Education

Common Core challenges teachers — old and new

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Common Core standards are not only changing education for K-12 teachers, but for university students who want to become educators. The new standards – coupled with a tougher entrance exam – are making it harder for college students to get into teacher training programs. Meanwhile, current teachers have to adjust their lessons to Common Core standards, which were adopted by the state Board of Education in 2010. “This has been our concern for a while — how prepared are our schools, districts and teachers to align with the Common Core?” said Steve Cook, president of the Michigan Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union. For college students aspiring to be teachers, one of the most difficult parts of the process might be just getting into a program. In 2013, the Michigan Department of Education created a new entrance exam that students are required to pass before being accepted into a teaching program.

Education

MSU program helps teachers fill textbook gaps

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Many K-8 math textbooks are missing crucial elements: the subject’s required lessons under the Common Core education standards. A Michigan State University study of mathematics textbooks found that among 185 textbooks and 34 textbook series, only seven included all materials required under national Common Core standards. Researchers studied textbooks used by other Common Core states as well as books marketed as Common Core-aligned. These results were backed up by a recent study from nonprofit EdReports.org, which found similar results — 17 of the 20 textbooks studied were missing important Common Core lessons. Michigan schools are still working on completely implementing the recently adopted state standards.

Business & Economy

Michigan teen driving program puts the parent back in the car

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Parents who have qualms about their teen getting behind the wheel can rest a bit easier through a Michigan Sheriffs’ Association-backed program. The program, “Sheriffs Telling Our Parents and Promoting Educated Drivers” — or STOPPED — informs parents any time a vehicle registered in the program is pulled over or involved in an accident, even if no ticket is issued. “[Teens] are at the dangerous intersection of inexperience and risk taking,” said Terry Jungel, executive director of the Sheriffs’ Association. “It’s not only dangerous for the teen driver, it’s dangerous for the people the teen driver may hit. It is in all of society’s best interest to make sure these teen drivers are driving safely, because they’re not hitting other teen drivers, they’re hitting us.”

Those who register for the free program receive a STOPPED sticker, which is applied to the driver’s side window.

Education

Shrinking number of teachers signals end of a dream career

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Many children aspiring to be teachers when they grow up could end up having a change of heart. In the face of increased pressures due to standardized testing, new college entry tests, and a lack of societal respect for the profession, fewer students are pursuing teaching careers, education advocates say. “Nationally and in Michigan, there are fewer students going into education,” said Corey Drake, director of teacher preparation at Michigan State University. Enrollment in university education programs fell 10 percent nationally from 2004 to 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The number of initial certificates issued by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has also been declining annually, according to Leah Breen, interim director of the department’s Office of Professional Preparation Services.

Education

Grant could offer a second chance to finish community college

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — People who never got the chance to finish their degree just might if a proposal in Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget to renew funding for an education grant is approved. The Independent Part-Time Student Grant was discontinued in 2009 during a budget crisis. But the governor’s $6 million proposal to revive the grant could mean a big difference for students who never finished their community college degree. “There’s a significant number of these people, they start and for whatever reason, don’t finish with a degree,” said Michael Hansen, president of the Michigan Community College Association. “Maybe because you ran out of money, because life things got in the way.”

Michigan has 28 community colleges.

Environment

Beyond politics — the science behind gray wolves

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Over a hundred years ago, gray wolves roamed North America from Maine to California. With numbers likely in the hundreds of thousands, the top predator had a large impact on its surroundings, from controlling deer population to altering the behavior of other species such as coyotes. But during the 1800s and 1900s, this keystone species began to clash with another predator — the humans who increasingly inhabited the land. People significantly reduced wolf populations as they competed for food and threatened livestock, according to Leah Knapp, an ecologist and professor at Olivet College. It’s a clash that particularly resonates today, as politicians, activists and hunters fuel heated debates on the current state of the species’ endangered status.

Education

Proposed tuition caps could strain public universities

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder’s new budget proposal would raise funding for Michigan’s public universities — but that money would come with a catch. The proposed 2 percent increase would mean about $28 million more for higher education and raise the total state budget for universities to $1.544 billion. But in order to claim their share of the increase, universities would have to work with a limit of 2.8 percent when increasing next year’s tuition rates. “So the question universities have to ask themselves is, do I want to forgo that money and exceed the cap? Or do I make it work?” said Mike Boulus, executive director of the Presidents Council, a nonprofit organization representing Michigan’s 15 public universities.

Nonprofits & Social Services

Same-sex couples still waiting for adoption rights

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Same-sex couples in Michigan can serve as foster parents, but if they wish to adopt a child together, current state laws say they can’t. This is because, by law, Michigan couples need to be married in order to adopt a child. And same-sex marriage in Michigan is still prohibited after a U.S. Appeals Court upheld the state’s ban, although 300 couples who were married during a brief legal window are now recognized by the state. Kathleen Nelson, executive director of the Michigan adoption agency Hands Across the Water, said a person’s LGBT status does not make a difference when it comes to one’s adequacy as a parent. “It’s an individual person thing,” Nelson said.

Environment

Congress may take up state management of gray wolves

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — The late 2014 return of the gray wolf to endangered status in the Great Lakes area may be short-lived if a bipartisan bill passes Congress. The bill, sponsored by Republican Wisconsin Rep. Reid Ribble, would remove federal protection from the species in four states: Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Still in draft stages, the bill would turn over management of the gray wolf to those state governments. The species has seen a lot of controversy in past years, with numerous attempts to delist the wolves from federal protection, and heavy debate between both sides. Hunting supporters say populations have met recovery quotas and that this growing population threatens pets and livestock, and conflict with humans has been rising.

Education

Smoother transition to college urged for Michigan’s students

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By BROOKE KANSIER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Michigan is making flexible college credit options a priority for high school students around the state. College preparation is rising in importance among school districts and state government alike, as Gov. Rick Snyder emphasized in his State of the State Address. Students’ transition from high school to college needs to be more efficient, Snyder said, “making it easy for them to get assistance, understanding of where that career counseling is, where those great tech opportunities are, how to do it faster, and better and less expensively.”

According to Brian Barber of the Michigan Department of Education’s Office of Education Improvement and Innovation, the high school-to-college transition happens most successfully through programs like dual enrollment and “middle college” options. These programs have seen huge growth in the last decade, with high schools and colleges throughout the state including more programs each year. “Michigan is becoming a leader in trying to open up access to postsecondary options, and trying to create a seamless transition,” Barber said.