September 13, 2006
Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 03
Education
A Washington Roundup
Black Men’s Group to Promote NCLB
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings last week announced a partnership with an African-American advocacy group to promote educational options available under the No Child Left Behind Act.
Federal
Federal File
Duke’s Wife and Her Job
Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., may have used his political connections to get his wife a well-paying job at the Department of Education, according to a recent article in The New Republic.
Education
Lawmakers Study State’s ‘Brain Drain’
Legislators in Vermont shoved two contentious education issues to the back burner in a session dominated by concern over rising health-care costs. The lawmakers also tweaked the state’s school finance law, as they have done almost every year since it was passed in 1997.
Education
Oklahoma Increases Teachers’ Salaries
In a special session this summer, Oklahoma lawmakers passed a $2.3 billion K-12 budget for fiscal 2007—an increase of 8.5 percent over fiscal 2006.
Education
Salaries Raised for New Teachers
Brand-new teachers who enter Maine’s public school classrooms this fall will be paid at least $30,000 annually, an increase of more than $3,000 from what had been the state’s average starting salary for classroom rookies.
School Climate & Safety
Cutting Costs
Indiana is still building big, expensive schools.
But the projects got a little smaller after Gov. Mitch Daniels put the hammer down on school construction last year.
Education
Report Roundup
Children’s Activities
American children might not be participating in too many activities after all, says a study published in the most recent issue of the journal Social Policy Report.
Education
Report Roundup
NCLB Tutoring
A survey commissioned by a Pennsylvania tutoring company found that 78 percent of parents questioned did not know that students in underperforming schools were eligible for free tutoring under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Education
Report Roundup
Urban Education
A study that examines how two urban districts—in Dayton, Ohio, and Milwaukee—are responding to pressures imposed from nondistrict schools in their boundaries concludes that the first step toward competing may involve the districts’ simple recognition that they are in a competitive environment.
Education
Report Roundup
Accountability Seen Yielding Calif. Gains
California’s accountability system is pushing schools to improve learning for many students, concludes an analysis by the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the University of California, Los Angeles.
School Choice & Charters
Charter Strongholds Pop Up Around U.S.
A report released last week by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools identifies communities with the largest charter presence. Dubbed the “top 10,” the list grew to 19 communities because of several ties.
Student Well-Being
Anti-Steroid Lessons Should Start Early, Sports Panel Says
Anti-steroid education should begin in grade school, according to a panel of sports organizations created by a congressional committee.
Special Education
Children of Older Fathers Have a Higher Rate of Autism, Study Finds
Children born to older fathers appear to be at higher risk of developing autism than those born to fathers in their 20s and 30s, according to a study of thousands of Israeli families.
Student Well-Being
More U.S. Children Lacking Insurance
The proportion of children without health insurance in the United States rose from 10.8 percent in 2004 to 11.2 percent in 2005, the first uptick in the number since 1998.
School Choice & Charters
Schools Welcome Chinese Teachers
The rising popularity of Chinese-language classes hasn’t gone unnoticed by independent schools.
Teaching Profession
Site Launched for Teachers to Sell Their Lesson Plans
Teachers who think the lesson plans and worksheets they have created are good enough to sell now can test that idea in an online marketplace.
Teaching Profession
Phila. Marks Constitution Day With Constitution High School
Philadelphia is marking Constitution Day with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the district’s new high school named for the founding document. Some 110 9th graders make up the first cohort of students at Constitution High School in downtown Philadelphia, which opened last week.
Teaching Profession
New Novel Takes Pokes at Standardized Testing
“The nation’s report card” is the unofficial title of the National Assessment of Educational Progress—that sober, emminently respectable test known to educators around the country.
Teaching Profession
9/11 Victims’ Families Preparing Teaching Materials
Concerned that “as time distances us from the attacks, memories are fading,” a group commemorating the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, are launching an education program to help teachers teach about the terrorist strikes on the United States and the aftermath.
Teaching Profession
ABCTE Picks Up State, Adds Former Member of National Board
The American Board for the Certification of Teacher Excellence has added a well-known teacher advocate to its governing board.
Education
Clarification
Clarification
An article in the Sept. 6, 2006, issue of Education Week on states with late data about adequate yearly progress reported that Colorado would not release its AYP results until October. The state released the results to schools in August, and parents of students in schools identified for improvement were notified of their options under federal law. The state department of education plans to put out a press release in October.
Education
People in the News
Ginny Blankenship
Ginny Blankenship has been named the director of research and policy for the Austin, Texas-based Charter School Policy Institute. Ms. Blankenship, 30, was previously a research associate at the office for education policy at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Education
People in the News
Cheryl Hoffman-Bray
Cheryl Hoffman-Bray has been appointed the chief financial officer for the Education Development Center, a nonprofit research group based in Newton, Mass. Ms. Hoffman-Bray, 49, was previously the dean of finance and the chief financial officer for the faculty of arts and sciences at Harvard University.
Education
People in the News
George F. García
George F. García has announced he plans to retire as the superintendent of Colorado’s Boulder Valley public schools as of July 31 next year. Mr. García, 63, has led the 28,000-student district since 2000.
Education
A National Roundup
Judge Sets Date for Records
A federal judge has issued a Sept. 22 deadline for the U.S. Department of Education to provide all records sought by the Success for All Foundation under the Freedom of Information Act. (See Education Week, Aug. 30, 2006.) Judge Richard W. Roberts issued the order in response to a lawsuit filed by the Baltimore-based organization. SFA officials said they had waited more than a year for some documents they requested from the department related to the federal Reading First initiative. The documents, they said, could bolster the foundation’s argument that some commercial programs were promoted over others for use in schools receiving the grants.
Education
A National Roundup
Former Superintendent Pleads Not Guilty
Andre J. Hornsby, the former head of the Prince George’s County, Md., school system, pleaded not guilty Sept. 5 to federal charges that he directed contracts to associates in return for kickbacks that could have totaled more than $100,000. During the time he faces the criminal charges, his company, A+ Supplemental Educational Services, has been taken off Maryland’s list of approved providers for tutoring services under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Education
N.Y.C. Leader Battles Union
Joel I. Klein, the chancellor of the New York City schools, has said he would rather pay a group of assistant principals to do busywork than to send them to schools that don’t want them.
Federal
Minorities Still Face Digital Divide
Nearly a decade after the World Wide Web became widely available, a significant gap persists between minority and white students in their use of that potentially powerful educational tool, according to a federal report.