July 18, 2007
Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 43
Education Funding
Bus-Fleet Upgrade a Winner, School Choice a Loser in S.C.
The following offers highlights of the recent legislative sessions. Precollegiate enrollment figures are based on fall 2006 data reported by state officials for public elementary and secondary schools. The figures for precollegiate education spending do not include federal flow-through funds, unless noted.
Law & Courts
Ruling in ‘Bong Hits’ Case Seen as Leaving Protection For Students’ Free Speech
Nuances in the justices’ opinions leave significant protection for more serious political and social expression by students.
Science
Peer Training Enables Rural Schools to Better Math, Science Teaching
Advocates for rural education are seeking to cultivate and sustain their schools’ workforce.
Teaching Profession
UFT, Green Dot Seek a Charter for N.Y. School
The agreement is striking, given the often acrimonious relationship between the charter movement and teachers’ unions.
Special Education
Spec. Ed. Advocates Wary of Relaxing Testing Rules
Some disability-rights advocates fear high standards for students with disabilities could be sacrificed as states seek more flexibility in NCLB.
States
Quest for Seamless System Leads Governors to Seek New Education Authority
The nation’s governors are stepping up efforts to increase control over their colleges and universities.
Federal
Federal File
Paying for Performance
Barack Obama used measured words in a speech to delegates at the National Education Association convention.
School & District Management
Project Distills Lessons of ‘Coherent’ District-Level Reforms
How can districts organize and manage themselves to achieve excellence in every school and classroom?
Federal
A Washington Roundup
Head Start Renewal
The bill is virtually unchanged from the version approved in February by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
Federal
A Washington Roundup
Bills on College Aid Advance in Congress
The House approved a bill that would boost federal college aid by about $18 billion over the next five years by trimming $19 billion in subsidies to student lenders.
Ed-Tech Policy
Computer Software Helping Students’ Reading
Incorporating computer-based features into the reading curriculum helps teachers address their students’ varying skills and experience.
Federal
A Washington Roundup
Alaska, Arizona OK’d for ‘Growth Models’
Growth models allow states to receive credit under NCLB for improving individual students’ academic performance over time.
Education Funding
A Washington Roundup
Ed. Budget Advances in House Committee
The House Appropriations Committee approved a measure that would finance the Department of Education at about $62 billion in fiscal year 2008, a 7.8 percent increase over fiscal 2007.
Federal
A Washington Roundup
Transportation Department Weighs School Bus Safety
Federal transportation officials convened a meeting in Washington on school bus safety, with a focus on a fresh assessment of whether passenger seat belts should be required.
Teaching
Opinion
Goodbye, Mr. & Ms. Chips
If higher test scores are achieved by mandating that teachers follow a script and eschew spontaneity and passion, we will find few great teachers left in the classroom, says Nancy Ginsburg Gill.
School & District Management
Opinion
John Dewey for Today
It is time for higher education to take a far greater, and significantly different, responsibility for pre-K-12 schooling, Timothy Knowles, Stephen Raudenbush, and Henry S. Webber write.
Law & Courts
Schools Sue Arizona Over Social Studies
Arizona has long offered a welcoming climate not only for retirees, but also for charter schools, with a law deemed to make it easy to start the autonomous public schools.
Teacher Preparation
Learning Where They Teach
Pursuing its own vision of classroom quality, a charter school chain is staking out turf on the teacher-training terrain.
Education
Correction
Correction
A chart with a story on single-gender schools serving black boys in the June 20, 2007, issue of Education Week contained an error.
Teaching Profession
A National Roundup
Phila. Union Leader Resigns
Ted Kirsch, the president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, has resigned from the local affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers that he led for 24 years to concentrate on his state-level duties.
Teaching Profession
A National Roundup
Former Miami Union Chief Dies
Pat L. Tornillo Jr., the former president of the United Teachers of Dade went to prison for swindling millions from the Miami union. He died June 24 at his home in Tallahassee, Fla.
School & District Management
A National Roundup
AFT Head Calls for More School for Struggling Young Students
Edward J. McElroy, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, wants a longer school year and an intensive summer curriculum for struggling students in the early grades.
School Choice & Charters
A National Roundup
Evaluation of D.C. Vouchers Finds No First-Year Academic Edge
At the same time, it found, parents were more satisfied with their child’s school if they were offered a scholarship.
Federal
A National Roundup
Civil Rights Groups Press Congress to Make Secondary Schools Priority
The organizations want Congress to make reforming high schools and improving graduation rates for minority students an urgent priority as it moves toward renewing the No Child Left Behind Act.
Federal
Congress May Thwart Upward Bound Study
Congress may scuttle a $5 million evaluation of the national program for low-income high school students because it calls for randomly assigning students to either the program or a control group.
Law & Courts
Opinion
The Integration Decision
What's left for educators after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling?, ask Gary Orfield and Erica Frankenberg in this Education Week Commentary.
Teaching Profession
Much of Learning Gap Blamed on Summer
A recent study concludes that two-thirds of the reading achievement gap can be linked to what students learned—or failed to learn—over their childhood summers.
Federal
Teacher-Astronaut Out to Lift Academic Sights of Students
The space shuttle Endeavour's mission includes a list of activities to be led by teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara R. Morgan.
Recruitment & Retention
City Schools Hire Teachers With Stronger Credentials
Studies suggest that recruits have higher college-entrance examination scores and degrees from choosier colleges.