麻豆原创

State Roundup

• CT’s recently released state standardized test scores for grades 3 through 8 indicate uneven subject-specific performance.
  
• HI test scores demonstrate improvement, yet sixty percent of public schools still fail to meet their progress goals under No Child Left Behind.
  
• MD education officials acknowledge that changes made on this year’s Maryland School Assessment may have contributed to the large rise in student test scores.
  
• ME communities selected to participated in $3.1 million study to measure their effectiveness in preventing substance abuse and other problems through the implementation of youth programming, such as early childhood services, adolescent mentoring programs, after-school enrichment, and other activities.
  
• OK Education Association (OEA) plans petition drive called HOPE (Helping Oklahoma Public Education) with the goal of amending the State Constitution to require more per-pupil funding.
  

National/NCLB

• McCain discusses education agenda during speech given at NAACP meeting. Top priorities include: school choice programs, direct federal resources to alternative teacher-certification programs, school-level funding for teacher merit pay, access to tutoring services, and fully funding NCLB.
  

School funding/Litigation

• AZ House Speaker’s plan to use $5 million of about $9 million in a House contingency fund to pay for scholarships for hundreds of disabled and foster-care children to attend private schools denied by Attorney General's Office. Denied on grounds that such programs were declared unconstitutional by the Arizona Court of Appeals.
  

State Roundup

• CA high school dropout rate greater than previously estimated—dropout rate reaches nearly 25%.
  
• NJ Board of Education approves raising the minimum, required scores for reading and math proficiency exams in grades 5 through 8.
  
• OK Education Association plans petition drive to raise $850 million for schools by requiring state to fund schools at regional average.
  
• PA Independent Regulatory Review Commission reviews and questions proposal to require high school students to pass subject-specific exams before they can graduate.
  

School funding/Litigation

• CT Legislature approves K-12 budget for fiscal 2008-09.
  
• FL senator schedules public forums on plan to abolish property taxes for school funding. Judge schedules arguments for Aug. 13 on suit to remove Amendment 5 (the proposed elimination of "required local effort" for school support) from the November ballot.
  
• Senate bill approved to provide $61.8 billion for the Department of Education—a 4.2 percent increase over the current year. House Appropriations subcommittee bill approved to boost spending for disadvantaged students and special education. Both bills would eliminate funding for the Reading First program.
  
• Federal funding to be eliminated from Reading First program.
  

State Roundup

• MD Education Department reports improvements in test scores among minority and poor students.
  
• OR , which would restrict the amount of time ELLs could receive instruction in their native languages or take English-as-a-second-language classes, will be put before a statewide vote.
  
• PA Governor and state lawmakers make high school, subject-specific exams for graduation optional.
  
• RI enacts legislation permitting the creation of —public charter schools overseen by municipal leaders and intended to serve a diverse student population.
  

Other News

• A consortium of charter school advocates issue a report designed to serve as a framework for assessing charter quality entitled, “.”
  

Federal/NCLB

• The six states with federal approval to change the way they hold schools accountable under NCLB will use six different ways to distinguish between schools with minor problems and those that need total overhauls
  
• The new president of the American Federation of Teachers vows to take down NCLB, saying it has become “a four-letter word”
  
• Opinion – School Choice could sway Hispanic vote in presidential election.
  
• Studies say gap in teacher qualifications at high- and low-poverty urban schools has narrowed since the beginning of this decade
  
• Commentary – “States must take a lead in improving school leadership”
  

School Funding/Litigation

• Education issues like teacher quality and NCLB were drowned out by concerns over soaring energy prices and a weakening economy at the National Governors Association meeting, yet even those worries intersected with education
  
• Budget woes force cuts in summer school programs across the nation
  
• With fuel prices soaring nationwide, school districts struggle to supplement transportation-budget shortfalls and find ways to offset the increasing costs
  

State Roundup

• MD test scores show surprisingly strong gains in reading and math, especially among disadvantaged students
  
• MT educators and candidates urge lawmakers to hike school funding; the issue could again be a battleground in the 2009 Legislature.
  
• NY’s new data system to calculate high school graduation rates “has caused a number of problems” and the public has yet to learn what percentage of the Class of 2007 graduated
  

National/NCLB

• Board that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress organizes ad hoc committee in an effort to analyze the consistency of policies associated with the exclusions and accommodations of states and cities participating in exam.
  
• States continue to struggle in meeting the NCLB’s academic targets for ELLs in mathematics and reading, according to the latest analysis released by the U.S. Department of Education.
  
• Editorial: Civil rights groups defend provisions of NCLB.
  
• The U.S. Department of Education releases guide to the evaluation of K-12 online-learning programs.
  
• A National Council on Teacher Quality study finds that the math skills elementary school teachers learn in college are insufficient to adequately teach math to their students.
  

State Roundup

• CA legal ruling which outlawed most forms of home schooling in could come under scrutiny because the court case on which it was based has been dismissed
  
• IL budget redistributed after $1.4 billion cut. Education funding to receive $360 million.
  
• NY Governor states that he would like to lift state's cap on charter schools.
  

Published Monday, Jul. 28, 2008