November 15, 2006
Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 12
Education
Report Roundup
After-School Efforts Studied for Quality
Effective group management is crucial to building strong after-school programs that children want to attend, suggests a report.
Law & Courts
In Michigan, Ban on Affirmative Action Prompts Lawsuit
Just days after Michigan voters approved a ballot measure to bar “preferential treatment” for women and minorities in university admissions and state programs, a coalition of civil rights and labor advocates and students launched a court challenge seeking to prevent it from taking effect.
International
Spellings Takes College Leaders to the Far East
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Assistant Secretary of State Dina Habib Powell planned to lead a delegation of 12 U.S. college presidents to Japan, China, and Korea this week.
Federal
GOP Sees Mixed Results in Connecticut
The war in Iraq may have dominated public discussion leading up to last week’s midterm congressional elections, but debate over the No Child Left Behind Act was one of the most prominent domestic issues in three hotly contested House races in Connecticut, which is suing the federal government over funding for the law.
Equity & Diversity
Schools’ Role in Achievement Gaps Scrutinized
Two new studies shed light on how the achievement gaps between groups of students grow as they move from elementary to middle school.
Education Funding
Relationship Between Education, Philanthropy Described as Strained
Relations between large philanthropies and education institutions are “seriously frayed, and in some places … in tatters,” finds a new analysis from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Federal
Early-Childhood Issues Raised for NCLB Law
With the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act scheduled to begin next year, the Bush administration has raised the idea of expanding the law’s requirements into high schools. But some educators think the attention should be directed downward—toward the preschool years.
School & District Management
Detailed Dropout Studies Guide Policy in City Schools
Amid concern over the high dropout rates in many big-city high schools, district and community leaders are turning to researchers for a more fine-grained understanding of the nature and scope of the problem.
Reading & Literacy
Opinion
You Can’t Learn to Write Without Reading
Morris Freedman, professor emeritus of English at the University of Maryland, in College Park, Md., writes about the important role reading plays in effectively teaching students how to write.
Curriculum
Funder Seeding Work in the Emerging Field of ‘Digital Learning’
At a time when technology has changed how K-12 students learn, create, and interact with others, schools are behind the curve in teaching the skills they need to be savvy consumers and producers of digital media.
Assessment
Technology Helps Teachers Home In on Student Needs
Mathematics teachers are increasingly turning to interactive technology that provides them with instant information about student progress.
Education
Grants for R&D
Accompanying story to Funder Seeding Work in the Emerging Field of ‘Digital Learning’.
Recruitment & Retention
Opinion
Common Sense in Teacher Hiring
Jack Scott, a Democratic California state senator, and Michelle Rhee, the chief executive officer and president of the New Teacher Project, share their thoughts on why other states should follow California’s lead in reforming teacher-transfer rules.
College & Workforce Readiness
Graduation Coaches Pursue One Goal
A new Georgia program aims to give every high school a full-time educator dedicated to dropout prevention.
Teaching Profession
Teacher-Incentive Plans Geared to Bonuses for Individuals
Philadelphia, Guilford County, N.C., and four small districts in northern New Mexico have scooped up the last of the $42 million in federal grant money on offer this fall for rewarding teachers and principals who get higher student test scores in needy schools.
Reading & Literacy
State Officials Cry Foul Over Reading Audit
New York state officials are disputing a report that found extensive errors in how they awarded Reading First grants, maintaining that they administered the program the way the federal Education Department demanded.
Federal
Federal File
Naming Rights
As the Democrats prepare to take control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the Republican revolution of 1994, they have an important decision to make: what to call the House committee that deals with education and employment issues.
Education
Opinion
Lighting the Path
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Denzel Washington, the Academy Award-winning actor and a national spokesman for the youth-mentoring organization, has gathered accounts from 70 Americans prominent in politics, sports, entertainment, journalism, and business, profiling the people who had a positive impact on them early in their lives.
Education
Opinion
New in Print
This month's book reviews cover civics, desegregation, disadvantaged students, and more.
Education
Honors & Award
Honors & Awards
Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year
The Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club Foundation and Phi Delta Kappa named Shauna Carey, a visual arts teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Champaign, Ill., the Wal-Mart 2006 National Teacher of the Year. Ms. Carey’s school received a $25,000 grant in addition to a greenhouse to be used as an outdoor classroom. She was selected from a pool of state award winners listed below.
The Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club Foundation and Phi Delta Kappa named Shauna Carey, a visual arts teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Champaign, Ill., the Wal-Mart 2006 National Teacher of the Year. Ms. Carey’s school received a $25,000 grant in addition to a greenhouse to be used as an outdoor classroom. She was selected from a pool of state award winners listed below.
Education
Events
January
11-12—Middle schools: Leading Learning at the Middle Level, sponsored by the New England League of Middle Schools, for middle-level educators, at the Sturbridge Host Hotel in Sturbridge, Mass. Contact: Valerie Kacian, 460 Boston St., Suite 4, Topsfield, MA 01983; (978) 887-6263; fax: (978) 887-6504; e-mail: vrkacian@nelms.org; Web site: www.nelms.org.
11-12—Middle schools: Leading Learning at the Middle Level, sponsored by the New England League of Middle Schools, for middle-level educators, at the Sturbridge Host Hotel in Sturbridge, Mass. Contact: Valerie Kacian, 460 Boston St., Suite 4, Topsfield, MA 01983; (978) 887-6263; fax: (978) 887-6504; e-mail: vrkacian@nelms.org; Web site: www.nelms.org.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Teachers College Colleagues Air Differences With Levine
As teacher-educators, we read the recent report by our former president, Arthur E. Levine, with a great deal of interest ("Prominent Teacher-Educator Assails Field, Suggests New Accrediting Body in Report," Sept. 20, 2006). Although he found it “useful to omit Teachers College” from the study “to eliminate the appearance of bias,” we want to underscore the utility of separating Teachers College from his study, its methods, and its conclusions.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Funding Gifted Programs Must Be National Priority
Securing America’s position as an international superpower has never been at a more critical juncture. Yet politicians in Washington have once again ignored America’s most valuable resource: our students.
Education
Letter to the Editor
How Reading First’s Criteria Were Changed
I applaud Robert E. Slavin’s proposal to continue the search for solutions that ensure instructional practices, programs, and approaches have a high probability of success in improving student learning and achievement ("Research and Effectiveness," Commentary, Oct. 18, 2006.)
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Texas Schools Weigh Incentive-Pay Grants
More than 50 schools in Texas have turned down money from the state’s new incentive-pay plan for teachers, but the vast majority of schools that were eligible to participate in the program chose to receive the incentive grants.
Education
Opinion
Chat Wrap-Up: Teachers’ Job Satisfaction
On Nov. 1, readers discussed findings from “The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher” for 2006 on job satisfaction with two guests who were involved in the project: Dana Markow, the vice president of youth and education research for Harris Interactive Inc., and Michelle Armstrong, the corporate-contributions manager for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Federal Education Law and ‘21st-Century Skills’
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is encouraged that other members of the business community are as committed as we to ensuring that the reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind Act includes metrics to prepare U.S. students for citizenship, work, and postsecondary education in our increasingly competitive and global society.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Making Students Visible Includes Better Discipline
Sam Chaltain’s Oct. 25, 2006, Commentary "To Make Schools Safe, Make All Children Visible" is a very thoughtful essay that hits home the baseline problem within our schools and society: the lack of discipline, which ultimately transfers to self-discipline and mutual respect.
College & Workforce Readiness
Students Clear Graduation Hurdle
A second try was the charm for about 2,300 Washington State 11th graders who retook the state’s 10th grade assessment last summer, according to results released last week.