February 16, 2005
Education Week, Vol. 24, Issue 23
Law & Courts
Expirations Keep Documentaries Out of Schools
Documentary films that have become classroom classics are running into problems, because their expired rights are preventing schools from obtaining copies.
Education
Table: The Bush Education Budget
President Bush outlined a fiscal 2006 budget request that envisions a slight decline in overall Department of Education spending, even while instituting new programs. To pay for those programs, plus increases in others, he’s seeking a host of cuts. Highlights of the budget proposal include:
School & District Management
Education Sciences Board Convenes for First Time
The Department of Education convened a new national research advisory board last week that has high hopes of injecting more “science” into the study of schooling.
Education
A National Roundup
‘Grinch’ Promoter Found Guilty of Defrauding Miami Students
A federal jury in Miami last week convicted an event promoter of swindling elementary school children out of a Christmas show in December 2003.
Federal
Groups Tackle Teacher Quality in Needy Schools
Representatives of three education organizations announced last week they will work together to focus more national attention, research, and resources on the problem of hiring and keeping good teachers in traditionally low-performing schools.
Education
A National Roundup
Two Boroughs in New York City Will Lose 22 Catholic Schools
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced last week that it will close 26 of its 147 K-8 schools at the end of the school year. It will reopen four of those schools as regional schools in September.
Education
A National Roundup
Houston Suspends Classroom Meals After State Audit Finds Problems
The Houston school district is suspending its “classroom breakfast” program this week, following a state review that found inadequate procedures for accounting for the meals served.
Education
A National Roundup
School Board Member in Virginia Rapped for Letter on Homosexuality
A Fairfax County, Va., school board member has been chastised by his colleagues for sending a letter on homosexuality to principals.
Student Well-Being
A National Roundup
Obituary: Co-Founder of Education Support Council Dies
Mr. Crawford, 75, was seen as a national leader in public affairs for higher education. The council he helped found provides training and support for professionals working in development, alumni relations, communications, and government relations for colleges and universities, as well as at independent precollegiate schools.
Education
Clarification
Clarification
An article in the Feb. 2 issue about Jim McConnell, the chief facilities executive for the Los Angeles Unified School District, gave an outdated cost estimate for the completion of the former Belmont Learning Center Project. The new estimate to complete a smaller school on the site is $309 million.
Mathematics
Study: Teacher-Designed Math Curriculum Is Effective
A teacher-made math curriculum that stresses problem-solving and mixing high school students of different academic abilities in the same classes can lead to learning gains, a California study released last week suggests.
Education
A National Roundup
Philadelphia Lands Grant for Principal-Training Effort
The Philadelphia school district received a $4.3 million grant last week to support an existing program designed to bolster its corps of principals.
Curriculum
Turning the Tables: Teens Design Test
Students who are sick of standardized tests have turned the tables and challenged adults to take an exam that teenagers designed.
Student Achievement
Ariz. Students Welcome Tutoring for Graduation Exam
Arizona districts are racing to provide tutoring to students who still must pass graduation tests to be given this month.
Equity & Diversity
Tool Helps Wash. Teachers Write Learning Plans
Educators in Washington state and a Naperville, Illinois-based nonprofit group are teaming up to solve a daunting problem: how to craft individualized learning plans for thousands of students who are off track for passing the state’s 10th grade test, which is required for high school graduation starting with the class of 2008.
Education
People in the News
Barbara E. Kerr
Barbara E. Kerr was unanimously re-elected as president of the California Teachers Association in an election held last month.
Law & Courts
Court OKs Ky. District's Dress Code
A federal appeals court last week upheld against a First Amendment challenge a Kentucky school district’s student dress code that prohibits many fashions popular with teenagers and preteens: baggy pants, bluejeans, “distressed” clothing, unnaturally colored hair, and body piercings except those in ears.
Education
People in the News
Robert M. Fanger
Robert M. Fanger is the new communications director for the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, based in Indianapolis.
Federal
Other Agencies’ Budgets Would Also Affect Education
Under President Bush’s proposed fiscal 2006 budget announced last week, the federal Head Start program would get a $45 million increase in funding. But that money would go for a project involving only a handful of states, not to increase the main program educating preschoolers.
Teaching Profession
N.Y.C. Teachers’ Union Moves to Open 2 Charter Schools
Who says that big-city teachers’ contracts are obstacles to reform? Certainly not the United Federation of Teachers, and to prove it, the union representing New York City’s public school teachers last week moved ahead with plans to open its own charter schools.
School Choice & Charters
Texas Urged to Beef Up Oversight of Poor Charter Schools
Though Texas has given birth to some of the nation’s most outstanding charter schools, it needs to overhaul its policies so that those on the bottom rung don’t drag down the state’s entire charter sector, concludes a report from a national think tank that is friendly to the concept of charter schools.
School & District Management
More Boards Mulling 'Policy Governance'
When the Clark County, Nev., school board pledged four years ago to avoid micromanaging the district and focus on the big picture of improving student achievement, the move was a radical shift.
Special Education
Subject Qualification Vexing for Teachers in Special Education
Many teachers and special education advocates maintain that federal law requirements that special education teachers be highly qualified in subject areas has caused more confusion than clarity.
Curriculum
Teacher Training Leads to Higher Test Scores
First, they immersed themselves in hours of mathematics lessons over the summer and on Saturdays during the school year. Then they molded that enhanced knowledge into classroom curricula. And finally, they learned strategies on how to impart their newfound skills to fellow math colleagues.
Curriculum
Reading Teachers See Few Changes Under NCLB Law
While most reading professionals agree with the basic tenets of the federal No Child Left Behind Act—that reading instruction should be based on research and teachers should engage in sound professional development in the subject—fewer than half in a recent survey indicated that instruction has improved as a result of the 3-year-old law.
Curriculum
AFT Archive Opens Collection of Shanker Papers
The official record of Albert Shanker’s historic tenure as the president of the American Federation of Teachers is now open to the public.
Education
Report Roundup
Preschoolers’ Health
Preschoolers who regularly consume sugary drinks, such as sodas and fruit juice, may face an increased risk of becoming overweight, concludes a study published this month in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Education
Report Roundup
Chicago Dropouts
Dropout rates for students in the Chicago public school system are higher than official district estimates, concludes a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research, located at the University of Chicago.
Education
Report Roundup
Sex Education Study Compares Curricula
Comprehensive sex education programs in public schools fail to drive home the importance of abstinence and focus instead on encouraging the use of contraception to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, concludes a report released last week by the Heritage Foundation.