribution? Start a blog. Want your own radio station? Start a podcast, which is a way to easily create and store digital audio files on the Internet. Students are writing then recording plays, for instance, as well as interviewing, researching, thinking, creating.

The Philadelphia Inquirer as well did a story with several linked examples this week on podcasting in schools. The story points out that one school district is using podcasting in its teacher professional development. We would love to spotlight any schools, school leaders, or school board members who are using this technology. What are you learning? Click on the comment button and let us know!

The mayor of New Orleans has vowed to build a citywide wireless Internet network, and offer it free to residents. This could be a terrific boost for schools anywhere seeking to increase their technology offerings. The system could be completed in about one year. At 512 kbps, the New Orleans network is about seven times the speed of dial-up service, but slower than high-speed services provided by telephone and cable TV companies. Users will have to sign up with the city for an account, AP reports. More on this from Washington Post here. Technology mag Red Herring points to potential problems, however. We say go for it, Mr. Mayor. Your city needs some good news.

Nearing three months after the levies broke, no public schools are open, and nearly an entire generation of New Orleans public school students has vanished, reports the Boston Globe. “Administrators, like frustrated detectives, are struggling to find them… Between 30 and 40 percent of New Orleans schools—many of them crumbling, sadly beautiful art deco hulks even before the storm—will probably have to be bulldozed.”

Can schools enforce restrictions on how students behave when they are not at school? Welcome to the modern age, where the Internet cares little about such distinctions. “As parents wring their hands about Internet predators, many teens are worried about a different kind of online intruder: the school principal,” reports the Wall Street Journal:

Schools around the country have wrestled with how to deal with students’ online writings, and the debate has spilled from classrooms to courtrooms. So far, there is little legal consensus on the circumstances in which schools are authorized to punish students for their blogging, according to Thomas H. Clarke Jr., a lawyer in San Francisco with Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley who focuses on First Amendment issues.

He noted that a handful of courts have examined cases in which schools disciplined students for off-campus writings, taking into account factors such as whether the student published threats against the school or other students, and whether the materials were accessed on campus by students or administrators. While some courts have ruled against schools that tried to punish students for their Web sites — even when the content was vulgar or threatening — others have decided that online writings can be subject to school restrictions. “The courts are all over the place. Trying to find consistency among all these different rules and opinions is extraordinarily difficult,” Mr. Clarke said. …

School officials say they are forced to deal with students’ personal Web sites because often students are writing about each other or their teachers. Blogging has became a part of daily life for many students. About four million teens — or 19% of 12- to 17-year olds who use the Internet — have created a blog, according to a study published in November by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Something called the Electronic Legal Foundation, “a digital rights advocacy group in San Francisco,” has published a legal guide for student bloggers, that at times seems less than adequate. Creating a more serious set of guidelines on this type of issue for both schools and students should be a serious priority.

Ok, so we are still in a little bit of a post-T+L mood, as technology in education is still on our mind(s). We have written about DonorsChoose.org before, but we like the idea very much, and the Los Angeles Times piece here lays out a quick definition of what it is: “a website where teachers post requests soliciting donations for classroom field trips, books and supplies that allows people across the nation to choose which campus charity to contribute to.” The site has raised more than $4 million for schools in several states, and is now in Southern California. Why it is a great idea: The Los Angeles Unified School District has cut more than $1 billion in spending over the last three years, and students and teachers have felt many of those reductions.

Los Angeles area teachers have posted more than 40 requests, including $1,804 to fund field trips to see local museum exhibits about ancient civilizations; $281 for sports balls, a timer and a flag football set; and $395 for three telescopes and several astronomy books, the Times reports.

It turns out that one of the L.A. movers and shakers who brought Donors Choose to Southern California is none other than Hollywood lyricist Carole Bayer Sager. Arthur would approve.

Tiffany Shlain, founder of the Webby Awards and Internet expert for ABC’s Good Morning America, predicted the digital divide will be closed in our lifetime as prices for personal computing devices continue to drop. While sounding a bit Pollyannish, Shlain did lay out nicely how the Web has profoundly impacted our lives in yesterday’s T+L² Conference keynote here in Denver. She reported that 500 million people are now online, which has created specialized networks that allow people to connect as a community based on their shared, unique interests. She marveled at how one-third of today’s Web content is contributed by people who want to share their ideas and thoughts with others citing Wikipedia, and book and music reviews on Amazon.com as prime examples. Other award-winning Web sites that emphasize social networking, said Shlain, include groundspring.org, where non-profits can hone their advocacy efforts; myspace.com, where teens and young adults create their own electronic space; and dogster.com, where dog lovers share photos and stories about their four-legged friends. Hey, whatever.

NSBA Executive Director Anne Bryant released new survey results today at the T+L² Conference here in Denver showing that respondents believe students are more engaged in learning, have increased critical thinking skills, and a stronger ability to communicate as a result of technology. NSBA conducted an e-mail survey the week of October 17 of approximately 1,500 registrants of the T+L Conference, which included technology specialists, teachers, administrators, and school board members. More than 400 registrants replied to the survey.

Another compelling finding is that 85 percent of respondents said that their new teachers were only somewhat prepared or not prepared in effectively integrating technology into the classroom. “This is a wake-up call to schools of education around our country,” said Bryant in a special news briefing.

And while approximately 78 percent of respondents said that home access to the Internet was a problem for their low-income students, only 10 percent said that closing the digital divide was a challenge for their districts. Many reported that students, when not at school, access the Internet at community centers.

Convergence media, a fancy term for the natural evolution of traditional journalism, was featured at one of this morning’s sessions here at NSBA’s T+L² Conference in Denver. Basically, it’s an emerging movement in journalism to bring together broadcast, print, and online news productions through technology. High school students at Richland Northeast in Richland School District Two, Columbia, S.C., work as a team to gather news and then archive it in a multi-media production facility. Then, students decide how to distribute the news through numerous ways, such as the school’s tv programming, Web site, blog, and school newspaper. Students learn how to write for print, broadcast, and the web; how to use digital and video cameras; and how to do video editing, web page design and layout. Check out the students’ work at the Convergence Web site. By the way, Richland School District Two is one of this year’s TLN Salute District winners.

The Center for Digital Education and NSBA have announced the nation’s most digitally advanced school boards, to coincide with NSBA’s T+L Conference kickoff in Denver this week. The boards were selected based on their responses to a survey administered to more than 2,500 school districts across the country. Survey questions and criteria centered on school boards’ online presence, technology applications to engage the public, access to board information, and technology advancements in board meetings.

And the winners are … Forsyth County, Ga. (large district); West Chester, Pa., and Jackson County, Ga. (tie in the mid-sized district); and Bleckley County, Ga. (small district). Yes, we also noticed that three of these are from Georgia. They must be doing something right there. Here’s a complete list of the winners.