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February 27, 2007
Education News for Tuesday, February 27
Spitzer administration, teachers' union take on teacher sex cases - The Spitzer administration's education czar and New York's largest teachers' union on Monday said they will help confront a rise in cases of teachers having sex with students.
Second Report Confirms School District Gains - Performance evaluations of the Philadelphia School District during its massive reform movement of the last five years continue to yield positive reviews.
No Child Left Behind Debate Rekindles - Report on the NCLB debate in West Virginia (video required).
NSTA to Provide ‘Anchors’ to Winnow Topics (Edweek.org registration required) - The National Science Teachers Association is launching a project to help educators identify the most crucial concepts in that subject, a move that comes as political and business leaders are calling for greater consistency in how science and mathematics are taught nationwide.
National Standards Urged for Math, Science Teachers (Edweek.org registration required) - A federal commission has issued draft recommendations calling for the creation of national licensing standards for teachers in mathematics and science, in what would mark a clear shift away from a system controlled by individual states and universities.
Church Schools Face Challenge From Charters - Catholic schools around New York are facing a new threat to their increasingly tenuous existence: charter schools.
Reform D.C. special ed - Editorial: It's imperative -- with the court watching their every move and the rising costs of special education robbing every classroom -- that programs for special-needs students be reformed.
No Child Left Behind? Well, Maybe Just a Few - Opinion: You think you hate your job? Imagine working for the National Assessment of Educational Progress at the U.S. Department of Education, which releases periodic reports on the state of education in the U.S.
Sestak conducts a Delco hearing on 'No Child' law - School teachers, parents, administrators and students turned out for an education forum yesterday in Delaware County, Pennsylvania to tell newly elected congressman Joe Sestak that they like the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind Act but want changes in how it tests students, how much money it gives struggling schools and the accommodations it makes for special-education students' disabilities.
$1.2 billion more for education sought - Washington state would increase education spending by $1.2 billion over the next two years under a budget plan state legislators unveiled Monday.
Grim forecast for struggling high schoolers - Struggling students in high schools across the Denver area are not likely to improve academically, and some may slip in core subjects as they progress through high school.
Governors Face Realties of Globalization - The only way to thrive amid globalization is to change, and states are past due for a sweeping transformation of education, worker training and economic development, governors agreed Monday after days of discussions at the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association.
House OKs bill on equality of teacher unions - A bill intended to level the playing field for competing teacher unions in Utah was amended to its original form and passed the House Monday.
Hot air on D.C. school reform pollutes the debate - Opinion: A host of self-appointed experts and activists and academics and Home Rule ideologues comment on and study our public schools. They are the professional talkers, bloviating for decades while schools failed our children.
Legislators eye radical reforms - In Colorado, the enduring political divide between backers of charter and online schools and the crowd determined to improve traditional public education is narrowing as a unifying goal emerges: radical and systematic school reform.
Patrick extends himself - Editorial: Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick isn't likely to please most local officials with his proposed doubling of a budget line item for an extended school day. It would be easier and more popular to concentrate education aid exclusively on the unrestricted Chapter 70 account beloved by cities and towns. But instead, Patrick is boldly targeting millions of dollars for competitive grants that hold real promise for education reform.
School art scandal requires more than an investigation - Caught spending at least $1.6 million on professional artwork, the Detroit Public Schools is providing fuel for the exodus of students from its schools. Parents, students and others must hold the district accountable for this disgrace.
Money talks - Editorial: The job of Los Angeles Unified School District board members is only part time, and it pays but $24,000 a year - hardly the most desirable office in a region that routinely bestows six-figure salaries upon its public officials. And yet the position is so highly coveted that campaigns for it command millions of dollars in special-interest contributions. That ought to tell you something.
No Child Left Behind is working because it provides accountability - Opinion: In 1965, President Johnson signed into law the first federal aid program for high-poverty school districts. It lacked one core ingredient, however: accountability. A year later, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy asked, "What happened to the children? Do you mean you spent a billion dollars and you don't know whether they can read or not?" The No Child Left Behind Act is America's answer to that question.
Growing our own - Editorial: Improving high school math and science instruction is fast shaping up as a big priority. It's attention that's as overdue as it is welcome. Most states have long shortchanged their gifted students, paying only lip service to the need to challenge them with rewarding, rigorous courses. And many students shy away from math and science. But the problem goes deeper than that.
Are we losing our boys? - Something ominous is happening with boys and young men in Wichita and nationwide. They are blowing off life, skipping classes, failing courses, dropping out.
Demand for English Lessons Outstrips Supply - As immigrants increasingly settle away from large urban centers — New York’s suburbs have had a net gain of 225,000 since 2000, compared with 44,000 in the city — many are waiting months or even years to get into government-financed English classes, which are often overcrowded and lack textbooks.
In New Jersey, Districts Find Aid Increases Insufficient - Nearly half of the increased state aid that Gov. Jon S. Corzine promised for schools in his budget proposal last week will be eaten up by teachers’ benefits and school construction, and much of the remaining $300 million is earmarked for literacy and early childhood programs, education officials in New Jersey said yesterday.
Fenty's Overhaul Plan Echoes Janey's - D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, seeking to gain control of the city's school system, has drafted a 31-page plan for education improvements that offers few new initiatives and instead stresses the need to speed up restructuring measures already being implemented by Superintendent Clifford B. Janey.
UPDATE:
Parents of 8 BJM students seeking transfers for kids - The parents of eight Beverly J. Martin Elementary School students have requested transfers for their children under No Child Left Behind's School Choice option, a district official said Monday.
District disputes charter school's admission policy - Albert Einstein Academy Charter School in San Diego offers a language immersion program that's rare, if not unique, in the region...but the San Diego Unified School District says the school's admissions policy giving preference to German speakers may violate equal protection clauses in state and federal law.
School Board OKs disputed pay system - After listening to arguments from both the union and district staff, board members said they had no choice, because the state has threatened to withhold $3.1 million in Florida Lottery proceeds if the district does not participate in the Special Teachers Are Rewarded (STAR) program established by the Legislature last spring.
Freston's Principle - Editorial: We're certainly proponents of the idea that parents of Mr. Freston's means, who pay a hefty share of the taxes in this city yet largely opt out of the public schools, deserve to be able to use their tax dollars on schools that work for their children.
School changes are on the way - School officials and parents need to accept that things are going to change for East Detroit Schools as enrollment continues to fall, Superintendent Bruce Kefgen said Monday.
Mathematics and the Pure in Heart - (Edweek.org subscription required) Opinion: One might reasonably assume that the math wars have died down. From occasional newspaper reports, one might have the impression that the sides have agreed to make nice. Not so.
Parties spar on education funding - For years, lower Fairfield County politicians have complained that the formula the state uses to dole out education money needs to be fixed.
Five Reasons Not To Worry About U.S. Schools - Opinion by Jay Mathews: Is the rest of the world making our schools look bad? That is what we are going to be hearing from many American politicians as the 2008 campaign accelerates. But a refreshingly clear and balanced report just published by The Center for Public Education indicates this is a simple-minded argument that is unworthy of us and our democracy.
Defining Autism - The Washington Post features a series on autism and learning disorders. Articles include: Gifted? Autistic? Or Just Quirky? - As More Children Receive Diagnoses, Effects of These Labels Seem Mixed, Rare No More - With Research Up and Stigma Down, Autism Sheds More of Its Mystery, and a Q&A with author Roy Richard Grinker.
Critical Years - A multimedia feature from the New York Times on "The Middle School Dilemma."
House: No Child Left Behind goes too far - The [Indiana] House voted 56-40 today to pass a bill barring the federal No Child Left Behind educational standards from being used as a basis for accrediting schools or hiring teachers in Indiana.
State budget short of aid schools need - School aid figures in the state budget Gov. Deval L. Patrick will talk about in a televised address tonight will not go far enough to keep many local school departments, including Worcester public schools, from falling further behind next year.
Governors Uniting for NCLB Changes - (Edweek.org subscription required) The nation’s governors, who wrap up a four-day meeting here today, are uniting for the first time to lobby for changes to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which was enacted five years ago with little input from this group of state leaders.
States Face Federal Review On NCLB Choice, Tutoring - (Edweek.org subscription required) The Department of Education has added six more states to a list of 17 already selected for intensive monitoring of their supplemental-education-services and public-school-choice programs under the No Child Left Behind Act.
State OKs Chinese charter school - The Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion School is still seeking a location in western Massachusetts. It would be open to 300 students, kindergarten through eighth grade.
Charter school plan rejected - The Madison School Board voted 4-2 against the creation of the Studio School at a meeting Monday night, citing unanswered questions about the proposal and a projected budget shortfall that could mean cuts in other areas.
Let vouchers help kids, not pain schools - Opinion: It’s up to the parents, not the government, to decide — just as Lanetta Estrada did — which approaches will best serve the needs of their children. The goal here is to empower parents, not to regulate the competition.
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