March 1, 2006
Education Week, Vol. 25, Issue 25
Federal
Foreseeing Errors in Test Industry
Connecticut’s top education official predicted two years ago that the testing industry would struggle to meet the demands brought on by new federal mandates for test-based accountability. Last month, her prediction came to pass—in her own state, no less.
Education
Report Roundup
Early-Childhood Education
The report—released by the New York City-based Committee for Economic Development—identifies the key features needed to design a “high quality” early-childhood-education program. Its conclusions are based on the work done by the High/ Scope Perry Preschool program, the Carolina Abecedarian Project, and the Chicago Child-Parent Centers.
Education
Report Roundup
Teenage Smoking
The Global Youth Tobacco Survey—a joint project of the Geneva-based World Health Organization and the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—polled 750,000 students ages 13 to 15 from 131 countries.
Education
Report Roundup
Educational Endowments
The study—conducted by the Wilton, Conn.-based Commonfund Institute—surveyed 729 private college and university endowments, public educational endowments, independent school endowments, and private foundations. It reported average annual increases of 9.7 percent in 2005, compared with 14.7 percent in 2004, 3.1 percent in 2003, and a 6 percent drop in 2002.
Education
Report Roundup
High School Sports
The study—conducted by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE—surveyed a group of 875 18- to 25-year-olds. Of those who had participated in sports during high school, 32 percent reported having volunteered for some type of civic activity as an adult, compared with 21 percent for those who had not been involved in sports in high school. In addition, 58 percent of the sports participants said they had registered to vote, compared with 40 percent of nonparticipants.
Education
Report Roundup
Upgrades Suggested for Teacher Quality
Recommendations for attracting and retaining skilled teachers are included in a report produced by three teaching organizations.
Equity & Diversity
Breaking Tradition Earns Honors
Scott R. Mueller admits he is used to talking about “guy stuff” in class, with guy friends. Nothing, he says, that girls would normally hear.
Reading & Literacy
Graduates Can’t Master College Text
While science and mathematics are claiming the spotlight in the latest push for improving high schools and sharpening the nation’s competitive edge, a study by ACT Inc. makes the case for doing so through better reading instruction, clear and rigorous state standards for high school reading, and the use of more sophisticated texts and teaching materials.
Teacher Preparation
Reporter's Notebook
Educator Condemns Lack of Respect for Teacher Prep
Citing American students’ relatively poor showing in math and science on international tests, a nationally renowned professor of education at Stanford University is calling for strengthening rather than bypassing teacher-preparation programs to improve student achievement.
Education
People in the News
Tracy van Straaten
Tracy van Straaten is now the vice president of trade publicity at Scholastic Trade Publishing in New York City.
Education
People in the News
Kate N. Rodler
Kate N. Rodler has been named the publisher of Edutopia, a San Rafael, Calif.-based education magazine.
Education
People in the News
Richard W. Clark
Richard W. Clark has been appointed the executive vice president of the Seattle-based Institute for Education Inquiry.
Education
A National Roundup
New Union Elections Sought
The U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court to order a new election of officers for the Washington Teachers Union, alleging that irregularities marred the vote that gave the District of Columbia union its first elected officials since an embezzlement scandal toppled its leaders in 2002.
Education
A National Roundup
N.Y.C. Schools Offer Workers Amnesty on Out-of-City Tuition
The New York City school district is offering a one-month amnesty period for district employees who send their children to its schools, but don’t live in the city and haven’t paid the required tuition.
Education
Obituary
Dale Scheideman
Dale Scheideman, the director of the new-school and facility-planning department for the Clark County, Nev., school district for the past 13 years, died Feb. 8.
Special Education
Commencement Rule Questioned
In the Mount Lebanon, Pa., school district, students have typically been allowed to take part in graduation exercises only when they have completed their studies and are leaving school. But that means some special education students who plan to continue taking classes until age 21 have been left out of the ceremony staged for their peers.
Federal
‘No Child’ Effect on English-Learners Mulled
Educators who specialize in teaching English-language learners agree that the 4-year-old No Child Left Behind Act has brought unprecedented attention to those students by requiring schools to isolate test-score data for them.
They disagree, though, on whether changes in instruction spurred by the law have been positive or negative overall.
Federal
Drug-Free-Schools Grants Targeted by Bush
For the second year in a row, President Bush has proposed to eliminate funding for the Safe and Drug Free Schools program, which funnels money to nearly every school district in the country. The program, which has a budget of $345.5 million in fiscal 2006, is one of 42 Department of Education programs, totaling $3.5 billion, the president has proposed zeroing out in his 2007 budget.
Federal
20 States Seek to Join Pilot on NCLB ‘Growth Models’
Twenty states have applied for a pilot program that would let them judge whether schools and districts meet their performance targets under the No Child Left Behind Act based, at least in part, on the academic growth students show from year to year.
States
Opinion
Is There a Heyday on the Horizon?
Kevin Carey thinks that the fiscal window of opportunity for states is opening and that state leaders need to make sure they do not miss their chance to reap the benefits of increased funding.