October 25, 2006
Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 09
Education
Events
18-21—International education: Annual Meeting, sponsored by the Middle East Studies Association of North America, for educators and administrators, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston. Contact: MESANA, University of Arizona, 1219 N. Santa Rita Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721; (520) 621-5850; fax: (520) 626-9095; e-mail: mesana@u.arizona.edu; Web site: www.mesana.org.
November
18-21—International education: Annual Meeting, sponsored by the Middle East Studies Association of North America, for educators and administrators, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston. Contact: MESANA, University of Arizona, 1219 N. Santa Rita Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721; (520) 621-5850; fax: (520) 626-9095; e-mail: mesana@u.arizona.edu; Web site: www.mesana.org.
States
Coalition Calls for Overhaul of Del. Education System
Prompted by concerns about international competitiveness, a coalition of business, foundation, and education groups in Delaware launched a campaign last week to promote a plan for transforming public education in the state.
States
Education Eyed in 36 Battles for Governor
Votes cast in next month’s 36 gubernatorial elections will help shape future K-12 policies, from how schools are financed to how teachers are paid.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Opinion
Music, the Media, and Teenage Sex
Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, authors of Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketers’ Schemes, write that educators need to re-examine sexual education curricula in order to address the racy depiction of sexuality in the media.
Families & the Community
Opinion
Toss Out the PR Playbook
Deborah Wadsworth, a senior adviser to the nonprofit group Public Agenda, writes on putting public relations aside in favor of public engagement.
Special Education
Plain Talk on Rights Under the IDEA
In Connecticut, parents of children in special education receive a document that says when disagreements arise over their children’s education, “the parent or the school may ask, in writing, for a hearing to review what was decided.”
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
To Make Schools Safe, Make All Children Visible
Sam Chaltain, an education consultant and a former co-director of the First Amendment Schools project, offers his suggestions on how schools can create safer, more inclusive school cultures that might prevent school violence.
Federal
At Age 10, Booming D.C. Charters Feel ‘Growing Pains’
A decade after the first charter schools opened in the nation’s capital, they have mushroomed into a major presence here, serving a larger segment of students than in almost any other city.
School & District Management
Voyager Sails Into Market for Reading
The success of the Voyager Universal Literacy core reading program has drawn questions about how a program with no independent track record could advance so far, so fast, and whether its rise has been accelerated by its effect on student achievement or by the political influence of its founder and the researchers he hired who designed the program.
Law & Courts
Court Declines Appeal From Scouts on Denial of Benefit
The U.S. Supreme Court declined last week to hear an appeal by a Boy Scouts of America affiliate that was denied the free use of a boat marina owned by the city of Berkeley, Calif., because of the Scouts’ policy barring gays and atheists.
Law & Courts
Diverse Views Offered on Supreme Court Race Cases
Education organizations, civil rights groups, and scholars were among those filing a total of 57 friend-of-the-court briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court by the Oct. 10 deadline in support of race-conscious policies of the Seattle and Jefferson County, Ky., school districts.
Federal
State Chiefs Offer Views on NCLB Renewal
State officials responsible for carrying out the No Child Left Behind Act want more money and more power to make the nearly 5-year-old federal law work.
Education
A Washington Roundup
Audit: Dept. Office Should Tighten Grant Oversight
The Department of Education's office of innovation and improvement should investigate more quickly when grant recipients spend their money faster than department policy allows, according to a report issued last week by the department's inspector general.
Education
A Washington Roundup
Research Office Sets Panel to Advise on Urban Education
The Department of Education’s key research office has formed a 15-member panel of researchers and policymakers to advise it on research needed to improve the nation’s urban schools.
Education
A Washington Roundup
NAGB Gets 4 New Members; 4 Others Are Reappointed
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced last week the appointment of four new members to the National Assessment Governing Board. The 26-member panel develops policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as “the nation’s report card.”
Education
A Washington Roundup
Bush Resumes Push to Reauthorize NCLB
President Bush traveled to a school in Greensboro, N.C., last week to renew his call for the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Education
Federal File
Back in the Fray
The curriculum outlined by the best-selling education thinker E.D. Hirsch Jr. in his new book sounds familiar to Lynne V. Cheney.
Ed-Tech Policy
To Tailor Schedules, Students Log In to Online Classes
Interest in online school courses is surging nationwide, especially at the high school level, according to those who follow trends in educational technology. Much of that demand is coming from those who enroll in just one or two a year to meet a particular academic need or resolve a scheduling hang-up.
School & District Management
Foundation Shifts Tack on Studies
Five years into an eight-year study of its high school improvement efforts, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is shifting its strategy for evaluating the $1.3 billion grant program. The decision to halt the study that began in 2001 worries some scholars.
Curriculum
Need Cited for Secondary-Level Writing Instruction
With adolescents' reading skills garnering increasing attention in school improvement discussions, a report released last week urges educators and policymakers also to address the need for effective writing instruction in middle and high schools.