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September 26, 2007

September 26, 2007

WI worst reading gap, unbiased study reveals vouchers work... opponents brush off, NAEP (nation's report card) results reveal choice impact ...  

Atlanta Journal Constitution: A Slip-Up on Vouchers: Plan off to a tardy start - Program to help students with disabilities might have done more good if it hadn't come after private schools' deadlines.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI: Reading gap is nation's worst - The average reading ability for fourth- and eighth-grade black students in Wisconsin is the lowest of any state, and the reading achievement gap between black students and white students in Wisconsin continues to be the worst in the nation.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI: 'Ho-hum' says much about school choice foes - Another study suggesting good results from school choice in Milwaukee, not that it will make much of a dent with the opposition. This tells you something about the opposition. The latest study links the ability of poor parents to take state aid to religious schools to improvements at Milwaukee Public Schools. Not linked to any school choice organization, Economist Chakrabarti of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, found that scores improved more at schools that were more subject to competition - schools where a greater proportion of students were poor and could use a voucher if their parents chose. This shows the improvements weren't driven by other changes in MPS, such as new leadership. It was the increased competition.

Daily Tar Heel, NC: Grant helps state's ESL teachers - One federal grant combined with proposed changes to NCLB could reshape the way North Carolina instructs its non-English-speaking students. UNC-Greensboro recently received a five-year, $1.4 million federal grant for its Teach English to Speakers of Other Languages project. North Carolina has a growing ESL population and needs to prepare teachers to teach all the children in their classroom.

Myrtle Beach Online: Study: Residents want high teacher quality - The study involved 3,000 hours worth of interviews with more than 800 people - business leaders, parents, students, superintendents, principals, teachers and school board members - from each county and school district. The institute is calling it the largest education study ever done from the grass-roots level.

Jackson Sun, TN: Bredesen extols state education reforms to business group - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen promoted a simple approach to education reform focused on improving the quality of teachers during a speech today to business and education leaders. Ways to improve the teacher quality include paving the way for non-traditional career experts to move into the classroom, professional development, bonus pay for outstanding performance, and evaluating teachers more closely before they are granted tenure.

PRNewswire: Nation's Report Card: Policy Changes Have Impact - The NAEP snapshot of student achievement tells us students are learning more, but not nearly enough. With proficiency levels still well below 50 percent, we have much more to do. This data can drive education policy changes that are critical to our children's success.

Evansville Courier & Press, IN: Advocate finds government can't micromanage education - NCLB still doesn't get to the core of what's wrong with education in the United States: a public education system that forces most children to go to a school of the government's choice, not the parents'.

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