September 6, 2006

Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 02
The first issue of Education Week was dated Sept. 7, 1981.
The first issue of <i>Education Week</i> was dated Sept. 7, 1981.
School & District Management The Story Behind the Stories
Twenty-five years ago this week, a newspaper nobody had ever seen before broke a national story on education policy.
Jeff Archer, September 6, 2006
13 min read
School & District Management Foundation Support Plays Key Role for Newspaper
In the world of journalism, Education Week is an unusual animal. It is a specialized newspaper, but unlike other publications in the commercial world of trade publishing, it is run by a nonprofit corporation. At the same time, it is independent of the many associations and advocacy groups in education.
David J. Hoff, September 6, 2006
3 min read
School & District Management A Media Organization With Many Faces
Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit organization that publishes Education Week, grew out of a 1958 venture by 15 editors of university alumni magazines. The success of their collaboratively published report on American higher education led to the incorporation of EPE, further annual reports, a newsletter for college trustees, and the 1966 launch of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Debra Viadero, September 6, 2006
2 min read
Education Opinion New in Print
A mix of book reviews covering college admissions, giftedness, government, and education and memoir.
Anne E. Das, September 6, 2006
5 min read
Education Opinion The Dalai Lama
In this excerpt from his foreword to Child Honoring: How to Turn This World Around, the Dalai Lama looks at the universal importance of education, both in preserving the Tibetan community and in the rest of the world.
September 6, 2006
1 min read
States States Giving Performance Pay by Doling Out Bonuses
Though many states have debated changing the way teachers are paid, Texas is one of just three that have succeeded in linking compensation for individual teachers with student achievement.
Michele McNeil, September 6, 2006
4 min read
Assistant Education Secretary Henry L. Johnson, center, chats with consultant Paul Kimmelman at a House Education Reform Subcommittee hearing in Chicago last week.
Assistant Education Secretary Henry L. Johnson, center, chats with consultant Paul Kimmelman at a House Education Reform Subcommittee hearing in Chicago last week.
John Zich for Education Week
Federal House Panel Hits the Road to Gather Views on NCLB
The key House subcommittee studying the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act held its first field hearing in Chicago last week in what is normally a federal courtroom.
Mark Walsh, September 6, 2006
5 min read
Federal Spellings: Education Law Needs Only a Soft Scrub
As Congress gears up for the scheduled reauthorization next year of the No Child Left Behind Act, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who played a backstage role in crafting the law five years ago while serving in the White House, says she doesn’t see much need for substantial change.
Alyson Klein, September 6, 2006
1 min read
Equity & Diversity Score Drop Prompts Debate Over Effects of Revised SAT; Girls Outdo Boys in Writing
Several days after the College Board reported that scores on the reworked SAT showed the most significant drop in over three decades, experts were still speculating about the reasons for the decline and what its impact on college admissions might be.
Alyson Klein, September 6, 2006
3 min read
Assessment Opinion Course-Credit Inflation?
As enrollment in advanced courses has expanded to include a large percentage of the student population, troubling evidence has accumulated that high percentages of students receiving credit for these courses are not learning the content implied by their course titles, the authors argue.
Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor & Shuling Jian, September 6, 2006
7 min read
Student Well-Being Writing About Values Found to Shrink Achievement Gap
A team of researchers has hit on a surprisingly simple way to potentially narrow the achievement gaps that widen between African-American and white students in middle school: Have students write for 15 minutes at the start of the school year on the values they cherish.
Debra Viadero, September 6, 2006
3 min read
Teacher Preparation Opinion The Cool Ones
Samantha Cleaver, a first-year, alternatively trained special education teacher, reflects on the challenges of her position.
Samantha Cleaver, September 6, 2006
4 min read
Social Studies Foreign Flags in Classroom Lead to Teacher’s Removal
A flap over a flag display has caused a Colorado teacher to leave his post and await reassignment elsewhere in the Jefferson County district.
Laura Greifner, September 6, 2006
2 min read
Education Report Roundup College Success Rate
The Denver-based commission examined state and federal research studies and found that while students and parents in every racial group believe a college degree is necessary for success, many were not well informed about what it takes to prepare for college.
Michelle R. Davis, September 6, 2006
1 min read
Education Report Roundup Gender and Teaching
The study’s author, Thomas S. Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pa., examined federal survey data from 1988 on 25,000 8th graders and their teachers. For both boys and girls, he found, a teacher’s gender had a significant effect on student test performance, teacher perceptions of students, and students’ engagement in classwork.
Debra Viadero, September 6, 2006
1 min read
Education Report Roundup College Readiness
Because some high school graduates do not learn the skills they need to be fully prepared for college, they must seek out remedial courses to get up to speed. The situation costs the nation an additional $2.3 billion a year because those students are more likely to drop out of college without a degree, decreasing their earning potential, according to the Washington-based policy group.
Michelle R. Davis, September 6, 2006
1 min read
Education Report Roundup Career Preparation
The report is the first of three that the New York City-based center will release this year, including a how-to guide for communities to put such pathways in place. The report, released Aug. 31, lays out objectives and actions communities and business leaders can pursue to help students in 1st grade through high school prepare for the types of jobs that are available locally and the skills businesses are seeking.
Michelle R. Davis, September 6, 2006
1 min read
Education Report Roundup U.S. Adults: Children Need to Work Harder
Most American adults think parents don’t push their children hard enough to do better in school, a survey suggests.
Laura Greifner, September 6, 2006
1 min read
English-Language Learners Harlem School Wins Honor for ELL Gains
Schools with high numbers of English-language learners often struggle to meet achievement goals, but one that has succeeded is being recognized as one of 16 schools of distinction in a national awards program.
Mary Ann Zehr, September 6, 2006
1 min read
Education Report Roundup Chinese-Language Classes
The guide provides practical advice for teachers, administrators, parents, and school board members interested in adding Chinese-language courses in elementary, middle, and high schools.
Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, September 6, 2006
1 min read
Education Cleveland Seeks Move From Zero
Having failed every requirement of its state’s accountability system, the Cleveland school district is mobilizing to improve both its performance and its image.
Catherine Gewertz, September 6, 2006
1 min read
Special Education Ed. Dept. Gives Primer on IDEA Regulations
After two days of carefully outlining changes in federal special education policy wrought by recently unveiled regulations, Department of Education officials last week acknowledged that they weren’t ready to give an audience of special educators what it wanted most: answers to hundreds of specific questions.
Christina A. Samuels, September 6, 2006
4 min read
Teaching Mass. Schools Experiment With Extra Time
Ten public schools in Massachusetts will test whether more learning time can boost academic performance and close the achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers.
Lesli A. Maxwell, September 6, 2006
4 min read
School & District Management College Board Launches Model for Improving High Schools
The College Board will partner with three large urban districts to launch a new model for improving high schools through a $16 million commitment announced last week by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Lynn Olson, September 6, 2006
3 min read
Education Honors & Award Honors & Awards
Science Award
The Denver-based Education Commission of the States announced the winners of its 2006 awards earlier this summer. Nancy S. Grasmick, Maryland’s state superintendent of schools, received the James Bryant Conant Award, which recognizes an individual’s contributions to American education. Kentucky won the Frank Newman Award for State Innovation, which honors a state or states that have shaped education policy. The ECS Chairman’s Award went to Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, for his efforts to promote arts in education and his contributions to the organization. The ECS Corporate Award was given to the Public Broadcasting Service, for its commitment to, and investment in, improving public education.
September 6, 2006
2 min read
Education Events
SUBMISSIONS: If you would like to submit a grant, award, deadline, or weekly event, please visit www.edweek.org/calendar for submission requirements or to submit online.
September 6, 2006
8 min read
Teaching Opinion The Truth About Homework
Needless homework assignments persist because of widespread misconceptions about learning, says Alfie Kohn.
Alfie Kohn, September 6, 2006
10 min read
From left, freshmen Ashley Parks, Jeff Bader, and Joe Purze work on an experiment in Gabe de la Paz's physics lab.
From left, freshmen Ashley Parks, Jeff Bader, and Joe Purze work on an experiment in Gabe de la Paz's physics lab.
Katherine Bish for Education Week
Science ‘Physics First’ Is Moving Slowly Into Nation’s High Schools
Even scientists and educators who have an abiding love of physics acknowledge that much of society at large doesn’t share their affection. The study of force and motion has long been regarded as the most difficult, or at least the most intimidating, of the high school sciences.
Sean Cavanagh, September 6, 2006
7 min read
Education A Washington Roundup Transportation Regulations Burden Head Start, GAO Says
Federal regulations on the transportation of children to Head Start centers pose a budget challenge to many centers, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Andrew Trotter, September 6, 2006
1 min read