October 4, 2006
Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 06
Law & Courts
Diversity on the Docket
In its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider two potentially landmark cases on whether public schools may take race into account in assigning students to schools. Here are the stories of those cases.
Law & Courts
No Shades of Gray
Louisville's race-conscious policy is the target of a legal challenge by a white parent who contends that the policy violated her son’s U.S. constitutional right to equal protection of the law when he was denied a transfer to his neighborhood school on account of his race in 2000.
Equity & Diversity
Target Demographics
In Seattle, the student-assignment policy seeks to keep the racial and ethnic makeup of high schools within the range of district averages.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Opinion
Data-Driven to Distraction
Mindful teaching needs to be evidence-informed, not data-driven, write two professors at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
The Forgotten History of Immigration
Former education correspondent William Celis writes on the contributions made by immigrants to America's public schools, stating they have helped propel some of the most significant and enduring changes in state and federal education policy in the last century.
Teaching Profession
Florida Union Challenges Teacher-Bonus Program
Florida has announced three plans this year to tie teacher bonuses to improvement in students’ test scores. And all three times the plans have been challenged by the state teachers’ union.
Law & Courts
U.S. Circuit Court Bars Ariz. For-Profit Charters From Federal Payments
In what may be the end of a long legal road, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled that for-profit charter schools in Arizona cannot receive federal funds.
Federal
Spellings Unveils Plan for Higher Education
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings last week outlined a bold plan to move forward on proposals in a federal commission’s report calling for a major shakeup of the nation’s higher education system.
Federal
NCLB Panel Favors Retaining Law’s Core Measures
Leaders of a high-profile private panel charged with recommending changes to the No Child Left Behind Act say they want to keep the central tenets of the 4½-year-old law, increasing the possibility that the law will not undergo wholesale changes when Congress reauthorizes it.
Federal
3 of 4 Claims in Conn.’s NCLB Suit Dismissed
A federal judge last week dismissed three of the four claims in Connecticut’s lawsuit challenging the No Child Left Behind Act, largely on procedural grounds.
School & District Management
Online Clearinghouse Sizes Up What Works in Array of Programs
The U.S. Department of Education isn’t the only organization in Washington with a “what works” Web site.
School & District Management
Project Eyes Diverse Data Sets for Insight On Children
Researchers who study children and schooling are often constrained by the data sets they use. School district data, for instance, yield valuable information on students’ ages, their achievement history, and their educational placements, but they don’t tell the whole story.
School Climate & Safety
Schools Across U.S. to Receive Emergency Radios
The federal government began shipping emergency radios to thousands of public schools nationwide last week in an effort to more quickly alert school personnel to an impending hazard, whether it’s a hurricane or a terrorist attack.
School & District Management
Colorado Schools Chief, Local Superintendents Spar Over Role of State
Colorado’s 178 district superintendents are embroiled in a polite yet pointed debate with Commissioner of Education William J. Moloney and the state school board over the state’s role in helping districts raise student achievement.
Teaching Profession
School Workers Raise Money for Suspended Hartford, Conn., Teacher
A Connecticut teacher suspended without pay after he allegedly used an anti-gay term in remarks to a student in class was the beneficiary of a controversial fundraiser last week, staged by colleagues seeking to help him financially.
Science
N.C. University Faculty Bail Out High School in Math, Science Class
A North Carolina university has stepped into a major breach at a high school on the state’s list of low performers, lending some dozen faculty members from its ranks to head up science and mathematics classes that lacked qualified teachers.
Education Funding
College Students Use Private Loans to Meet Growing Tuition Bills
As college tuition costs continue to rise, more students are relying on private loans to cover their expenses, sometimes instead of those subsidized by the federal government.
Teaching Profession
Supreme Court to Hear Case on Union Fees
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to take up the issue of when a teachers’ union may spend the money it collects in the form of “agency fees” from nonmembers on political causes.
Special Education
Court Is Urged to Hear Case on Parent Representation Under IDEA
The Bush administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the question of whether parents who are not lawyers can represent their children in federal court over issues related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
School & District Management
Rochester, N.Y., Schools Chief Picked for Top Job in Boston
The Boston school board is expected this week to formally tap Manuel J. Rivera, the Rochester, N.Y., schools chief, as the district’s next superintendent, a move many hope will shift the focus from a difficult search process to planning for the city’s children.
International
Adult-Literacy Test Introduced to Developing Nations
The recent White House Conference on Global Literacy hosted here by first lady Laura Bush coincided with the rollout of a new international assessment that holds the promise of providing a much more accurate picture of adult illiteracy in developing countries than ever before.
Education
A Washington Roundup
PR Executive Confirmed for Communications Post
The Senate has confirmed Lauren Maddox to be the Department of Education’s assistant secretary for communications and outreach. She won confirmation by voice vote on Sept. 21.
Education
A Washington Roundup
Bill Would Expand Eligibility for American Indian Programs
The House approved a bill by voice vote on Sept. 27 that would add new kinds of Native American language programs to the list of those that can receive grants under the Native American Programs Act, which is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Education
A Washington Roundup
New Rules Issued for Upward Bound
The Department of Education has issued new guidelines for the Upward Bound program, which is aimed at preparing high school students from low-income families and those whose parents do not hold college degrees for higher education.
Federal
Federal File
Choosing Reauthorization
The chairman of the House education committee says he wants to revisit the No Child Left Behind Act on schedule next year and make it a bipartisan effort. He’s so serious, in fact, that he may be willing to jettison an idea popular among his fellow Republicans.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Illinois to Get Interim Chief
Christopher Koch, the director of special education for Illinois’ state education agency, will be the interim state superintendent of education.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Illinois Picks ACT Inc. to Administer State Test
The Illinois board of education has chosen a different company to administer its mandatory high school assessment, after voicing disappointment with the current contractor’s performance in overseeing a state test at earlier grade levels.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Six Virginia Schools Denied Accreditation
For the first time since Virginia began rating schools based on student achievement in 1998, six schools have been denied accreditation because of poor results on the state-mandated Standards of Learning tests.
Classroom Technology
Perfect Attendance?
Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, a 6,700-student online charter school in Ohio, had a 100 percent attendance rate last school year, according to data required by the state education department.