December 11, 2002
Education Week, Vol. 22, Issue 15
Education
Federal File
Not So Fast
The Bush administration may not be inclined to heed advice from teachers' unions very often, but it has backed off one proposal that stepped into touchy terrain for labor: collective bargaining.
Education
News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup
- Massachusetts OKs Graduation Certificate
- Algebra Questions Added to Indiana's Graduation Test
- Federal Judge Sends Mass. Case to State Court
- Russo Bows Out of Contention for Florida Education Job
- New Georgia Teachers Come With Guarantees
Education
Howe Pioneered New Federal Role In U.S. Education
Harold Howe II, who oversaw the advent of an unprecedented federal role in precollegiate education, died Nov. 30 in Hanover, N.H., at the age of 84.
School Choice & Charters
Foreign-Aid Groups Use 'Nonformal' Strategies To Educate Youngsters
In trying to educate children in foreign countries where poverty, geography, and scarce resources can make formal classroom instruction nearly impossible, international aid organizations are often forced to look at other options.
Education
Rating Educational Disadvantage
The following table provides a ranking score for 24 countries, from best to worst, on how well they've confronted five measures of educational disadvantage. Those measures are based on student performance on reading, mathematics, and science assessments.
International
Teaching & Learning
- U.S. Keeps Pace With Other Nations' Reading Achievement
- Language Included
- National-Board Honors
Teacher Preparation
Colleges Sending Teacher-Candidates To See the World
Become a student of the world, and you'll be a better teacher when you return to America. That's Craig Kissock's pitch to prospective educators at the University of Minnesota-Morris as he shows them the floor-to-ceiling world map that adorns one wall of the school of education.
Become a student of the world, and you'll be a better teacher when you return to America. That's Craig Kissock's pitch to prospective educators at the University of Minnesota-Morris as he shows them the floor-to-ceiling world map that adorns one wall of the school of education.
Education
Retrospective
20 years ago ... DEC. 22, 1982
- The U.S. Department of Education's research arm, the National Institute of Education, is reeling after what one observer calls "a classic series of blunders" by the Reagan administration. The administration replaced all 15 members of the institute's governing board, in some cases with workers from the 1980 presidential campaign. And the administration's first NIE director— subsequently replaced—fired staff members, alienated the research community, and, in a letter to President Reagan, asserted that the federal government has no role in conducting educational research.
Accountability
New Accountability Plan Rewards Chicago Schools For Showing Score Gains
The Chicago school district has shifted to a new accountability system that focuses on recognizing all schools' academic gains, rather than emphasizing the failures of those that continue to struggle.
Federal
Department Releases Guidelines on Choice
The Department of Education spelled out last week how students with disabilities should be accommodated under federal requirements on school choice.
Education
State Journal
Proceeding as Planned
What's been a much-touted idea for restructuring the California education system is now officially a piece of legislation.
College & Workforce Readiness
Title IX Panel Contemplates Easing 'Proportionality' Test
A Department of Education panel studying Title IX floated ideas last week that, if put into place, could drastically alter the way colleges and universities determine if they're fairly providing athletic opportunities to both men and women.
Equity & Diversity
Agency Advice On New Racial Choices Lags
New category labels for ethnicity and race will give students 63 ways to describe their heritage—or allow them to choose none at all—causing states and districts to address the need to revamp forms and computer systems to deal with the change.
Education
News in Brief A Washington Roundup
- Whitehurst to Lead New Research Arm
- High Court Rejects Case Involving Student Suicide
- Mass. Seeks Exception to College-Aid Rule
International
'Achievement Gap' Is International Problem, UNICEF Analysis Says
A new report from UNICEF offers an international look at the "achievement gap." Includes a table, "Rating Educational Disadvantage."
School & District Management
Schoolwide Reform Improves Test Scores, Analysis Finds
A team of Johns Hopkins University researchers, looking at studies on 29 popular schoolwide improvement programs, has concluded that the comprehensive models are better than the status quo when it comes to raising student achievement.
Student Well-Being
Attendance 'Mandatory' For W. Va. Board
When Howard M. Persinger Jr. took over as the president of the West Virginia state board of education in October, he had one chief concern: If just two board members missed a meeting, the board would not be able to function.
Early Childhood
Late-Night Child Care Meets Needs Of Milwaukee Families
Despite the nation's largely unmet demand for child care outside of traditional work hours, groups that are responding to the need are few and far between. Then there's La Causa.
School Choice & Charters
Ohio Poised to Reorganize Charter School Oversight
After a bitter fight in a state that has become a major battleground in the national debate over charter schools, the Ohio legislature adopted far-reaching changes last week in the ground rules for how the independent public schools operate.
Teaching Profession
Striking Teachers in Montana Return to Work
Back in their classrooms after a nearly three-week strike that ended just before Thanksgiving, teachers in Billings, Mont., approved a hard-fought contract last week that will give them 2.5 percent pay raises and additional help with health insurance.
Accountability
Mass. Retools Ratings System In Bid to Jibe With ESEA
With its recent unveiling of new performance ratings of schools and districts, Massachusetts marked the launch of an effort to merge its home-grown accountability system with the requirements of the federal "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001.
Education
People in the News
The Los Angeles County Children and Families First-Proposition 10 Commission has chosen Karen H. Hill-Scott to design its Universal Access to Preschool and Early Care and Education Initiative, a $100 million plan to make preschool more widely available to youngsters in the county.
Education
Correction
A listing in the Nov. 27, 2002, issue of Education Week of the members of the technical-advisory group for the U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse omitted the name of the chairman, Larry V. Hedges. He is a professor of education, psychology, public-policy studies, and sociology at the University of Chicago. In addition, the wrong position was listed for Betsy Jane Becker; she is a professor of measurement and quantitative methods at Michigan State University.
School & District Management
Pa. Board Divided Over Naming School for Rustin
The West Chester, Pa., board is rethinking its decision to name a school after civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, sparking a debate that is drawing national—and unwelcome—publicity.
Ed-Tech Policy
E-rate Plans Involving IBM Draw Scrutiny
Officials in charge of the federal E-rate program, which awards discounts to help school districts afford telecommunications services and infrastructure, say they have identified a disturbing pattern in E-rate applications involving the International Business Machines Corp., one of the largest vendors under the program.
School Climate & Safety
Bullying Policies Slow to Reach Schools
Following the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School, many state policymakers set out to find ways to define and deter bullying and related behavior that experts say contribute to campus violence. So far, the record of those efforts is mixed.
Law & Courts
Appeals Court Says Pledge Foe Has Right to Sue
The same federal appellate panel that ruled against the Pledge of Allegiance last summer concluded last week that the father who challenged the pledge on behalf of his daughter, even though he does not have custody of the child, nonetheless has the right to press his case.