April 7, 2010
Education Week, Vol. 29, Issue 28
Education
Letter to the Editor
Use Stimulus Funds For Electronic Learning
To the Editor:
Instead of spending $4 billion on the Race to the Top grant competition, the U.S. Department of Education should use that money to purchase 20 million netbook computers for 20 million students ("Race to Top Hopefuls Honing In-Person Bids for Share of $4 Billion," March 17, 2010). That way, recipients could learn at any time, in any place, and at their own pace.
Instead of spending $4 billion on the Race to the Top grant competition, the U.S. Department of Education should use that money to purchase 20 million netbook computers for 20 million students ("Race to Top Hopefuls Honing In-Person Bids for Share of $4 Billion," March 17, 2010). That way, recipients could learn at any time, in any place, and at their own pace.
States
States Strive to Overhaul Teacher Tenure
While Ohio has delayed the time it takes to earn the right to due process, Delaware will tie it to student achievement, and Florida is poised to abolish it.
College & Workforce Readiness
Video Essays Play as Auditions for College
But skeptics of the new admissions approach worry it could overshadow academic achievements.
Education Funding
Federal Abstinence-Only Sex Ed. Program Revived
As part of the recently passed health-care package, a controversial approach to sex education was resurrected with $250 million over five years.
Curriculum
Opinion
Digital Textbooks: They're Coming, But Will They Be Better?
Gilbert T. Sewall assesses the state of play in educational publishing and digitized learning.
Teaching Profession
Race to Top Win Poses $100 Million Test for Delaware
The state now begins the hard task of turning its school reform plan into reality, with the help of federal stimulus aid.
Education Funding
Tennessee Targets Teaching With Race to Top Winnings
Better educator quality and turning around schools are key elements of the reform plan that made the state one of just two first-round winners.
States
$3.4 Billion Is Left in Race to Top Aid
Federal grants to Delaware and Tennessee set the dynamic for the next round of funding decisions.
Equity & Diversity
Busing Fight Highlights Struggles With Diversity
A North Carolina school board's decision to stop busing to achieve socioeconomic diversity comes as districts elsewhere adjust to a changed legal landscape.
Federal
Local Buy-In Helps Two States Win Race to Top
District and teachers’ union support, and strong data systems, were keys to victory for Delaware and Tennessee in the contest’s first round.
Education Funding
Opinion
A 'Race' With Many Winners
The success of the competition’s first-round winners will be in part because of civic coalitions' work to build political will for change in their states, Suzanne Tacheny Kubach writes.