Education Program
This Week in Education
August 21- August 27, 2008
Highlighted Bills of the Week
(Powered by State Net)
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Illinois- (SB 2691)-Enacted
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Requires each institution of higher education in the state to develop an emergency response plan and a campus violence prevention plan and to conduct training and exercises for the plans annually. Requires county and major municipal emergency managers and Emergency Management Agency regional coordinators to assist in the planning and training process and provide standards and guidelines. |
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Arizona -(SB 1081)- Enacted |
Requires that schools selected by the state board of education to participate in the technology assisted project-based instruction program, an internet-based alternative to learning in traditional brick-and-mortar schools, include in the annual report required under the program, a listing of the salaries, by title and job description, of the administrators who work at each school. |
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This Week in Education
August 21 - August 27, 2008
K-12
Prominent Education Reformers Call for Longer School Days, Performance-Driven Teacher Pay, Expanded Public School Choice
America's leading voices on education reform joined in Denver to call on Democratic leaders to steer public education in a new direction. On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, more than two dozen progressive elected officials, education reform advocates, school leaders and civil rights groups from across the country gathered at the Denver Art Museum to release the Ed Challenge for Change, which highlights new ideas for closing America's devastating achievement gap.
Expanded Learning Time in Action: Initiatives in High-Poverty and High-Minority Schools and Districts
Report examines whether and how high-poverty and high-minority schools and districts are rethinking the school calendar with expanded learning time.
A Promise of Pre-K for All Is Still Far Off in New York
More than 10 years after New York’s political and education leaders promised to work toward providing access to pre-kindergarten classes to every 4-year-old across the state, more than a third of the 677 local school districts have no such programs. Last year, fewer than 91,000 children attended state-financed pre-kindergarten classes — 38 percent of the state’s 4-year-olds.
Returning Dropouts Said to Face Too Tough a Road to Graduation (Edweek.org)
A study released last week by researchers from WestEd, a San Francisco-based research group, takes a different tack, shedding a spotlight on the students who come back. The study examines what happens to high school dropouts when they return to their studies, whether they graduate on the second, third, or fourth try, and the systemic disincentives that conspire to keep them out of the classroom.
In Second Year, Rhee Is Facing Major Tests
In her first year as D.C. schools chancellor, she generated numbers that got everybody's attention: 23 schools closed, more than 40 principals and assistant principals replaced, 98 central office staff members dismissed. The first standardized tests on her watch, the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System, showed surprising gains in proficiency. Elementary students raised their math scores by 11 points and reading by eight points. Secondary students saw math and reading rise by nine points. Ninety-nine of the system's 144 public schools raised their scores.
Boston's newest classrooms: schoolyards
The Boston Schoolyard Initiative started with parents and teachers clamoring for safe places where they could tell kids to "go outside and play." As it has evolved, its new motto could be: "Go outside and learn." The effort to renovate school sites and add "outdoor classrooms" has become a national model as cities struggle to address both childhood obesity and academic gaps.
Starting Kindergarten Later Gives Students Only A Fleeting Edge, Study Finds
New research challenges a growing trend toward holding kids out of kindergarten until they’re older, arguing that academic advantages are short-lived and come at the expense of delaying entry into the workforce and other costs.
Leadership
The Turnstile Superintendency?
Over the past decade, a few urban superintendents have compiled uncommon records for longevity and accomplishment. With tenures of from five to 10 years and more, these intrepid schools chiefs have run largely minority and poor districts where test scores have risen, graduation rates have increased, and the number of students going on to college has climbed.
Newark superintendent is Jersey's top-paid school official
Newark's newly hired school superintendent, Clifford Janey, will be paid a $280,000 salary this year and possibly another $21,000 in performance bonuses, cementing him as the highest-salaried school official in the state.
New principals begin work in L.A. mayor's schools partnership
They are hired as part of an ambitious, high-stakes effort to improve some of the lowest-achieving campuses.
Louisiana receives new principal training grant (EdWeek.rog)
Louisiana is receiving a $3.4 million education grant designed to help recruit and train qualified school principals. The two-year grant is through the Wallace Foundation, which has provided similar grant funds for the past three years to the state for education leadership programs.
Post-Secondary Education
Governor signs bill requiring colleges to have emergency plans
Illinois colleges and universities will have to develop plans for responding to emergencies under legislation signed Friday by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Senate Bill 2691 was drafted in response to the shootings in February at Northern Illinois University that left five people dead and 16 injured.
School Choice
State to close 2 charter schools in spring 2009
Two Ohio charter schools will shut down at the end of the school year, the first casualties of a new state law targeting chronically poor-performing schools.
Voucher program for disabled children gets funded
A $5 million voucher program for disabled and foster children that was cut from the state budget has been reinstated, tapping unused dollars in the state's public-education fund. It means that the estimated 400 children who benefited from the program last year will be able to continue in private schools.
School Finance
Still 'separate and unequal'
The State of Illinois' school funding system violates the civil rights of its black and Latino children and should be declared unconstitutional, a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Chicago Urban League contends.
STEM
New Research Center to Focus on Ed. Technology
Congress has authorized a new federal research center that will be charged with helping to develop innovative ways to use digital technology at schools and in universities.
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