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In the News the week of October 15-19, 2007
Opinion -- Validating school failure * NYC Teachers agree to a form of merit pay * "Reading First" panel awaits studies to gauge the program's impact * MO judge completes his ruling in a massive school funding lawsuit
Nationall/NCLB
Dear Extra Credit: All Students Feel the Effects of Trying to Meet a Higher Standard
“Reading First” panel awaits studies to gauge the program’s impact and expresses dissatisfaction over the lack of adequate and clear data showing how participating schools and districts fare
New research finds that bullies and their victims are more likely than other children to be victims of crime outside of school
School Funding Litigation/Policy
MO judge completes his ruling in a massive school funding lawsuit, and rules that the state is meeting its constitutional obligation to spend 25 percent of the state budget on public education; an appeal appears almost certain
State Roundup
Gov. Schwarzenegger signs a bill mandating that test scores of students in alternative programs count toward the Academic Performance Index of both the school they left and the school they transferred into
CA will offer supplemental instruction and counseling services for students who have reached the end of senior year without passing the state’s high school exit exam
Spurred by complaints from parents, state educators consider easing the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program required for promotion to fifth and ninth grade
Editorial – MCAS scores suggest that many public school students are missing out on the excitement of science; MA should step up its efforts to develop an innovative science education by investing more resources
School suspensions and expulsions have risen significantly in MD, especially for African-Americans, boys and special education students, and the Open Society Institute urges positive behavior programs to avoid disconnecting students from their schools
Opinion – Validating school failure: The dismissal of voucher lawsuit Crawford vs. Davy is another blow to quality education in NJ
Mayor Bloomberg announces the biggest program of merit pay for teachers in the nation, and says “cash incentives are proven motivators for improving results”
NYC teachers union agrees to plan that would give teachers bonuses based largely on the overall test scores of students at schools that have high concentrations of poor children
State report says that nearly one-fifth of core academic courses in OR's middle schools are taught by teachers without proven knowledge in the subject, but educators downplay the report because of the narrow federal definition of "highly qualified"
Professor and superintendent in TN launch an initiative to improve the academic performance of a group that has "fallen down the achievement ladder"
UT legislators consider making changes to the state's exit exam, including exemption for special education students, alternative certification, and an appeals process
In the News on October 17, 2007
School Integration
Desegregation program in MA comes under fire from an unusual source: African-American parents
Other News
Report says that disadvantaged students from urban areas show about the same results in academic achievement regardless of whether they attended a public or private school
Big Brother at school: Education is too important to be left to the government
School Funding Litigation/Policy
MN school districts are “basically begging for money” as they fear having to slash $173 million from their budgets in 2008-09
Opinion – NY Schools Chancellor Klein endorses "fair student funding,” but the plan might erode public support for the schools because it defines the public-school system as a wealth-transfer program
State Roundup
CA high schools boost academic rankings by sending low-scoring students to alternative programs that have separate tests, but this move generates ripple effects in the state's ability to allocate funds and create effective programs for needy students
CA approves a performance test for new teachers that requires aspiring educators to show students are learning before they earn their preliminary licenses
Republican lawmakers in CO unveil their ideas and “real solutions” to improve education
DE adopts a new curriculum that aligns classroom lessons with standardized tests
Nearly 900 IL public schools fail to meet NCLB achievement targets
The experience of a New Orleans charter school offers a cautionary tale of how well-meaning trustees can easily stumble, and of how privatizing management is often far from a panacea
VT state officials ask children for their educational views
In the News on October 16, 2007
Federal/NCLB
NCLB is branding numerous schools as failing, but it is not producing radical change
Commentary – Not Who But What Is Left Behind: Learning to be a good American citizen
Other News
Editorial – “Probe Special Ed Disparities”
Commentary – Five Assessment Myths and Their Consequences
School Funding Litigation/Policy
FL school officials were relieved when cuts to education were largely avoided in the legislature’s property tax proposal, but the numbers released yesterday were less comforting than expected
A proposal to pump $21 million into special education falls victim to IL’s budget fight, and school districts affected by the proposal are in limbo, waiting to see if budget talks get back on track
State Roundup
AZ charter schools suspend their lawsuit against state education officials over social studies curriculum
Los Angeles Superintendent considers the idea of splitting off low-performing schools into what would amount to a special district until their academic scores improve
Poor results on the MCAS science test raise a warning flag for a state that has staked its future on the life sciences and high-tech industries
Special education advocates in TX lobby against “stingy school districts that would rather litigate than get children the specialized help they need”
OH’s new attorney general turns to the court system to shut down charter schools he argues have shown consistently poor academic results
OR gets a “D” according to a sobering report on the status of children, but on the flip side, more children in the state are getting quality day care, preschool or primary school after the Legislature pumped more than $100 million into education initiatives
A failed education experiment: Privatization runs amok in the post-Katrina
In the News on October 15, 2007
School Integration
School integration efforts face renewed opposition: Will the Supreme Court’s June rulings accelerate the re-segregation of
Federal/NCLB
President Bush adds “or above” to his typical description of NCLB’s central goal because voters want schools to teach “more than just the basics”
Opinion – As NCLB reauthorization debates continue, “we need to focus on the quality of our standards and assessments rather than fighting over who administers them”
Opinion – The shaky foundations of NCLB must be confronted, as recent polls reveal that a majority of Americans believe that the law should be rewritten or simply scrapped
Opinion – Why 'No Child' Was Needed: Many classrooms were boring, dull places where children were discouraged from independent thinking and forced to do endless worksheets before NCLB
Other News
MA charter school propels inner-city schools, but can this success be replicated nationally?
Blurring lines among students and subjects – School experiments by placing honors, regular and special education students in the same rooms, offering a course that unifies social studies and English, and encouraging every child to reach higher than before
On urban schooling – New Orleans could end up saving public education because policy makers decided to start from scratch, fashioning a public school system based on new ideas and promising models of reform from around the country
School officials say more special education students need alternatives to federally required standardized testing, and the federal government’s new exception doesn't fill the need
State Roundup
AZ will pursue an appeal over non-English-learner order, arguing that a trial judge is illegally demanding the state to spend more money to teach English to students who come to school not knowing the language
State assessment reflects both the continuing struggle to elevate the performance of AZ’s troubled and mediocre schools and the success of top schools in ratcheting up their marks
DC holds a forum on youth issues for young people to talk about topics that affect them, and participants focus overwhelmingly on the school system
KS is one of a handful of states that doesn't require schools to recognize dyslexia, and parents form a coalition to lobby for change
Analysis shows that graduation rates are up for urban minorities in OH
When most children are asked if they want to have a longer school year or day, their immediate reaction is a resounding ‘NO!' But superintendent says, “we find we have more curriculum than time”
NYC expands cash prizes for students that perform well on Advanced Placement tests
Published Monday, Oct. 22, 2007