Education Program
This Week in Education
March 20 - March 25, 2008
Highlighted Bills of the Week
(Powered by State Net)
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Florida SB 790 (SENATE Committee on EDUCATION PRE-K - 12: Reported favorably)
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This bill prohibits bullying or harassment during education programs or activities, on school buses, or through use of data or computer software accessed through computer systems of certain educational institutions. Defines "bullying" as systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students. |
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Colorado SB 212 (Introduced)
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Directs the state board of education ("state board") to adopt a description of school readiness and standards for preschool through elementary and secondary education ("PESE standards"). Directs the state board to review the school readiness description and PESE standards every 4 years and adopt revisions, if appropriate. Directs the state board and the Colorado commission on higher education ("CCHE") to jointly adopt the description of postsecondary and workforce readiness ("PWR"). Specifies that the adopted description of PWR shall include the minimum level of English competency required for high school graduation. Directs the state board and the CCHE to review the PWR description every 4 years and adopt revisions, if appropriate. Requires the description of school readiness, the PESE standards, and the description of PWR to be aligned so that attainment of the PESE standards will culminate in PWR. Directs the state board to adopt assessments that are aligned with the school readiness description and a system of assessments that are aligned with the PESE standards ("PESE assessments"). Directs the state board to adopt scoring criteria to measure students' levels of school readiness and attainment of the PESE standards. Specifies the minimum requirements and expectations for the assessment system. Directs the state board to review the school readiness and PESE assessments every 4 years and adopt revisions, if appropriate. |
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This Week in Education
March 20 - March 25, 2008
K-12
Family Wealth May Explain Differences In Test Scores In School-age Children
A new study published in the March/April 2008 issue of the journal Child Development finds that family wealth might partly explain differences in test scores in school-age children. The study, conducted by researchers at New York University, also found that family wealth is positively associated with parenting behavior, home environment, and children's self-esteem.
Connecticut Schools Confronting Proficiency Demands
It is 2014, the year the nation’s schoolchildren must all reach proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. But many school officials in Connecticut and around the region are wondering how many more strides they can make in six years toward what some see as an unattainable goal.
Flying in the Face of Controversy: In Md. Town, Confederate Flag Is a Symbol of Pride for Some, Terror for Others
A high school principal's recent decision to ban wearing or displaying the Confederate flag, adopted by some white residents as a symbol of their history, has inflamed an already tense debate over racial sensitivity and freedom of speech.
The Arts at K-12’s Center Stage: Finding ways to increase student access to creative learning
This edition of the School Administrator features several thoughtful insights concerning the value of Arts education in K-12. schooling.
Comprehensive sex ed may cut teen birth rate
Teens who took comprehensive sex-education classes in school were 60% less likely to have become pregnant or to have impregnated someone else and were no more likely to have greater rates of sexual behavior or sexually transmitted diseases than teens without formal sex education, according to a new analysis of research data.
Leadership
Senate bill would revamp school board elections
Iowans unhappy with their school board could sweep out a majority of the members under a bill passed today by the Iowa Senate. School board elections would take place every other year instead of every year under Senate File 2312. And the term of office would be lengthened from three years to four years.
Who’ll lead schools in Providence?
With Donnie Evans becoming the third superintendent to announce his resignation in eight years, some question whether Providence can attract a quality leader.
House OKs Replacement of Lacking School Chiefs
The House approved legislation that would remove school superintendents if the Mississippi Board of Education determines that their districts are low-performing for two consecutive years. Elected superintendents in low-performing districts would be replaced by holding another election. The state board wanted to replace Mississippi's 65 elected superintendents with appointed superintendents. The bill now returns to the Senate.
Bill trims school boards' power
Iowa school boards would lose much of their authority to determine a number of issues, including scheduling, class size and early retirement benefits for staff, as part of a controversial bill that was being debated late Wednesday by the Iowa House.
USA's top principal could teach CEOs a thing or two
There are few leadership positions more challenging than high school principal, especially if the school has a history of underperformance. Molly Howard is the 2008 Principal of the Year selected by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and MetLife.
School Choice
The Charter School Idea Turns 20: A History of Evolution and Role Reversals (Edweek)
Twenty years ago this month, in a landmark address to the National Press Club in Washington, American Federation of Teachers President Albert Shanker first proposed the creation of “charter schools”—publicly funded institutions that would be given greater flexibility to experiment with new ways of educating students. At the time, some conservative education reformers opposed the idea, saying we already knew what worked in education.
Floridians might vote on church-state issue: Florida voters could be asked this November to lift a constitutional ban on spending public money on religious institutions
More than 120 years after anti-Catholic bigotry helped lead Florida to ban government aid to religious institutions, a powerful state tax commission will decide Wednesday whether to ask voters to strike that provision from the state Constitution. The so-called ''no-aid'' provision led an appeals court in 2004 to cancel a centerpiece of then-Gov. Jeb Bush's voucher program that allowed private religious schools to get state money.
STEM
College Students Score Higher In Classes That Incorporate Instructional Technology Than In Traditional Classes
A technical report from a University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance researcher finds that students in a "hybrid class" that incorporated instructional technology with in-class lectures scored a letter-grade higher on average than their counterparts who took the same class in a more traditional format.
Software Industry Promotes Goals for School Technology (Edweek)
An influential software-industry group has unrolled a project to help education and business better define the role of technology in 21st-century education. The Vision K-20 Initiative is offering school districts an online survey to measure their progress toward goals that the Software & Information Industry Association has established with feedback from several national education organizations.
Teachers
1995 grad wins national teaching award
A 1995 graduate of Cedar Cliff High School has won a national teaching award for her work in a Hoboken, N.J., school. Deirdra Grode, 31, a seventh- and eighth-grade social studies and language arts teacher at Hoboken Charter School, received the 2008 Outstanding Young Educator Award at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's annual conference in New Orleans on Saturday.
Nearly All Area AP Teachers Get Passing Grades in Audit
Year-long evaluation addressed mounting concern that rapid expansion of the college-preparatory program over the past decade had brought about a decline in the rigor for which it is known.
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