captioning sponsored by wnet >> hari sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, september 27... new air strikes on islamic state positions. we'll dissect the situation on the battlefield throughout syria and iraq. and on this american graduate day, will an extra hour of reading help underperforming students? and is it the role of states to mandate it? >> so this is the mechanism that will help close that gap between the students that are living in poverty and students that are not living in poverty. >> sreenivasan: next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by:

corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening, thanks for joining us. i'm hari sreenivasan. because of wnet's american graduate day initiative, we are coming to you tonight from another studio in new york city. warplanes from the united states and allied nations struck islamic state fighters today in a town near the syria-turkey border. the jihadists have been battling kurdish forces there, causing hundreds of thousands of syrians to flee into turkey. two isis tanks reportedly were destroyed during today's allied bombings. but isis fighters later shelled the town, wounding several citizens. today, for the first time,

british fighter jets flew missions over northern iraq. we'll have much more on the conflict in a moment. in hong kong today, police arrested several dozen pro- democracy demonstrators who had scaled a fence and occupied a plaza outside a government building. the week-long protests followed a ruling that the central government in beijing would have to approve all candidates seeking to become hong kong's chief executive. thousands of others gathered near the scene and chanted in support of the demonstrators. in egypt today, hosni mubarak was taken by stretcher into a courtroom to hear whether he would be held responsible for the death of more than 800 protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster, but the verdict was delayed. the 86-year-old was convicted and sentenced to life in 2012 on the same charges but the case was recently re-tried. back in this country, carbon emissions are on the rise. data released yesterday by the department of energy showed a 2.7% increase during the first six months of 2014 compared to

the same period last year. earlier this week, the president touted america's reduced carbon emissions but said the nation needed to do more. the increase is widely attributed to growing economic activity at the nation's factories. the white house is reportedly preparing an executive order that would require all federal agencies to disclose where they fly drones in this country and what they are doing with the data they gather. the order would not affect military and intelligence operations overseas, all this according to a report in the washington post. more than 700 flights in and out of chicago were canceled today, still a significant improvement over yesterday when an estimated 2,000 flights to and from o'hare and midway were grounded. this was the scene depicted in the skies over the chicago area yesterday morning. this is what it looked like today. the disruption was caused by a fire at an air traffic control center-- a fire apparently set by a disgruntled employee who later reportedly tried to kill himself.

a 54 year-old mentally ill inmate who had been held in solitary confinement in a north carolina prison for more than a month died of dehydration, this according to prison records obtained by the associated press. the same records said the inmate, a diagnosed schizophrenic, had flooded his cell twice. prison officials are allowed to turn off the water in cells, but they haven't said whether they did so in the days before the inmate died. since the death last march, seven prison employees have been fired or have resigned. and health officials are investigating whether enterovirus 68 is linked to polio-like symptoms now afflicting nine children in colorado. preliminary tests found that four of the nine had the virus. more than 275 people in 40 states have been diagnosed with the virus, which typically causes respiratory problems and high fever.

>> sreenivasan: to try to give you an overall picture of the situation on the battlefield throughout iraq and syria, we are joined now from washington by anthony cordesman. he is with the center for strategic and international studies and was the director of intelligence assessment in the office of the secretary of defense. bfl let's start in northeastern syria, where the u.s. has been striking islamic state positions near its headquarters in raqqa, and where intense fighting has occurred this week between kurdish force forces and isis in kobane near the kurdish border. >> the number of strikes have been relatively limited. this is not, as yet, an intensive air campaign, probably around 250 strikes, and a little over 40 cruise missiles. the area in the turkish border is a particularly troubled area because the islamic state is pushing hard to essentially push the syrian kurd out of the area to take control of the border

areas with turkey. that gives them leverage over turkey. it's pushing out an opponent which had been allied with the iraqi kurds. at the same time, there have been strikes inside syria which have attacked key command posts, refineries, the economic lifeline to the islamic states. but these are still early days. it's not yet an intensive or sustained campaign that's going to make a critical difference. >> sreenivasan: how about the situation in northern iraq? a lot are familiar with the rescue operation we patrioted in. but isis still controls moz null much of that region. >> no one has suggested at any point in the administration or in the u.s. joint chiefs that these airstrikes are going to drive the islamic state out of northern and western iraq. so far, the airstrikes, when they've been successful in iraq,

have largely been close-air support, support really helping specific iraqi or kurdish forces that were threatened by the islamic state. there have only been two very minor attempts at a counter-offensive, to drived in the areas occupied the islamic state, and both of these have really failed. and in areas where there have been some gains in holding the offensives, you still see the islamic state find other ways to go on the offensive against other towns and places. >> isis also controls several cities within about 50 miles of baghdad, and this week we heard new reports about their fighters defeating iraqi government troops even closer to the capital, somy question is, is baghdad itself in any danger? >> most of what we're seeing are attacking of small towns along the river that were held by small, isolated iraqi army

garrisons. some of these had 400, some of them had 800 people. they're not in the shiite areas. they're not in the urban areas in baghdad. they're not dealing with a larger iraqi forces. but it is disturbing that these have been gains that are to the west, to some extent to the immediate south, and in a few areas to the north of baghdad. yes, they're still in rural areas, but in each case, whether there's been a push against the iraqi forces, they haven't been supplied, areas or attempts to relieve them under pressure haven't worked. they've appealed for support from the iraqi forces. they've been given all kinds of promises, and nothing has been delivered. and this reflects a much broader issue. the u.s. assessments are that there are about 26 brigades-- that's a large force-- still

left in the iraqi forces. it's also that about half those are sectarian, or shiite. they're not really supporting the national forces or they're simply not militarily effective. and virtually all of the others are going to require advisory support, arms supplies, better command and control, to be effective so as yet, we're holding but the airstrikes are not really crippling the islamic state in any meaningful way. >> sreenivasan: arthony cordesman joining us from washington, thanks so much. >> a pleasure. >> sreenivasan: and now to our signature segment. on this american graduate day, we examine a one-of-a-kind program in the nation to help boost reading skills. florida now requires its 300 lowest-performing elementary schools to add an hour to their school day, an hour focused on reading, and nothing else.

as you'd expect, a lively debate is underway about the wisdom and effectiveness of the plan. special correspondent alison stewart reports from orange county in central florida. >> reporter: jaylon jenkins just started second grade. and every day after school he does homework with his aunt and guardian antonia williams. >> remember, we talked about the tenses, from ride to... >> r-o-d-e. >> i'm not a tyrant. when he first comes home i normally have... let him have a 20-minute break. he gets a snack. >> you want apple? >> and then we start his homework. i'll give him a break in between because it's a lot for a second grader to retain and to comprehend, so this is our... this is our daily schedule. >> reporter: a schedule that already includes an extra hour of reading, and only reading for jaylon and for every other student at his school. phillis wheatley elementary

school in apopka, florida, just northwest of orlando in orange county. >> antonia, what did you think when you first heard that jaylon's school was going to require one extra hour of reading? >> i was like, "yes." >> reporter: yeah? >> i was, like, "yes." i mean, what else would a child be doing that hour after school, you know? yes, it would be a longer day and i was concerned about him being focused and staying on task for such a long time. but he's in a structured environment. you know, it's not like they're on the playground for an extra hour. they're reading. >> reporter: has he asked you why he stays an extra hour? >> i don't even think he realizes it. >> reporter: the extra hour of reading at wheatley elementary is not voluntary. this school year in florida, the 300 lowest-performing elementary schools are required to add an hour of reading instruction. a ranking determined by the state's standardized reading test. it is estimated to cost just over $5 million for the 20 traditional public schools required to add the hour in orange county, the 10th largest school district in the country. it's an expansion of a law

passed in 2012 that focused on the 100 lowest-performing schools. and that included phillis wheatley elementary. >> what do you think it is? >> reporter: sean brown is the school's principal. >> once we hit that last hour of the day it's strictly reading. >> reporter: from fourth graders working on reading comprehension questions... >> we could eliminate underground... >> reporter: to first graders just learning the basics. >> they get darker and darker... >> reporter: students, taught by teachers from the school. >> hare... >> hare... >> reporter: read, read. and read some more. we want to hone in on the reading skills and then just push the students academically as much as possible. >> reporter: a high-poverty school where all students get free breakfast and lunch, phillis wheatley elementary is in a neighborhood with a high crime rate, and is the type of school administrators think could particularly benefit from the extra reading time. >> do you think your students need this extra hour? >> yes, i do. >> reporter: why is that?

is it because they're so far behind? is it just not enough time during the day to teach these kids? >> there's several reasons. i know that with poverty and they're so much further behind a student that has two parents or a student that has a high working-class family. so this is the mechanism that will help close that gap between the students that are living in poverty and students that are not living in poverty. >> reporter: and principal brown is convinced it works. after a year with the bonus hour in 2012, wheatley saw the percentage of children reading at grade level or above increase by 58%. across the state nearly three- quarters of the schools with the extra hour showed an increase in students reading at grade level. >> the results have turned out to be dramatic. >> reporter: republican state senator david simmons is the force behind the state law adding the extra hour. the son of two public school teachers, he says he first heard about adding extra time from a

principal at a struggling orlando school. >> and in talking to him he said, "if i just had more time with these children, i could make a big, big difference with them." and he said, "it's not that they can't learn, it's they don't have enough time to learn." but it has to be done right. alison, you can't have pizza parties during that extra hour. you have to do it at the right time. you have to have dedicated teachers who know what they're doing. you have to have a school system that is behind it. >> reporter: senator simmons says expanding the number of schools from 100 to 300 helps ensure schools aren't penalized by losing the extra hour after their scores improve. >> reporter: when you first presented the idea of this additional hour of reading to your colleagues, what kind of questions did they have for you? >> the natural questions. and the important questions. is it gonna work? >> reporter: make the case for me. >> okay, certainly. other nations, industrialized nations, send their children to school, all of their children,

significantly longer than we do here on average in the in the united states. we're talking about trying to cram a huge amount of information into the minds of these children in a limited amount of time. it's like trying to put 25 pounds of sugar in a 10 pound sack. >> senator simmons is looking at a piece of fool's gold and he believes it's real genuine gold. >> reporter: rick roach is one of eight elected school board members in orange county. a teacher and guidance counselor for 14 years in the county, roach also trained teachers around the country and has served on the school board since 1998. he's not convinced that the extra mandated time is the solution that it seems. >> i don't think it has true educational value. and i think it could be more helpful if you just take your eyes off of a test score. it doesn't necessarily mean that that child comes out of there a better reader or has developed a love of reading. it simply means they've jammed

up a raw score on a single measure test. >> reporter: and there's the question: who gets to decide the best way to help kids learn? what was the debate like or the discussion like when it first came up, "should we have kids read for an extra hour after school?" >> please... ( laughing ) i have to laugh at that one. there was no debate on that. there was simply... the command came down from the hill, "thou shalt put an extra hour into the school." there was no debate, the board didn't discuss that. local... there was no local feedback into that. not to mention the fact that many people who make these laws never taught one day in a classroom. i wouldn't for a minute serve on an aviation board or a medical board. >> reporter: there are other concerns as well: district officials find out which schools are required to add the extra reading hour just weeks before school starts. bus schedules have to change and teaching staff secured.

some parents voiced concern over the exhaustion level of kids whose days are pushed an hour later. and the reduction of family time. and while kids who scored the highest level on the reading section of the state's standardized test can opt out. for the most part, everyone is required to stay the extra hour. school board member rick roach questions whether it really works. he says the numbers that supporters point to only tell part of the story and that similar students without the extra hour of reading also showed improvement over the same time period. if something like this happens and it helps anybody, isn't it worth continuing and trying? >> you know, i think few people would disagree with the fact that we're going to give kids who may be low readers extra time to read. but there's a consequence to that. you may in fact drive up a reading score, but you also lose other... other features as well. if they'd gave us some options,

that same money would buy seven teachers per school. you could reduce class size. it would have bought 14 paraprofessionals. you could've extended the year by 20 days and kept the same number of hours if you let local control come into play for the same money. >> reporter: the criticism i've heard from a couple of different folks who are involved in education, that they work on the local level. they're in the schools. and the idea that they have to take this money, come up with it and put it just on reading, everybody supports reading but perhaps that's not what their school needs. if the vast majority of your students have on our tests, you know, standardized tests, shown that they cannot read at grade level, then they need reading instruction. that's a simple fact of life. >> thumbs up if you remember and you understand. >> reporter: and there's still the issue of funding; who pays for it now and in the future.

what would it take for this program to be guaranteed funding? right now it's year to year to year, if the district can come up with the money. >> i can tell you that it is my commitment, now that we are seeing the performance that... that we will in fact dedicate the funding for this in order to get this accomplished. >> in my heart, i knew that if we can keep the students here longer, we can actually make a difference. >> alright, ya'll look fabulous. >> reporter: amidst the debate, principal sean brown is committed to keeping the extra hour, and even sought a federal grant to make sure wheatley can keep that time-- whether mandated to, or not. and it isn't lost on anyone that the school is named after phillis wheatley. she was brought to america a slave, but became a great writer, the first black woman poet to be published. >> sreenivasan: how much does extra reading time help, and what are other states doing to

improve reading proficiency? earlier i spoke with patti barth, the director of the center for public education in washington. we always hear about this third grade threshold, that it's really important to try on get a kid up to grade level by third grade. why? >> well, a lot of research suggests that third grade reading is a threshold year. some studies say that the likelihood of a third grader who is not reading on glade level has a likelihood of dropping out that is three or four times greater than a child who is reading on grade level. so there's a lot at stake. >> sreenivasan: so in addition to the extra hour of reading time, what are some other states doing? a what are some different techniques to try to get kids up to speed? >> well, the importance of third grade reading is so high that we have-- over 30 states have some kind of policy to intervene,

identify, and make sure children get the support they need to be on grade level. they do take different forms. about 15 states require that a third grader who is not reading on grade level will be retained. now, that's a rather controversial policy, because there's other research that point to grade retention as a predictor of later dropping out. but in doing so, in making that policy, those states also put pressure on the system to provide early interventions, make sure that kids have the support so that they are on grade level and they are not retained and they can move on to fourth grade with their peers. other states require summer school. some states require after-hours instruction, whether after school or on saturday for students who have been identified as reading. some have at-home reading programs that they work with parents with. so there's a range of

interventions that states are trying to provide for their children to make sure that everybody is on track, reading on grade level, and able to succeed in fourth grade and beyond. >> sreenivasan: so increasing the amount of time spend reading during the day, does that work? >> interesting about time is that, does it work? well, i'll give it a qualified yes. it works but it does depend on how that time is used. so if you just merely increase the time during the day and do nothing else, you need to know how you're going to fill that. is that filled with quality instruction? is that staffed with qualified people? and something else-- i always like to caution people about, when you're talking about adding time to the school day of young children, little kids get tired. so you need to make sure that they're also getting some recess during the day, that they have

snacks and that they're engaged. when all of these pieces are in place we have seen it does make a difference. >> sreenivasan: what about the cost investment? obviously, it costes more money and would that money, say, be better spent hiring for teachers or used differently? >> you're right to point out it is very costly because it does require extra staffing. it requires more time that buildings are open, transportation costs and so forth. so adding time can be one of the most expensive investments that a state or district makes in their public schools. there are other ways to invest that money, as you point out. you know, the research on the quality of teachers and instruction is very, very compelling about the impact that can have on student learning. investments in the leadership, the principal can make a lot of difference, and the quality of the curriculum. all of these piece pieces are ingredients in providing a

public education that will make sure all students are succeeding and will thrive after high school. how you invest those, there's no magic formula. and that's one of the benefits we have in this country. we don't have a single system. we have 50 state systems. within that we have 14,000 school districts. and so all of them-- and each of them-- can take different approaches to this in putting this recipe affect, and they do. when they do that, as researchers, we can learn what is working best. we can share that information and learn from each other. >> sreenivasan: all right, patti barth, the director of the center for public education. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. for more of our in-depth reporting on education around the country, and for all of our coverage of this year's american graduate day, follow our blog at

newshour.pbs.org. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> sreenivasan: some more news before we leave you tonight. james traficant, the ohio democrat expelled from congress in 2002, died today following a farm accident. he was convicted on corruption charges and became only the second congressman expelled since the civil war. a traficant was 73 years old. bernice dawn, who has helped spearhead loosh's efforts to curb ebola has placed herself under quarantine after her office assistant died of the disease. the ebola death count in west africa now exceeds 3,000. seven people are reported missing after a vo cano erupted in japan today. tomorrow, jeff greenfield reports from kansas on the race that could determine who controls the u.s. senate. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for joiningous this

american graduate graut day broadcast. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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