November 19, 2008
Education Week, Vol. 28, Issue 13
Education Funding
N.Y. Budget Woes Offer Chief Final Challenge
Richard P. Mills offers school districts experienced guidance, even as he prepares to step down in June.
Federal
Gates Sets Sights on Higher College-Completion Rates
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to more than double the proportion of low-income young adults who earn a college credential or degree by age 26, and to accomplish that by 2025.
Student Well-Being
Project Probes Digital Media's Effect on Ethics
Noted Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner is leading a team studying the social and ethical norms of young people on the Web.
Education
Letter to the Editor
To Aid Teacher Retention, Lighten Novices' Burden
To the Editor:
Thanks for running Arthur E. Levine and David Haselkorn’s Commentary about teacher retention and recruitment (“Teaching at the Precipice,” Nov. 5, 2008). I’m interested in the topic on two fronts: I have two kids who will hit high school just as the baby-boomer teachers retire en masse, and I’m one of the middle-aged career-changers with a technical background, advanced degrees, and private-sector experience whom your authors would like to see in the classroom. (Currently I teach high school physics in Massachusetts on a preliminary license; I entered the field as a long-term substitute in several high and middle schools, both public and private.)
Thanks for running Arthur E. Levine and David Haselkorn’s Commentary about teacher retention and recruitment (“Teaching at the Precipice,” Nov. 5, 2008). I’m interested in the topic on two fronts: I have two kids who will hit high school just as the baby-boomer teachers retire en masse, and I’m one of the middle-aged career-changers with a technical background, advanced degrees, and private-sector experience whom your authors would like to see in the classroom. (Currently I teach high school physics in Massachusetts on a preliminary license; I entered the field as a long-term substitute in several high and middle schools, both public and private.)
Education
Letter to the Editor
Teaching in the Wake of a Historic Election
To the Editor:
As I was walking in a precinct in East Los Angeles before the Nov. 4 election with an advocacy organization made up of parents, teachers, and students, I met an elderly Latino man who was 21 years old during the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. He told me he would be voting for Sen. Barack Obama because the candidate reminded him so much of F.D.R., and the current economic crisis recalled to him the Great Depression.
As I was walking in a precinct in East Los Angeles before the Nov. 4 election with an advocacy organization made up of parents, teachers, and students, I met an elderly Latino man who was 21 years old during the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. He told me he would be voting for Sen. Barack Obama because the candidate reminded him so much of F.D.R., and the current economic crisis recalled to him the Great Depression.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Innovation, Or More of the Same?
To the Editor:
As former leaders of the office of innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, we read with interest the Commentary by Ted Mitchell and Jonathan Schorr, “Federal Education Innovation—Getting It Right” (Oct. 29, 2008). But we were left wondering precisely how their remedies would differ from past attempts at innovation.
As former leaders of the office of innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, we read with interest the Commentary by Ted Mitchell and Jonathan Schorr, “Federal Education Innovation—Getting It Right” (Oct. 29, 2008). But we were left wondering precisely how their remedies would differ from past attempts at innovation.
School & District Management
Washington State Victor Expected to Tackle Test
Randy Dorn, who takes over after beating the incumbent Nov. 4, has called the Washington Assessment of Student learning “deeply flawed.”
Law & Courts
Effect of Nebraska’s Racial-Preference Ban Weighed
Educators expect few significant changes to schooling from the anti-affirmative action passed by voters.
Special Education
Ed. Dept. Not Backing Down on Disabilities-Data Mandate
Although some state officials have complained that collecting the required data diverts time and money away from educating students with disabilities, federal officials have said plainly that they disagree.
School Choice & Charters
Obamas Take Up Search for a School for Their Daughters
Michelle Obama tours private schools, but advocates hold out hope that a traditional public school or charter school will be selected.