June 16, 2004
Education Week, Vol. 23, Issue 40
Special Education
Illinois Down Syndrome Student Graduates, After All
All Brittany Booth wanted to do was graduate with her classmates at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Ill.
Assessment
High School Exit Exams Not All That Tough, Study Concludes
High school exit exams, which are required by nearly half the states, measure skills that students are usually taught in middle school or the first year of high school. That finding, according to a new report, should lay to rest concerns that the tests set too high a standard.
Assessment
Debate Over Retaining 3rd Graders Roils N.Y.C.
New York City school leaders have endured months of withering criticism for a new policy that they projected could force 15,000 3rd graders to repeat the grade. Even when the test results that drive those decisions turned out better than anticipated, the heated opposition cooled not one degree.
Education
News in Brief: A National Roundup
- New Orleans Board Blocked From Firing Superintendent
- Mass. School Trustees Charged With Failure to Report Abuse
- Houston Settles Lawsuit Filed By Whistleblower Administrator
- New Yorkers Invited to Donate Belongings to Help Schools
- N.C. School Board Chairman Resigns Over Plagiarism
School & District Management
L.A. Board Votes to Trim Subdistrict Offices
After a pitched battle that exposed a deep rift in management philosophy, the Los Angeles school board took a budget ax to the district’s regional administrative zones last week.
Education
Troubled High School Narrows Courses
Biology and art class, and nearly every other subject, could be left behind for now for hundreds of 9th and 10th graders at one California high school.
Education
Second Time a Charm For Maine Measure
Maine voters last week approved a school funding increase of roughly $245 million a year, but state leaders may spend several years trying to find ways to generate the extra money.
Education
News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup
- Mass. Sees Rise in Explusions, Suspensions
- Colorado Districts Seek Record Help From Senate
- California High Schools Come Up Short, Says Report
- Case Against Federal Law Opens in Pennsylvania
- Paterson, N.J., Chief Steps Down Amid Probe
Education
Federal File
As the nation reflected on Ronald W. Reagan’s political legacy last week, one fellow Republican recalled his own thwarted opportunity to serve in the late president’s Department of Education 23 years ago, and noted how the behind-the- scenes views of White House advisers may have hurt his chances.
Background Check
As the nation reflected on Ronald W. Reagan’s political legacy last week, one fellow Republican recalled his own thwarted opportunity to serve in the late president’s Department of Education 23 years ago, and noted how the behind-the- scenes views of White House advisers may have hurt his chances.
Education
Vote by FCC Lets Schools Keep Key Portion of Airwaves
The Federal Communications Commission last week decided to leave a valuable chunk of the nation’s airwaves in the hands of school districts and other educational agencies that currently hold licenses for it.
Standards
Cheney Strives to Keep Putting Her Stamp on History
With a long list of accomplishments and identities—author, scholar, pundit, federal humanities chief, and wife of Vice President Dick Cheney—perhaps it is the status awarded her by her young granddaughter that Lynne V. Cheney cherishes most these days.
With a long list of accomplishments and identities—author, scholar, pundit, federal humanities chief, and wife of Vice President Dick Cheney—perhaps it is the status awarded her by her young granddaughter that Lynne V. Cheney cherishes most these days.
Education
People in the News
David M. Steiner has been named the director of arts education for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Education
Correction
An item in the Teaching & Learning column in the June 9, 2004, issue of Education Week incorrectly reported one of the partners in a grant program of the National Education Association Foundation. It is the Hamilton County Education Association, not the NEA’s Tennessee affiliate.
Education Funding
Fiscal Woes Make For Long Year At Calif. School
Though their school is in one of the nation’s richest areas, Los Alamitos Elementary in San Jose, Calif. has such a bare-bones budget that it can’t afford such basic supplies as paper.
Education
State Journal
Graduation Bill
Some Minnesota school districts have illegally charged their seniors for cap- and-gown fees, and it took one mother of a Woodbury High School student to discover it.
Education
Early Childhood
Actor and director Rob Reiner and the California Teachers Association have withdrawn a statewide tax initiative from the November ballot that would have earmarked some of the revenue for "universal" prekindergarten.
California Pre-K
Actor and director Rob Reiner and the California Teachers Association have withdrawn a statewide tax initiative from the November ballot that would have earmarked some of the revenue for "universal" prekindergarten.
Education
Comparing Types of Teachers
The most striking differences between the Teach For America recruits and regular teachers were in their educational backgrounds, according to a Mathematica study.
School & District Management
High Schools Nationwide Paring Down
As a strategy for reforming secondary education in America, small schools have gotten big. Includes a table, "Major Gates Foundation Grants to Support Small High Schools."
School & District Management
Personal Touches
There's a broad, $68 million effort across the 210,000-student Houston district to improve high schools and personalize learning..
Education
Deadlines
TEACHER FELLOWSHIPS, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
June 25—School boards: Applications are due for the extended-day learning opportunities program, sponsored by the National School Boards Associations. The NSBA selects districts with strong school board leadership and collaboration practices that support extended-day programs and profiles them in its upcoming publications, at the 2005 annual conference, and online. Recipients will also be recognized with a national award for excellence.
June 25—School boards: Applications are due for the extended-day learning opportunities program, sponsored by the National School Boards Associations. The NSBA selects districts with strong school board leadership and collaboration practices that support extended-day programs and profiles them in its upcoming publications, at the 2005 annual conference, and online. Recipients will also be recognized with a national award for excellence.
International
Muslim Students Question Foreign Policy, With U.S. Assent
Participants in a new U.S. government-financed exchange program for youths from the Muslim world jumped at the chance last week to question a U.S. Department of State official about foreign policy and American culture during a visit to the nation’s capital.
School & District Management
In Search for Leaders, Private Dollars Add Up
When the Miami-Dade County school district recently agreed to help incoming Superintendent Rudolph F. Crew get a home loan backed by private donations, the sweet deal left a sour taste in the mouth of school board member Marta Pérez.
Teaching Profession
Teachers’ Unions Seize Opportunity To Provide Supplemental Services
The Rochester Teachers Association in New York and the Toledo Federation of Teachers in Ohio have both become approved supplemental-service providers in their states and are working with their districts to tutor children from low-income families and those who are struggling academically. Both are known for their innovative leadership.
Education
International
James Tooley is out to defeat the notion that universal education for poor children in developing countries hinges solely on the expansion of public schooling.
Choice Abroad
James Tooley is out to defeat the notion that universal education for poor children in developing countries hinges solely on the expansion of public schooling.
Teaching Profession
Spotlight Shining on Overlooked Paraeducators
Sandra Taylor might have viewed a new requirement laid on her by the federal government as a threat and a burden. Instead, she sees it as a recipe for respect. Includes the accompanying story, "Teachers Fret Over Potential Loss of Aides."
Teaching Profession
Teachers Fret Over Potential Loss of Aides
While paraeducators cope with a new federal mandate intended to ensure they’re qualified, a kindred group stands in the background worrying. Many teachers say their classrooms and their work would be seriously compromised should they lose the services of those assistants.