EDUCATION VITAL SIGNS: A Report Presented by WebChannel NA Don’t forget to dial-in to hear the audio portion

2 WebChannel NA Next Month – Special Evening Webinar From Cyber-bullying to Cell Phones: Navigating through the Legal Questions and Answers Wed, Mar 12, :30 PM - 8:30 PM EDTwww.nsba.org/webchannelNA Next Month – Special Evening Webinar From Cyber-bullying to Cell Phones: Navigating through the Legal Questions and Answers Wed, Mar 12, :30 PM - 8:30 PM EDT

3 The Webinar Controls

Before We Begin Our Audience for Today’s National Affiliate Webinar. 4

Kathleen Vail, the managing editor of the American School Board Journal Lawrence Hardy, a senior editor at the School Board Journal, and the primary author of this year’s Education Vital Signs magazine supplement. You can your questions and comments to 5 Today’s Panel

Welcome American School Board Journal presents EDUCATION VITAL SIGNS

Education Vital Signs Our 2008 sponsors 7

Education Vital Signs A disconnect exists between what people say is important and what actually influences their votes, as can be seen by this year’s edition of Education Vital Signs. It’s easy to lose sight of facts and figures like these or overlook them in a thicket of dense statistical reports.

Education Vital Signs Teacher Quality

Education Vital Signs Ron Haskins and Susanna Loeb, authors of a Future of Children policy brief, charge that teacher certification is a “a blunt instrument that both lets poor and mediocre teachers through its screens and blocks some potentially strong teachers.” Do you agree or disagree with this assessment?

Education Vital Signs Public Opinion

Education Vital Signs

No Child Left Behind

Education Vital Signs

“While No Child Left Behind was receiving criticism from many districts for being too tough, several think tanks and media outlets were claiming the states were watering down testing standards to minimize the number of failing schools.” - Lawrence Hardy

Education Vital Signs Question: Are the states watering down standards to make it appear schools are doing better than they are?

Education Vital Signs Legal

Education Vital Signs “School districts can still pursue diversity- related goals through various means – including appropriately designated race- conscious policies aligned with race- conscious education goals.”  - Not Black and White A joint publication by National School Boards Association and the College Board

Education Vital Signs Finance

Education Vital Signs The 46 reporting states say revenue will grow by just 2.5 percent in fiscal Aggregate spending is expected to grow by 5.4 percent  - State Budget and Tax Actions 2007 (preliminary report)  By the National Conference of State Legislatures

Education Vital Signs Question: Will your state budgets be tighter in 2008 than last year?

Education Vital Signs Student Achievement

Education Vital Signs

Early Childhood

Education Vital Signs

Question: Do you have a pre-k program at your school, and is it universal or just for at-risk preschoolers?

Education Vital Signs Student Health

Education Vital Signs

The Next Presidential Administration

Education Vital Signs

Please join us for the Education Vital Signs session on Monday, March 31, at the National School Boards Association annual conference in Orlando, Florida. We’ll be discussing how the upcoming presidential election will affect national education policy for at least the next four years.

Thank you for participating in this American School Board Journal “Webinar” with Kathleen Vail, managing editor; and Lawrence Hardy, senior editor. You can your questions and comments to

To view this and previous National Affiliate Webinars go to: For more information contact: Gene Broderson – Crissy O’Donnell – WebChannel NA