January 28, 2009
Education Week, Vol. 28, Issue 19
Education
News in Brief
Ohio Funders Say Standards for Teachers Need to Be Raised
A report says Ohio needs higher teacher standards and recommends making it easier to fire bad educators.
Education
News in Brief
Accounting Error Means Cuts for Most Md. School Districts
School systems across Maryland may need to revise their budget proposals to adjust for a state accounting error that overpaid 17 counties by a total of $31 million last year.
Education
News in Brief
Calif. Governor Names Consultant As State's Secretary of Education
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed a Sacramento consultant as his secretary of education, the fifth person in as many years to hold a job that has come to be seen as ineffectual in setting policy.
School Choice & Charters
News in Brief
Lawsuit Says Minn. Charter School Illegally Promotes Muslim Religion
A Minnesota charter school that caters to Muslim students is using taxpayer money to illegally promote religion in violation of the First Amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota alleged in a lawsuit filed last week.
Education
News in Brief
Archdiocese of Louisville Freezes Wages to Ward Off Tuition Hikes
About 3,000 employees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky., will have their wages frozen in an effort to save money and minimize tuition increases at its schools, church officials said last week.
Education
News in Brief
Lagging Demand for Buses Saves Columbus District Money
The Columbus, Ohio, district is essentially getting 17 new school buses free of charge because of the troubled economy.
Ed-Tech Policy
News in Brief
Technology Companies Team Up on Testing
Three of the world's largest technology companies are working together to create assessments that measure critical thinking, technical aptitude, and other 21st century skills—a project that could guide new versions of international comparison tests.
Education
News in Brief
Washington State Schools Chief Aims to Replace Testing System
Washington state's new superintendent of public instruction wants to replace the Washington Assessment of Student Learning with two separate tests and use a computerized testing system.
Education
News in Brief
N.J. Parents Object to Pep Talks Held Only for Minority Students
Parents of black and Latino students at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, N.J., say the school may have been discriminating by scheduling a series of pep talks just for minority students.
Federal
High Schools Try Out RTI
The instructional framework is more commonly used with younger students, but shows promise in secondary school, educators say.
States
State of the States
State of the States 2009: Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina
To see a complete compilation of speeches, with links to audio and video, visit www.edweek.org/go/sos
School & District Management
School Leaders Target Salary Reform Toward Newer Teachers
Leaders in a handful of districts are considering “front-loading” teacher compensation by paying novices more to aid recruitment.
Federal
High School Credits for ELLs Still a Challenge
Nationally, the average high school graduation rate for ELLs is 64 percent, compared with 80.1 percent for all students, according to an analysis by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center of data reported by states to the federal government for the 2005-06 school year.
School & District Management
L.A. Superintendent to Focus on Teaching, Use of Data
Ramon C. Cortines has launched a series of initiatives aimed at increasing parent and community engagement and giving teachers more data about their students to help improve instruction.
Federal
'Scientifically Based' Giving Way to 'Development,' 'Innovation'
The watchwords for the field of education research in the post-Bush era seem headed toward "development" and "innovation."
IT Infrastructure & Management
Gates Gives Grants for Data Systems, Teacher Studies
The money is to be used to build and strengthen student-data systems at the high school and postsecondary level and support new research on teacher effectiveness.
Federal
Obama, Duncan Get to Work on Agenda
Newly inaugurated president vows to 'transform our schools.'
Science
Informal Experiences Can Go a Long Way in Teaching Science
A new study finds solid evidence that educational television and games can boost students’ scientific knowledge.
Federal
Curb on Arabic Use Urged, but Rejected, in Dearborn District
The Dearborn, Mich., school district's superintendent moved quickly to clarify the system's language policy last week after a consultant said officials should "prohibit the use of any language other than English."
Education
News in Brief
Teaching Evolution at Issue in Two States
Questions about the teaching of evolution in science classrooms have surfaced in Louisiana and Texas, two states where the topic has produced high-profile controversies in the past.
Ed-Tech Policy
Report Roundup
Web-Based Classes Booming in Schools
The number of K-12 students using online courses has increased dramatically in the past few years, according to a new report from the Needham, Mass.-based Sloan Consortium, an advocacy group that promotes online education.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
High Schools
A project aimed at redesigning Ohio's secondary schools has resulted in significantly higher graduation rates, increases in college coursetaking, and improved test scores among students in participating schools, according to an evaluation of the program.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Graduation Rates
While the U.S. has made strides in improving high school graduation measures, the nation is still a long way from having accurate data for tracking progress in raising the proportion of students earning high school diplomas, a report contends.
Federal
Report Roundup
Achievement Gaps
A study has found that black-white achievement gaps virtually disappeared among a group of 472 test-takers during some of the high points of President Barack Obama's recent campaign.
Early Childhood
Tobacco-Tax Cash a Calif. Pre-K Issue
As part of his plan to close California's $40 billion budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to ask voters to eliminate a statewide panel that decides how to spend cigarette-tax money on programs for young children.
School & District Management
Federal File
Education Panels Get Newcomers
When Sen. John McCain ran for president last year, education advocates noted that he hadn't shown much interest in their issues during his quarter-century in Congress.
Federal
States Anxious to Get Details About Stimulus
State leaders are awaiting details of the more than $120 billion in proposed emergency education aids so they can make specific plans to spend the
economic-stimulus money.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Give Arne Duncan Time to Show Leadership Style
To the Editor:
In his online Commentary "Wrong Choice for Secretary of Education" (Jan. 12, 2009), Kevin K. Kumashiro, an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, speculates on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's likely position on teachers' unions during his tenure, saying that Mr. Duncan was not supportive of them as Chicago's schools chief. His views contrast with those of Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and the author of a biography of the union leader Albert Shanker. With so much on the line at this moment in education history, it's worthwhile to note the differences.
In his online Commentary "Wrong Choice for Secretary of Education" (Jan. 12, 2009), Kevin K. Kumashiro, an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, speculates on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's likely position on teachers' unions during his tenure, saying that Mr. Duncan was not supportive of them as Chicago's schools chief. His views contrast with those of Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and the author of a biography of the union leader Albert Shanker. With so much on the line at this moment in education history, it's worthwhile to note the differences.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Do Usual Measures for Productivity Fit Schools?
To the Editor:
Greater productivity in education is a fine idea, but one must consider realities as well. Marguerite Roza, Dan Goldhaber, and Paul T. Hill, the authors of "The Productivity Imperative" (Commentary, Jan. 7, 2009), want school districts to glean benefits even as they tighten their budgets. But the constraints of collective bargaining contracts, mandated expenditures, and other factors do not allow for some of the cost-saving measures they propose.
Greater productivity in education is a fine idea, but one must consider realities as well. Marguerite Roza, Dan Goldhaber, and Paul T. Hill, the authors of "The Productivity Imperative" (Commentary, Jan. 7, 2009), want school districts to glean benefits even as they tighten their budgets. But the constraints of collective bargaining contracts, mandated expenditures, and other factors do not allow for some of the cost-saving measures they propose.