December 5, 2001
Education Week, Vol. 21, Issue 14
School Choice & Charters
Basking in Personal Attention
—Robert C. Johnston
Kiva Jefferson had her first parent-teacher conference before school started this year. That's because teachers at Lee A. Tolbert Academy Charter School, where her three daughters are enrolled here, visit their students' homes even before the opening bell.
Kiva Jefferson had her first parent-teacher conference before school started this year. That's because teachers at Lee A. Tolbert Academy Charter School, where her three daughters are enrolled here, visit their students' homes even before the opening bell.
Education
News in Brief: A Washington Roundup
- Virginia Official Named to Special Education Post
- Colorado Republican Won't Seek Re-Election
IT Infrastructure & Management
High Court Hears Arguments In Internet Pornography Case
Arguing that Internet pornography is "readily accessible to children," the Bush administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court last week to uphold a federal law designed to protect minors from sexually explicit material on the World Wide Web.
Education
California's English-Fluency Numbers Help Fuel Debate
The percentage of English-language learners that California school districts reclassify each year as fluent in English has increased slightly since the anti- bilingual-education Proposition 227 was implemented in the state three years ago.
Education
State Journal
Michigan is already the first state to provide almost all its public school teachers with laptop computers. Now, a top state legislator wants to step a bit farther into the 21st century.
Wireless Access for All?
Michigan is already the first state to provide almost all its public school teachers with laptop computers. Now, a top state legislator wants to step a bit farther into the 21st century.
Education Funding
Creative Teachers Overwhelm Ohio Program With Ideas
Think of them as little dreams trapped in cardboard boxes. Among them are teachers' ideas for getting children excited about mathematics, and for making history come alive in the classroom. In all, more than a thousand of them are stowed away—for now, anyway—in offices of the Ohio Department of Education.
School Choice & Charters
A Ticket Out of Public Schools
—Robert C. Johnston
Public schools worked well for Trinidad and Jacqueline Casas' two daughters. But when things started to go wrong for their 8-year-old son in a local public school, they wanted a change.
Public schools worked well for Trinidad and Jacqueline Casas' two daughters. But when things started to go wrong for their 8-year-old son in a local public school, they wanted a change.
Education
ESEA Negotiators Near Accords, But Snags Remain
House and Senate negotiators appeared to have reached an accord on annual testing last week, pushing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization one crucial step closer to final passage.
House and Senate negotiators appeared to have reached an accord on annual testing last week, pushing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization one crucial step closer to final passage.
Ed-Tech Policy
N.Y.C. Plan Wants District Radio, TV to Make Online Network
The New York City board of education has unveiled a plan for a "broadband educational network" via its television and radio stations, which have been the focus of some controversy recently.
Federal
Money Woes Stall N.Y.C.'s Changes To English-Language Programs
The New York City school system's plan to make changes in its programs for English-language learners, an issue that ignited fierce debate in a district with one of the largest immigrant populations in the nation, has slowed significantly because system officials don't have the money to implement the changes.
Law & Courts
Judge Blocks Six Columbine Suits Against District, Employees
A federal judge last week dismissed six lawsuits against the Jefferson County, Colo., school district and seven school employees stemming from the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School.
Education
Retrospective
The Reagan administration struggles with the federal role in education; a poll reveals absentee teachers cost school districts billions of dollars each year; urban school superintendents and colleges form alliances, and more.
The Reagan administration struggles with the federal role in education; a poll reveals absentee teachers cost school districts billions of dollars each year; urban school superintendents and colleges form alliances, and more.
School Climate & Safety
Lessons Seen in Handling Of Alleged School Plot
A student's decision to alert school authorities, followed by five weeks of intense cooperation between police and school officials, is being credited with foiling an alleged school-shooting plot and preventing a tragedy potentially on the scale of the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colo.
School Climate & Safety
Take Note
No Place to Play
The cratered surface of what used to be Quitman County Elementary School's playground looks more like a battlefield than a schoolyard.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Efforts Link Sick Children to Classes
Interactive technology offers thousands of children who are hospitalized or homebound a link to classmates and teachers that may prevent them from losing academic ground—and losing touch.
Equity & Diversity
Minority Parents Quietly Embrace School Choice
After all, the most typical advocates of wide-open school choice are conservative Republicans and libertarians; the staunchest opponents tend to be Democratic and liberal, and can usually count on blacks and Hispanics as political allies.
Equity & Diversity
Black State Lawmakers Target 'Gap'
An influential group of black state legislators issued a high-profile call to peers in state capitals and school districts across the country last week, urging them to help bridge the academic-achievement gap that separates black and white students. Includes the accomanying chart, "State Lawmakers' Recommendations."
Education
State Lawmakers' Recommendations
"Closing the Achievement Gap," a report released last week by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, recommends that legislatures and school districts take the following actions:
Professional Development
Teaching and Learning
- Staff-Development Guidelines Emphasize Student Achievement
- Bank Examination
- Trips to Mars
- Catholic Schools TAP In
- Book Paucity
School Choice & Charters
A Spiritual and Moral Foundation
—Karla Scoon Reid
The value of an education was lost on Tonya Jordan until her children started school. When she was growing up in Milwaukee's inner city, she says, her parents didn't stress the importance of the classroom. Instead, the strict family edict for the six Jordan children was: "When you get 18, you had to get out of the house."
The value of an education was lost on Tonya Jordan until her children started school. When she was growing up in Milwaukee's inner city, she says, her parents didn't stress the importance of the classroom. Instead, the strict family edict for the six Jordan children was: "When you get 18, you had to get out of the house."
Student Well-Being & Movement
Federal File
The discovery of trace amounts of anthrax bacteria in the mailroom at the Department of Education's headquarters prompted the temporary shutdown of all the agency's mail facilities in Washington.
Taking Precautions
The discovery of trace amounts of anthrax bacteria in the mailroom at the Department of Education's headquarters prompted the temporary shutdown of all the agency's mail facilities in Washington.
Law & Courts
Grading Case Takes High Court Back to School
A lively U.S. Supreme Court oral argument last week had several justices recalling their own school days and wondering whether common classroom practices were threatened by a strict interpretation of federal law.
School & District Management
N.Y. State Officials Threaten To Dissolve District
Warning that New York's only state-supervised district is on the brink of financial and educational bankruptcy, state education officials have threatened to disperse its 3,200 students to neighboring districts if the legislature doesn't come to the rescue.
Education
'E-Procurement' Firm Simplexis Closes Doors as Industry Struggles
In the heady days of the dot-com economy, about a dozen "e-procurement" companies promised to streamline schools' inefficient purchasing systems. Now, only a handful of those companies still exist, and their numbers continue to dwindle.
Education
News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup
- Ariz. Wants More Accountability
- Calif. Charter School Panel Formed
- Va. Lowers Some Test Cutoff Scores
School Choice & Charters
Public Debates, Private Choices
Funding for these stories was provided in part by the Ford Foundation, which helps underwrite coverage of the changing definition of public schooling.