GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A study of city public school students found more time in the womb equaled higher test scores. (MSNBC)
• Or maybe academic achievement is determined by three genes. Some scientists think so. (HuffPo)
• Also, maternal second-trimester obesity is linked to lower scores. (Family Practice News via Pondiscio)
• A historical look at the city’s 24 “turnaround” schools concludes it’s lose-lose for students. (HuffPo)
• Researcher Jennifer Stillman responds to questions about school gentrification. (GS Community)
• A D.C. parent describes her family’s experience with a diverse school in a gentrifying area. (Flypaper)
• An entrepreneurship internship for middle schoolers that started in New York is spreading. (VC Dispatch)
• New Utrecht’s principal says the city’s poverty estimate for his high school is too low. (Bensonhurst Bean)
• A crusading Long Island principal isn’t inspired by Relay Grad School’s model lessons. (Answer Sheet)
• A summer program trains high school graduates in the life skills they’ll need in college. (SchoolBook)
• Sweden, which has for-profit schools, does worse on PISA than its neighbor Finland. (Diane Ravitch)
• NEA members erupted in applause when President Obama phoned it in at their meeting. (Teacher Beat)
• New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu talked about the educational silver lining to Katrina. (Atlantic)
• In his first post at his new gig, Leo Casey says the Common Core is making all teachers new. (Shanker)
• The return of an archival research series suggests that report cards don’t always predict life. (Slate)

The Department of Education has replaced the schools' websites with new ones reflecting new names.

Nearly a week after an independent arbitrator ruled that teachers cut loose from 24 “turnaround” schools could have their jobs back, confusion reigns at the schools.

The city’s turnaround plans involved closing the schools and immediately reopening them with new names, new leaders, and many new teachers. But an arbitrator rolled back those plans last Friday when he ruled that the schools could not replace teachers using its chosen strategy.

Shortly after the arbitrator’s decision, teachers at the schools received a celebratory email from the United Federation of Teachers, which had sued the city over the hiring procedures in place at the schools.

Earlier this week, the city filed suit to get the arbitrator’s decision overturned, and a judge is likely to consider the case early next week.

For now, the Department of Education has suspended the hiring committees that had been meeting to consider teacher candidates, according to teachers union officials.

But during the disjointed first week of summer vacation, it has given teachers and principals no guidance about how they can reclaim their positions, according to officials of the unions that represent both sets of educators.

And at least one interim principal who seems likely to be bumped by the arbitrator’s decision is reporting for work as usual. (more…)

Francesca Martinez, left, and Alexis Noa participated in the city's Summer Youth Employment Program in 2008.

Summer break gave way to the world of work for tens of thousands of teenagers today with the start of the city’s annual youth employment program.

Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Dennis Walcott kicked off this year’s employment season today at Queens Botanical Gardens, which is employing 35 of the 31,700 youth enrolling in summer work or training programs.

The city’s Summer Youth Employment Program has long been a model for other cities trying to keep teenagers occupied and productive during the dog days of summer. New Yorkers between the ages of 14 and 21 are selected by lottery to take on seven-week paid internships with community organizations. Since the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development took over the program in 2003, SYEP participants have also received educational programming about health, career, college, and financial literacy.

Participants don’t have to be enrolled in school, but those who are reap academic benefits, according to a team of New York University researchers who followed 2007′s SYEP 36,000 applicants in grades 8 through 11 through the following year. In a policy brief released today, the researchers conclude that students randomly selected for SYEP positions attend, on average, two more days of school the following year than students who applied for SYEP jobs but were not selected.

The benefits were even larger for students who had been frequently absent in the past and larger than that for students over 16 who had attended school less than 95 percent of the time in the previous year, the researchers found. Those students took and passed required Regents exams in math and English more often than students who had not been picked for SYEP. (more…)

• On NY1, Eva Moskowitz said mayoral candidates haven’t yet offered solid education plans. (Politicker)
• And responding to a column criticizing her, Moskowitz says she wants all schools to improve. (Times)
• One of many parent leaders weighing political campaigns, Noah Gotbaum registered to run. (Daily News)
• About 87 schools, like P.S. 9, have mostly poor students but don’t qualify for federal aid. (SchoolBook)
• Surprised by teachers returning from long leaves, P.S. 24 cut both its music teachers. (Riverdale Press)
• A former DOE official has published a paper panning the department’s current state. (GothamSchools)
• The Daily News praises a judge’s ruling allowing churches to keep using rented public school space.
• Conservative columnist George Will: Chicago teachers are right to be angry at Rahm Emanuel. (Post)
• Spurning her board’s advice, Newark’s schools chief will lease space to charter schools. (Star-Ledger)