April 16, 2008
Education Week, Vol. 27, Issue 33
Federal
Leagues Revive Debate in City Schools
The urban demise of debate leagues closed off a training ground for careers in law, business, and public service and a distinctive outlet for mouthy and some mousy kids who didn't necessarily take well to classroom society.
School & District Management
Feuding Continues Over Maine Efforts to Merge Districts
A battle under way in the Maine legislature could undermine the hard-won victory last year—led by Democratic Gov. John E. Baldacci—to consolidate the state’s hundreds of school districts and local school boards.
Science
Opinion
The Art of Hands-On Science
Building and making projects is one of the best ways to truly understand and master knowledge about scientific and engineering principles, writes MIT graduate Michael Nagle.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Gifted Education Is Critical to Progress in STEM Areas
We commend the editors of your special issue "STEM: The Push to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics" for highlighting many cutting-edge projects aimed at improving STEM education in the United States.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Many Factors Contribute to Finland’s School Success
I agree with Patrick F. Bassett, writing in “What the Finns Know Shouldn’t Surprise Us (But Does),” that we can learn a lot from the Finns and their education system.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Against Incarceration: Opposing Views on Essay
Tom Carroll’s logic in his March 26, 2008, Commentary "Education Beats Incarceration" escapes me.
Teaching Profession
Cultivating a Taste for Leadership
Instead of waiting for applicants, states, districts, and charter organizations are increasingly recruiting and training candidates for the principalship.
School & District Management
KIPP Charter Network Sees Succession Planning as Key to School Stability
From her first day on the job in 2001, Susan Schaeffler, founder of the first Knowledge Is Power Program school in the District of Columbia, hired teachers with an eye to their leadership potential.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Teacher Qualifications
Improving the teaching force in the nation’s low-performing high schools will be more challenging than closing the “teacher gap” at other levels of schooling, in part because out-of-field teaching is more common in high schools, says a policy brief.
Education
Report Roundup
Rural Education
Rural schools face particular challenges in providing additional learning time for students, such as a lack of resources and professional-development opportunities for staff members.
Ed-Tech Policy
Report Roundup
Mobile Digital Devices
Nearly two-thirds of students say their school could make it easier for them to work electronically. But teachers say their top concern about the use of mobile devices for learning is ensuring that all students have access.
Federal
Districts Cultivate Common Ground on English-Learner Curriculum
The federal No Child Left Behind Act has helped prompt some school districts to develop, for the first time, a well-articulated curriculum for English-language learners.
School Choice & Charters
Report Roundup
Charters and Preschool
The charter school movement and the push for universal preschool hold the potential to be “important partners” in improving education, but they generally operate on separate tracks with little cooperation or exchange of ideas, says a new report.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Reform in Philadelphia
Numerous local organizations working on various aspects of school reform have not, for the most part, been working collaboratively in ways that have resulted in an ongoing, broad-based agenda to improve public schooling across the city.
Education
News in Brief
New York Lawmakers Vote to Bar Linking Tenure to Students’ Scores
New York state lawmakers last week voted to prohibit school districts from denying tenure to a teacher based on the performance of the teacher’s students on standardized tests—an idea that has been championed by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. ("Mayor Backs Off Plan for School Funding Method in N.Y.C.," May 2, 2007.)
School & District Management
News in Brief
New Executive Director To Take Reins at AASA
Daniel A. Domenech, an executive with the publisher McGraw-Hill Education and a former superintendent of the Fairfax County, Va., school district, has been selected as the new executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.
Federal
Federal File
Events Are Afoot as Nation at Risk Anniversary Nears
Education policy wonks are gearing up to commemorate the 25th anniversary next week of A Nation at Risk, the report that memorably warned Americans that their society’s educational foundations were “being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity.”
Education
News in Brief
New Statewide Testing System Signed Into Law in Nebraska
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican, signed a bill April 9 that would require uniform tests in reading, math, and science in many elementary and high school grades. The state’s current system of assessments lets school districts create their own tests to measure achievement for the federal No Child Left Behind Act and for state purposes.
School Choice & Charters
News in Brief
Green Dot Picks Site in N.Y.C. for Its First Charter Outside L.A.
The Los Angeles-based Green Dot Public Schools and the United Federation of Teachers have selected a site in the South Bronx where they will open a new charter high school in New York City next fall.
Education
News in Brief
Bill Aims to Shore Up Confidence in Shaky Student-Loan Market
The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee unanimously approved a measure last week aimed at helping to keep problems in the shaky credit markets from affecting the availability of college loans. The bill would increase the amount students may borrow in federally subsidized loans, in part to keep students from having to turn to private lenders, who might not be able to offer them favorable terms.
Student Well-Being
Opinion
The Value of Age-Mixed Play
Age segregation deprives children not only of fun, but also of the opportunity to use fully their most powerful natural tools for learning, Peter Gray writes.
School & District Management
Lack of School Leadership Seen as a Global Problem
A new study suggests that improving school leadership is a problem around the world, not just in the United States.
School & District Management
Iraqi Children’s Education Deserves Higher Priority, Actress Jolie Tells Panel
Iraq’s high-quality education deteriorated over several decades and has been affected by violence and sectarian conflict resulting from the current war.
Federal
Lawmakers Prepare to Reconcile Bills to Renew HEA
The renewal has been pending since 2003, although Congress has passed separate legislation revamping student-lending programs usually governed under the HEA.
Federal
In Pa. Primary, AFT Hits the Streets
For a $600-a-week stipend plus parking and meals, 14 retired teachers and other school employees are doing nuts-and-bolts campaign work for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Federal
Black-White Gap Widens Faster for High Achievers
New research into the black-white achievement gap suggests that the students who lose the most ground academically in U.S. public schools may be the brightest African-American children.
Teacher Preparation
Opinion
Making Every Educator a Learning Educator
Too much of the debate about improving teaching is focused on improving preparation, rather than improving practice.
Federal
Ed. Dept. Chided on Graduation Oversight
The inspector general says better enforcement of NCLB
provision would boost accuracy of the states’ data.