October 13, 2010
Education Week, Vol. 30, Issue 07
Education Funding
Rivals in Tennessee Scrutinize Scholarship Program
Concerns are raised over the lottery-funded program’s financial stability.
Mathematics
Report Roundup
Algebra
Some 39 percent of students take algebra or a more advanced mathematics course in 8th grade, a new federal brief says.
School Climate & Safety
Report Roundup
Research Report: Bullying
A review of research and court records on school harassment cases finds that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students are more than twice as likely as other K-12 students to be bullied by peers, and that nearly a third of students who reported harassment said school officials did not respond.
Accountability
Report Roundup
Teacher Evaluation
A report from the New Teacher Project offers states and districts a series of standards to help them overhaul their teacher-evaluation instruments.
Mathematics
Report Roundup
Teaching Fractions
The latest practice guide from the federal Institute of Education Sciences offers educators research-backed advice on tackling one of the most critical gaps in American students’ mathematical knowledge: how to work with fractions.
Education Funding
Report Roundup
Study: Districts' Recession Recovery May Take Years
School districts around the country are laying off teachers, cutting instructional programs, and eliminating student activities as they absorb the lingering effects of the economic recession, a new report says.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
What Do Social Studies Teachers Really Think?
A national survey finds that social studies teachers in public schools generally lack confidence that students are learning what they should, and that they believe social studies is not treated as "an absolutely essential subject area."
School & District Management
News in Brief
Pittsburgh Chief Stepping Down
Pittsburgh Superintendent Mark Roosevelt, who helped the district win a $37.4 million Teacher Incentive Fund grant from the federal government and a $40 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve teacher effectiveness, announced last week that he was resigning.
Education
News in Brief
Wake County, N.C., Changes Course
The Wake County, N.C., school board, which drew fire for dropping a student-assignment plan based on socioeconomic diversity, has now rejected its intended substitute.
Federal
News in Brief
NEA Commits $40 Million, Manpower to Political Races
The National Education Association is putting its formidable get-out-the-vote and campaigning efforts into 14 U.S. Senate races and 77 U.S. House of Representatives races this fall.
School & District Management
News in Brief
21st-Century-Skills Group Chooses New Leadership
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which has been pressing for the integration of skills such as global awareness and collaboration into academics, has hired Timothy Magner as its new executive director.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
ACLU Urges Federal Court to Stop Same-Sex Classes
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union went before a federal appeals court last week in an effort to stop what they say is an unconstitutional system of sex-segregated classes at a southern Louisiana school.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
U.S. Justices Decline Case on Religious Music at School
On the first day of its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment last week to hear the appeal of a parent who challenged a New Jersey school district’s restrictions on religious music at holiday performances.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Fla. Court Rejects Challenge to Class-Size Amendment
The Florida Supreme Court last week rejected a challenge to a November ballot measure that would relax the state’s strict limits on class sizes.
Early Childhood
News in Brief
San Francisco Seeds College Accounts for Kindergartners
The City of San Francisco is making a direct investment in the educational future of its youngest residents by setting up college-savings accounts for all public school kindergartners by 2012.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Judge Says Chicago Mishandled Layoffs
A federal judge sided with the Chicago Teachers Union last week in ruling that the Chicago public school system mishandled the layoffs of more than 700 tenured teachers.
School Climate & Safety
School Discipline Inequities Become a Federal Priority
Federal civil rights officials step up plans to investigate districts when their discipline policies have a disparate impact on different groups of students—even when discrimination was never the intent.
Teaching Profession
L.A. Agreement Sets Limits on Seniority-Based Teacher Layoffs
A new settlement in Los Angeles curbs the district's use of 'last hired, first fired' policies when struggling schools are disproportionately affected.
Teacher Preparation
Developmental Science Seen Lacking in Education Schools
A report suggests that too few teachers are entering the teaching force with an adequate understanding of children and adolescents' development.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Kansas Districts See Savings in Teaming on Data Systems
Two of the state's largest school districts say the teamwork has saved jobs and increased the efficiency of sharing data on such matters as student performance.
Federal
Boston Settles With Federal Officials in ELL Investigation
The school system has agreed to take steps to make up for having violated the civil rights to thousands of students needing English instruction.
School & District Management
Effort Targets 'Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations'
By including students in teachers' professional development sessions, a N.J. school aims to open educators' eyes to their students' potential.
IT Infrastructure & Management
S.C. Now Poised to Better Track Student Progress
South Carolina is launching a new student-information system that officials say takes a quantum leap in technology that can track students' progress and find ways to improve instruction.
States
Rivals for Ohio Governor's Spot Spar Over School Finance Model in Face of Dim Economic Picture
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Republican challenger John Kasich battle over a school-finance model amid a gloomy economic landscape.
School Choice & Charters
News in Brief
Pa. Auditor Calls for Moratorium on New Charter Schools
At the root of the problem, he says, is a funding system that creates inequities in how taxpayers finance public school alternatives.
School & District Management
Poll: Learning Disabilities Are Often Misunderstood
A national survey suggests that, while people are becoming more aware of learning disabilities, about half of the public still believes home environments or laziness are at least partly to blame.
Early Childhood
Denver's Achievement Gap Narrows With Advanced Kindergarten
Data show that children who attended advanced kindergarten scored better on end-of-the-year literacy tests than their counterparts in other programs.
Teaching Profession
Letter to the Editor
Bonus Systems Are Flawed Merit Pay
To the Editor:
The Vanderbilt University research you describe on the Nashville experience with pay incentives ("Merit Pay Found to Have Little Effect on Achievement," Sept. 21, 2010) exposes the flaws of merit pay designed as a system of bonuses. This narrow approach is based on the flawed (and insulting) belief that teachers know what to do to improve instruction, but have been withholding their expertise, waiting for additional pay.
The Vanderbilt University research you describe on the Nashville experience with pay incentives ("Merit Pay Found to Have Little Effect on Achievement," Sept. 21, 2010) exposes the flaws of merit pay designed as a system of bonuses. This narrow approach is based on the flawed (and insulting) belief that teachers know what to do to improve instruction, but have been withholding their expertise, waiting for additional pay.