Vol. 27, Issue 20
FRONT PAGE
Some teachers, under a professional cloud, are paid to leave their jobs. It's a fact little examined in schools or policy circles, and mostly unknown to the public.
The presidential campaign season provides a prime opportunity to explain to students the importance of elections and the discourse they trigger.
Some policymakers say that improving education is a long-term process that can’t be confined to a particular governor’s term, and that schools must be insulated as much as possible from politics.
The educational framework promises to raise achievement through modification of lesson plans based on frequent “progress monitoring.”
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News in Brief
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Report Roundup
News in Brief
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John Q. Porter is facing allegations that include improper billing of the district for some expenses.
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The Lone Star State will begin tests of student-athletes this spring.
Districts will now be able to offer four ways for students to prove their academic proficiency.
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Many teachers work for little pay and with few resources, and with no opportunity to improve their working conditions through organized labor, an activist claims.
Charters & Choice
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The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching will soon have a new president with a strong national reputation as a precollegiate education researcher.
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State of the States
State Journal
State of the States
School leaders and advocacy groups are venting their frustrations over proposed midyear education funding cuts in the current fiscal year, as well as cuts in core education programs of close to 10 percent in fiscal 2009.
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State of the States
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State of the States
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Federal File
The measure, which President Bush signed into law last month, marks the first time that a federal agency will provide such guidance.
PAGE 22 - In Perspective
The Heartland Area Education Agency in Iowa is helping school districts adopt the framework as good instructional practice.
PAGE 26 - Commentary
Test-based accountability has not generated the significant gains in student achievement that proponents intended, Helen F. Ladd contends.
Our failure to transform underperforming urban schools on a broader scale is fueled by cluelessness, writes Randy Ross.
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Letters
PAGE 28 - Commentary
Stephen L. Gessner explains how the abandonment of ability grouping has been particularly harmful to highly able students.
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Letters
PAGE 36 - Commentary
College presidents are pretty much invisible in the debates and discussions about K-12 education, James E. Ryan writes.