NASA space camp gives teachers ideas for the classroom

Two local educators attend hands-on astronaut academy on scholarship

Mendoza Elementary School teacher Marilyn Cherry never dreamed of being an astronaut, but she knows the future of space exploration depends on getting students like her fifth graders excited about the possibilities.

To broaden her own horizons — and theirs — Cherry applied to participate in the Honeywell Educators Space Academy, which is sponsored by the technology and manufacturing corporation.

Cherry and Ries Elementary School teacher Jason Smith were among the 288 educators nationwide who received scholarships for the program, held each summer. In addition to providing 45 hours of professional development, the academy shows teachers how to incorporate classroom activities into daily math and science instruction.

Cherry spent four days at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., and four days at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. She took part in shuttle simulations, and even went scuba diving in NASA’s pool to experience how astronauts prepare for zero gravity.

“NASA says the generation I’m teaching right now is the generation that’s going to colonize the moon and Mars,” Cherry said. “Hopefully some of my students will be so interested they’ll become astronauts. Maybe one day they’ll say, ‘It was my fifth-grade teacher who got me so interested.’ ”

A casualty of the 2009 legislative session was the $200 purchasing cards that help Clark County School District teachers offset out-of-pocket spending on classroom supplies.

Though proposed federal legislation wouldn’t restore the purchasing cards, it would let teachers double the amount they are allowed to deduct on their taxes for buying their own school supplies.

Since 2002, K-12 classroom teachers have been allowed a tax deduction of up to $250 for school supplies. The Tax Relief for Educators Act — introduced this month by Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., — would double the maximum to $500. The bill would also extend the deduction to other educators such as early childhood teachers, classroom aides and principals.

The bill has the support of the nation’s two largest teachers unions and the National Head Start Association.

“Our members consistently dig deeper into their pockets to buy materials and supplies to get the job done,” said Lynne Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association. “Doubling the IRS deduction will be very helpful to our teachers and support professionals who spend their day in the classroom.”

With the School District scheduled to announce its annual No Child Left Behind rankings Thursday, the testing and accountability office is making its last frantic push to appeal on behalf of campuses that appear to have fallen short of the mark.

No Child Left Behind requires 100 percent of the nation’s public school students to be proficient in reading and writing by 2014. Schools, districts and states must show adequate progress overall, as well as by subgroups based on ethnicity, special education status and low household income.

The School District overall made “adequate yearly progress” in 2007 and 2008, but it is likely to miss the mark this time around, sources have told the Sun.

The Nevada Education Department grants appeals for a variety of reasons, including if a school has a significant change in its student population from one year to the next, or if scores were counted for an extremely small subgroup.

Even if enough students fail to demonstrate proficiency on standardized tests, schools can make adequate progress. The so-called “safe harbor” option requires schools to show a decrease in the percentage of the lowest-scoring students over the prior year. And that’s where the School District’s two years of strong gains have become something of a double-edged sword. There are fewer students in the bottom group, but those who remain are often the most challenging to help, making it even more difficult to reduce their ranks.

For many schools that means no safe harbor this year — it’s either hit the hard targets outright, or sink