November 19, 2008
Education Week, Vol. 28, Issue 13
Federal
Federal File
Petitioners Battling Over Top Ed. Job
Online petitioners are urging President-elect Barack Obama to appoint Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University education professor and an adviser to the Obama presidential campaign, as secretary of education.
Federal
Advocates of Bilingual Education Eager to Embrace Obama as Ally
Supporters of the often-controversial method say the president-elect has been supportive of the idea and hope for momentum.
Early Childhood
Elementary Principals Go to School to Learn About Pre-K Practices
A training program for elementary school principals helps educators manage and strengthen the prekindergarten programs in their buildings.
Mathematics
Senior Year Inviting More Math Choices
Interest in 12th grade math options is rising as more states require four years of the subject and schools explore alternatives for struggling and high-achieving students.
Law & Courts
Monument Case Before High Court Has Implications for Schools
A case about a small religious sect’s efforts to display a monument with its principles in a city park has implications for free-speech and establishment-of-religion questions in public schools.
Federal
Strategy Retooled at Gates
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is retooling its precollegiate approach and launching a push to double college-completion rates.
School Choice & Charters
Report Roundup
Charter Accountability
A report from the Southern Regional Education Board recommends steps for policymakers to take in the interest of ensuring that charter schools in their states are being held accountable for improving student achievement.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Teacher Recruitment
States that have a “genuine” alternative route to teacher certification attract more minority teachers, says a study scheduled to be published this month in the journal Education Next.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Community Service
Nearly seven in 10 of the nation’s public schools offer opportunities for students to participate in community-service projects, or give them credit for doing so, a new report says.
Special Education
Report Roundup
Research Report: Special Education
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affects the motor skills of boys more than girls, according to a report published in the Nov. 4, issue of Neurology.
School Choice & Charters
Report Roundup
California Charters
Of the public schools in California serving large numbers of students in poverty, 12 of the 15 highest-performing ones are charter schools, says a new analysis by the California Charter Schools Association.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Why Take Advanced Math?
A Washington organization that promotes rigorous academic standards is presenting students, parents, and policymakers with what it hopes are practical reasons why it is important to take advanced math.
English-Language Learners
Report Roundup
Asian-Latino Study Eyes Role of School
For children of Latino immigrants, a school’s environment can play a big role in helping them to catch up academically with non-Hispanic whites, according to a study by a researcher at Columbia University.
Federal
President-Elect Gets School Policy Advice
While President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team works behind closed doors, education groups are openly trying to influence the next administration’s K-12 policies.
Education
News in Brief
Chicago Students to Play Lead Role in Dropout Project
A group of student leaders in Chicago has persuaded the city school system to launch a pilot program designed to reduce the dropout rate by making high school more relevant and responsive to teenagers’ needs.
Federal
News in Brief
Districts in D.C., Some Suburbs Cancel Classes for Inauguration
Many school districts in the Washington area have canceled classes for Inauguration Day in January, or are considering that step.
Education
News in Brief
Civil Rights Groups Scrutinizing Racial Tensions in Calif. District
Latino and black civil rights organizations have joined forces to examine reported racial tensions between students in the Oxnard Union High School District in California.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
N.C. District to Discipline Teachers For Social-Network Postings
Several teachers in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., school district face discipline for posting images and material on the social-networking site Facebook that school leaders find objectionable, including one teacher who wrote, “I hate my students!”
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Students Sue Wash. State District Over Student Newspaper Article
Four current and former high school students have sued the Puyallup, Wash., school district, claiming they were harassed after their names were used in a story about their sex lives in their school’s student newspaper.
Education
News in Brief
New Orleans' School Scores Up Since Storm
Student achievement is improving in New Orleans, even as most of the schools operated by the state-run Recovery School District remain among the lowest-performing in Louisiana.
IT Infrastructure & Management
States Slow to Embrace Online Testing
Many schools and districts are using computer-based testing for local assessments, but employing computers for statewide testing has proven to be difficult.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Adjusting to Test Takers
Computer-adaptive testing addresses individual student needs, but cost and logistical challenges persist.
Assessment
Opinion
'Standardized,' You Say?
"The only certainty there should be regarding standardized-test scores is the certainty they’re not indisputable," says Todd Farley.
Student Well-Being
Preschool Vaccines Upset N.J. Parents
A new flu-shot requirement for New Jersey toddlers is serving as a rallying point for parents who would like the option to skip vaccinations for their children.
Standards
Opinion
Could 'Open Source' Testing Help Resolve the Testing Impasse?
By addressing the concerns of both those who want high standards, and those who rightly see serious deficiencies in the tests used by most states, stakeholders could create a test system that benefits students, teachers, and the nation, says Charles Barone.
Student Well-Being
Opinion
Digital Education: Mapping Innovation
"The uneven quality of first-generation digital learning sometimes leaves an impression more of hokum than of transformation. But the second generation will not," says Andy Hoffman.
School & District Management
Nashville Governance Up in Air as Mayor Seeks Role in Schools
The Nashville school district, in its first year under partial state control after failing to meet standards for five years in a row, is clashing with the city’s mayor, who is signaling a desire to run the schools.
School & District Management
Weighted-Student Funding Preferred by Educators, Study Finds
Research on two districts finds method channeled more money to needy pupils.
Social Studies
New York Union Urges Teaching About R.F.K.
The legacy of Robert F. Kennedy has inspired an unusual alliance over school curriculum in New York that joins the state teachers’ union, a private foundation, the state education department, and the governor.