January 27, 2010
Education Week, Vol. 29, Issue 19
States
N.Y. Bracing for Fresh K-12 Budget Brawl
As the fiscal crisis continues, the governor's planned cuts spark local pushback.
School Climate & Safety
Report Roundup
Testing and Discipline
An increase in the prevalence of strict discipline policies and high-stakes standardized tests is combining to form a pathway that shuttles students directly from public schools to prisons, a new report argues.
Education
Report Roundup
U.N. Report Finds Financial Crisis Shutting Children Out of School
The world financial crisis could sabotage poor countries’ efforts to get more children into school, UNESCO says in a report released last week.
Education
Report Roundup
Data Mining
A new report lays out a strategy to enable districts and states to pool data and determine which interventions are most effective for getting students on track to attend college or launch a career.
Curriculum
Report Roundup
Early Literacy
A paper from the American Educational Research Association synthesizes three decades of research on teaching children to read and write.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Students Tap Mobile Tech. for Increased Media Use
A Kaiser Foundation study links heavy media activity to poor grades.
Education
Report Roundup
College Entrance
Taking challenging courses in high school is more important than getting good grades for students who want to get accepted by a competitive college, a new report concludes.
Education
Report Roundup
California Schools
California’s budget crisis has taken a heavy toll on its K-12 public schools and students, a new study concludes.
Education
Report Roundup
Music Education
A report on music programs in Oklahoma public schools found most students have access to music, although the number of courses available vary widely from district to district.
Education
News in Brief
Support for Bus Seat Belts
Almost three of every four Conn. voters support school bus seat belt legislation.
Education
News in Brief
New Consulting Firm
Co-founder of the Education Sector forms a nonprofit firm specializing in improving outcomes for low-income students
Education Funding
Obama Seeks to Make Race to Top Grants Permanent Program
The president says he will ask for an additional $1.35 billion in his fiscal 2011 budget request and open the competition to school districts.
Education
News in Brief
Providence, R.I., Bishop Approves Plans for New Catholic High School
Since 1851 the school had been for elementary students, but it is scheduled to start teaching 9th graders in the next academic year.
Education
News in Brief
Okla. Bill Would Change Funding of Programs for Disabled Students
The bill would qualify special-needs students for a state-funded scholarship to attend any school accredited by the state board of education.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Teacher at First Daughters' School Dismissed, Charged With Sex Abuse
A Sidwell Friends social studies teacher has been charged with sex abuse of a minor and other sexual offenses.
Education
News in Brief
Minneapolis School Board Picks District Insider as Superintendent
The Minneapolis school board has chosen Deputy Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson to lead the 35,000-student district.
Federal
States Vie to Stand Out in Race to Top Proposals
Now facing a gantlet of reviewers, states’ applications for the competitive grants contain common themes but differ markedly in the details.
Accountability
News in Brief
S.C. High Schools Score Poorly on Tests for Federal Accountability
The S.C. state education department data shows a fourth consecutive year that no district met every goal.
Education
News in Brief
Federal Audit Raps Philadelphia
An audit calls for the district to repay about $17 million to the Ed. Dept. and justify an additional $121 million in spending
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
NYC Students Sue Schools Over Treatment by Safety Officers
Five students who attend middle and high schools in New York City claim school safety officers mistreated them.
Education
News in Brief
Phila. Teachers Ratify New 3-Year Contract
Phila. teachers ratified a three-year contract that provides for two 3 percent across-the-board salary raises over the life of the pact.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Alternative Routes Needed for New STEM Teachers
To the Editor:
We are heartened by President Barack Obama’s recent announcements underscoring his administration’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, teaching ("President Unveils Projects to Boost Teaching of STEM Subjects," Jan. 20, 2010). With the need for 280,000 new math and science teachers by 2015 (as projected by the Business-Higher Education Forum), nothing less than the nation’s future global competitiveness rests on our ability to think outside the box about how to recruit, prepare, and support STEM teachers.
We are heartened by President Barack Obama’s recent announcements underscoring his administration’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, teaching ("President Unveils Projects to Boost Teaching of STEM Subjects," Jan. 20, 2010). With the need for 280,000 new math and science teachers by 2015 (as projected by the Business-Higher Education Forum), nothing less than the nation’s future global competitiveness rests on our ability to think outside the box about how to recruit, prepare, and support STEM teachers.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Another Technology With Teaching Impact
To the Editor:
In reading "Whiteboards' Impact on Teaching Seen as Uneven" (Digital Directions, edweek.org, Jan. 8, 2010), I thought of how the use of a similar technology—a tablet PC with a projector—has helped me present subject matter (in my case, mathematics) in an effective, engaging manner.
In reading "Whiteboards' Impact on Teaching Seen as Uneven" (Digital Directions, edweek.org, Jan. 8, 2010), I thought of how the use of a similar technology—a tablet PC with a projector—has helped me present subject matter (in my case, mathematics) in an effective, engaging manner.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Duncan Plan Represents 'Bully-Driven Reform'
To the Editor:
"Questions for Secretary Duncan," the letter to the editor from teacher-educators at Teachers College, Columbia University, in your Jan. 6, 2010, issue, is a timely opening to an overdue dialogue.
"Questions for Secretary Duncan," the letter to the editor from teacher-educators at Teachers College, Columbia University, in your Jan. 6, 2010, issue, is a timely opening to an overdue dialogue.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Books: A Casualty of Our 'Technopoly'
To the Editor:
I want to second Gaby Chapman’s plea for support of school libraries ("Proficient Readers Need Good School Libraries," Commentary, Jan. 6, 2010), but I also want to make a more general plea for the “literature-rich environment.”
I want to second Gaby Chapman’s plea for support of school libraries ("Proficient Readers Need Good School Libraries," Commentary, Jan. 6, 2010), but I also want to make a more general plea for the “literature-rich environment.”
Law & Courts
Campaign Finance Touchy Union Issue
Teachers' unions were cool to the Supreme Court ruling that scrapped corporate and union spending limits on political communications.
School Climate & Safety
Complaint Says Phila. District 'Indifferent' to Harassment of Asians
An advocacy group accuses the district of ‘intentional discrimination,’ but the school system says the charge is unfair.
Science
Opinion
To Improve Math and Science Education, Don't Neglect Veteran Teachers
Plans to improve math and science teaching may be putting too much stress on recruiting new teachers, writes Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman.