February 7, 2007
Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 22
Federal
School Board Members Hit D.C. to Weigh In On NCLB
Members are calling for additional money and revisions to the method for calculating schools’ adequate yearly progress.
States
Maryland Governor Seeks $1 Billion More for Schools
Gov. Martin O’Malley's education agenda calls for increased funds, but few new initiatives.
Federal
Pilot Program Could Help English-Learners
A sophisticated computerized system will weigh individual testing needs.
Education Funding
House OKs 2007 Budget Hike for Education
The bill contains a 5.6 percent increase over President Bush’s fiscal 2007 budget request of $54.4 billion.
Early Childhood
Famed Early-Childhood Philosophy Expands Horizons
The approach of Reggio Emilia preschools views the teacher as one who explores, learns, and creates along with the child.
Education
A Washington Roundup
Bush to Propose Grants to Aid Schools on Health
President Bush and first lady Laura Bush met with corporate leaders and advertising executives last week to discuss ways to prevent childhood obesity.
School & District Management
Teachers Helped to Mine Vocational Classes For Math
Identifying and expanding the use of math in occupational courses can improve student achievement.
Education
A Washington Roundup
Audit: Hurricane Aid Is Getting to Schools
The Department of Education has taken “appropriate and reasonable” steps to ensure that federal aid has been fairly distributed to schools affected by the major hurricanes in 2005, says a report released last week by the office of the department’s inspector general.
Education
A Washington Roundup
Agencies Issue Guide on Disease Outbreak
Future pandemic flu outbreaks would be ranked, like hurricanes, on a scale of 1 to 5, and school closures of up to three months would be recommended for more severe outbreaks.
Federal
Federal File
Colorado Voices
Sen. Salazar asked his constituents recently whether they liked NCLB. The answer was a resounding no.
Education
Report Roundup
RAND Evaluates Phila. Restructuring
Privately managed schools, introduced four years ago to the 196,000-student Philadelphia public school district, have not shown any statistically significant effects on students’ reading- or math-proficiency scores, according to a report by the Santa Monica, Calif.-based RAND Corp.
Education
Report Roundup
Small Schools
New York City’s small high schools had an average graduation rate of 79 percent in 2006, 21 percentage points higher than the rate of the district’s average high school, according to a report by WestEd, a nonprofit research, development, and service organization based in San Francisco.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Teacher Preparation
Entire universities and colleges, and not just their schools of education, should be accountable for preparing more high-quality teachers, a report argues.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Teacher Retention
High levels of mentoring and support for novice teachers greatly improve their retention rates, a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research says.
Curriculum
Report Roundup
Whole Language
A report from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation takes a swipe at the whole-language movement for promoting reading materials and teaching methods the author says are of questionable value.
Education
Report Roundup
High School Dropouts
If all students in the class of 2006 had graduated on time, the nation’s economy would have gained an additional $309 billion in income over their lifetimes, concludes a report by the Washington-based Alliance for Excellent Education.
Education
Report Roundup
Parent Involvement
Parent participation in school activities—such as parent meetings, volunteering, and fundraising—is greater in public schools of choice than in other types of schools, a paper suggests.
States
State of the States
Higher Education at Forefront of Wisconsin Education Plan
Wisconsin Gov. James E. Doyle calling on lawmakers to “make Wisconsin a place where anyone who is willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard … can afford to get an education.”
School & District Management
Program Expanding Teachers’ Role Linked To Gains
Teachers in schools that orient pay toward performance saw an increase in their students' achievement.
States
State of the States
Ocean State Executive Offers Sweeping School Policy Vision
Rhode Island Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said he would form a group to craft a 21st Century Education Plan focusing on school finance, teacher quality and compensation, and urban schools.
States
State of the States
Pre-K, Teachers’ Pay Top Agenda in Iowa
In his first budget address last week, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver called for nearly $190 million in new spending on education in fiscal 2008
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Pilot Foreign-Language Program Could Go Statewide in Georgia
Critics of Gov. Sonny Perdue's plan to spread funding say it would undermine the success of the schools that have benefited from state support.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Teachers’ School Finance Suit Thrown Out By Indiana Judge
Marion Superior Court Judge Cale J. Bradford said the Indiana State Teachers Association's lawsuit targeted the wrong officials.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Federal Official Tells Virginia to Enforce Testing Requirement
Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond J. Simon told Virginia officials that if officials failed to take “appropriate action, this department may take enforcement action against the state.”
College & Workforce Readiness
Pitching College to a Wider Crowd
Two state departments of education are seeking to reach high school students who might not know what they’re missing.
Equity & Diversity
Research Advancing on ‘Academic English’
A new book spells out the framework for “academic English” required of immigrant children to do well in school.
Professional Development
Opinion
Chat Wrap-up: Teacher-Directed Professional Development
Readers questioned members of the Teacher Leaders Network about their work with teacher-directed professional development.
Federal
The View From Rockland
A county in New York state takes a hard look at how the No Child Left Behind Act is working in its eight school districts—and offers its own vision for renewing the law.
Education
Correction
Corrections
A story in the Jan. 31, 2007, issue of Education Week about upcoming elections in the Chicago Teachers Union gave the incorrect date for an article on Deborah Lynch in the newspaper’s archives. The date is June 5, 2002.