August 10, 2011
Education Week, Vol. 30, Issue 37
Student Well-Being
Concussion Laws Aimed at Student-Athletes Spread
In the past six months, 20 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to minimize student-athletes' concussion risks, while laws are pending in 11 others.
Education
Concussion Laws by State
In the past six months, 21 states have passed laws to minimize student-athletes' concussion risks, while laws are pending in a dozen others.
Curriculum
Media Companies Move Into Digital-Education Space
News Corp. is among a number of media firms eager to embrace education ventures.
Education
Scandal Clouds News Corp.'s Move Into Education
Amid the furor over a tabloid's phone hacking, the company's Wireless Generation subsidiary seeks to distance itself from the fallout while facing questions about New York contracts.
Teacher Preparation
New York Thinks Outside Teacher Education Box
The regents have approved multiple teacher-training approaches, including giving nonuniversity programs authority to grant master’s degrees.
Standards
New Science Framework Paves Way for Academic Standards
A National Research Council panel issues a framework for K-12 science standards that promotes a greater emphasis on depth over breadth.
Education
Half of Texas Students in Secondary Schools Have Been Suspended
Drawing on data for more than 1 million Texas schoolchildren, a new study reveals that more than half of those students were suspended at least once in middle or high school and schools varied widely in how they meted out those punishments.
Assessment
Principals' Performance Reviews Are Getting a Fresh Look
While national attention focuses on finding better ways to evaluate teachers, efforts are quietly growing to improve the principal-evaluation process.
Families & the Community
Grandparents Increasingly Getting Involved in Education
With a growing number of school-age children living with their grandparents, grandparents are seeking a more prominent role in schools.
Student Well-Being
Concussion Laws Targeting Student-Athletes on Upswing
In the past six months, 21 states have passed laws to minimize student-athletes' concussion risks, while laws are pending in a dozen others.
Education Funding
Study Gives First Round of 'i3' Mixed Grades
Winners in the $650 million federal innovation contest showed evidence of past success, an independent report says, but the list includes plenty of the “usual suspects.”
Equity & Diversity
Report Roundup
U.S. Pupils Lost in Geography, NAEP Shows
About one in three American 4th graders can read a compass rose well enough to identify basic map regions, and more than half know that the Great Plains have more farming than fishing or mining, according to the latest federal assessment of geography.
Teaching Profession
Education Policy Critics Take Heated Message to White House Door
Thousands of teachers and others critical of standards- and test-based accountability bring their complaints to the Obama administration's front door.
Education
Correction
Correction
An article on strategic hiring practices in the June 8, 2011, issue of Education Week misspelled the last name of Shayne Spalten, the chief human-resources officer for the Denver school district.
Federal
More States Asking for NCLB Waivers
With renewal of NCLB stalled, state responses range from requesting relief from the law's provisions to outright defiance.
Student Well-Being
News in Brief
School-Based Health Centers to Share $95 Million in Grants
More than 275 school districts, clinics, and hospitals that run school-based health centers nationwide have learned that they had won a share of $95 million in federal grant money that will allow them to reach hundreds of thousands more patients, many of whom live in low-income communities.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Reliance Grows for Alternative Certification
Four out of 10 new public school teachers hired since 2005 came through alternative teacher-preparation programs, a new survey shows.
Education
News in Brief
Blogging Teacher Reinstated
Pennsylvania English teacher Natalie Munroe, who was suspended over personal blog posts in which she referred to students as disengaged, lazy whiners, was reinstated last week.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
TFA Gets Boost from Walton
The Walton Family Foundation has announced that it will give $49.5 million to Teach For America over three years, making the foundation the single largest private donor to the nonprofit organization to date.
Professional Development
News in Brief
Professional-Development Standards Released
Learning Forward, the nonprofit group formerly known as the National Staff Development Council, has released updated standards for guiding choices about the context, process, and content of effective professional development across seven key areas.
Professional Development
News in Brief
N.Y.C. Launching Young Men's Initiative
New York City will spend $127 million in public and private funds on programs designed to help young black and Latino men, ages 16 to 24, with job-placement assistance and fatherhood classes, and on training for school staff on how to help the young men get ahead.
Curriculum
News in Brief
Calif. Governor Signs Gay-History Bill
Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed legislation last month making California the first state to require public schools to incorporate the history and contributions of homosexuals into social studies classes.
School & District Management
News in Brief
La. to Step Up Charter Oversight
Louisiana is moving to change the way it oversees its charter schools, in response to allegations of sexual encounters between students at one school that led to the firing of two state employees.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Schools Part of Anti-Terrorism Plan
The Obama administrations new strategy to fight the spread of violent radical groups in the United States relies, in part, on educators, but the eight-page document released last week is short on details, said lawmakers who have been urging the government to develop a plan to combat the homegrown terror threat.
Teaching
Opinion
Expanding Learning Time to Narrow the Achievement Gap
A recent summit provided a forum for addressing three core benefits of expanded-learning time, write Eric Schwarz and Fred Frelow.
Curriculum
News in Brief
Scholastic to Scale Back Corporate Sponsorships
Following a controversy over its distribution of free classroom materials sponsored by the coal industry, the educational publisher Scholastic Inc. has signaled that it will significantly reduce but not eliminate corporate partnerships in supplying such materials.
Curriculum
S. Korea Pushes for All-Digital Scholastic Network
Ditching paper textbooks in favor of digital content is part of a $2 billion gamble in one of the world's most-wired nations.
School Choice & Charters
Report Roundup
Studies: Teacher Retention Lower at Charter Schools
Charter school teachers in the 678,000-student Los Angeles school district are up to three times more likely to leave their school at year’s end compared with their peers in traditional public schools, according to a study from the University of California, Berkeley.