February 10, 2010
Education Week, Vol. 29, Issue 21
Federal
Debate Heats Up Over Replacing AYP Metric in ESEA
The Obama administration calls for a shift toward measuring college and career readiness as it prepares proposals for revamping the law.
Federal
State Lawmakers Warn of Federal Intrusion on Education
The National Conference of State Legislatures says the Obama administration is being too prescriptive.
School & District Management
Opinion
Investing Quick Millions for Long-Term Results
Heather Zavadsky shows how Broad Prize-winning districts can teach other urban systems about using new federal funding well.
School & District Management
Duncan's Katrina Remarks Spark Debate in New Orleans
The U.S. Secretary of Education said it was ‘dumb’ for him to characterize the hurricane as the 'best thing' that has happened to New Orleans’ education system.
Accountability
Rigorous Study Finds Abstinence Program Effective
Middle schoolers didn't receive a moral message, but were asked to think about how early sex could interfere with their goals and dreams.
Education
News in Brief
Some Public Schools Reopen in Haiti
Many public schools in Haiti reopened last week for the first time since the Jan. 12 earthquake, but most stayed closed, even in outlying provinces where damage was minimal.
Education
News in Brief
Atlanta Gets Teacher Grant
The Atlanta school district has received $10 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help continue a program designed to attract and retain high-quality teachers. Superintendent Beverly Hall said the three-year grant will help the 50,000-student district establish a better way to evaluate and support teachers. The district hopes to train principals to monitor teacher effectiveness and set up performance-based pay for educators, she said.
Education
News in Brief
Edutopia to Go Online-Only; Chen Steps Down as Foundation Head
The George Lucas Educational Foundation announced last week that it will discontinue the print version of its Edutopia magazine this spring to focus more aggressively on building free multimedia content for its Web site, Edutopia.org.
Curriculum
School Libraries Seek Relevance Through Virtual Access
Librarians' roles are shifting to address the demand for quality online content.
Education
News in Brief
Letter Mocking 2nd Grader Lands Suspension for Phoenix Principal
A Phoenix principal who wrote a sarcastic letter chiding parents for children who were either “too lazy or too stupid” to complete their assignments in class was suspended after the missive was mistakenly sent home.
States
Education's Share of Some State Budgets Drops
Despite the stimulus, an analysis found a decline in the share of the state budget in 13 of 23 state plans examined.
Education
News in Brief
Nashville Middle School Eyed as State's First Charter Conversion
The effort to help fix Cameron Middle School could be part of a model for turning around Tennessee’s most troubled schools.
Education
News in Brief
Tenn. State Board Approves Guidelines on Teaching Bible
Legislation approved in 2008 authorizes a course for a "nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible" in public schools.
Mathematics
'Algebra-for-All' Push Found to Yield Poor Results
A trickle of studies suggest that in practice, getting students past the algebra hump is difficult and in some cases, didn't pay off.
Teaching Profession
Ethics-Code Issue Irritant in Alabama
Alabama lawmakers have overturned Gov. Bob Riley’s veto and blocked a teacher code of ethics from being placed into the state code.
Federal
Education Budget Plan Wielded as Policy Lever
But whether Congress will go along with the administration’s plans to cut and consolidate a raft of smaller programs remains unclear.
Education
News in Brief
Report Calculates Stimulus Saved 329,000 School Jobs Last Fall
In the last three months of 2009, the education portion of the federal economic-stimulus program paid for 329,551 school-related jobs, according to the latest reports from states and school districts.
States
State of the States
State of the States 2010: Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma
For complete coverage of this year's governors' speeches, check out State of the States 2010.
Education
Report Roundup
Study: More Students Are Taking STEM Courses, But Gaps Remain
A recent study finds that 2005 high school graduates earned more credits in STEM courses than did students who received their diplomas in 1990.
Education
News in Brief
Federal Agency Told to Pay District In Mississippi for Katrina Damage
An arbitration panel says that FEMA should pay to repair damages to schools caused by the 2005 storm.
Education
Report Roundup
Community College
An intervention program targeting lower-level mathematics students didn’t improve overall rates of withdrawal or failure, but did make a positive impact for part-time students and students enrolled in remedial math, a report finds.
Education
News in Brief
House Panel OKs Bill on Restraint, Seclusion
A House Committee approved a bill that would regulate the use of restraint and seclusion on students in schools, and require any use of such practices to be reported to parents.
Education
Report Roundup
Higher Education
Charitable giving to the nation’s colleges and universities declined 11.9 percent in 2009, to $27.85 billion, according to results of an annual survey.
Education
Report Roundup
Autism Retraction
The British medical journal The Lancet announced last week that it has fully retracted a controversial study that linked autism to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
Education
Report Roundup
School Choice
A panel of scholars advances a bold plan for expanding the options that parents have for schooling their children.
Education
Report Roundup
Research Report: Charter Schools
Charter schools are more racially isolated than regular public schools in practically every state and large urban area in the United States, says a report.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Local Decisionmaking and 'Standardized Practice'
To the Editor:
While I strongly agree with William G. Wraga’s desire to increase incentives for local problem-solving in schools (“Incentivizing Educational Ingenuity,” Commentary, Jan. 6, 2010), he mischaracterizes the standards-and-accountability movement when he claims it asks that all locales use the same practices. Such a movement would more aptly be called the “standardized practice” movement, not “standards and accountability.”
While I strongly agree with William G. Wraga’s desire to increase incentives for local problem-solving in schools (“Incentivizing Educational Ingenuity,” Commentary, Jan. 6, 2010), he mischaracterizes the standards-and-accountability movement when he claims it asks that all locales use the same practices. Such a movement would more aptly be called the “standardized practice” movement, not “standards and accountability.”