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In the News September 18-21, 2007
Lyndon B. Johnson's take on the NCLB Act * Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools * Editorial: On NJ's public education system * GA's tougher graduation requirements receive mixed reviews from local educators * High schools adopt Mexico's public school curriculum to help ELLs
September 21, 2007
School Funding Litigation/Policy
MO judge dealt yet another blow to a massive school funding lawsuit, by saying he believes that the state is exceeding a constitutional obligation to spend 25 percent of its budget on education
MO state attorneys claim that the state is far exceeding a constitutional requirement for public school spending
State Roundup
Science scores improve on DE test scores, but social studies results remain steady and the state blames the NCLB Act
NJ school boards hope for another $1.9 billion in state aid and more state-funded teacher training to keep up with the growing cost of special educational services for students with autism or other learning disabilities
SC residents make suggestions for improving education and they say they “feel politics gets in the way of practical solutions”
Other News
Editorial: On NJ's public education system, “an Education Department incapable of doing the job”
September 20, 2007
School Funding Litigation/Policy
GA lawmakers hope to update the state's 20-year-old school funding formula and they look for a way to free local school systems from state mandates on everything from class sizes to teacher tenure while trying to stretch their education money further
NH Supreme Court gives lawmakers until July to work on a school funding fix without further court intervention
Three decades after the NJ Supreme Court began dramatically rearranging the landscape of the state’s education funding, four retired jurists reconvene and none appear to have softened their stands in the school equity cases
State Roundup
Report suggests that special education students in CT need to improve on standardized tests, spend more time in the regular classroom, and spend less time serving out-of-school suspensions
GA’s tougher graduation requirements receive mixed reviews from local educators
As the pressure for high stakes exams grows, IL achieves the earliest-ever release of exam results, but they offer a mixed academic picture – elementary and middle school scores climbed while high school scores dropped
MS Superintendent of Education describes the “teacher shortage” problem in the state as "a crisis" and asks for a 3 percent pay raise and an increase in the number of years teachers can receive a pay hike
Some OR high schools adopt
UT students might see a lighter load of state tests, the idea is to truly see how much kids know to better help them achieve
Federal/NCLB
Lyndon B. Johnson’s take on the NCLB Act
Math Now, a new program modeled on Reading First and included as part of the America Competes Act, is authorized with some differences
Other News
Task force offers guidance on how to design assessment and accountability systems appropriate for young children
Fordham Foundation Report finds that not all alternative teacher certification programs are equal
Justice Sandra Day O’Conner pushes schools to step up civics instruction as she insists that "the key to maintaining our system is education"
The 39th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
School Funding Litigation/Policy
OH’s embattled public schools are confronted with a new lawsuit that challenges whether students within each district are being treated equally, and the action strikes at the heart of the state's school funding dispute
State Roundup
OH Attorney General says that public school districts cannot make parents pay for all-day kindergarten
Educators try to sell the idea of performance pay for teachers to OK lawmakers
FL adds new math standards to encourage hands-on lessons to improve the state's sometimes dismal math performance
MD’s latest revisions to high school assessment tests have added more fodder to an already contentious debate about the state-mandated exit exams
Survey finds that SD schools prepare for catastrophic events but rely on informal plans for lesser problems
School Integration
Editorial: School Integration in Proper Perspective - “racially integrated schools are vital if our nation is to viably move beyond its tragic racial history”
Federal/NCLB
State groups use NCLB reauthorization debate to remind federal legislators of some chronic concerns related to special education services
Other News
New study finds that despite the drive to raise the level of math and science courses across the country, students and parents are apparently satisfied with a less-rigorous level of instruction in those subjects
Project-based learning is an appealing feature of many new small high schools, but teachers are finding that the method’s objectives are easier said than done
Performance pay gains momentum in Congress, but national teachers unions denounce the proposal in part because it is based on what they consider to be an unfair and unreliable measure: student test scores
September 18, 2007
Federal/NCLB
As NCLB debates continue, dialogue deteriorates into finger-pointing and a game of “he said, she said
Kozol holds fast to ‘No Child’ protest
A new book evaluates the schools-within-schools model that addresses the growing concern over large impersonal high schools, and finds that “the approach led to increased stratification of students by race, academic ability, and socioeconomic status”
School principals face mounting pressures as accountability and the need to raise student achievement grow
Commentary: “Why good teachers aren't thinking about the global economy”
Long term study finds that most adolescents with disabilities believe they will graduate from high school with a regular diploma
School Integration
50 years later, Little Rock is still at the center of racial and power struggles
School Funding Litigation/Policy
Fiscal woes raise anxiety levels on school budgets in a number of states, and educators get ready to defend existing programs and prepare for the worst if budget cuts become a reality
VT consultant says there is almost no way to assess how individual schools use funding or whether children whose schooling costs more are better educated
AL hopes to speed up school construction projects by selling more than $1 billion in school bonds all at once rather than spreading out the sale over two years
State Roundup
AZ school boards oppose consolidation proposals
CA all-digital curriculum is widespread in the state, but the textbook industry remains strong nationwide
Editorial: If CA is going to get serious about attacking its dropout rate, then it needs to do more to help young people stay in school
CO panel reports on education improvement plans, and early education is given top priority
NY Education Department is praised for improving school reporting systems
NEA donates money to persuade UT voters to kill the country's broadest private school voucher program
WA is recognized for “mapping” initiatives to prepare public schools for emergencies
IN THE NEWS ON SEPTEMBER 17, 2007
School Integration
AL plan brings out a cry of re-segregation and angry parents turn to NCLB as their weapon
Federal/NCLB
Teacher unions address NCLB issues facing Congress and they contest current merit-pay proposals
Other News
The tug-of-war on education issues becomes a “struggle for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party”
State Roundup
IN considers assessing students throughout the year instead of at the beginning of each school year
OK parents and teachers complain about overcrowded classrooms and the loophole that exempts many districts from the legislation that establishes class-size limits
PA school districts prepare for higher academic expectations, and even high-performing schools could be in trouble based on the performance of subgroups
SC poll on school choice reveals that nearly half of black
SD evaluates school consolidation: “how small is too small?”
Data shows that a record 27 percent of UT schools failed to make adequate progress toward federal education reform goals last school year
Published Monday, Sep. 24, 2007