Off Topic: CMail work-around

Everyone I know complains about GW's student email, CMail. The web interface is clunky. The quota is much too small. And on.

I thought I'd share what I did to get around this problem. I forward my mail to a gmail account, and it's been a lifesaver. CMail doesn't save a copy, so my quota is never used up, and you can set up gmail to allow you to send mail as if it were coming from your colonial mail. You can also set it up to automatically filter your GW messages into a separate folder, skipping your inbox, so that you can read them only when you want. Plus emails are stored in threaded conversations, rather than in the order they arrive, so it's easy to follow all the back and forth. Can't recommend it highly enough!

If you don't yet have a gmail account and want to be "invited," let me know.

The downside: If there's stuff in your CMail that you want to have access to through gmail, you'll have to forward it. But it's a small price to pay for never having to open the cmail web interface!

It's Ok to Fail

Arizona is blaming the U.S Department of Education for increasing the number of failing schools, by making educators count ELLs only after two years of learning a language. Sure, language acquisition is complex and can take students several years depending on various factors, but to blame ELLs and to request longer terms of exemption is not the solution. Superintendent Tom Horne states:

No person with common sense can believe a person can come here from Mexico and pass the AIMS test in three years," Horne said. "They're saying that if you have a significant number of ELL students, we condemn you to failure, no matter how good you are.

But really Tom, how good are you if your ELLs aren't prepared with skills (including language proficiency) for life after high school?

Back to Square One

Anyone who has been following the telenovela that is "Arizona v. its ELLs," should not be surprised at the lastest drama (for backstory see here). Last week, federal court of appeals recanted the most recent court decision demanding an increase in ELL funding for education, and kicked the case back to its original starting point, the district court. Also in this ruling, the court exempted ELLs from the state exit exams as a graduation requirement.

What makes this angering, is that many of Arizona's legislators and educators are blocking a quality education to a group of children who need it the most (I have to wonder that if Arizona didn't have such an anti-bilingual, anti-immigration culture, this would even be an issue up for the courts to decide).

In addition is the issue of exit exams. To prohibit ELLs from taking an exit exam is in my opinion, a terrible decision. While I don't always advocate for exit exams, Arizona's exclusion of ELLs from taking this exam is a vehicle for schools to not really spend the time preparing them for post-education opportunities.

Every child needs to be prepared to graduate from high school. Being a non-native English speaker provides unique challenges which Arizona needs to step up and take on, not brush under the rug.

A Shout-Out to Principal Russo

Today's editorial in the L.A. Times highlights the Murphy School in Dorchester, MA as a model for how a previously failing school is now a success story. Although I am not convinced that this is due to mayorial takeover, as the editorial claims, but rather to the extraordinary efforts of the school's principal, Mary Russo.

Mary Russo is the kind of principal who, when you are around her, makes you want to be a better educator, a better professional, and in general a better human being. Her committment to the children and community of Dorchester is one of the reasons why I have hope in the future of education. I am glad she is receiving a much deserved shout out for her efforts....

Ed Policy Update- August 7, 2006

Steamy Young Kozol!

Before he was the education muckraker we all know and love (or, in some cases, love to shake our heads at), Jonathan Kozol was a 22-year old whippersnapper who wrote.... romance novels?!

After reading about The Fume of Poppies in an Atlantic Monthly Fiction Issue article about novels set on college campuses, my curiosity got the best of me. I paid $1.25 for a used copy of Young Kozol's lone (and long out-of-print) foray into fiction writing.

It came today, and I have to say it looks pretty juicy! From the back cover:

In that year at Cambridge I began to realize what it means to make love. When you make love you are molding it by what you are doing, forming it in your fingers and pressing it between your limbs. There love is born at least--and only there. That is why I do not understand when I hear people talk of love that knows no flesh. I do not think that there is any such thing as that.

We all know that Kozol is an evocative writer in books about children, such as Savage Inequalities. Who knew that he had cut his writing teeth on something a little more... adult?!

Striking a Balance

Interesting article this past weekend about New York's new policy to give English exams to English Language Learners (ELLs) who have been here for one-year (a change from the previous three-year exemption policy). Critics are advocating for the state to oppose the federal mandates or develop an entirely new test designed specifically to test ELLs English proficiency.

The issue of testing ELLs is a delicate one because it's really a balancing act between accountability and language learning. On one hand, this sub-group must be tested because educators and policymakers need to know if we are failing these kids (and exempting ELLs would really piss off these guys ). However, one year is often an inadequate time frame to acquire English language proficiency and it really depends on other factors such as the amount of prior schooling, what age the student arrived to the U.S., etc. You also run the risk that this population will continue to become the "whipping boy" for why schools are not making AYP.

To make the balancing act even more challenging, accommodations have been seen as the "great compromise" to testing this group. However, accommodations may hurt a student more than help him. Research has found accommodations such as giving extra time and providing a glossary of terms helps both ELLs and English-proficient students, thereby reducing the validity and purpose of these accommodations. So while test scores may improve for these students, it will not truly show an improvement in language acquisition.

Policymakers and interest groups have to walk a fine line between holding schools accountable for educating ELLs and providing assistance so that English language learning truly happens. It would be a missed opportunity if New York only focused on one or the other.