October 5, 2011
Education Week, Vol. 31, Issue 06
Equity & Diversity
News in Brief
Teachers Paid Less in Higher-Minority Schools
In many ethnically diverse school districts across the country, teachers in schools that serve the highest concentration of African-American and Latino students are paid significantly less than the average teacher in such districts.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Can We Afford Years to Validate Test Scores?
To the Editor:
A Georgia state investigation into test results in what had appeared to be a public school system that was working resulted in confessions and revelations of dishonesty, according to recent reports (“Test-Tampering Found Rampant in Atlanta System,” July 13, 2011).
A Georgia state investigation into test results in what had appeared to be a public school system that was working resulted in confessions and revelations of dishonesty, according to recent reports (“Test-Tampering Found Rampant in Atlanta System,” July 13, 2011).
Special Education
Letter to the Editor
Districts Should Lose Funds If They Reduce Spec. Ed.
To the Editor:
The “maintenance of effort” requirement in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grew out of the inability of states and local education agencies to provide sufficient financial resources to meet their duty to educate children with disabilities. It refers only to the money spent by local districts on the excess cost of special education and related services. Students with disabilities feel cuts to general education budgets as acutely as their counterparts without disabilities. Most spend the majority of their day in general education classrooms—when class size is increased, they feel it. When instructional materials are cut back, they feel it.
The “maintenance of effort” requirement in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grew out of the inability of states and local education agencies to provide sufficient financial resources to meet their duty to educate children with disabilities. It refers only to the money spent by local districts on the excess cost of special education and related services. Students with disabilities feel cuts to general education budgets as acutely as their counterparts without disabilities. Most spend the majority of their day in general education classrooms—when class size is increased, they feel it. When instructional materials are cut back, they feel it.
Federal
States Get Breather on ARRA Reporting
The Department of Education extended the deadline for collecting and reporting data on the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund.
Early Childhood
Pre-K Now Wraps Up Work After Decade of Advocacy
The advocacy group put a spotlight on states' prekindergarten spending and priorities.
International
Report Roundup
International Achievement
A report from the George W. Bush Institute, in Dallas, argues that even America's top school districts are "mediocre" in student achievement compared with the performance of other industrialized countries.
Special Education
Report Roundup
Special Education Faculty
The shortage of K-12 special education teachers stems in part from an ongoing dearth of college faculty members to train them, according to a report that predicts the shortage of college-level special educators could grow worse.
Families & the Community
School Boundary Plan Divides Minn. Suburb
An assignment plan intended to keep schools socioeconomically balanced spurs a bitter debate in suburban Eden Prairie.
College & Workforce Readiness
Report Roundup
Preventing Dropouts
School districts' efforts to prevent students from dropping out are profiled in a new survey from the National Center for Education Statistics.
College & Workforce Readiness
Report Roundup
College Completion
What many think of as a traditional college student—one who lives on campus, attends classes full time, and doesn't need to work much—accounts for just 25 percent of those in higher education today.
School & District Management
Opinion
Why Longer School Days Work for Families
The plan to lengthen the school day in Chicago will benefit families by making it easier to juggle school and work life, Rhonda Present writes.
Equity & Diversity
Report Roundup
Race in Staffing
Teachers are more likely to stay on the job when their principal is of the same race as they are, according to a study in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
In Praise of Teachers
Teachers show up to their classrooms ready to face whatever the day brings; let's acknowledge just how demanding their jobs really are, writes Jeffrey O. Newport.
Student Well-Being
Opinion
Catholic Schools and Educating the Whole Child
Public education could learn lessons about looking beyond test scores to teaching the whole child from Catholic schools, Philip V. Robey writes.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Study: Ways to Use More Time Well
Schools that successfully extend learning time to improve student achievement change their practice in eight critical ways, according to a study by the National Center on Time & Learning.
Law & Courts
High Court to Consider 'Ministerial Exception'
The U.S. Supreme Court's new term includes a case involving the "ministerial exception" for teachers at religious schools.
Special Education
News in Brief
Suit Challenges Tuition Aid for Students With Disabilities
Arizona's largest teachers' union and the state's school boards association filed suit over a new scholarship program that pays private school tuition for children with disabilities.
States
RTT Goals Challenge Recipients
Ambitious student-achievement targets turn up the heat, as winners of the $4 billion federal grant effort push to deliver.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Judge Requires Ala. Schools to Enforce Immigration Law
A federal judge has declined to block Alabama's controversial new immigration rules that require schools to determine the citizenship status of students.
Classroom Technology
Test Scores Raise Questions About Colo. Virtual Schools
About half the students who enroll in Colorado's online schools leave within a year, an Education News Colorado investigation finds.
Federal
News in Brief
Senate Markup Set for ESEA Bill
After 10 months of negotiations, a key U.S. Senate committee has set a date to take up a bill reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Student Well-Being
News in Brief
CDC to Create Guidelines on Youth Concussions
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will develop a national protocol for the prevention and treatment of concussions in student-athletes.
English-Language Learners
News in Brief
Wis. Wins Assessment Grant
The Wisconsin education department has won a $10.5 million, four-year grant to develop an English-language-proficiency test tied to the common-core standards.
Equity & Diversity
News in Brief
Most States Get F for Civil Rights Education
A majority of states deserve a failing grade for how they handle the teaching of civil rights history in their standards, while just three merit an A.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Court Rules Young Students Have Religious-Speech Rights
A full federal appeals court has ruled that elementary school students have First Amendment rights to discuss religion with their classmates.
Education Funding
News in Brief
House Draft Budget Bill Cuts Obama Education Priorities
President Barack Obama's request for $900 million to continue the Race to the Top grant competition was among the casualties in a draft budget bill released by the House Appropriations Committee.
School & District Management
News in Brief
Ethics Complaint Filed Against Iowa Schools Chief
Iowa schools chief Jason Glass faces an ethics complaint over a trip to Brazil, one of a number of foreign visits that he and officials from other states took that were supported financially by an education company's foundation.
School & District Management
Study Gives Revised View of Chicago School Improvements
A look back at 20 years of data on Chicago Public Schools paints a different picture of educational trends and progress than the statistics that the public sees.
Teacher Preparation
Plan to Change Teacher Education System Gains Momentum With NEA, TFA Support
NEA, TFA leaders offer their support for a federal plan to hold teacher education programs accountable for the achievement of their graduates' students.