December 20, 2006
Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 16
States
Event Provides Entree Into Bargaining Talks
In a move likely to raise the profile of teachers’ contracts as a force in school success or failure, education policymakers and union leaders came together last week under the auspices of the National Governors Association for a mutual look at collective bargaining.
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
Chat Wrap-Up: Self-Directed Learning
On Dec. 7, readers questioned Ken Danford and Catherine Gobron on self-directed learning.
Teaching
Opinion
Schools That ‘Flow’
Eastern Michigan University faculty members Brian Bruya and Russell Olwell write on the importance of flow—the psychological process that describes how people balance skill, interest, and challenge—and the essential role it can play in the school reform movement.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Speaking Truth to Power on School Desegregation
Despite the overwhelming evidence, writes Amy Stuart Wells, deputy director for research at the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, the Supreme Court majority appears "bent on interpreting the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as barring any race-conscious policies whatsoever."
School & District Management
ECS Urged to Bolster Support Mission, Avoid Advocacy Role on Policy Issues
The Education Commission of the States—beset by management and financial problems in the past year—should concentrate on being a nonpartisan information clearinghouse for state education policymakers, rather than an advocate for policy changes, members of a consulting firm told the organization’s steering committee last week.
School Choice & Charters
‘Unschooling’ Stresses Curiosity More Than Traditional Academics
“Unschooling,” an educational approach that allows children to decide what and when they want to learn, is the subject of much debate among home-schoolers and traditional school advocates.
Federal
Spellings Won’t Seek Minimum Subgroup Size For NCLB
As Congress gears up to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, some state officials are worried that the Department of Education is becoming increasingly less willing to give them leeway in implementing the law.
IT Infrastructure & Management
N.J. Businesses Take Message Into Classrooms
Alarmed that so many young people lack the skills to excel at work, the business community has been using summits, papers, and political alliances to urge stronger preparation for adolescents. But in New Jersey, businesses have taken their ideas from the bully pulpit straight into classrooms.
Accountability
Colo. Online Charters Need More Oversight, Auditor Says
Colorado’s venture into online schooling comes under heavy fire in a new state auditor’s report that finds the schools have received lax oversight from the state and local districts.
Federal
U.S. Rebuffs N.Y., Va. on English-Language Learners
Despite requests for leeway, federal education officials are standing firm in requiring New York and Virginia education officials, as of this school year, to stop using scores from English-language-proficiency tests to calculate adequate yearly progress for such students.
Education Funding
No Boon for Schools in Level Fiscal Plan
Any significant increases in federal funding for K-12 education before the 2008-09 school year would be unlikely under a short-term budget plan outlined by leading congressional Democrats last week.
Reading & Literacy
Democratic Congress to Step Up Department Oversight
The two veteran Democrats preparing to chair the congressional education committees say Republican lawmakers have largely looked the other way while the GOP administration has employed questionable practices for distributing federal grants, done little to gauge the effectiveness of tutors hired with federal dollars, and let states slide on some of the teacher-quality requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Federal
Miller Brings Ambition to Helm of Ed. Panel
As the chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Rep. George Miller will spearhead efforts to restructure student-aid programs, overhaul the Head Start preschool program and possibly begin a federal effort for universal prekindergarten, and reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act.
Federal
Market for NCLB Tutoring Falls Short of Expectations
Five years after the federal No Child Left Behind Act spawned a new tutoring market for students in low-performing schools, experts say some companies are struggling to keep afloat, and others have outright failed.
Education Funding
School’s Troubles Take Fordham by Surprise
DuBois Academy has been the subject of a special investigation by the state auditor’s office over the past year. Last spring, the school announced major cutbacks in its budget and staff to stay open. About 80 percent of the staff members are new this school year.
Federal
A Think Tank Takes the Plunge
Long a font of opinions about what ails U.S. schools, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation is getting a grounding in reality since becoming the authorizer of a mixed bag of charter schools.
Education Funding
Fordham’s Connections to School That It Sponsors Spark Concerns
For years, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has been a good friend to the Omega School of Excellence. Recently, though, it became the Dayton charter school’s authorizer. And some analysts worry that the foundation’s old supporting role may clash with its new supervisory one.
Standards
Finn Basks in Role as Standards-Bearer, Gadfly
In the decade since he took charge of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Chester E. Finn Jr. has shaped the organization into one of the most provocative and prolific platforms for education ideas in the country.
Education Funding
States to Weigh Education, Fiscal Priorities
As governors and lawmakers—many of them newly elected—polish ambitious new K-12 spending plans on the eve of the 2007 legislative year, the latest reports about the health of state revenues and budgets suggest that policymakers should tread cautiously even though their economies remain robust.
Education
Events
16—Gifted education: Differentiating for Bright Learners in the Regular Classroom, sponsored by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, for faculty and administrators. This is an audio seminar. Contact: Kathleen Straight, 1165 N. Clark St. Suite 311, Chicago, IL 60610; (312) 255-1244; fax: (312) 255-1278; e-mail: kathleen@isacs.org; Web site: www.isacs.org.
January 2007
16—Gifted education: Differentiating for Bright Learners in the Regular Classroom, sponsored by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, for faculty and administrators. This is an audio seminar. Contact: Kathleen Straight, 1165 N. Clark St. Suite 311, Chicago, IL 60610; (312) 255-1244; fax: (312) 255-1278; e-mail: kathleen@isacs.org; Web site: www.isacs.org.
Federal
U.S. Urged to Reinvent Its Schools
A report calling for a top-to-bottom overhaul of the U.S. education and training system to help Americans compete in a global economy drew lavish praise and sharp criticism last week, foreshadowing what a heavy political lift its recommendations would likely be to carry out.
Education
Property-Tax Issue Tops Education Year
Democratic Gov. Edward G. Rendell, who was re-elected in November, has pushed for a property-tax cut and for shifting more of the burden for school costs to the state government.
Education
Higher Bar Sought for College Entry
Touted by outgoing Gov. Bob Taft, the “Ohio Core” proposal would help the Republican governor establish his education legacy by requiring four years of mathematics and three years of lab-based sciences starting with the class of 2012.
Education Funding
Debate Continues on Funding Formula
It was a special session of the New Jersey legislature that produced the most significant education-related developments of the year. By year’s end, most of those ideas remained at the proposal stage, and were only beginning to be drafted into legislation.
Education
Lawmakers Increase Funding for K-12, School Construction
When lawmakers approved a new, $114 billion budget for New York state earlier this year, they added about $1 billion into general K-12 operating expenses to support the state’s 2.8 million public school students. The state will spend about $18 billion on precollegiate education during the 2007 budget year, a 7.7 percent increase over last year’s state school spending.
Education
A National Roundup
Measure Eases Limits on Family Income for D.C. Vouchers
The income limit for many District of Columbia families of students who have received federally funded private school vouchers will go up under a measure approved by Congress last week.
Teaching Profession
Bonuses Prompt Backlash in Idaho
Idaho's outgoing state Superintendent Marilyn Howard awarded a total of $120,098 in merit bonuses to 135 members of her 140-person staff—$960 for each full-time employee, a bit less for the part-timers. But the bonuses have left some state officials smarting over the timing.
School & District Management
Breakaway Education Research Group Pulls From Diverse Disciplines
Nearly a year ago, a group of scholars working in education decided to form a professional society focused on advancing scientifically rigorous studies that could yield definitive answers on what works in education.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Illinois Scores Delayed Again
Illinois has encountered another problem with the grading of its achievement test.