March 1, 2006
Education Week, Vol. 25, Issue 25
Law & Courts
High Court to Rehear Case on Free Speech
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear new arguments in a case being watched closely in the public education community on the free-speech rights of government employees.
Federal
White House Katrina Report Praises Ed. Dept.’s Response
A White House report examining the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina that was critical of several federal agencies lauded the Department of Education for several of its actions after the storm.
Education
Opinion
Chat Wrap-Up: Teacher Recruitment
On Feb. 15, 2006, the topic of teacher recruitment drew a range of questions from readers for two panelists with extensive on-the-ground experience.
English-Language Learners
Prop. 227 Seen as Focusing on ‘Wrong Issue’
No single method of teaching English-language learners is more effective than any other, according to a five-year study of California’s Proposition 227, which curtailed bilingual education in the state and switched most such students into English-immersion classrooms.
Education
Letter to the Editor
States Tackle High School Reform
It seems politicians have suddenly discovered that we’re suffering from a rigor deficiency in high schools.
Federal
Plan to Zero Out U.S. Technology Grants Draws Fire
A $272 million program to help states and school districts use technology for education would be axed under President Bush’s fiscal 2007 budget, partly because the White House says it lacks rigorous data on its effectiveness.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Safeguard Due Process in Teacher Training
I applaud Arthur E. Wise, the president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, for his stance regarding Scott McConnell, the teacher-candidate expelled from his college program because of his educational philosophy.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Language Skills Are the Precursors of Math Skills
As a linguist and teacher for more than 25 years, I am concerned by the policies being applied to improve reading and math education in the United States ("White House Suggests Model Used in Reading to Elevate Math Skills," Feb. 15, 2006).
Teaching Profession
Charging the Gap
By bettering the teaching staffs at its inner-city schools, a Tennessee district is lessening the differences in achievement between such schools and their suburban counterparts.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Why Public-Private Comparisons Are Useless
The only thing worth noting about comparisons of existing public and private schools is how incredibly misleading the results can be.
Education
Letter to the Editor
An Early-Years Strategy: Start Where We Can Win
Regarding Samuel J. Meisels’ Commentary,"Universal Pre-K: What About the Babies?" (Jan. 25, 2006), I couldn’t agree more that people who care about prekindergartners also care about what happens to kids before they reach age 3—and they know that both matter.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Let Us Stop the ‘Endless Carping Against Facts’
Tony Wagner’s Jan. 11, 2006, Commentary, "Rigor on Trial," claims an opposition between memorizing facts and analysis. This is one of those progressive axioms that have been hammered into our heads for over 50 years even though they are false. There is no opposition between memorizing facts and analysis.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Making Academics Count for Young Adolescents
"Mayhem in the Middle," by Cheri Pierson Yecke, is an overgeneralized condemnation of middle schools (Commentary, Feb. 1, 2006).
Education
Letter to the Editor
Two Math Associations, One Common Goal
In the article "White House Suggests Model Used in Reading to Elevate Math Skills" (Feb. 15, 2006), the “Finding Common Ground in K-12 Mathematics Education” document is referenced as a publication of the American Mathematical Society. In fact, this project, led by Richard Schaar, is under the auspices of the Mathematical Association of America.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Improving the Tests Won’t Solve Larger Questions
Education Sector’s report “Margins of Error: The Education Testing Industry in the No Child Left Behind Era” accurately analyzes the serious limitations of the testing industry’s products, documenting the sad reality that state exams overemphasize low-level skills and thinking, with harmful effects on teaching and learning.
Ed-Tech Policy
‘Pen Top’ Computer Propels LeapFrog
LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., an Emeryville, Calif.-based maker of electronic learning products, reported a quarterly profit last month, reversing a loss from a year earlier.
Education
Merger Makes a Difference
Chattanooga educators can tick off many alterations since 2001 at the once-troubled “Benwood schools.” But one change that almost certainly helped the schools shoot from among the worst in Tennessee to among the fastest-improving predates all the others.
School Choice & Charters
Deal May Pave Way for Milwaukee Voucher Expansion
Another 7,500 students could use state-financed tuition vouchers to attend private schools in Milwaukee under an agreement between Wisconsin’s Democratic governor and the Republican speaker of the Assembly.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
The Importance of ‘Reculturing’
Interim executive director of the Panasonic Foundation and author Scott Thompson writes that a "reculturing" of organizational leadership is needed to improve public school education.
Professional Development
Opinion
What John Wooden Can Teach Us
Ronald Gallimore, author of You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned: John Wooden’s Teaching Principles and Practices, says that classroom teachers can learn a great deal from the master of basketball teaching.
Teaching Profession
Study Backs Principals as Effective in Evaluating Teachers
Principals are good at identifying the most and least effective teachers in their schools, a new study concludes, and should be allowed a bigger say in decisions about teachers’ pay and retention.
Federal
Table: Under the Ax
President Bush has targeted 40 Department of Education programs for elimination in his proposed fiscal 2007 budget.
Student Achievement
K-8 Structure Gives No Academic Boost, Analysis Finds
When it comes to improving academic achievement for early adolescents, a study out of Philadelphia suggests that the strategy of shifting from middle schools to K-8 schools may not do the trick—at least not in and of itself.
Federal
Tutoring Giant Regroups as Stock Price Sags
Educate Inc., a national tutoring provider, has reorganized key aspects of its management after suffering significant losses in the last quarter of 2005, company officials announced.
Federal
‘Adjunct Teachers’ Could Do End Run Around NCLB Act
A White House proposal to bring math, science, and engineering professionals into public high schools to teach those subjects could bypass the “highly qualified” teacher mandate under the No Child Left Behind Act, while only temporarily easing the shortfall of mathematics and science teachers, education observers say.
School Choice & Charters
Federal File
Holy War of Words
Advocates of private school vouchers condemned remarks made last week by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who said vouchers could pave the way for a government-funded “School of the Jihad.”
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Ratio Spent on Classrooms Not Tied to Scores, Study Says
There is no significant correlation between the percentage of its budget that a school district spends on instruction and scores on state reading and math tests, concludes the most recent analysis by SchoolMatters, a service of Standard & Poor’s.