March 31, 2010
Education Week, Vol. 29, Issue 27
Equity & Diversity
College Said to Enrich Disadvantaged Students Most
A study finds that teenagers who are least likely to attend college reap the greatest financial returns from earning their degrees.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Teacher Surveys Aimed at Swaying Policymakers
Amid more polls on teachers' views, the Obama administration wants districts and states to do their own on schools' working conditions.
Social Studies
Rewriting of States' Standards on Social Studies Stirs Debate
As Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio rewrite their social studies standards, the expectations around history are stirring controversy.
Curriculum
Obituary
Textbook Publisher, Philanthropist Dies
Harold W. McGraw Jr., who began his career as a salesman in the publishing company founded by his grandfather and later led the McGraw-Hill Cos. as chief executive officer, died last week at his Darien, Conn., home. He was 92.
College & Workforce Readiness
Rural 'Dropout Factories' Often Overshadowed
While most of the attention is on urban high schools with low graduation rates, rural schools also struggle to retain at-risk students.
Education
Report Roundup
Latino Graduation Rates
At the average college or university, only 51 percent of Hispanic students graduate within six years, while the typical six-year graduation rate for white students is 59 percent, says a new report.
Education
News in Brief
Probe of School Boards Group Expands in Iowa
The investigation into the alleged mishandling of money at the Iowa Association of School Boards has expanded to include federal education officials.
Equity & Diversity
Report Roundup
Video Games and Learning
After young boys receive their first video game system they don’t progress as quickly in school as boys who don’t own such devices, a study has found.
Education
News in Brief
Hawaii Board, Teachers Announce Tentative Pact on Furlough Days
Members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association are set to vote this week on a plan that would eliminate their state's 21 remaining teacher furlough days for this school year and next.
Education
Report Roundup
Teacher Expectations
While most teachers believe in the importance of holding high expectations for students, many appear to fall short of doing so in practice, according to a nationwide survey.
Education
Report Roundup
Teachers and the Economic Stimulus
The federal economic-stimulus package can be credited with paying for 342,000 teaching jobs nationally this school year, according to a new report.
Education
Opinion
What Gifted Educators Can Learn From Sarah Palin
Forget the politics, writes James R. Delisle, and try to clarify the field's often-muddled goals and definitions with Palin-like assurance.
Education
Report Roundup
STEM Careers
A new report pulls together existing research on the factors that contribute to the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering.
Law & Courts
High Court Turns Down Religious-Music Case
A student had sought to play "Ave Maria" at a high school graduation ceremony.
Education
News in Brief
States Make In-Person Pitches for Share of Race to Top Funds
Representatives of the 16 states that are finalists in the $4 billion Race to the Top competition faced panels of judges in Washington earlier this month.
Education
Report Roundup
Schools Get D's on Spurring STEM Diversity
A new survey gives the K-12 education system poor grades for “engaging and nurturing” minorities and girls in the pursuit of careers in the STEM fields.
School & District Management
Windy City Cloud Shadows Duncan
Revelations that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan kept a log of calls from powerful people trying to get students into top Chicago high schools has raised questions.
Education
News in Brief
Conn. High Court Says Students Have Right to Quality Education
Connecticut's students are constitutionally guaranteed the right to a college- and career-ready education, the state supreme court said last week.
Education
News in Brief
Federal Appeals Panel Reverses Order on English-Learners in Texas
A federal appeals panel has reversed a July 2008 ruling by a U.S. district court that Texas must revamp its programs for secondary English-language learners because they violate federal law.
Education
News in Brief
Wake County, N.C., Board Rejects Diversity-Based Assignment Plan
Police removed protesters last week from a heated Wake County, N.C., school board meeting in which board members voted to abandon a student-assignment and diversity policy with roots dating back three decades.
Education
News in Brief
New Civil Rights Rules Unveiled
The U.S. Dept. of Ed. has announced that districts will have to collect data in several new categories that relate to students' civil rights.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Opinion
Is Data the Cure-All?
Education policymakers have much to learn from health care in their push to create and use data systems, Bill Tucker writes.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Essay on School Safety Paints a False Picture
To the Editor:
In their Commentary "Taking Safety Too Far?" (Feb. 24, 2010), Johanna Wald and Lisa Thurau write that school police and administrators “forge uneasy alliances that are often based more on personalities and temperaments than on any set of objective criteria.” Disciplinary decisions made by these two groups, the authors continue, “can be idiosyncratic, unpredictable, and highly confusing to students.”
In their Commentary "Taking Safety Too Far?" (Feb. 24, 2010), Johanna Wald and Lisa Thurau write that school police and administrators “forge uneasy alliances that are often based more on personalities and temperaments than on any set of objective criteria.” Disciplinary decisions made by these two groups, the authors continue, “can be idiosyncratic, unpredictable, and highly confusing to students.”
Education
Letter to the Editor
Great Teaching Is More Than 'Magic'
To the Editor:
I must take exception to James D. Starkey’s recent Commentary "Attention, Gates Foundation" (Feb. 3, 2010). His charge against the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its willingness to commit $45 million to researching measures of effective teaching is unwarranted.
I must take exception to James D. Starkey’s recent Commentary "Attention, Gates Foundation" (Feb. 3, 2010). His charge against the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its willingness to commit $45 million to researching measures of effective teaching is unwarranted.
Education
Letter to the Editor
STEM Education, Leavened by the Arts
To the Editor:
Joseph Piro’s Commentary "Going From STEM to STEAM" (March 10, 2010) makes it clear that the country can better position itself for global advantage when the arts are an integral part of the educational equation, which is now so often dominated by science, technology, engineering, and math.
Joseph Piro’s Commentary "Going From STEM to STEAM" (March 10, 2010) makes it clear that the country can better position itself for global advantage when the arts are an integral part of the educational equation, which is now so often dominated by science, technology, engineering, and math.
Federal
Teacher Polls Look to Sway Policymakers
Amid more surveys on teachers' views, the Obama administration wants districts and states to do their own on schools' working conditions.
Education
Letter to the Editor
The Head Start Study: A Closer Examination
To the Editor:
Isabel V. Sawhill and Jon Baron’s implication that the recent “Head Start Impact Study” showed few positive effects from the preschool program requires further examination ("We Need a New Start for Head Start," Commentary, March 3, 2010).
Isabel V. Sawhill and Jon Baron’s implication that the recent “Head Start Impact Study” showed few positive effects from the preschool program requires further examination ("We Need a New Start for Head Start," Commentary, March 3, 2010).
Education
Letter to the Editor
Unions' Outdated Systems and Bloated Bureaucracy
To the Editor:
Susan Moore Johnson is correct about early-career teachers when she writes in her recent Commentary that “many are not even sure they need a union” ("Union Leaders and the Generational Divide", March 10, 2010). They do not. Educators need a professional association that is truly student-focused. They do not need a bloated union bureaucracy that promotes outdated systems of evaluation and compensation and protects poor teachers.
Susan Moore Johnson is correct about early-career teachers when she writes in her recent Commentary that “many are not even sure they need a union” ("Union Leaders and the Generational Divide", March 10, 2010). They do not. Educators need a professional association that is truly student-focused. They do not need a bloated union bureaucracy that promotes outdated systems of evaluation and compensation and protects poor teachers.