Education Program
This Week in Education
February 27 - March 5, 2008
Highlighted Bills of the Week
(Powered by State Net)
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Kansas SB 207 (To SENATE Committee on EDUCATION) |
SB 207 would lower the compulsory age for public school attendance from age 7 to age 6, thereby making kindergarten mandatory. |
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Kentucky HB 578 (House Education Committee) |
House Bill 578 authorize public charter schools. In addition, the bill would allow local school boards, local governments, or universities to sponsor charter schools – public schools operated by groups of parents, teachers, other individuals or private organizations. |
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This Week in Education
February 27 - March 5, 2008
K-12
The debate on education
The real reason education has been ignored is that other issues have taken precedence. I blame the American media and public for their short attention span and for their inability to focus on more than a few issues at a time. The headlines are focused on Iraq, terrorism, the economy, and healthcare. Therefore, candidates center their messages on these topics while their positions on education get little thought or attention.
Vote on School Zones in Fairfax Pits Neighbor Against Neighbor
Like many fastidious school shoppers, Carly Mannava planned ahead. She bought a map of Fairfax County high school attendance zones, combed through data on the Internet and pushed her twin sons, Vijay and Vikram, in a stroller around campuses to envision where the toddlers would someday become college-bound scholars.
Kindergarten: Half Full or Half Empty?
America’s school districts are at odds over what seems a simple decision: whether to keep kindergarteners in school all day long or just for half-days. For decades, researchers have collected data to help guide principals and governments, and the issue still seems far from resolved.
High school dropouts cost state billions
If California hopes to stop hemorrhaging the billions of dollars it spends by producing so many high school dropouts, the state needs to give schools better incentives to hold on to troubled students, change its graduation requirements and do more to plug the problem, researchers warn.
Report urges greater federal role in education
Local control of education has produced financial inequality in schools, inconsistent standards, no way of knowing how children are truly doing and an atmosphere dominated by unions, according to a new report yesterday that calls for national standards and a greater federal role in schools.
Leadership
Bill would require school-board training
School-board members would lead more effectively and make better financial decisions if they were required to receive training, a state lawmaker contends. Rep. Andrew Tobin, R-Paulden, is sponsoring House Bill 2286, which would require school-board members to receive instruction in school finance, open-meeting laws, governing-board responsibilities and conflict resolution.
School Choice
Appeals panel favors KC School District in charter funding issue
A federal appeals court panel last week upheld a 2006 opinion by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple that cleared the way for the district to keep withholding some funds directed to charter schools while the district pays off bonds from the federal desegregation lawsuit.
Charter school funding bill voted down by House
HB278 thrilled neither charter schools nor traditional district schools but bill sponsor Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley said it was the most reasonable way to deal with funding the states swiftly growing charter schools.
STEM
Lawmakers feud over virtual schooling's future
Wisconsin lawmakers are locked in a largely partisan dispute over the future of online instruction in that state. The Wisconsin General Assembly voted 53-44 on Feb. 28 to keep the state's online public schools open next fall. However, lawmakers continue to disagree over how many students should be allowed to enroll.
Let's Rewrite the Rules for Kids' Media
Forty years after the debut of Sesame Street, it is once again time to rethink the way we expose kids to media.
Video Setup Tears Down Class Walls
Through videoconferencing, the Loudoun County students took a lesson from the Manhattan School of Music without leaving the comfort of their plastic chairs in Sterling. Once the realm of such futuristic cartoons as "The Jetsons," two-way videoconferencing technology has been embraced by the business world and is rapidly gaining momentum in college distance-learning programs and a growing number of grade schools.
U.S. educators seek lessons from Scandinavia
High-scoring nations on an international exam say success stems from autonomy and project-based learning. CoSN wanted to see how strategic investment in information and communications technology (ICT) was affecting education in the region.
The ultimate online experience? School
South Carolina students who have an affinity for the Internet might be interested in a new virtual charter school that will open this fall. South Carolina Connections Academy will enroll 500 students in its online kindergarten through 12th-grade program.
Teacher
Voluntary Online-Teaching Standards Come Amid Concerns Over Quality (Edweek)
Experts are hoping that a new set of national standards for online teaching may help bring clarity and credibility to an industry that some analysts say sorely needs both.
Post-Secondary Education
More savings go to college funds
Colorado families turned to the state's 529 college savings plan in record numbers last year despite a volatile stock market. More than 20,000 Colorado families opened up 529 plans last year through CollegeInvest, compared with 17,000 the year before. They also put more dollars into the plans — $318 million last year versus $254.4 million in 2006.
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