February 2, 2005
Education Week, Vol. 24, Issue 21
Education
People in the News
Jack W. Hill
Jack W. Hill is scheduled to leave his post as associate superintendent of construction services for the Dallas Independent School District this week to take a job overseeing the construction of a new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.
School & District Management
Researchers Map Teen Sex Pattern
In a study that has implications for high school sex education, researchers for the first time have mapped the sexual and romantic relationships of students in an entire high school over an 18-month period.
Ed-Tech Policy
Software Framework Opens Up Data-Sharing
The Schools Interoperability Framework, a method of exchanging data among various school software applications, is ready, finally, to give a technical boost to schools’ ability to use data to improve student achievement.
Special Education
Report Roundup
Learning Disabilities
More than 240 school-age children from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland who were born prematurely in 1995 were studied between Jan. 2001 and July 2003.
College & Workforce Readiness
Test-Takers Also to Face More Rigorous SAT Math Section
Students taking the revamped SAT this spring will face a broader test of their abilities in advanced mathematics, a level of rigor that reflects the higher standards many states are making a part of their high school graduation requirements.
Reading & Literacy
SAT’s Next Chapter About to Be Written
Starting in March, the SAT, taken annually by more than 1.4 million college-bound students, will undergo its most significant change since 1994. Changes include revised math and critical reading sections, and a new writing portion.
School & District Management
Charter Authorizers Eye Rules on Closings
Most authorizers who take their responsibilities seriously agree that weeding out bad schools is a vital component of the autonomy-for-accountability bargain at the heart of the charter school concept. But amid the sparks thrown off by closings, those authorizers are often ending up singed.
Education
Table: Sharpen Those No. 2 Pencils
The SAT: Reasoning Test will be administered for the first time next month, aimed at the high school class of 2006. The most significant change is the addition of a writing section, which will test students’ ability to write the first draft of a reasoned argument on the essay topic.
Reading & Literacy
Educators Hope SAT’s New Essay Will Bolster Writing in Schools
Twenty-five minutes may not seem like much time to ponder a provocative passage about human nature and to draft an essay outlining one’s views on a related philosophical question. But high school students taking part in the ritual of the nation’s most- used college-entrance exam will have to do just that, beginning in March.
Teaching Profession
Governors Seek New Teacher-Pay Methods
Democrats and Republicans alike are calling for merit pay, pay for performance, and other ways that deviate from the generally inflexible salary schedules under which teachers are paid.
School & District Management
Pressure Mounts on Michigan Chief to Step Down
Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan surprised many in the state’s education establishment last month when she publicly declared that she wanted state Superintendent of Public Instruction Thomas D. Watkins Jr. out of office.
Student Well-Being
Suicide Prevention
Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico has recommended that the state spend $600,000 on a package of proposals designed to combat the high suicide rate among the state’s adolescents.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Judge Gives Arizona Funding Deadline
A federal judge has given the Arizona legislature until the end of April or the end of the 2005 session—whichever comes later—to figure out how to appropriately fund programs for English-language learners.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Mass. Continues Crackdown on Idling School Buses
Massachusetts is seeing progress in its effort to crack down on school buses that idle too long in front of schools.
School Choice & Charters
Bill to Expand Milwaukee Vouchers May Be Headed for Veto
Following bitterly partisan debate, the Wisconsin Assembly voted last week to lift the cap on the number of participants in the state’s school voucher program for low-income families in Milwaukee.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Calif. Officials File Suit Over Abortion Provision
California’s superintendent of public instruction, Jack O’Connell, and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a lawsuit last week against the Bush administration over an abortion provision in a federal spending bill.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Illinois Law Secures Services For Students With Disabilities
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has signed legislation that will allow students with disabilities to participate in graduation ceremonies with their high school classes without losing access to continuing services at their schools.
Education
A National Roundup
Auditors Sued
The Roslyn, N.Y., school district has sued the auditing firm Miller, Lilly & Pearce for $12 million, seeking to recover money the district lost in an embezzlement scandal involving former administrators.
Education
A National Roundup
Superintendent Warns Board Member Not to Visit School Without Permission
The superintendent of the Durham, N.C., public schools has warned a school board member that she could face arrest if she visits a middle school without the principal’s permission.
Education
A National Roundup
Homework Challenged
A father of a Wisconsin high school student sued the 2,400-student Whitnall district in Greenfield, claiming a mathematics teacher at Whitnall High School had no authority to assign his 17-year-old son homework last summer.
Teacher Preparation
Teacher Colleges’ Group Picks Former Clinton Official
Sharon P. Robinson, a former vice president of the Educational Testing Service, has been selected as the new president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Education
Chart: The New Math
The revamped SAT will include more high-level mathematics than before. This sample question from the new exam presents students with function notation, a concept that the College Board says was not included on the previous test.
Federal
Bush Critical of Education Department on PR Contract
The Department of Education made a mistake when it agreed to a public relations arrangement with commentator Armstrong Williams, President Bush said last week. He also said the White House did not know about the arrangement.
Education
People in the News
Charles E. Cascio
Charles E. Cascio is the new vice president of government relations at the Educational Testing Service. He will work out of the Washington office of the ETS.
Federal
Reporter's Notebook
Bilingual Educators Ratchet Up Criticism of Federal NCLB Law
Speaker after speaker at the National Association for Bilingual Education’s annual conference last month urged bilingual teachers to oppose the No Child Left Behind Act’s requirements for English-language learners.
Federal
Reporter's Notebook
NCLB Accountability Seen as Opportunity for Calif. Charters
With California’s education community under pressure to fix hundreds of low-performing public schools, charter school leaders don’t know whether they should run to the rescue—or run away and hide.
Reading & Literacy
ACT Admissions Test, Like Rival, Adds Essay, But Makes It Optional
Like any pair of longtime competitors, the sponsors of the nation’s two major college-entrance exams, the SAT and ACT, regularly scrutinize each other’s work, and adjust their own accordingly.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Wash. State 9th Graders to Take Graduation Test
Ninth graders in Washington state will have the option of taking the state’s 10th grade academic assessment a year early, beginning in the spring of 2006.