December 9, 2009
Education Week, Vol. 29, Issue 14
Federal
News in Brief
Mich. Senate OKs Bill Designed To Boost Chances for 'Race to Top'
The Michigan Senate has approved bills that would provide alternative paths to teacher certification, allow the expansion of charter schools, and give the state schools chief more power over failing schools.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Indiana Sues Union Over Health-Care Plan
Indiana's secretary of state filed a civil complaint against the state's largest teachers' union, saying the group violated the Indiana Securities Act when it offered a health-care plan for school districts.
Special Education
News in Brief
Court Backs Teacher
The Minnesota Court of Appeals says a special education teacher didn't violate maltreatment rules when she took a child to a timeout room rather than a bathroom.
School Choice & Charters
News in Brief
Charter-Network Founder Repays Expenses Judged 'Unjustified'
Steve Barr, a nationally prominent Los Angeles charter school founder, has repaid his organization more than $50,000 after an internal review found that expenses he had charged were undocumented or unjustified.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
ACLU Challenges Florida District on Ban of Shirts Criticizing Islam
The ACLU says that while it doesn't agree with the message printed on T-shirts distributed by the Dove World Outreach Center, it does support the students' constitutional right to freedom of speech.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Maryland School District Rewards Teachers for Raising Test Scores
The Prince George's County, Md., school system is rewarding teachers for good performance in the classroom, paying $1.1 million to 279 teachers and administrators from a dozen schools.
School Choice & Charters
News in Brief
Idaho, Charter School Still at Odds Over Use of Bible as Text
The Idaho attorney general's office has told officials at a charter school that the state won't back down from pursuing information about the school's possible use of the Bible and other religious texts.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Texas District Wins Court Backing on Rules for Religious Materials
A suburban Dallas school district's rules regulating when students can hand out religious materials are constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled last week.
School & District Management
News in Brief
Feuding Denver Board Hires Marriage Counselor to Heal Rift
The Denver school board has hired a marriage counselor to deal with rifts exposed after a rancorous meeting with newly elected members.
School & District Management
News in Brief
Moving Homes
The Center for School Change, a nationally known school improvement organization, is moving to Macalester College, in St. Paul, next month.
Curriculum
Report Roundup
Research Report: Reading
A study has found that kindergartners in a comprehensive phonics-based reading program called Superkids outperformed their counterparts in more-typical classrooms on standardized reading tests.
Education
Report Roundup
College Success
To prepare students for college, they must have access to data that tell them how their students perform academically during the first year on campus, according to a report released last week.
Federal
Report Roundup
Academic Tutoring
A minority of students in persistently failing Title I schools are getting the free tutoring services they might be entitled to under federal law.
Special Education
Report Roundup
Students With Disabilities
The best predictor of whether students with disabilities will graduate from high school is how well they do in their freshman year, a study of Chicago students has found.
Law & Courts
Supreme Court Considers Student Loans, Bankruptcy
The Court heard a challenge to a court-approved bankruptcy plan that allowed a man to discharge some of his educational loan debt without proving “undue hardship,” as federal law requires.
Education
Report Roundup
Junk Food in School
Students don't necessarily gorge themselves on junk food at home when the potato chips and sugary foods get taken out of the vending machines in their schools, according to a study.
Education
Report Roundup
Study Finds Growth in Two-Year Degrees and Certificates
A federal study finds increases of 25 percent or more in the numbers of students completing community colleges and vocational schools.
Education
Letter to the Editor
'Differential Teaching': Israel's Key to Success
To the Editor:
A central problem for schools, in the teaching of reading as well as other subjects, is finding a system that can educate all children to learn, and to love learning ("Legislation Would Replace Federal Reading Programs," Nov. 11, 2009). Teachers must be given the training and tools to succeed in reaching students with widely differing abilities and home environments, and to enable each of those students to achieve according to his or her individual potential.
A central problem for schools, in the teaching of reading as well as other subjects, is finding a system that can educate all children to learn, and to love learning ("Legislation Would Replace Federal Reading Programs," Nov. 11, 2009). Teachers must be given the training and tools to succeed in reaching students with widely differing abilities and home environments, and to enable each of those students to achieve according to his or her individual potential.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Baltimore's Schools Are Not Mayorally Run
To the Editor:
It’s quite surprising that legitimate researchers Kenneth K. Wong and Francis X. Shen would write, and your paper would publish in its “Leading for Learning” report, an essay without the most basic level of fact-checking (“Mayors Can Be ‘Prime Movers’ of Urban School Improvement,” Research Perspective, Oct. 14, 2009). The city of Baltimore does not have a mayorally run school system. Baltimore schools were a department of the city government prior to 1997, but, after years of failure, the governance structure was changed under the Bradford consent decree in the American Civil Liberties Union’s adequacy suit against the state of Maryland (Bradford v. Maryland State Board of Education), on behalf of the children of Baltimore.
It’s quite surprising that legitimate researchers Kenneth K. Wong and Francis X. Shen would write, and your paper would publish in its “Leading for Learning” report, an essay without the most basic level of fact-checking (“Mayors Can Be ‘Prime Movers’ of Urban School Improvement,” Research Perspective, Oct. 14, 2009). The city of Baltimore does not have a mayorally run school system. Baltimore schools were a department of the city government prior to 1997, but, after years of failure, the governance structure was changed under the Bradford consent decree in the American Civil Liberties Union’s adequacy suit against the state of Maryland (Bradford v. Maryland State Board of Education), on behalf of the children of Baltimore.
School & District Management
Studies Explore Secrets of Principals' Success
Working papers from prominent education researchers aim to promote better understanding of school leadership.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Math Computation and Science Skills
To the Editor:
In their Commentary “Will Science and Engineering Now Be a Good Career?” (Nov. 11, 2009), Lindsay Lowell and Hal Salzman claim that over the past few decades, there has been “no decline in the K-12 performance of U.S. students” with respect to the math skills needed to pursue a career in science. But do the data support this finding?
In their Commentary “Will Science and Engineering Now Be a Good Career?” (Nov. 11, 2009), Lindsay Lowell and Hal Salzman claim that over the past few decades, there has been “no decline in the K-12 performance of U.S. students” with respect to the math skills needed to pursue a career in science. But do the data support this finding?
Education
Letter to the Editor
Parental Involvement's Underexamined Issues
To the Editor:
Your recent article “Researchers Explore Teens, Parents, Schools” (Nov. 18, 2009), which describes research by Harvard University’s Nancy E. Hill on parental involvement at the middle school level, raises (and indeed questions) the effects on student achievement of such involvement. That the impact is not all positive really should come as no surprise.
Your recent article “Researchers Explore Teens, Parents, Schools” (Nov. 18, 2009), which describes research by Harvard University’s Nancy E. Hill on parental involvement at the middle school level, raises (and indeed questions) the effects on student achievement of such involvement. That the impact is not all positive really should come as no surprise.
States
State-Level Impact of Stimulus Said Mixed
A new report finds that most states are struggling to carry out stimulus-related improvements to education, despite some progress.
Education Funding
Lure of 'Race to the Top' Roils California Legislature as Fiscal Crisis Continues
Some push policy changes to help secure up to $700 million in federal economic-stimulus cash, while others warn against hasty action.
School & District Management
PTA Launches Campaign Backing Common Standards
With a $1 million grant from the Gates Foundation, the national group will organize parent support for the standards in four states.
School & District Management
Proposed K-12, College Cuts Draw Fire in Mississippi
Gov. Barbour faces major opposition to his plan, which also would consolidate school districts and merge historically black colleges.
Families & the Community
Opinion
What Do School Rankings Really Mean?
Popular listings of the "best" K-12 schools in an area have some hidden dangers, and educational flaws, writes Deanna Burney.
School & District Management
Opinion
We Know How to Turn Schools Around
The knowledge, and often the funding, exists to transform low-achieving schools, Allan R. Odden writes, yet we haven't done it.