Education News for Monday, January 22
Secretary Spellings Highlights Student Success, Economic Benefit of No Child Left Behind Act at Northeast Leadership Forum Annual Luncheon - Press release: At the Northeast Leadership Forum Annual Luncheon, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings touted the success of students under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and encouraged business and community leaders to support the reauthorization of the law whose goal is every student in the nation reading and doing math on grade level by 2014.
Schools face multitide of concerns regarding No Child Left Behind - Opinion: There are a plethora of concerns that public schools have about No Child Left Behind. The concerns, among others, have centered on schools meeting Adequate Yearly Progress.
Pa. education board to consider adding student representative - Students eventually may have a voice in setting public-school policies in Pennsylvania as part of a wider movement to include them on state education boards.
Sides spar over cutbacks for charter schools - State auditors discourage the approval of more charter schools in Utah until recommendations in a new report are implemented, an official told the state charter board Thursday.
Bill offers vouchers for special needs children - Some Georgia parents could get taxpayers to pay part or all of their private school tuition under a bill that won critical support Thursday.
Charter schools quietly take significant role - Once considered a shot in the dark, Florida’s charter school movement just turned 10 years old. It’s still invisible to most of the public, still showing mixed results, still considered a distraction by many school districts. But it’s now clear that charter schools are no longer a fad.
Villaraigosa Wants Public School Students to Wear Uniforms - Campuses and classrooms need to downsize, school security needs a boost and teachers need to be paid more while offering classes that prepare students for college and careers, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.
Doyle says he’ll keep promise on city’s voucher funding - Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said Friday that the budget proposal he will make on Feb. 13 will fulfill a promise he made almost a year ago to not put the cost of expanding Milwaukee’s voucher education program on the backs of Milwaukee property-tax payers.
Educators seek to defeat school reform bills - School districts and organizations across New Jersey’s Mercer County are lobbying against two bills that would strip the autonomy from local school boards and give complete oversight to county freeholders, though lawmakers say the legislation is dead.
True Charter School Idea Embodies Basic American Principle - Letter to the editor: Having helped write the nation’s first charter law (in Minnesota) and having been invited to testify in more than 20 states and several congressional committees on this subject, I think it is vital to be clear about real charter laws.
$730 million more needed for education, study says - The sticker shock was fierce: about $100 million more a year, for seven years, to get Montana children up to state and national education standards. That’s the bottom line of a new study commissioned by the Montana Quality Education Coalition released Friday
Charter Schools Could Help Competition in Education - Americans have favored competition in telecommunications, the automobile industry and in retailing, but resist competition in education, said Alan Bersin, former California secretary of education and former San Diego school superintendent.
No Child teacher criteria vary widely - To overhaul public education, the No Child Left Behind law required a massive expansion of student testing. But it also called for states to ensure that all teachers in core academic subjects are "highly qualified" to help students succeed — an unprecedented mandate that has delivered less than promised.
Critics of Fenty’s Takeover Plan Call for Referendum - Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has decided to bypass a public referendum on his proposal to reduce the authority of the D.C. Board of Education. Critics say that Fenty — who led his inaugural speech with a push for statehood and has scheduled a march to Capitol Hill in April — is being hypocritical by not allowing residents to vote on a change to their governance.
School choice plan gains support - Parents are hanging their hopes on a controversial bill that would set aside up to $40 million in Missouri tax incentives to help children enroll in private schools. If approved, the plan could trigger an exodus of as many 8,000 students from struggling school districts.
Special-needs students apart - Rhode Island schools are keeping too many special-education students in separate classrooms, a practice that educators say prevents many of these students from receiving the same education as their peers in regular classrooms.
Q&A with Sandra Tsing Loh - A chat with a Los Angeles-based writer and performer who contributes to the LA Times edublog, School Me.
Inefficiency still plagues Ohio schools - Editorial: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is absolutely right about reforming the state’s public schools. Simply throwing more money at them won’t help. True systemic reform is needed.
Sanford, Rex should work together on common reform goals - Opinion: With a new term, and a new superintendent, there’s an opportunity for progress — if the governor (and the superintendent of education, but I’m less worried about him) will seize it.
Magnet schools introduce kids to world of possibilities - Nearly 10,000 people showed up at the Magnets & More School Choice Expo in Jacksonville to help students find specialized schools to learn everything from how to fly a plane, design a video game or make an omelette.
Closing education gap viewed as key to prosperity - Narrowing the academic achievement gap between white and minority students is not just a moral imperative, but an economic necessity, a national expert on the American work force said in Kalamazoo last week.
Group teaches parents to help children succeed - A West Virginia academy geared toward teaching parents how to help their children succeed educated those in attendance Saturday about the importance of being actively involved in monitoring a child’s day-to-day activities.
UA gives local math teachers lunch, positive feedback - More than 300 local math teachers were treated to a conference, lunch and heartfelt thanks Saturday, part of a University of Arizona effort to increase the number of high-quality math teachers in middle and high schools.
College math cool in middle school - On Monday, 41 students will begin taking an Arizona Western College algebra class. They will be enrolled in AWC and earn credits on a college transcript before they are even out of junior high school.
Gary Hart: Update the state’s education standards - Opinion: California’s standards-based education system has served us well in part because we have been willing to modify important components such as our test, textbook and accountability systems. The time is overdue to review and strengthen our standards and give our students the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in an increasingly complex and changing world.
Antonio’s school plan stuff of history - Opinion column critical of Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposed LAUSD takeover.
Methods can hide lagging scores - In a computer analysis of testing data from Kansas and Missouri, The Kansas City Star found thousands of cases throughout the two-state area in which groups of students earned a stamp of approval last year through No Child Left Behind, even though their scores fell short of state requirements.
Columnist dramatic in saying ‘No Child’ law isn’t working - Letter to the editor from USDOE representative: NCLB is working, and more children are learning. That’s no act, that’s a fact.
Does Alabama set bar too low? - Editorial: The federal No Child Left Behind Act, which required states to test to ensure that all students throughout the nation receive an equal chance to learn, has forced all states to develop standards for reading and math proficiency. But now some experts are questioning whether allowing each state to develop its own standards is the best tactic.
School choice prepares kids for the world - Opinion: Private school vouchers are shaping up to be a hot topic at this year’s Utah Legislature. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of heat that gets passions burning, and when that happens, people stop listening. So it might help for everyone to calm down a bit and look at the problem from a different perspective.
Assessing educational plan - Editorial: No Child Left Behind was a good idea. Its implementation has not been as smooth as lawmakers had hoped. It is those lawmakers who get the opportunity to fix it so that our children get the education they deserve - and that we desperately need them to receive for the future of our nation.
La Crosse a pioneer in socioeconomic dynamics of schools - Former La Crosse superintendent Dick Swantz and current associate superintendent Kathie Tyser met with leaders from seven other districts nationwide that, like La Crosse, have experimented with balancing their schools by parents’ income instead of race.
Students to learn money management - Ohio high-school students soon will get lessons in money management along with the tougher math and science standards the Legislature approved last month. Instruction in personal finance is set to begin in 2010 but could start earlier if new state Treasurer Rich Cordray has his way.
Dade schools to star in advertising blitz - After five years of steadily losing students, the Miami-Dade school system is going on the offensive to bolster enrollment — and faith — in the district.
What Do The LA School Wars Say About America Future? - Opinion: Last week saw two events exemplifying the vast contradiction between how the American upper middle class views IQ and schooling in public—and what it actually thinks in private.
Pitched voices - Editorial: Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s legislative proposal to restructure school governance would make the D.C. Board of Education, which now controls administrative, budgetary and policy matters, a state advisory panel, a move the board views as a demotion. While we do not hold that view, we do agree in principle with another announcement the board made last week.
Close the gap — fund all-day kindergarten - Editorial: Mountains of research point to the benefits of offering all-day kindergarten, especially for disadvantaged children. But unless more state funding comes through to support all-day kindergarten, the possibility that Mankato, Minnesota could lose its full-day kindergarten program looms like the scary monster in the closet.
Education center advises future teachers - Education majors might have increased signing bonuses and other incentives to look forward to after a new study was released by the Indiana University Center for Evaluation and Education Policy.
Younger students enrolling at college - Tennessee’s Pellissippi State Technical Community College saw its enrollment for students 17 years old and younger jump significantly in fall 2006. The big reason: dual enrollment, which allows high school juniors and seniors to earn dual credit for high school and college course work.
Math, reading scores too low - "California’s K-12 schools aren’t preparing children to compete in today’s economy," according to "The 2006-07 California Report Card: The State of the State’s Children," a research report from Children Now, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.
Do school vouchers belong in Utah? - The school voucher debate is already under way at the Utah Legislature again this year. Last year’s proposal would have let parents spend some state education funds on private school tuition. A draft of the 2007 bill looks similar.
Beneath mayor’s fanfare lies a sound framework - Opinion: If you think the tug-of-war for control of the schools will simply fade away as the mayor’s takeover law founders in court, you weren’t paying attention to Schoolhouse-apalooza’s secret signs.
Seeking education success - Editorial: The 5-year-old federal No Child Left Behind law is up for reauthorization this year, and Mr. Bush and Congress should not let it go forward without significant changes.
No Child Left Behind - Letter to the editor from USDOE representative: An editorial last Wednesday calls for killing the No Child Left Behind Act. Just remember the baby you’d be throwing out with the bathwater: improving reading and math achievement, rising test scores and narrowing achievement gaps — not just in South Carolina but all across the country.
Schools fear increased testing cutting into instruction time - With the new year barely under way, Hawai’i public school teachers and students already are looking toward April and the next round of grueling high-stakes testing under No Child Left Behind.
Competing for students - This year, Pennsylvania’s Beaver County public school districts will spend $6.4 million to educate students who live within their boundaries but go to charter schools instead.
Traditional approach is being challenged by reform math - A math problem might have only one answer, but there could be many ways to get to the answer; that’s the gray area. And teaching students how to get to the answer has been a topic of much debate — so much that it’s been dubbed "math wars" — pitting reform math against traditional math.
A period of transition - In the world of braces and hormones, teachers get creative to keep their middle schoolers focused.
Taking Middle Schoolers Out of the Middle - Should the nurturing cocoon of elementary school be extended for another three years, shielding 11-year-olds from the abrupt transition to a new school, with new students and teachers, at one of the most volatile times in their lives?
Teachers Tackle Their Own Extra Credit - Although some wonder how much the program raises student achievement, there is a growing movement toward national certification.
UPDATE:
House Republicans renew pledges for progress - Opinion: [Indiana] House Republicans hope to expand the debate with proposals for greater teacher incentives and accountability, expanded education options for the neediest families, advocating that tax dollars follow students directly to the classroom rather than just funding buildings and institutional costs, and by empowering school boards to place full-day kindergarten block grant money where it is needed.
Florida’s Disturbing, Declining Grad Rate - Editorial: The bleak spot in Florida’s education reform remains its dismal high school graduation rate, and this year the rate slid backward.
Changes planned for school report cards - A new look could be coming for annual report cards that describe how South Carolina public schools measure up against state and federal academic achievement goals.
First Day of School Choice Busy in Lee - Parents lineup early to choose the school for their child in Lee County, Florida.
Education Extra: Opportunities - Eugene, Oregon’s open choice system allows for parents to send their children to any school in the district where space is still available.
Choice school offers new approach to socioeconomic balance - These are the young faces of poverty, but you’d never know it by their zeal to learn and the relative lack of distractions because of discipline problems.
Embrace the charters - Editorial: As difficult as it may be for them, public school officials should view the new charter high schools approved last week by the state as a positive development.
Williams says tutoring program is failing kids - Several million dollars in federal money is being wasted each year on after-school tutoring for Buffalo students that is producing no real benefits, Superintendent James A. Williams charged.
East Providence student wants to be challenged by his school work - While some middle schoolers may claim they have too much homework, one seventh grader says he doesn’t get enough; and what he does get is too easy.
Blunt proposes higher funding for math, science education - Blunt plans to outline his budget during his State of the State speech Wednesday night. But he offered some details on targeted education spending during several stops around the state Monday.
Judges would enforce ‘right’ to education - Few would disagree that every child is entitled to a high-quality education. But making it a "fundamental right" in the Ohio Constitution, as called for in a proposed amendment unveiled last week, could have broad legal consequences, placing education on the same level as the right to vote and freedom of speech.
What Parents Want: Arizonans support school choice - According to a recent poll most Arizonans support school choice.
