October 19, 2005
Education Week, Vol. 25, Issue 08
Education
Table: Relief Proposals on Capitol Hill
Congress is considering several proposals for federal aid to schools affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
School & District Management
For Education Dept., Hurricane Issues Are a Top Priority
The Department of Education’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights has spent part of every week in Mississippi ever since Hurricane Katrina swept across the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.
Families & the Community
Justices Seek U.S. Views on Expert Fees Under IDEA
The U.S. Supreme Court asked the Bush administration last week for its views on whether parents can be reimbursed under the main federal special education law for the fees of experts who take part in a challenge to a student’s individualized education program.
Education Funding
Colorado Referendum Targets Revenue Cap
To some Colorado residents, Referendum C is the best chance to spare the state’s schools from deep budget cuts. To others, the ballot measure—which will go before voters Nov. 1—represents a steep tax increase and gives lawmakers too much power over how state revenues are spent.
School & District Management
Virginia Gubernatorial Hopefuls Differ on School Policy
Virginia voters say education is one of their top election issues in this fall’s race for governor. But with less than a month to go before Election Day, it’s hard to tell if Democratic candidate Timothy M. Kaine’s plan for universal prekindergarten or Republican Jerry W. Kilgore’s proposal for teacher merit pay have energized the voters they want to woo.
Curriculum
Displaced TFA Corps to Work in Louisiana Relief Centers
Some 50 Teach For America teachers who lost their jobs because of the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina should soon be back at work as managers in Louisiana’s recovery effort.
Federal
Purpose of Testing Needs to Shift, Experts Say
“We’ve got to stop using assessments as a hammer and begin to use them appropriately, as a diagnostic and learning tool,” Kurt Landgraf, the president of the Educational Testing Service, said at the organization’s 2005 Invitational Conference here last week.
Federal
Panel Urges U.S. Push to Raise Math, Science Achievement
Warning that the United States stands to lose its economic, scientific, and technological edge over the rest of the world, a panel convened by the National Academies has issued a call for federal initiatives costing $10 billion a year to reverse the situation—including many aimed at K-12 schooling.
School Choice & Charters
Private Schools Feel Slighted by Disaster-Relief Rules
Private school administrators are trying to get on an equal footing with public schools when it comes to qualifying for money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replace buildings and school materials damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Early Childhood
Growing Niche for Tutoring Chains: Prekindergartners’ Academic Prep
Academic tutoring has dropped down to the sandbox-and-nap-time set. In recent years, early-childhood education experts and industry analysts say, more parents have started sending their 3- to 5-year-old children to for-profit tutoring centers to give them an academic edge in elementary school.
Federal
Cuts Weighed to Pay for Hurricane Relief
Congressional Republicans have proposed cutting some education programs to free up federal money for hurricane relief for schools. But Congress didn’t get any closer last week to approving a federal aid plan, so school districts continue to wait for such aid to flow to their schools.
Special Education
Gov. Schwarzenegger Vetoes Changes to State Exam Policy
Groups that advocate on behalf of English-language learners and students with disabilities in California are disappointed that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed several bills that they believe would have helped those students.
Law & Courts
Court Mulls Protection for Public-Employee Speech
A case testing the limits of the First Amendment’s protections for speech by government employees came before the U.S. Supreme Court last week, as the justices considered whether extending constitutional protection to job-related speech would interfere with the operations of public agencies, including school districts.
Law & Courts
Table: The First Amendment and Government Workers
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in Garcetti v. Ceballos, a case that will further define when speech by a public employee, such as a teacher, is protected by the First Amendment. the court has made other key decisions in this area, including in the Pickering and Connick cases, considered the most important rulings on the subject.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Pay for Performance
I wonder when those whose work is miles, literally and metaphorically, from classrooms will stop making calls for pay for performance?
Education
A Washington Roundup
Spellings: U.S. Offers Model for Educational Improvement
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings touted the success of the federal No Child Left Behind Act before a forum of world education leaders this month, claiming it has helped U.S. students achieve more progress in the past five years than in the previous 30 years combined.
Education
A Washington Roundup
Department Issues Hurricane Booklet
The Department of Education has released a booklet offering guidance and assistance to school officials, parents, and others helping students affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Education
District Faces Host of Logistical Woes
Jefferson Parish school officials had lots to worry about in getting campuses ready to reopen Oct. 3, five weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit. Many of the worries remain.
School Climate & Safety
Winds of Change
As their schools reopened weeks after Hurricane Katrina, students and teachers in Jefferson Parish, La., were realizing just how much their lives had changed.
School & District Management
Federal File
Boehner and the Hammer
He’s already leading the House education committee, but Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, may have his eyes on something bigger.
Accountability
Opinion
Trading Coffee, Computer Chips, and Degrees in Education
How is a college degree different from coffee, textiles, steel, and computer parts? It's not, according to Washington lobbyists and politicians, writes education professor Lois Weiner.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Teacher Quality and the Question of Preparation
The president of the Center for Teaching Quality calls for an end to the battle between teacher education and alternative certification.
Teacher Preparation
Opinion
Doctoring Schools
Education professor and author Robert L. Hampel offers a historical perspective on the almost 20-year quest to make education schools operate more like medical schools.
Early Childhood
Full-Day Kindergarten Produces More Learning Gains, Study Says
A new national study provides some of the strongest evidence to date to support what many educators and parents of young children already believe: Children learn more in full-day kindergarten programs than they do in half-day programs.
Federal
Small States Find Benefits in Jointly Developed Tests
As students in New Hampshire sit down this month to take new state mathematics and reading tests, they won’t be alone. Their fellow students in Rhode Island and Vermont will be taking the same exams along with them.
Education
Upheaval Hits Teacher-Credentialing Board
A federally financed group that offers a route to teacher certification through standardized tests alone has reached its fourth anniversary amid signs of organizational trouble and a glimmer of future promise.
School & District Management
Analysis Finds Gains in Edison Schools, But Model Is No Quick Fix
Edison Schools Inc., the nation’s largest for-profit manager of public schools, is posting achievement gains that are on par with, and sometimes exceed, the gains made by students attending comparable district-run schools, a study released last week concludes.
Classroom Technology
Romney Pushes Plans for Merit Pay, Laptop Computers
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s decision to lump together several important education proposals—including a plan to make his state the first to provide laptop computers for every one of its middle and high school students—sets up a likely battle with the Democratic-controlled legislature next year.
School & District Management
Fallout From ’Snow Days’
The office of Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is disputing accusations that the reason he asked schools to close for two early “snow days” on Sept. 26 and 27 was to save enough fuel to harvest the state’s crops this fall.