February 23, 2005

Education Week, Vol. 24, Issue 24
Curriculum Summer Learning Paying Off in N.M.
Kindergarten-Plus, a program designed to give academically at-risk children access to extra learning opportunities in the summers before and after they attend kindergarten, is leading to improved literacy and social skills, concludes the first evaluation of the program.
Linda Jacobson, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Glenda Winn, a 3rd grade teacher at Tomas Rivera Elementary School in Riverside, Calif., has seen the number of students in her class nearly double since the district dropped small classes in 3rd grade.
Glenda Winn, a 3rd grade teacher at Tomas Rivera Elementary School in Riverside, Calif., has seen the number of students in her class nearly double since the district dropped small classes in 3rd grade.
Steven Lewis for Education Week
School Climate & Safety Nearly a Decade Into Small-Class Law, Calif. Educators Love Imperfect Effort
Class-size reduction remains immensely popular throughout California, but its hefty costs have forced some trade-offs.
Joetta L. Sack, February 23, 2005
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9 min read
Education A National Roundup Private Consultants Tapped to Advise Phila. High Schools
Three consultants have won contracts totaling $1.5 million to provide technical help to 10 Philadelphia high schools as they make a transition to smaller learning communities.
Catherine Gewertz, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Education A National Roundup Fla. Teacher Alleged to Have Offered Lesson on Destructive Device
A chemistry teacher in Florida was arrested last week after allegedly showing students how to make explosive devices.
Sean Cavanagh, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Alternative Certification
Education Charts: Alternative Certification: Who Trains and Who Pays
Semester hours that participants in alternative-teacher-certification programs must complete at a college or university:
February 23, 2005
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1 min read
School & District Management Schools Chief’s Blog Offers Tips
The writers of Web logs have shown their power to oust media executives and rewrite major stories in a presidential campaign. Now, a Chicago-area administrator hopes such a “blog” can help in persuading communities to provide adequate financing for schools.
David J. Hoff, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Education A National Roundup PBS Chief to Step Down
Pat Mitchell, the president and chief executive officer of the Public Broadcasting Service, announced last week that she would not seek another term when her contract expires in June 2006.
Michelle R. Davis, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Early Childhood New Report Concludes School-Readiness Data Need More Attention
Indicators of children’s readiness for school are useful only when there are advocates and educators who care enough to improve those measures over time, concludes a report released last week from a 17-state group.
Linda Jacobson, February 23, 2005
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3 min read
Education Funding S.F. Eyes Cutting Prep Time for AP
As the 60,000-student San Francisco school district negotiates with the city’s teachers’ union for a new contract, one cost-cutting proposal would end preparation classes for many of the district’s 113 AP teachers.
John Gehring, February 23, 2005
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3 min read
Special Education GAO: Big Jump in Children With Autism Seen
The number of schoolchildren identified as having autism has increased more than 500 percent over the past decade, according to a report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office last week.
Christina A. Samuels, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Education Report Roundup 100 Reform Models Described in Guide
A guide that describes nearly 100 programs and approaches to comprehensive reform for middle and high schools was recently released to help administrators make decisions about ways of raising student achievement.
Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Education Report Roundup Dental Health
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, which is in place in 49 states, has improved dental-care access for children from low-income families, concludes a study released last week.
February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Curriculum New York Middle Schools to Receive New Flexibility
New York middle schools will receive more flexibility to adjust their course offerings in order to improve academic achievement, under a plan the state board of regents approved this month.
Joetta L. Sack, February 23, 2005
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3 min read
Gov. M. Jodi Rell
Classroom Technology A State Capitals Roundup Connecticut Governor Seeks Laptops for English Classes
Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut proposed a $15.5 million initiative to provide a laptop computer for every 9th and 10th grade English classroom in the state as a part of her two-year budget proposal unveiled this month.
Jessica L. Tonn, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
School Climate & Safety A State Capitals Roundup Gov. Bush Offers Alternative to Fla. Class-Size Amendment
Gov. Jeb Bush has backed off his call to repeal Florida’s constitutional amendment that sets limits on class sizes.
Robert C. Johnston, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Education A State Capitals Roundup Ohio Charter Case Accepted
The Ohio Supreme Court agreed last week to consider a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s charter schools.
Caroline Hendrie, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Law & Courts Ten Commandments Case Watched Closely by School Community
When the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments next week in two disputes over government displays of the Ten Commandments, some school law experts will be listening almost as closely as if the words were rolling down from Mount Sinai.
Caroline Hendrie, February 23, 2005
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5 min read
Education A Washington Roundup House Ed. Committee OKs Job-Training Bill
The House education committee approved a bill last week to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 that would increase efforts to provide job training to youths, especially high school dropouts and juveniles moving through the court system.
Sean Cavanagh, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Students await the start of Mass.
Students Ashley Halton, left, Lynette Cohen, and Tieona Brown await the start of Mass at the Gesu School.
Photo by Michael Branscom
School Choice & Charters A Spiritual Investment
The Gesu School in Philadelphia was dying, until entreprenurial-minded donors got together to show a new way of keeping urban Catholic schools afloat.
Rhea R. Borja, February 23, 2005
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9 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Report: Minority College Enrollment Growing
Black and Hispanic students are enrolling in college at higher rates since 1991, but they have failed to catch up with the proportion of white students pursuing higher education, according to a report released last week.
Vaishali Honawar, February 23, 2005
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3 min read
Education University of Ga. Delays Race Policy
A task force has delayed the addition of race as a factor in admissions at the University of Georgia at Athens, at least until fall 2006, because it needed more time to clear up legal issues surrounding the proposed change.
Vaishali Honawar, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
College Participation by Race/Ethnicity
College & Workforce Readiness Chart: College Participation by Race/Ethnicity
The college-participation rate of 18- to 24-year-old African-Americans increased from 1990 to 2002, but stagnated for Hispanics. The three-year averages shown are designed to compensate for small sample sizes.
February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Teaching Profession Vatican Office Rebuffs St. Louis Catholic Teachers
The Vatican has dismissed on a technicality a complaint that the St. Louis-based Association of Catholic Elementary Educators filed in August charging that the head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis was violating church law by not permitting teachers in Roman Catholic elementary schools to unionize.
Mary Ann Zehr, February 23, 2005
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2 min read
BRIC ARCHIVE
Curriculum Teacher Turnover Tracked in City District
A new Texas study punctures the commonly held notion that high levels of teacher turnover in poor, urban schools result from an exodus of the profession’s “best and brightest.”
Debra Viadero, February 23, 2005
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4 min read
Education Funding Foundations Boost Giving to Small-Schools Effort in N.Y.C.
New York City’s drive to open hundreds of new small schools got a boost last week with the announcement of private donations totaling more than $32 million, most of it from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Caroline Hendrie, February 23, 2005
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3 min read
Education Funding A State Capitals Roundup Fewer Illinois Districts Seeing Red Ink in Budgets
A preliminary analysis of school districts in Illinois shows that their financial conditions have improved over the most recent recorded year, partly because of spending reductions and increases in state local aid.
Sean Cavanagh, February 23, 2005
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1 min read
Education Opinion To Improve High Schools, Listen to the Insights of Students
If school leaders are serious about high school reform, they will include high school students in the process, says Ronald S. Byrnes.
Ronald S. Byrnes, February 23, 2005
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6 min read
Federal Opinion Rethinking a Bad Law
As educators, we would not use threats, punishments, and pernicious comparisons to ‘motivate’ our students. But that is how this law treats the school establishment, argues education professor Nel Noddings.
Nel Noddings, February 23, 2005
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3 min read
Science Opinion Unlearning Bad Science
Despite superficial textbooks, rote teaching, and a shortage of project-based learning, there is hope for science education, says John Merrow.
John Merrow, February 23, 2005
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8 min read
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