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Item(s) found: 3701
FINAL REPORT OF THE FEDERAL COMMISSION ON School Safety
Date CapturedFriday February 22 2019, 7:21 AM
THREAT ASSESSMENT IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE TO MANAGING THREATENING SITUATIONS AND TO CREATING SAFE SCHOOL CLIMATES
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2018, 8:21 AM
Checklist for Developing School District Privacy Programs
Date CapturedTuesday September 01 2015, 11:27 AM
The PII Problem: Privacy and a New Concept of Personally Identifiable Information
Date CapturedFriday November 14 2014, 6:32 AM
Paul M. Schwartz University of California, Berkeley - School of Law; Daniel J. Solove George Washington University Law School; December 5, 2011; New York University Law Review, Vol. 86, p. 1814, 2011; UC Berkeley Public Law Research Paper No. 1909366; GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 584; GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 584; We show how existing approaches to PII impede the effective regulation of behavioral marketing, and how PII 2.0 would resolve these problems.
The Importance of Disaggregating Student Data
Date CapturedSaturday November 08 2014, 8:26 AM
Common characteristics used to disaggregate data include (Boeke, 2012): Race/ethnicity (country of origin); Generation status (i.e. first, second, etc. generation or recently arrived); Immigrant/ refugee status (refugee status often means people are eligible for certain services) ;Age group; Gender; Grade; Geographic (within a state there is often enough data to compare school district data versus a state comparison to a national average); Sexual orientation; Free or reduced lunch status (as a SES indicator); Insurance status
Data Privacy Lab
Date CapturedFriday November 07 2014, 8:09 AM
Research projects - The Data Privacy Lab is a program in the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard University and offers thought leadership, research, and discussion on privacy and technology, working directly with researchers at IQSS and leveraging colleagues across Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Law School, and MIT. The Lab started in 2001 at Carnegie Mellon University in the Heinz School of Public Policy and in 2002, moved to the School of Computer Science, where it operated until 2011 before relocating to Harvard. The Lab has had dramatic impact on privacy technology developments and policy. Latanya Sweeney founded the Lab and continues as its Director.
Does de-identification work or not?
Date CapturedThursday November 06 2014, 9:20 AM
About the author: Daniel C. Barth-Jones, M.P.H., Ph.D., is a HIV and Infectious Disease Epidemiologist on the faculty at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. His work in the area of statistical disclosure control and implementation under the HIPAA Privacy Rule provisions for de-identification is focused on the importance of properly balancing competing goals of protecting patient privacy and preserving the accuracy of scientific research and statistical analyses conducted with de-identified data.
Illinois RIght to Privacy in the School Setting Act
Date CapturedThursday October 23 2014, 12:27 AM
Illinois Right to Privacy in the School Setting Act
Date CapturedThursday October 23 2014, 12:16 AM
UNJUSTLY USURPING THE PARENTAL RIGHT: Fields v. Palmdale School District, 427 F.3d 1197 (9th Cir. 2005)
Date CapturedSunday September 07 2014, 8:31 PM
Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Vol. 29 No. 3 Lack of guidance from the Supreme Court has proven especially troublesome in the context of public schools where parents have attempted to shield their children from school mandates.
Access Controls Over Student Information Systems
Date CapturedTuesday August 19 2014, 1:28 PM
Final report - March 2014 -Employees in six upstate New York school districts had inappropriate computer access to sensitive student data and were able to change student grades and attendance records without proper authorization, according to an audit released by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
Cloud Computing, Regulatory Compliance, and Student Privacy: A Guide for School Administrators and Legal Counsel
Date CapturedTuesday July 01 2014, 2:48 PM
J. Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law 511 (2014) Volume 30 Issue 3 (2014)
Illinois Charter School Biennial Report Submitted January 2014
Date CapturedWednesday April 23 2014, 12:40 AM
FTC's Brill Excludes Google, Facebook From Data Broker Push
Date CapturedFriday April 11 2014, 1:10 PM
March 14, 2014 Keynote address at a symposium on the “Internet of Things” held by the Center on Law and Information Policy at Fordham Law School
2013 CASEL Guide
Date CapturedSunday December 22 2013, 12:47 PM
Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs (Preschool and Elementary School Edition)
School iPad & Tablet Deployments
Date CapturedSaturday November 16 2013, 1:19 AM
Here are the K-12 schools and universities introducing iPads and other tablets. Updated Feb 25, 2013.
Methodology of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System 2013
Date CapturedSunday November 03 2013, 9:39 PM
The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), established in 1991, monitors six categories of priority health-risk behaviors among youths and young adults: 1) behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; 2) sexual behaviors that contribute to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy; 3) tobacco use; 4) alcohol and other drug use; 5) unhealthy dietary behaviors; and 6) physical inactivity. In addition, YRBSS monitors the prevalence of obesity and asthma among this population. [Certain schools use active permission, meaning that parents must send back to the school a signed form indicating their approval before their child can participate. Other schools use passive permission, meaning that parents send back a signed form only if they do not want their child to participate in the survey.]
Selected Statistics from the Common Core of Data: School Year 2011–12
Date CapturedSunday November 03 2013, 2:12 PM
This First Look report presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary schools and local education agencies and public school student enrollment and staff in the United States and other jurisdictions for school year 2011–12.
Revealing New Truths About Our Nation's Schools
Date CapturedSunday November 03 2013, 12:39 PM
CRDC makes public long-hidden data about which students are suspended, expelled, and arrested in school.
How One Community Rejected the Monolithic High School By Mark Carnes
Date CapturedThursday October 17 2013, 6:08 PM
Reconciling Personal Information in the United States and European Union
Date CapturedThursday June 27 2013, 4:16 PM
Paul M. Schwartz, University of California, Berkeley - School of Law; Daniel J. Solove, George Washington University Law School; May 3, 2013
National Education Data Model
Date CapturedSunday May 19 2013, 10:16 PM
he National Education Data Model (NEDM) is a P-20 data resource that provides a common framework and language for collecting, comparing, and using data to improve schools and answer important research and policy questions. NEDM is a project funded by the US Department of Education and coordinated by the Council of Chief State School Officers to: • describe relationships between and among data sets; and • create an open framework based on current standards to build education data systems.
FTC POINTERS FOR PARENTS: Protecting Your Child’s Personal Information At School
Date CapturedTuesday April 23 2013, 12:53 AM
Proposed Amendment to Part 80 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the New Teacher and School Building Leader Certification Examination Requirements
Date CapturedMonday March 04 2013, 1:11 PM
CPO on Privacy, Emerging Technologies, and New Uses of Data
Date CapturedSunday February 10 2013, 6:35 PM
US ED CPO STYLES: Colleges, universities, and other postsecondary institutions often have research agendas that involve data; they often have medical facilities; and most importantly, colleges and universities often function as change agents, particularly for technological and social change. The combination of new technologies and new uses of data create today’s cutting-edge privacy issues, including “Big Data,” matching with wage data, data sharing in general, the use of analytics, cloud computing, MOOCs, and school use of web engagemen
SB 173
Date CapturedThursday January 24 2013, 4:27 PM
TEXAS Sen. Estes SB 173: Relating to prohibiting the use of radio frequency identification technology to transmit information regarding public school students. (RFID)
Inadequate security of personal, private, and sensitive Information in school districts’ mobile computing devices – audit
Date CapturedFriday December 28 2012, 4:49 PM
FERPA and the Cloud: What FERPA Can Learn from HIPAA
Date CapturedTuesday December 18 2012, 7:01 AM
SOLOVE: Parents need to look at what their schools are doing about student privacy and speak up, because the law isn’t protecting their children’s privacy. School officials who want to develop a more meaningful and robust protection of privacy should talk to government officials who are tasked with complying with HIPAA. They can learn a lot from studying HIPAA and following some of its requirements. Congress should remake FERPA more in the model of HIPAA. If Congress won’t act, state legislatures should pass better education privacy laws. Because FERPA does not provide adequate oversight and enforcement of cloud computing providers, schools must be especially aggressive and assume the responsibility. Otherwise, their students’ data will not be adequately protected. School officials shouldn’t assume that the law is providing regulation of cloud computing providers and that they need not worry. The law isn’t, so right now the schools need to be especially vigilant.
Charter School Institute Pre-Opening CONFIDENTIALITY OF STUDENT RECORDS
Date CapturedThursday November 01 2012, 5:09 PM
FTC: Protecting Your Child's Personal Information at School
Date CapturedFriday August 17 2012, 8:21 AM
Smartphones and the 2012 Election
Date CapturedTuesday August 14 2012, 10:38 AM
EPIC has released a report, "Smartphones and the 2012 Election," which focuses on the potential risks to voters who download election-related apps to their smartphones and tablets. The report contends that these apps promote greater citizen participation in e-democracy, but also may contain malware, disseminate false information --- or, as was recently reported about an Obama campaign app, compromise voter privacy by making voters' personal and locational information widely available. A recent study by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication revealed that voters are ambivalent about "personalized" political advertising, a practice likely to increase with the number of election and political apps available for download. EPIC's report also examines the role of federal and state regulation in protecting voters and providing guidance to campaigns, and recommends actions that voters, election administrators, and campaigns can take to better protect voter privacy.
How One Community Rejected the Monolithic High School
Date CapturedSaturday June 23 2012, 10:46 AM
Charter Schools: Additional Federal Attention Needed to Help Protect Access for Students with Disabilities"
Date CapturedThursday June 21 2012, 1:42 PM
Gates Foundation COOPER on data sharing
Date CapturedThursday April 26 2012, 3:09 PM
The SLC, co-funded by the Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, "is working to change the way educational data is gathered," Cooper explained. "All of these different technologies have created islands within the schools"--islands which prevent the holistic examination of a student's data during their educational path. Even if one school has its act together and can effectively track a student in that school, what happens if that student transfers to another school? Or wants to take additional classes as an institution like the Khan Academy or Maker Faire, Cooper asked. Right now, such extracurricular learning opportunities are rarely tracked.
NY Assemblywoman Galef: A.9822
Date CapturedTuesday April 17 2012, 1:57 PM
All personnel records of classroom teachers used to evaluate or generated as the result of an evaluation of performance under the control of any school district or board of cooperative educational services, shall be considered confidential and not subject to inspection or review by a parent of a student or any other person without the express written content of such teacher except as may be mandated by lawful court order; provided that a school district or board of cooper- ative educational services may, without first obtaining consent or a court order, release data summarizing the aggregate results of such performance evaluations..
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GRANTS: Education Should Take Additional Steps to Enhance Accountability for Schools and Contractors
Date CapturedThursday April 12 2012, 9:57 AM
GAO-12-373 GAO recommends that Education (1) provide additional support to states about making evidence-based grant renewal decisions and (2) ensure that contractor performance is reviewed. Education generally supported our first recommendation but disagreed with the second. We modified our recommendation to address some of Education’s concerns.
ACLU: Social Networking, your privacy rights explained
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2012, 9:05 AM
The vast majority of young people living in the United States go online daily and use social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. With all this information-sharing, many questions about ownership of personal information and possible discipline for postings arise. This guide will answer some of those questions so that you can better understand the rights you have when using social networking both in and out of school.
Balancing Student Privacy and School Safety: A Guide to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act for Elementary and Secondary Schools ??
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2012, 7:57 AM
Revealing New Truths About Our Nation's Schools
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2012, 5:54 PM
CRDC makes public long-hidden data about which students are suspended, expelled, and arrested in school.
Updated Guidance on the Collection and Reporting of Teacher and Course Data in the Student Information Repository System (SIRS)
Date CapturedWednesday February 29 2012, 9:19 AM
This memorandum provides important updates on the implementation of federal and State requirements for reporting professional staff and course data for students. This guidance directly addresses three issues: (1) Federal and State requirements for charter and other public schools, school districts, and BOCES to report additional student data, including course enrollment and the teachers/principals responsible for a student’s instruction; (2) The timeline for reporting new data elements; and (3) Implementation strategies for collecting and reporting these data.
Timothy D. Slekar
Date CapturedSunday February 26 2012, 8:26 AM
Father, Associate Professor of teacher education, and public school advocate. Penn State Altoona
rratto
Date CapturedMonday February 13 2012, 11:03 PM
An elementary school teacher just trying to do the right thing.
CLIP
Date CapturedMonday February 13 2012, 4:03 PM
The Center on Law and Information Policy at Fordham Law School
Urban Youth Justice
Date CapturedMonday February 13 2012, 3:32 PM
Equal Rights, Equal Justice & Equal Opportunity for Our Youth! Fighting Education Inequality, School-to-Prison Pipeline & the Disenfranchisement of Urban Youth.
Daniel Solove
Date CapturedMonday February 13 2012, 3:16 PM
Law professor at George Washington University Law School and expert in information privacy law.
David Greene
Date CapturedMonday February 13 2012, 3:07 PM
Former High School Social Studies teacher and coach in NY. Presently is an adjunct for Fordham University mentoring Teach For Americans getting their Masters.
NEST+m PTA
Date CapturedMonday February 13 2012, 2:47 PM
NEST+m is the only K-12 Gifted & Talented school in NYC.
Shaun Johnson
Date CapturedMonday February 13 2012, 2:35 PM
Assistant professor of elementary education, public school activist, and edu-blogger.
Leonie Haimson
Date CapturedMonday February 13 2012, 2:26 PM
NYC public school parent, Exec. Director, Class Size Matters and founding member, Parents Across America
OREGON'S PROJECT ALDER misspells "education"
Date CapturedSunday February 12 2012, 5:12 PM
Would you entrust an education system with personal, sensitive and identifiable information about your child if you knew they can't spell education correctly? Project ALDER is Oregon's state longitudinal database. SLDS. Link is screen shot: [Senate Bill 909i, signed by Governor Kitzhaber on June 28, 2011, creates an efficient, accountable, and integrated zero-to-20 funding and governance system for public education, from early childhood services through post-secondary education and training. SB 909 establishes the Oregon Education Investment Boardi for the purpose of ensuring that all public school students in this state reach the educaiton outcomes established for the state. The board shall accomplish this goal by overseeing a unified public education system that begins with early childhood services and continues throughout public education from kindergarten to post-secondary education.]
FLORIDA HB 543
Date CapturedTuesday January 31 2012, 7:09 PM
Bill to be entitled: An act relating to parental involvement and accountability in public schools; creating s. 1008.347, F.S.; providing purpose to provide information and tools to parents of prekindergarten through grade 5 students and to set minimum standards for parental involvement; specifying causes for student underachievement; requiring shared information between teachers, schools, and parents; requiring prekindergarten through grade 5 teachers to evaluate parental involvement and send a parental involvement evaluation to parents under certain circumstances; requiring adoption of a process to dispute a parental involvement evaluation; requiring reports on parental involvement evaluations by district school boards and the Department of Education; providing for implementation;.
New York School Districts Selected for the 2011-2012 School Year Student Weight Status Category Reporting
Date CapturedThursday January 26 2012, 9:15 AM
New York State Sample Parental Notice Language for 2011-2012 School Year
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2012, 1:44 PM
If you do not wish to have your child’s weight status group information included as part of the Health Department’s survey this year, please print and sign your name below and return this form:
CYBERBULLYING: A Report on Bullying in a Digital Age
Date CapturedTuesday December 27 2011, 2:28 PM
NY Senate Independent Democratic Conference Sept. 2011 report.
EDUCATION INTERRUPTED: The Growing Use of Suspensions in New York City’s Public Schools
Date CapturedThursday October 13 2011, 4:16 PM
This report analyzes 449,513 suspensions served by New York City students from 1999 to 2009 to draw a picture of zero tolerance practices in the nation’s largest school district. The number of suspensions served each school year has nearly doubled in a decade—even though the student population has decreased over the same period—sending a clear message that public education is a reward for “good” behavior, rather than a fundamental right. This section explains the methodology we used to analyze the suspension data, and provides valuable background on zero tolerance discipline. Section II provides an overview of New York City disciplinary policies and practices. It examines the ever- increasing emphasis on out-of-class and out-of-school suspensions in New York City’s Discipline Code, which governs student behavior. This section also analyzes the impact that NYPD school safety officers have had on the increasing reliance on suspensions and arrests as primary disciplinary tools. Section III analyzes 10 years of school discipline data in New York City, explaining the data behind our conclusions. Finally, the report concludes with our recommendations for the DOE, as well as city and state lawmakers.
National Opt-Out Campaign Informs Parents How to Protect the Privacy of their Children's School Records
Date CapturedTuesday September 20 2011, 4:53 PM
Parents have rights under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) to restrict access to their children's personal information.
Student Reports of Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Results From the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey
Date CapturedMonday September 05 2011, 1:33 PM
In school year 2008–09, some 7,066,000 U.S. students ages 12 through 18, or 28.0 percent of all such students, reported they were bullied at school, and about 1,521,000, or 6.0 percent, reported they were cyber-bullied anywhere (i.e., on or off school property). eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Furthermore, the tables use the SCS data to show the relationship between bullying and cyber-bullying victimization and other variables of interest, such as the reported presence of
US Education Department Model Notice for Directory Information
Date CapturedMonday September 05 2011, 12:21 PM
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a Federal law, requires that [School District], with certain exceptions, obtain your written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from your child's education records. However, [School District] may disclose appropriately designated "directory information" without written consent, unless you have advised the District to the contrary in accordance with District procedures. Directory information may include: Student's name; Address; Telephone listing; Electronic mail address; Photograph; Date and place of birth; Major field of study; Dates of attendance; Grade level; Participation in officially recognized activities and sports; Weight and height of members of athletic teams; Degrees, honors, and awards received; The most recent educational agency or institution attended; Student ID number, user ID, or other unique personal identifier used to communicate in electronic systems that cannot be used to access education records without a PIN, password, etc. (A student's SSN, in whole or in part, cannot be used for this purpose.)
NYS Assembly Bill A8474 same as Senate Bill 2357b
Date CapturedMonday September 05 2011, 10:16 AM
BILL NO A08474 Same as S 2357-B (Sponsor: Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer - passed Senate 62-0) ASSEMBLY SPONSOR Rosenthal (MS) COSPONSOR Nolan: A SCHOOL MAY NOT, EVEN WITH THE AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT OF THE PARENT OF THE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE OR THE ELIGIBLE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE, DISCLOSE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION FOR A COMMERCIAL, FOR-PROFIT ACTIVITY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO USE FOR: (I) MARKETING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; (II) SELLING PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION FOR USE IN MARKETING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; (III) CREATING OR CORRECTING AN INDIVIDUAL OR HOUSEHOLD PROFILE; (IV) COMPILATION OF A STUDENT LIST. DISCLOSABLE DIRECTORY INFORMATION (DDI) HEREAFTER REFERRED TO IN THIS SECTION AS "DIRECTORY INFORMATION", MEANS WITH RESPECT TO A STUDENT, THE STUDENT'S NAME; PHOTOGRAPH; AGE; MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY; GRADE LEVEL; ENROLLMENT STATUS (E.G., UNDERGRADUATE OR GRADUATE, FULL-TIME OR PART-TIME); DATES OF ATTENDANCE; PARTICIPATION IN OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED ACTIVITIES AND SPORTS; WEIGHT AND HEIGHT OF MEMBERS OF ATHLETIC TEAMS; DEGREES, HONORS AND AWARDS RECEIVED; AND THE MOST RECENT EDUCATIONAL AGENCY OR INSTITUTION ATTENDED. (D) "PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION (PISI)" SHALL INCLUDE DISCLOSABLE DIRECTORY INFORMATION, AND A STUDENT'S OR PARENT'S ADDRESS, TELEPHONE NUMBER, AND E-MAIL ADDRESS. A SCHOOL MAY DISCLOSE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION ONLY WITH THE AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT OF THE PARENT OF THE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE OR THE ELIGIBLE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROCEDURE PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION THREE OF THIS SECTION IF:
FTC CONSUMER ALERT: Protecting Your Child's Personal Information at School
Date CapturedFriday September 02 2011, 6:10 PM
[Ask your child's school about its directory information policy. Student directory information can include your child's name, address, date of birth, telephone number, email address, and photo. FERPA requires schools to notify parents and guardians about their school directory policy, and give you the right to opt-out of the release of directory information to third parties. It's best to put your request in writing and keep a copy for your files. If you don't opt-out, directory information may be available not only to the people in your child's class and school, but also to the general public.]
Breaking Schools’ Rules: A Statewide Study of How School Discipline Relates to Students’ Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement
Date CapturedTuesday August 02 2011, 10:09 AM
This report was prepared by the Council of State Governments Justice Center in partnership with the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University. Key findings in the report include the following: 1. Nearly six in ten public school students studied were suspended or expelled at least once between their seventh- and twelfth-grade school years. 2. African-American students and those with particular educational disabilities were disproportionately likely to be removed from the classroom for disciplinary reasons. 3. Students who were suspended and/or expelled, particularly those who were repeatedly disciplined, were more likely to be held back a grade or to drop out than were students not involved in the disciplinary system. 4. When a student was suspended or expelled, his or her likelihood of being involved in the juvenile justice system the subsequent year increased significantly. 5. Suspension and expulsion rates among schools—even those schools with similar student compositions and campus characteristics—varied significantly.
Stolen Futures: A Forum on Child Identity Theft July 12, 2011
Date CapturedMonday July 25 2011, 5:26 PM
Session 3 TRANSCRIPT - Securing Children’s Data in the Educational System: Steven Toporoff - Federal Trade Commission. PANELISTS: Kathleen Styles, U.S. Department of Education; Michael Borkoski, Howard County Maryland Public Schools; Larry Wong, Montgomery County Maryland Public Schools; Richard Boyle ECMC, Denny Shaw i-SAFE, Inc. [This panel will explore the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and initiatives to protect children’s personal information in school systems. We will also explore lessons learned from a high-profile data breach involving student information. Finally, the panel will discuss outreach efforts to teach children, teachers, youth counselors, and school administrators about privacy and securing children’s personal information.]
Balancing Student Privacy and School Safety: A Guide to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act for Elementary and Secondary Schools
Date CapturedMonday July 25 2011, 1:51 PM
Many school districts employ security staff to monitor safety and security in and around schools. Some schools employ off-duty police officers as school security officers, while others designate a particular school official to be responsible for referring potential or alleged violations of law to local police authorities. Under FERPA, investigative reports and other records created and maintained by these "law enforcement units" are not considered "education records" subject to FERPA. Accordingly, schools may disclose information from law enforcement unit records to anyone, including outside law enforcement authorities, without parental consent. See 34 CFR § 99.8. While a school has flexibility in deciding how to carry out safety functions, it must also indicate to parents in its school policy or information provided to parents which office or school official serves as the school's "law enforcement unit." (The school's notification to parents of their rights under FERPA can include this designation. As an example, the U.S. Department of Education has posted a model notification on the Web at: http://www.ed.gov /policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/lea-officials.html.) Law enforcement unit officials who are employed by the school should be designated in its FERPA notification as "school officials" with a "legitimate educational interest." As such, they may be given access to personally identifiable information from students' education records. The school's law enforcement unit officials must protect the privacy of education records it receives and may disclose them only in compliance with FERPA. For that reason, it is advisable that law enforcement unit records be maintained separately from education records.
Addressing Emergencies on Campus June 2011
Date CapturedTuesday June 28 2011, 6:32 PM
United States Department of Education (USED) : Summary of two applicable Federal education laws administered by the Department of Education (Department): the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended. This Federal component is only one piece of what is necessary to consider in ensuring the safety of our Nation’s students, faculty, and school staff. A comprehensive and effective campus policy must incorporate all Federal and State policies regarding health and safety emergencies, education, student privacy, civil rights, and law enforcement, as well as specific local community needs.
NYS Sen. Oppenheimer and Sen. Montgomery on S.2357
Date CapturedTuesday June 21 2011, 4:25 PM
Sen. Oppenheimer and Sen. Montgomery on S.2357 @ 36:30 minutes. Senators demonstrate responsible data stewardship. S.2357 excerpt: [(C) UNLESS OTHERWISE ALLOWED BY LAW, A SCHOOL MAY NOT, EVEN WITH THE AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT OF THE PARENT OF THE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE OR THE ELIGIBLE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE, DISCLOSE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION FOR A COMMERCIAL, FOR-PROFIT ACTIVITY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO USE FOR: (I) MARKETING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; (II) SELLING PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION FOR USE IN MARKETING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; (III) CREATING OR CORRECTING AN INDIVIDUAL OR HOUSEHOLD PROFILE; (IV) COMPILATION OF A STUDENT LIST; (V) SALE OF THE INFORMATION FOR ANY COMMERCIAL PURPOSE; OR (VI) ANY OTHER PURPOSE CONSIDERED BY THE SCHOOL AS LIKELY TO BE A COMMERCIAL, FOR-PROFIT ACTIVITY. (D) IN MAKING AN ALLOWABLE DISCLOSURE UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION, A SCHOOL MAY ONLY DISCLOSE THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF INFORMATION NECESSARY TO ACCOM PLISH THE PURPOSE OF THE DISCLOSURE.]
Education New York comments re Student Privacy submitted to FERPA NPRM - May 23, 2011
Date CapturedMonday May 23 2011, 9:22 PM
Document ID: ED-2011-OM-0002-0001: Family Educational Rights and Privacy. The proposed changes to FERPA do not adequately address the capacity of marketers and other commercial enterprises to capture, use, and re-sell student information. Even with privacy controls in place, it is also far too easy for individuals to get a hold of student information and use it for illegal purposes, including identity theft, child abduction in custody battles, and domestic violence. Few parents are aware, for example, that anyone can request -- and receive -- a student directory from a school. Data and information breaches occur every day in Pre-K-20 schools across the country, so that protecting student privacy has become a matter of plugging holes in a dyke rather than advancing a comprehensive policy that makes student privacy protection the priority.
"What every school official should know about privacy"
Date CapturedThursday March 17 2011, 2:24 PM
Video of Daniel Solove on schools and privacy taped at Cornell University.
United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor Hearing on “How Data Can be Used to Inform Educational Outcomes” April 14, 2010
Date CapturedMonday March 14 2011, 7:36 PM
1. States are warehousing sensitive information about identifiable children. 2. The Fordham CLIP study documents that privacy protections are lacking and rules need to be developed and implemented to assure that children’s educational records are adequately protected. 3. As part of basic privacy standards, strong data security is necessary to minimize the risks of data invasions, scandals and melt-downs from centralized databases of children’s personal information. Statement of Joel R. Reidenberg, Professor of Law and Founding Academic Director Center on Law and Information Policy, Fordham University School of Law New York, NY
The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting
Date CapturedFriday March 11 2011, 7:35 PM
FERPA does not preclude an institution’s compliance with the timely warning provision of the campus security regulations. FERPA recognizes that information can, in case of an emergency, be released without consent when needed to protect the health and safety of others. In addition, if institutions utilize information from the records of a campus law enforcement unit to issue a timely warning, FERPA is not implicated as those records are not protected by FERPA. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting, Washington, D.C., 2011.
OHIO 3319.321 Confidentiality
Date CapturedThursday March 10 2011, 2:40 PM
Ohio Revised Code » Title [33] XXXIII EDUCATION (A) No person shall release, or permit access to, the directory information concerning any students attending a public school to any person or group for use in a profit-making plan or activity. Notwithstanding division (B)(4) of section 149.43 of the Revised Code, a person may require disclosure of the requestor’s identity or the intended use of the directory information concerning any students attending a public school to ascertain whether the directory information is for use in a profit-making plan or activity.
Some questions raised over release of student info (North Dakota)
Date CapturedTuesday March 08 2011, 4:54 PM
[North Dakota: High schools across the state would be required to give names, addresses and phone numbers of their students to the State Board of Higher Education under a proposed Senate bill.] [Several committee members expressed concern about the additional information and wanted to make sure parents would be fully aware of what information was being requested before opting out. That view also was shared by Bev Nielson of the North Dakota School Boards Association.]
American Student List (ASL)
Date CapturedMonday March 07 2011, 5:39 PM
Student data for sale ONLINE. College Bound High School Students - Over 3 million high school juniors and seniors who have indicated an interest in higher education. Selectable by class year, age, head of household, income, geography and more; Teenage Lifestyle Interests - 5 million individuals ages 14-19. Selectable by self-reported interests in specific areas including sports, scholastic activities, careers, computers and more; College Students - Approximately 5 million students attending numerous colleges and universities. Home and/or school addresses and phone numbers are available. Selectable by class year, field of study, college attended, tuition level, competitive rank and more; College Grads And Alumni - Approximately 17 million College Grads/Alumni. Selectable by school last attended, household income, home ownership and more; Families With Children - 20 million households with the presence of children, tweens and teens (newborn through age 19). Selectable by head of household, income, gender, ethnicity, geography and more. Ethnic Lists - Over 3 million Ethnic Teens, 4.5 million Ethnic Families and 15 million Ethnic Young Adults. Numerous backgrounds are available including Hispanic/Latino, Asian-American, Native-American, African-American and more. Also available — Foreign-Speaking Teens — first- or second-generation teens who speak the language of their ethnic group.
Student Transience in North Carolina: The Effect of School Mobility on Student Outcomes Using Longitudinal Data
Date CapturedSunday February 20 2011, 10:22 PM
*Zeyu Xu, Jane Hannaway, Stephanie D’Souza ; CALDER and The Urban Institute [“Strategic” school moves (cross-district) benefitted or had no effect on student performance, but “reactive” moves (within district) hurt all groups of students. ]
NYC P-3 SCHOOL FAMILY HANDBOOK
Date CapturedSunday February 13 2011, 5:39 PM
See page 19 for information deemed appropriate to release about 4 year old CHILDREN.
Campus Attacks:Targeted Violence Affecting Institutions of Higher Education
Date CapturedTuesday January 18 2011, 1:53 PM
The report included a recommendation that the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of Education, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation explore the issue of violence at institutions of higher education. Accordingly, the three agencies initiated a collaborative effort, the goal of which was to understand the scope of the problem of targeted violence at these institutions in the United States. In total, 272 incidents were identified through a comprehensive search of open-source reporting from 1900 [their typo] to 2008. The incidents studied include various forms of targeted violence, ranging from domestic violence to mass murder. The findings should be useful for campus safety professionals charged with identifying, assessing, and managing violence risk at institutions of higher education.
Identifying Violence-prone Students
Date CapturedThursday January 13 2011, 2:02 PM
The fine line higher education officials walk in dealing with troubled students is discussed.
NCES 2011-602 Data Stewardship: Managing Personally Identifiable Information in Electronic Student Education Records
Date CapturedTuesday January 04 2011, 9:55 PM
SLDS Technical Brief - Guidance for Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) [A privacy and data protection program for student education records must include an array of rules and procedures for protecting PII held in the record system. It also must include a full set of public disclosures of the existence and uses of the information included in the data system, a description of all parents’ or eligible students’ rights to review and appeal the contents of an individual education record and of their rights and the procedures to appeal a violation. ]*****[A school directory may include PII such as a student’s name, grade level, and contact information. Taken by itself, the release of this information is not harmful to a student. However, when combined with the student’s Social Security Number or another identifier and the student’s education record, this information has the potential for violating a student’s right to privacy. The release of this combined record could lead to harm or embarrassment. Thus, the privacy and data protection program should focus on PII that will be maintained in the electronic student record system with its likely wealth of student data.2}
New York State Student Information Repository System (SIRS) Manual
Date CapturedWednesday December 22 2010, 8:44 PM
New York State Student t Information Repository System (SIRS) Manual; Reporting Data for the 2010–11 School Year (SEE APPENDIX 19)
K-12 EDUCATION - Selected Cases of Public and Private Schools That Hired or Retained Individuals with Histories of Sexual Misconduct
Date CapturedFriday December 17 2010, 1:00 PM
GAO-11-200 ; GAO examined show that individuals with histories of sexual misconduct were hired or retained by public and private schools as teachers, support staff, volunteers, and contractors.
The Boundaries of Privacy Harm
Date CapturedSaturday July 17 2010, 7:00 PM
M. Ryan Calo -- Stanford Law School -- July 16, 2010 -- Abstract: [This Essay describes the outer boundaries and core properties of privacy harm. Properly understood, privacy harm falls into just two categories. The subjective category of privacy harm is the unwanted perception of observation. This category describes unwelcome mental states—anxiety, embarrassment, fear—that stem from the belief that one is being watched or monitored. Examples include everything from a landlord listening in on his tenants to generalized government surveillance. The objective category of privacy harm is the unanticipated or coerced use of information concerning a person against that person. These are negative, external actions justified by reference to personal information. Examples include identity theft, the leaking of classified information that reveals an undercover agent, and the use of a drunk-driving suspect’s blood as evidence against him. The subjective and objective categories of privacy harm are distinct but related. Just as assault is the apprehension of battery, so is the unwanted perception of observation largely an apprehension of information-driven injury. The categories represent, respectively, the anticipation and consequence of a loss of control over personal information. The approach offers several advantages. It uncouples privacy harm from privacy violations, demonstrating that no person need commit a privacy violation for privacy harm to occur (and vice versa). It creates a “limiting principle” capable of revealing when another value—autonomy or equality, for instance—is more directly at stake. It also creates a “rule of recognition” that permits the identification of a privacy harm when no other harm is apparent. Finally, the approach permits the sizing and redress of privacy harm in novel ways.]
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Disclosure of Student Information Related to Emergencies and Disasters
Date CapturedThursday June 24 2010, 1:48 PM
The purpose of this guidance is to answer questions that have arisen about the sharing of personally identifiable information from students’ education records to outside parties when responding to emergencies, including natural or man-made disasters. Understanding how, what, and when information can be shared with outside parties is an important part of emergency preparedness.
How Different are Young Adults from Older Adults When it Comes to Information Privacy Attitudes and Policies?
Date CapturedThursday April 15 2010, 6:12 PM
Chris Jay Hoofnagle - University of California, Berkeley - School of Law, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; Jennifer King -UC Berkeley School of Information; Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; Su Li- University of California, Berkeley- School of Law, Center for the Study of Law and Society; Joseph Turow - University of Pennsylvania - Annenberg School for Communication: [Abstract: Media reports teem with stories of young people posting salacious photos online, writing about alcohol-fueled misdeeds on social networking sites, and publicizing other ill-considered escapades that may haunt them in the future. These anecdotes are interpreted as representing a generation-wide shift in attitude toward information privacy. Many commentators therefore claim that young people “are less concerned with maintaining privacy than older people are.” Surprisingly, though, few empirical investigations have explored the privacy attitudes of young adults. This report is among the first quantitative studies evaluating young adults’ attitudes. It demonstrates that the picture is more nuanced than portrayed in the popular media. ] [Among the findings: _ Eighty-eight percent of people of all ages said they have refused to give out information to a business because they thought it was too personal or unnecessary. Among young adults, 82 percent have refused, compared with 85 percent of those over 65. _ Most people — 86 percent — believe that anyone who posts a photo or video of them on the Internet should get their permission first, even if that photo was taken in public. Among young adults 18 to 24, 84 percent agreed — not far from the 90 percent among those 45 to 54. _ Forty percent of adults ages 18 to 24 believe executives should face jail time if their company uses someone's personal information illegally — the same as the response among those 35 to 44 years old.]
Groups Urge California PUC to Adopt Rules to Protect Consumer Privacy
Date CapturedSunday March 14 2010, 8:54 PM
infozine reports [San Francisco, CA - infoZine - Privacy advocates are warning that "smart meters" intended to precisely measure and control home electrical consumption could erode the privacy of daily life unless regulators limit data collection and disclosure. In a joint filing yesterday, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to adopt rules to protect the privacy and security of consumers' energy-usage information. The Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law drafted the comments for CDT. Smart meters being installed now in California will collect 750 to 3,000 data points a month per household. This detailed energy usage data can indicate whether someone is at home or out, entertaining guests, or using particular appliances. Marketers and others may seek such data. To head off misuse of the information, CDT and EFF urged the California PUC to adopt comprehensive privacy standards for the collection, retention, use and disclosure of consumers' household energy data. ]
Privacy flags raise concern for graduate students
Date CapturedThursday March 11 2010, 9:24 PM
by Katie Perkowski -[Undergraduate students are not the only ones concerned with personal information available through UK’s online people search — now, graduate students are voicing their concern, too. Members of UK’s graduate school have recently voiced concern about their information like home address and home telephone number being available on the UK Web site without their knowledge, said English teaching assistant Jesslyn Collins-Frohlich.]
Putting Private Info on Government Database
Date CapturedTuesday March 09 2010, 4:34 PM
Phyllis Schlafly writes - [The Fordham report made numerous recommendations to beef up student privacy, such as collecting only information relevant to articulated purposes, purging unjustified data, enacting time limits for data retention and hiring a chief privacy officer for each state. There is no indication that these suggestions will be implemented. The Obama Department of Education officials believe that collecting personally identifiable data is "at the heart of improving schools and school districts." One of the four reform mandates of the Race to the Top competition is to establish pre-kindergarten to college-and-career data systems that "track progress and foster continuous improvement."]
Comments of the World Privacy Forum regarding Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, FERPA
Date CapturedTuesday February 02 2010, 8:28 PM
[Our comments focus on several aspects of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), notably, the definition and handling of directory information and personally identifiable information. We also comment on the use of full tax returns to determine eligibility. And finally, we comment on the issue of outsourcing, including the need for audit trails in regards to the proposed expansion of the school official exemption.]
Sunguard
Date CapturedSaturday November 21 2009, 1:02 PM
[Student Information Management -- eSchoolPLUS is a student management system that helps educators and parents by providing them direct, real-time access to the most relevant student information available. Teachers and administrators can easily manage day-to-day student information and data such as demographics, scheduling, attendance, discipline, standardized tests, report cards and transcripts. With eSchoolPLUS, parents gain the ability to be more informed as to their child’s grades, attendance, assignments and discipline information. Superintendents, principals and other district administrators and school board members can track daily school status, student performance and progress.]
Personal school data not always private
Date CapturedTuesday November 03 2009, 8:15 PM
APOLGIES @ SCOTT WALDMAN Staff Writer I TRIED REACHING YOU MANY TIMES FOR ACTIVE LINK Section: Capital Region, Page: B1 Date: Saturday, February 9, 2008 [GUILDERLAND - Last year, the Guilderland Teachers Association got the address of every local family and sent those with school-age children postcards promoting the union's picks in the May school board election. But trying to get that kind of personal information from other school districts won't work. The issue shines a light on how school districts interpret a federal law that permits the disclosure of "directory" information - including student and parent names, addresses and phone numbers - without consent. The law leaves it up to individual districts to define what is considered directory information. The statute also stipulates that schools must tell residents they have the right to withhold the information.]
Use of parental list is faulted
Date CapturedTuesday November 03 2009, 8:06 PM
March 17, 2008 by Scott Waldman - [GUILDERLAND - Guilderland School District violated federal law when it provided the names and addresses of parents to the teachers union, according to the state's authority on open government. Last year, Guilderland Teachers Association used those names and addresses to send parents of school-aged children postcards promoting the union's picks in a school board election. School officials deny that any law was broken, but the district recently imposed a moratorium on releasing "directory" information after complaints by school board members and news coverage of the controversy.]
South Dakota Superintendent Thinks Info Policy Will Pass Tonight
Date CapturedFriday October 30 2009, 5:37 PM
[Over the past month some parents have voiced their concerns to the school board over what they consider the selling of their children's contact information. Some say they don't want it to land in the wrong hands. Pam Homan says parents have known about the information policy for some time. "On the blue card as we call it parents have been informed of the FERPA requirement and whether or not they wish to have their child's name included or excluded from information." Revisions have been made to the proposed policy. Allowing parents more control over where the information is given. It will allow four categories that are: school publications, directory information, SD board of regents, and military recruiters.]
Plano ISD: Redefining the student directory
Date CapturedFriday October 30 2009, 10:30 AM
[If the changes are approved, Plano ISD couldn't, without consent from the parents, print a student's address, telephone number or e-mail address in any district publication. Some school districts -- and I'm not sure about Plano -- sell directory information to third parties as a money-making operation. Companies, such as Coca-Cola or Citi Bank, could buy the directories and market products to students.] NOTE: CHANGES WERE APPROVED
CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL RECORDS AND PRIVACY -- A STUDY OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STATE REPORTING SYSTEMS -- October 28, 2009
Date CapturedFriday October 30 2009, 9:44 AM
[The Study reports on the results of a survey of all fifty states and finds that state educational databases across the country ignore key privacy protections for the nation's K-12 children. The Study finds that large amounts of personally identifiable data and sensitive personal information about children are stored by the state departments of education in electronic warehouses or for the states by third party vendors. These data warehouses typically lack adequate privacy protections, such as clear access and use restrictions and data retention policies, are often not compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and leave K-12 children unprotected from data misuse, improper data release, and data breaches. The Study provides recommendations for best practices and legislative reform to address these privacy problems.] Joel R. Reidenberg, Professor of Law and Founding Academic Director of CLIP Jamela Debelak, Esq., Executive Director of CLIP
MySpace Musings Aren't Private, Appeals Court Rules
Date CapturedMonday April 06 2009, 8:32 PM
Mike McKee - The Recorder - April 6, 2009 [Moreno, a University of California at Berkeley student at the time, posted her "Ode to Coalinga" on her MySpace page fresh after visiting the town of 19,000 residents off Interstate 5 midway between Sacramento and Los Angeles. She began by saying "the older I get, the more I realize how much I despise Coalinga," and then made several negative comments about the town and its inhabitants. The entry was posted only six days, but that was long enough for Roger Campbell, principal of Coalinga High School, to find the ode and forward it to Pamela Pond, editor of the Coalinga Record. The ode was published in the newspaper's letters section.]
Why privacy plays a part in social network's fiscal future
Date CapturedWednesday April 01 2009, 4:26 PM
By C.g. Lynch , CIO , 04/01/2009 [The common assumption that social networking users don't care about privacy is misguided. The majority of people who use social networks (nearly 60 percent or more) have already modified their privacy settings, according to two separate research studies from the Pew Internet & American Life Project and School of Information and Library Science. Furthermore, privacy experts warn that an unfortunate (but perhaps inevitable) security breach that exposes user data over social networks in the coming years could cause a privacy tipping point in which users push back in a more substantive and widespread way.]
Commercial Activities in Schools: Use of Student Data is Limited and Additional Dissemination of Guidance Could Help Districts Develop Policies
Date CapturedThursday March 12 2009, 3:16 PM
GAO -- Recommendation: The Secretary of Education should take additional action to assist districts in understanding that they are required to have specific policies in place for the collection, disclosure, and use of student information for marketing and selling purposes by disseminating its guidance to state school boards associations.
Report Is Said To Criticize On-Campus Recruitment
Date CapturedThursday March 12 2009, 3:10 PM
September 6, 2007 -- NY SUN -- ALEXANDER BRITELL -- [A report by a civil liberties group and the president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, will criticize military recruitment tactics at some city school campuses. A source familiar with the findings of the report, which is drawn from the survey responses of nearly 1,000 students, said it alleges that military recruiters have been given too much access to public school classrooms, and that the city's Department of Education has not adequately informed students about their right to remove their names from recruiting lists.]
State says Cambridge Public Schools can't charge $14K for public records
Date CapturedFriday February 13 2009, 3:12 PM
David L. Harris -- GateHouse News Service - [On Nov. 30, 2007, the Chronicle sent a letter requesting directory information, but the request was later denied in a three-page letter from the school’s legal department. After appealing to the state’s supervisor of public records, Alan Cote, the school department sent a letter dated July 11, explaining that the work to compile the directory information would cost $14,426.88. The Chronicle’s sister paper, the Newton TAB, requested the same information from Newton Public Schools around the same time. The school department, which sent the data within three weeks of the request, did not charge the TAB for the information.]
Child Porn Laws Used Against Kids Who Photograph Themselves
Date CapturedThursday January 15 2009, 8:09 PM
Wired -- Kim Zetter -- [In the Pennsylvania case, a school official seized the phone of one of the boys after he was caught using it during school hours in violation of a school rule, according to local police Capt. George Seranko. The official found the picture on the phone, and after some interrogation, discovered that two other girls had also e-mailed photos of themselves in the nude to friends. That's when the school called police, who obtained search warrants to seize the phones and examine them. Police showed the images to the local district attorney, who recommended they bring charges.]
Surveillance State blog
Date CapturedSunday December 14 2008, 9:42 PM
Christopher Soghoian, a student fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society and PhD candidate at Indiana University's School of Informatics.
Why Obama should ditch YouTube
Date CapturedSunday December 14 2008, 9:35 PM
Christopher Soghoian, a student fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society and PhD candidate at Indiana University's School of Informatics blogs [The privacy risks aren't just limited to YouTube. Just a week ago, Dan Goodin at The Register criticized the use of the Google Analytics Web-tracking code in the Change.gov site--which also sets a permanent tracking cookie. Although he mostly focused on security risks, and not privacy-related threats, he blasted Obama's Web design team, stating that: The failure of Obama's Webmasters to follow anything remotely like best practices is more than a little troubling because it suggests they don't fully grasp the security realities of living in a Web 2.0 world. Eight years ago, the issue of cookies tracking users on government sites was a fairly big issue in tech policy circles, drawing the attention of those in Congress. Eventually, the Office of Management and Budget issued a directive that forbid the use of persistent cookies on federal agency sites. The Obama team's use of both YouTube and Google Analytics raises serious privacy concerns and likely clashes with the OMB directive.]
Freedom Under Surveillance, Part II
Date CapturedThursday December 04 2008, 7:07 PM
Independent Examiner Brian Trent says [On September 17 of this year, the House passed the “School Safety Enhancements Act of 2008.” As part of this $50 million initiative, surveillance equipment is specifically earmarked and encouraged. Why would the federal government be so interested in mandating surveillance equipment for schools? Isn’t that the job of the states in which those schools dwell? And really, isn't this going a little far... for any level of government?] Also says [In 2005, slipped insidiously into an $81 billion bill for "supporting troops" and "tsunami relief" was a tiny law - The Real ID Act - which creates a de facto National ID card. Originally, the law required it be in place by 2008, but it met with ferocious resistance from the states. Yes! The states actually rebelled… but don’t break out the champagne yet. The Feds have "allowed" an extension through 2009 for states that request it. Every driver's license will be required to include "physical security features" and "a common machine readable technology." The cultists who support this National ID card say that it's all voluntary.]
Thurston cameras not a privacy violation
Date CapturedThursday December 04 2008, 5:06 PM
Amanda Crowe, a freshman majoring in international affairs and Hatchet columnist says [Authoritarianism prevents personal freedoms, these cameras do not. Students are free to do as they wish, as long as they follow the law and University rules. These laws and rules are what you agree to when you live in this country and go to this school. So what's there to hide?]
Joint Guidance on the Application of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) And the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) To Student Health Records (ID: CSD5578)
Date CapturedThursday December 04 2008, 4:36 PM
The HIPAA Privacy Rule specifically excludes from its coverage those records that are protected by FERPA. At the elementary or secondary school level, students’ immunization and other health records that are maintained by a school district or individual school, including a school-operated health clinic, that receives funds under any program administered by the U.S. Department of Education are “education records” subject to FERPA, including health and medical records maintained by a school nurse who is employed by or under contract with a school or school district. Some schools may receive a grant from a foundation or government agency to hire a nurse. Notwithstanding the source of the funding, if the nurse is hired as a school official (or contractor), the records maintained by the nurse or clinic are “education records” subject to FERPA.
Professor Joel R. Reidenberg
Date CapturedSaturday June 21 2008, 9:35 PM
Joel R. Reidenberg is Professor of Law and a past Director of the Graduate Program in Law at Fordham University School of Law. Professor Reidenberg has testified before the U.S. Congress on data privacy issues, served as a consultant to both the Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission on privacy issues, and served as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Washington in connection with privacy litigation. He has also chaired the Section on Defamation and Privacy of the Association of American Law Schools (the academic society for American law professors) and is a former chair of the association's Section on Law and Computers.
Rhode Island School District to Begin Microchipping Students
Date CapturedTuesday June 17 2008, 4:32 PM
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has criticized the plan as an invasion of children's privacy and a potential risk to their safety.
Huge Databases Offer a Research Gold Mine — and Privacy Worries
Date CapturedTuesday June 03 2008, 8:14 PM
By DAVID GLENN from the issue dated May 9, 2008 Chronicle of Higher Education, "Researchers have used the new databases to study many issues, including which high-school math courses are most important for college success and how exposure to adjunct instructors affects student retention. But the new education databases create obvious challenges for protecting student privacy — which is one reason most states have been slow to build them. Florida's education department takes elaborate steps to 'de-identify' its information before handing it to outside researchers. Despite those efforts, nervous officials in other states look at a system like Florida's and worry about potential violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or Ferpa. In March the U.S. Department of Education proposed new Ferpa regulations that might clarify the ground rules for the use of such databases, but it is far from certain that the new rules will make states more comfortable with the projects." http://chronicle.com -- Section: The Faculty -- Volume 54, Issue 35, Page A10
Daniel Solove
Date CapturedMonday June 02 2008, 4:54 PM
Daniel J. Solove is an associate professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. He is the author of The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (Yale University Press 2007), The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age (NYU Press 2004) and Information Privacy Law (Aspen Publishing, 2d ed. 2006).
Cybercrime's Scope: Interpreting 'Access' and 'Authorization' in Computer Misuse Statutes
Date CapturedMonday June 02 2008, 10:15 AM
ORIN S. KERR -- George Washington University - Law School -- NYU Law Review, Vol. 78, No. 5, pp. 1596-1668, November 2003. This Article presents a comprehensive inquiry into the meaning of unauthorized access statutes. It begins by explaining why legislatures enacted unauthorized access statutes, and why early beliefs that such statutes solved the problem of computer misuse have proved remarkably naïve. Next, the Article explains how the courts have construed these statutes in an overly broad way that threatens to criminalize a surprising range of innocuous conduct involving computers. In the final section, the Article offers a normative proposal for interpreting access and authorization. This section argues that courts should reject a contract theory of authorization, and should narrow the scope of unauthorized access statutes to circumvention of code-based restrictions on computer privileges. The section justifies this proposal on several grounds. First, the proposal will best mediate the line between securing privacy and protecting the liberty of Internet users. Second, the proposal mirrors criminal law's traditional treatment of crimes that contain a consent element. Third, the proposed approach is consistent with the basic theories of punishment. Fourth, the proposed interpretation avoids possible constitutional difficulties that may arise under the broader constructions that courts recently have favored.
Frequently Asked Questions
Date CapturedSunday June 01 2008, 4:41 PM
What is "Directory Information"? FERPA defines "directory information" as information contained in the education records of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Typically, "directory information" includes information such as name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, and dates of attendance. A school may disclose "directory information" to third parties without consent if it has given public notice of the types of information which it has designated as "directory information," the parent's or eligible student's right to restrict the disclosure of such information, and the period of time within which a parent or eligible student has to notify the school in writing that he or she does not want any or all of those types of information designated as "directory information." The means of notification could include publication in various sources, including a newsletter, in a local newspaper, or in the student handbook. The school could also include the "directory information" notification as part of the general notification of rights under FERPA. The school does not have to notify a parent or eligible student individually. (34 CFR § 99.37.)
Hug the kids, turn the page
Date CapturedSunday September 02 2007, 10:00 AM
Times Herald-Record opines, "For parents worrying about how they are going to fit in soccer practice and choir rehearsal, how about adding another stop to the itinerary — a weekly trip to the library, a few hours reading and talking about what was in the books. Let's face it, the kid is not going to make it in the MSL or the WNBA or the New York City Ballet. Reading, writing and communicating are the keys to the future. Think about 'no child left behind' not as a law or a line item in a budget but as a philosophy. Lobby the government to provide funding, show up at school events to show support. It's the start of a new school year. Time to read with the kids."
Schools Wait, Teeth Gritted: Their Grades Are Coming
Date CapturedSaturday September 01 2007, 9:31 AM
NY Times reports, "Making good on a promise to hold educators more accountable for student performance, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will oversee the distribution of report cards for each of the city’s schools next month. Each school (and by extension its principal) will receive a letter grade in the mail, and the grade and the data that led to it will be posted on the Web, where parents can see and possibly stew over them. Mr. Bloomberg described the grades as part of 'the most sophisticated achievement data system in the nation, which will allow us to focus on how well individual students are learning.'"
QUEENS PARENTS: OUR SCHOOL'S A MAJOR HAZARD
Date CapturedSaturday September 01 2007, 9:25 AM
NY Post reports, "Angry parents at a Queens elementary school questioned yesterday why portions of the building resembled a hazard zone just days before it was set to open - and whether the rushed project was done aboveboard."
Guidelines for Safer School Web sites
Date CapturedFriday August 31 2007, 12:16 AM
Should Parents View School Security Tapes?
Date CapturedThursday August 30 2007, 11:53 PM
Fulton County News (Pennsylvania) reports, "Board member Kenny Wuertenberg informed the board and administration he had a problem with punishing a child and not allowing the parents to see the incident as recorded by security cameras on school buses and in district facilities. 'It’s fascist ... What happened to due process?' questioned Wuertenberg. 'How is who is riding a public school bus private?'”
Student information found in recycle bin
Date CapturedThursday August 30 2007, 12:57 PM
Deseret Morning News reports, "Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), addresses, phone numbers and names of students fall into the category of 'directory information' and generally may be released by a school district unless the parents have objected in writing, said Jim Bradshaw, in the U.S. Department of Education. However, that doesn't release schools from the responsibility to dispose of records safely to protect student education records. 'That includes disposing of documents in a way that guards against unauthorized disclosure, such as shredding or burning,' Bradshaw said. 'Banks don't throw records in Dumpsters and schools are also obligated to protect the confidentiality of student records.'" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com 1 commentRecent comments Why indict the school on such a non-issue? Your article even cites... Owen | Aug. 30, 2007 at 8:54 a.m. Add your comment Stuart Johnson, Deseret Morning News Folders with student names and other information at Centennial Middle School in Provo are found in a recycling bin Wednesday. Most Popular Most Commented Detmer remains humble Cougs finalizing plans for Arizona Rocky says Buhler would be a 'disaster' Thursday Night Lights: Questions aplenty as Utes open at Oregon State tonight Bombard Comcast, not the dish folk Cousin is willing to risk his life Chinese victims of forced abortion are fighting back U.S. busts brazen ID theft ring in Utah Is there a 'workplace princess' at your firm? Mtn. woes? Try contacting Comcast direct 'Dawn' is an embarrassment 132 Utah mine owner Murray says Gov. Huntsman is jeopardizing 700 jobs 128 Cougar linebackers lead 'D' 96 At odds: Murray says Huntsman endangers jobs 94 The mtn. working for better exposure 90 Going independent not the solution to BYU's problems 89 Cougs counting down to rematch 88 MWC TV situation frustrating 87 Kirilenko praises Utahns, LDS to media in Russia 83 Ex-member of LDS choir pleads guilty in porn case 79 (Stories published in the last seven days with the most comments) Sports A & E LDS news Community Thursday Night Lights: Questions aplenty as Utes open at Oregon State tonight 29 Detmer remains humble 28 Behind the wheel — Roller derby makes women feel tough, sexy, empowered 3 Campgrounds will fill up this Labor Day weekend 0 Argentines fuel RSL victory 6 Concert review: Groban delights Salt Lake audience 0 Sirius channel to play Dead all the time 0 DVD reviews: 'Blades of Glory' tops DVD pack 0 Auditions 0 Wilson drops out of movie after his hospitalization 0 Anti-religion documentary includes visit to Salt Lake City 1 Idaho provides cash crop for Romney 0 Provo firm to produce movie on Emma Smith 6 Concert review: 'White Star' debuts at BYU 1 BYU Ed Week classes to air 0 Above the Rim — At Cloud Rim, Girl Scouts learn about outdoors and more 0 Touching nature — Syracuse park offers urban fishing, trails, wetlands 1 Helping hand 0 Artists to strum tunes at acoustic fest 0 Cherry Hill is celebrating 40 years 1 Columnists Contests Daily Index Education Family & Life Food & Dining Health & Fitness Help Line Home & Garden LDS Church News Local Births Marathon Mobile Politics Religion & Ethics Science & Tech Travel & Outdoors deseretnews.com: Home | Subscription services | Contact us | FAQ | Feedback | Jobs | Purchase photos | RSS | Privacy policy
Comptroller says employee in Greece ran NY schools' computers
Date CapturedThursday August 30 2007, 10:27 AM
AP reports, "The audit said the computer maintenance contracts were never approved by the school board and had not been put out to bid as required. In response, the board's president, Amy Levere, said that some board officials were aware of the arrangement at the time, even if they had not formally approved it, and that there were good reasons to hire the employee, including his experience and familiarity with the computer system."
Privacy issues curb teen-driver rules
Date CapturedWednesday August 29 2007, 8:24 PM
Chicago Tribune reports, "The law would have required school districts to submit information to the State Board of Education, detailing whether a student had been expelled, truant or who had dropped out of school. That information would then have been passed to Secretary of State Jesse White's office, which would have flagged the affected students and barred them from driving privileges. State education officials said they decided to delay enforcing the law after the U.S. Department of Education notified them that it violated the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act, said Matthew Vanover, a spokesman for the state board. 'They told us it would be a violation ... for that information to be shared with the secretary of state's office,' he added."
Program to assist at-risk students
Date CapturedWednesday August 29 2007, 7:26 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "To prevent students from falling behind and to encourage them to stay in school, the Wappingers school district is creating an afternoon intervention program at its Orchard View Alternative High School for students who have have failed ninth-grade English and/or social studies at least once. The program, which has been included in the district's Contract for Excellence with the state, was discussed during Monday's board of education meeting. It is slated to start in the second quarter of this school year."
Students' RTS bus use gets reprieve
Date CapturedWednesday August 29 2007, 6:50 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Despite a federal agency's order that prohibits public transportation from competing with private school bus companies, city students can take public buses to and from school until Oct. 1, following a U.S. district judge's decision Tuesday to continue last year's plan."
SCHOOL 'HOT LINES' GO COLD: GOTBAUM
Date CapturedWednesday August 29 2007, 6:20 AM
NY Post reports, "Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said employees at district offices, which are designed to serve as one-stop information centers on issues like transportation and enrollment in public schools, were largely unavailable or unresponsive to nearly 100 calls from her office last week. At nearly half the districts her team contacted, phone calls went unanswered or were not returned, according to the report. As a result, Gotbaum said she is launching an education hot line, at (212) 669-7250, to fill in the information gap."
Growing pains for city pre-K, despite funding
Date CapturedTuesday August 28 2007, 7:28 AM
NY Daily News reports, "'Most of the public schools offer full-day pre-K,' he [Luis Garcia] said. 'It's the [community-based organizations] which aren't funded for full-day, which is hurting our enrollment.'" To make up the shortfall, many community-based programs combine other child-care funds, such as Head Start, to extend the hours to accommodate working parents."
City's learning curve
Date CapturedTuesday August 28 2007, 7:24 AM
NY Daily News opines, "As Klein said in an interview with Children's PressLine for Queens News, ' ... new ideas are worth trying. And if they don't work, you move on.'"
Not giving up on school reform
Date CapturedTuesday August 28 2007, 7:14 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "Denver school leaders aren't giving up. Rochester's must keep trying, too."
Legislative and other last-minute school rule changes just a part of the educational landscape
Date CapturedMonday August 27 2007, 11:00 AM
The Journal News reports, "In a perfect world, no one would object to any employee taking time off from work to give blood. But if that employee were a teacher, the district would have to find and hire a substitute. Trying to estimate the number of employees who would ask for the time and put enough money in the budget to cover their absences was just another unplanned expense the district didn't need to worry about less than a month before school began. The bill was signed Aug. 15."
Campus Safety 101
Date CapturedSunday August 26 2007, 9:35 AM
NY Times op-ed contributor Carolyn Reinach Wolf opines, "One of the major areas of concern in setting up a coordinating office is confidentiality requirements and parental notification. These issues, however, can be addressed by clarifying federal and state confidentiality laws, educating campus employees and parents about exceptions to these laws, and developing protocols to address those situations in which a choice must be made between liability for breach of confidentiality and liability for serious injury or death."
FACING SCHOOL VIOLENCE
Date CapturedSunday August 26 2007, 9:29 AM
NY Post opines, "All in all, 16 city institutions were added to the list of "persistently dangerous" schools, from which federal law mandates students have the opportunity to transfer. Only two schools in the entire rest of the state enjoy that dubious distinction. Now, before New Yorkers sound the alarm about a renewed school-violence epidemic, some perspective is required: In a system of more than 1.1 million students, 5,000 assaults aren't all that many."
Education Department fixes busing rules
Date CapturedSaturday August 25 2007, 10:08 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Education officials are tweaking several of the school bus eligibility rules that turned last year's route shakeup into a full-blown fiasco. A much-criticized rule requiring students to live a quarter of a mile from a bus stop to receive service - suspended during the debacle - will be scrapped starting this school year. And to prevent young kids from riding public transportation by themselves, students in second grade or under who receive MetroCards can request yellow bus service instead."
New teachers get mentors
Date CapturedSaturday August 25 2007, 9:59 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "Teachers were paired with mentors who teach the same subjects, and together they will work on the new teacher's portfolio of accomplishments, including community involvement, and help model lesson plans, Hochreiter [Elmira schools deputy superintendent] said. These portfolios will be presented to school administrators at the end of each year and serve as a record of the teacher's work toward tenure, he said."
The Return on Investment for Improving California's High School Graduation Rate
Date CapturedFriday August 24 2007, 4:44 PM
Belfield, C. and Levin, H., "We review a large range of educational investments that might ensure more students graduate from high school in California. We identify educational interventions for which there is reasonably solid evidence of their efficacy to raise the rate of high school graduation, those for which there is promise, and those for which we have no relevant information. For each of these interventions we calculate the costs to the taxpayer of delivering the intervention. We calculate the delivery costs and the cost of producing one extra graduate. We then compare these costs to the economic benefits to the taxpayer and to the overall citizenry of California from each additional high school graduate. Under most scenarios, the economic benefits are substantially greater than the costs. However, this conclusion is sensitive to the funding source: federal governments gain significantly more from education than state and local governments, even as the latter are primarily responsible for funding."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedFriday August 24 2007, 8:08 AM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation -- August 23, 2007, Volume 7, Number 32.
The Economic Losses from High School Dropouts in California
Date CapturedFriday August 24 2007, 7:47 AM
Belfield, C. and Levin, H. "This paper calculates the fiscal and social burdens from high school dropouts in California. We map educational attainment in California for current cohorts of students and young adults. This reveals in stark terms the low levels of educational attainment across the state. Next, the amount of government spending in California is catalogued; this shows how much is spent on various services and by which levels of government. Our main focus is on the economic consequences of inadequate education on earnings, on tax revenues, and on spending on health, crime, and welfare (net of the resources required to provide additional education). For each of these four domains the effect of education has been assessed statistically. This effect is then multiplied by the respective economic burden from each cohort of 20-year olds who fail to graduate in order to get an overall total cost. Using a consistent accounting framework, these costs generate a figure of what is being lost by failing to ensure that all students graduate from high school. The economic magnitudes are substantial."
Tougher code for students
Date CapturedFriday August 24 2007, 6:37 AM
Times Union reports, "Girls returning to Albany schools next month will have to wear their skirts longer and keep their midriffs covered. Boys will have to remove hooded sweat shirts and wear their T-shirts at least one foot above the knee. Students can carry cellphones, BlackBerries or other electronic devices but they can't be seen or used, even during lunch or recess. If they are, they'll be taken away until day's end."
The Impact of School-District Consolidation on Property Values
Date CapturedThursday August 23 2007, 10:32 AM
A Monthly Column by EFAP Director John Yinger. Yinger writes, "Overall, this evidence implies that consolidation yields net benefits to the average household in a small rural school district, but that consolidation is not popular with high-income households anywhere in rural New York."
Implementing the No Child Left Behind Teacher Requirements
Date CapturedThursday August 23 2007, 8:38 AM
This CEP report by Jennifer McMurrer examines how states and school districts have implemented the No Child Left Behind Act's teacher quality requirements. The report finds that, according to state and district officials, the NCLB highly qualified teacher requirements have had minimal or no impact on student achievement and have not had a major impact on teacher effectiveness. The report also discusses state and district implementation of the federal requirements to equitably distribute experienced, highly qualified teachers among higher and lower poverty schools.
Speed up school safety audits
Date CapturedThursday August 23 2007, 8:25 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "There should be ongoing, month-to-month audits of every school. Results should be released to parents. Remediation should be immediate, and the public should be informed at every step. An unsafe school should be identified quickly, and dealt with quickly."
THE CHARTER DIFFERENCE
Date CapturedThursday August 23 2007, 8:03 AM
NY Post op-ed contributor Malcolm A. Smith, state Senate minority leader and founder of two public-charter schools opines, "Her [Harvard economist Caroline Hoxby] team also found that public charters disproportionately serve poor and minority students. In fact, nearly 70 percent of New York City's 12,000 charter-school students are black, vs. 32 percent of the city's general student population. Ninety-one percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, compared with 73 percent citywide. In practical terms, this means that the most rapidly improving public-school students in New York City are black, poor or both. Charter schools are standing the traditional racial-achievement gap on its head. At a time when less than half of the city's black and Latino students graduate with a Regents diploma, and those who do lag four grade levels behind their high-income peers, these results should get our attention."
E-danger: Children vulnerable to sexual predators at popular Web sites
Date CapturedWednesday August 22 2007, 8:20 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Have a discussion with your child about the value of privacy and how important it is not to disclose information that strangers anywhere could use to harm you. Never allow a child to use a suggestive name or one that describes personal features, disclose a school name or the name of the parents' workplaces. (Predators are very adept at using the simplest clue to figure out a child's location. Remind your child that it's not unusual for predators to cross the country to reach their targets.) Don't allow your child access to a Webcam, either."
A Successful Plan for Racial Balance Now Finds Its Future Uncertain
Date CapturedWednesday August 22 2007, 8:06 AM
NY Times reports, "White Plains’s plan takes pains to give parents genuine choices. In January and February, parents of entering kindergartners visit elementary schools and rank their top three picks. A family will get first choice, which 90 percent of families do, unless the number of applicants of that child’s race exceeds certain caps, which at a school with 100 kindergartners might be 13 blacks, 46 Hispanics, and 41 'others.' Should that happen, a lottery is held for all students in that racial group, with assigned numbers on colored slips of paper picked out of a basket at a public meeting. Remaining kindergartners get second choice or, rarely, third. Buses are provided for students living more than half a mile from school. The plan also balances assignments at the two campuses of the middle school."
27 Schools Named As “Persistently Dangerous” Under NCLB
Date CapturedWednesday August 22 2007, 7:58 AM
All schools designated as “persistently dangerous” must provide school choice to students where transfer options exist. Each school also receives a $100,000 grant to help improve school safety. School districts must also submit an Incident Reduction Plan for each school to show the specific steps that the district will take to reduce the number of violent incidents and improve safety at the school. Staff from the New York State Center for School Safety and Regional School Support Centers also provide help to each school to improve safety.
Supporters of NYC Arabic school want founding leader reinstated
Date CapturedTuesday August 21 2007, 10:34 AM
Newsday reports, "School organizers have said religion will not be taught at the school, which will focus instead on Arabic language and Arab culture. There are a number of city schools that focus on a specific topic or culture. Officials have said they plan to open the academy on schedule on Sept. 4 despite statements by its vocal critics equating it with a madrassa, an Islamic religious school, and portraying it as a potential radical training ground.''
Educational Facilities Disaster and Crisis Management Guidebook
Date CapturedMonday August 20 2007, 7:26 PM
Florida Department of Education
Emergency Management Planning for Schools and School Districts
Date CapturedMonday August 20 2007, 7:16 PM
Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.
Persistence and Attainment of 2003-04 Beginning Postsecondary Students: After Three Years
Date CapturedMonday August 20 2007, 2:42 PM
Findings showed that among the beginning students who were recent (2003) high school graduates, enrolled full time in the fall of 2003, and had bachelor’s degree plans, 70 percent were still enrolled at their first institution without a degree, 4 percent had attained a degree or certificate at their first institution, and 20 percent had transferred elsewhere without a degree by June 2006. Berkner, L., He, S., Mason, M., and Wheeless, S. (2007). Persistence and Attainment of 2003–04 Beginning Postsecondary Students: After Three Years (NCES 2007-169). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. Retrieved August 20, 2007 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
Schools must pay when parents dispute special education
Date CapturedMonday August 20 2007, 8:08 AM
Journal News reports, "The law now says that school districts must prove their special-education decisions are made in the best interest of a child, instead of parents proving recommended programs harm their children."
Ithaca City School Distrist (ICSD) partners with families, community
Date CapturedMonday August 20 2007, 7:25 AM
Ithaca Journal guest columnist Lisa Harris, director of Academic Intervention Services opines, "Among the important elements for partnership in the Ithaca City School District Strategic Plan for Equity is 'Family and Community Advocacy and Involvement.' The plan states 'Every child needs an advocate to support his or her success in school. Families and community members can be the most effective advocates for children if they are welcomed and engaged by schools, and if they have effective strategies to support student success.' This strategy involves supporting programs that promote involvement — especially for families who can feel disconnected with school, providing training so that educators can effectively involve and partner with families and providing families with successful programs to help them support their children's performance and participation. Some examples follow."
STANDARDS AID CUNY STUDENTS
Date CapturedMonday August 20 2007, 7:15 AM
NY Post op-ed contributor Alfred Posamentier, dean of the School of Education at City College-CUNY opines, "To allow students to enter a course without proper preparation is to do them a major disservice, setting them up for failure. It's best avoided with a proper admission requirement. An increase in standards at CUNY blocks no one from a college education, since anyone with a high-school diploma can qualify for admission. Those who cannot meet the new mathematics standards can simply enroll at one of CUNY's community colleges, where they can prepare to meet the standards."
'OUI' CAN'T DO IT -- LANGUAGES NOT TAUGHT
Date CapturedMonday August 20 2007, 6:49 AM
NY Post reports, "Members of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's task force on middle schools said last week that the Department of Education isn't complying with state requirements that students study at least two years of a foreign language by the end of ninth grade. 'Right now, the Department of Education is not even meeting the minimum requirements for language in intermediate school, and that's not acceptable.' said Councilman Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan). The task force said the city should ensure that all schools comply with the state requirements by 2010."
Schools in Crisis
Date CapturedSunday August 19 2007, 9:58 AM
Post-Standard opines, "The Syracuse community hasn't ignored the plight of troubled middle schools. A civic-minded group rallied behind the failing Shea Middle School. Shea is being phased out and will become the Bellevue Middle School Academy in September, but the work of the group lives on in the West Side Community School Strategy, a more expansive project, focusing on schools and neighborhoods. But such efforts must be communitywide. Local leaders - and not just school district leaders - must recognize that as go the middle schools, so go the school district, the city and the region. They should do as New York City leaders have done: Declare a crisis and determine to fix it - together."
KLEIN SEES 3 R'S FOR 3-YEAR-OLDS
Date CapturedSunday August 19 2007, 7:50 AM
NY Post reports, "'We should have all of our students start and have rigorous standard-based programs at age 3, age 4, age 5,' he [NYC School chancellor Klein] said. He added that it's especially important in high-poverty areas where private preschool is not necessarily an option. 'We're not there yet, but we made progress,' he said, saying the Department of Education is working on a proposal for preschool for all 4-year-olds. 'We certainly have the direction arrow pointed in the right direction.' Klein also sees a future with kids 'testing out' in 10th grade and either proceeding to two more years of high school and then college, or a vocational school, depending on their grades and ambitions."
Truancy could result in tickets
Date CapturedSaturday August 18 2007, 7:59 PM
Farmington Press reports, "The absence policy is on a semester basis. After three absences, a letter is sent to the parents about the school attendance policy. This letter is sent out automatically to those students who have missed that number of days, even if they have a doctor’s excuse. 'There is a contact number to call on the letter. Many times, parents who have received this first letter will call and say they have sent doctor’s excuses,' said Swinarski. 'They should not worry — if they’ve called, then that means they’re doing what they should do.' She explained this also gives parents an opportunity to perhaps let the district know about a certain health issue a child may have that can keep them from attending school. 'We can help them in whatever way they may need (after reviewing the case),' she said. A letter is also sent when a student has six absences in a semester. At seven absences, more steps are put into place. 'When a student reaches that seventh day, a letter is sent to the parents saying that anymore absences over that number would not allow the student to make up the work. We send out a date and time for a meeting that we would like to discuss this with them,' said Burch."
Toxic dust in SUNY New Paltz dorms, man still insists
Date CapturedSaturday August 18 2007, 10:02 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Whatever else you think about Eric Francis Coppolino, you can't deny one thing: he's persistent — as persistent as the toxic dust he has accused SUNY New Paltz administrators of sweeping down the memory hole of a long-ago environmental catastrophe there. Sixteen years after poisonous PCBs infested four college dorms, Coppolino will be on campus at Monday's moving-in day, warning parents and students of a danger the college and state SUNY officials say doesn't exist."
Money alone won't help schools
Date CapturedSaturday August 18 2007, 9:55 AM
Times Herald-Record op-ed contributor Dan Walters opines, "The education establishment has argued vociferously, with some success, that spending more on teacher salaries, smaller classes and better facilities would produce better outcomes. In the main, political leaders have endorsed that contention, although they've been unable to supply all the money that educators say they need. Critics have countered that there is no direct correlation between spending and academic success, noting that private schools and whole states with lower per-pupil spending levels often surpass California in national academic tests, high-school-dropout rates and other measures of performance. They contend that public education needs a structural overhaul, not merely more money."
Yonkers schools make new push to involve parents
Date CapturedSaturday August 18 2007, 9:46 AM
Journal News reports, "School officials say they want to change the reception parents get from the district's employees to build more parental involvement in the schools. This year, the district will make an extra effort to reach out to more parents by extending more information, courtesy and invitations to get involved."
PEN Weekly NewsBlast
Date CapturedFriday August 17 2007, 10:07 AM
Public Education Network (PEN)
Tell parents who good teachers are
Date CapturedFriday August 17 2007, 9:45 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution opines, "Despite the rhetoric about the importance of improving schools in Georgia, no one in authority — not the governor, not the state school superintendent or local school boards — wants to acknowledge the elephant in the classroom, which is teacher quality. The leadership remains silent for fear of being trampled by outraged teachers and education lobbies protesting that there's no fair way to measure teacher performance. The conspiracy of silence is abetted by the state's colleges of education, which deny any responsibility for the skill of their graduates and avoid any discussion of quality out of fear that they'll be implicated and their profitable franchise jeopardized. After all, programs such as Teach for America have already demonstrated that bright college graduates can become excellent and effective teachers without ever stepping foot in a college of education."
National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XII: Teens and Parents (STUDY)
Date CapturedFriday August 17 2007, 9:31 AM
Study finds, "CASA’s unprecedented in-depth survey of drugs in schools shows that eight out of 10 high school students (80 percent) and more than four out of 10 middle school students (44 percent) have personally witnessed: • illegal drugs used on the grounds of their schools; • illegal drugs sold on the grounds of their schools; • students keeping illegal drugs at school, either on them or in their lockers; • students high on drugs at school; and/or • students drunk at school. This means that for 16 million teens (11 million high schoolers; five million middle schoolers) drug dealing and use, drug possession, and drug or alcohol intoxication are common features of school life."
Area schools struggling to fill pre-K vacancies
Date CapturedThursday August 16 2007, 7:29 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Some school districts, including Windsor and Union-Endicott, are having difficulty filling slots for the state-funded Universal Pre-Kindergarten program available to 4-year-olds because most programs don't offer transportation."
After troubles, district looks to repair image
Date CapturedThursday August 16 2007, 7:25 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, " After hearing the results of the recent state audit of the Poughkeepsie City School District, parents and community members said they want to be kept up to date about improvements in the district's management."
SUNY New Paltz chosen 'Hottest Small State School'
Date CapturedThursday August 16 2007, 7:11 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Palmer said many first-generation college students like Mejias credited SUNY New Paltz's diverse student body with making people of different backgrounds feel at home. Of the first-year students reporting their ethnicity, 27 percent come from traditionally underrepresented groups. Students also spoke highly of the new 57,000-square-foot Athletic and Wellness Center that opened in 2006. SUNY New Paltz is also ranked eighth among the best public universities and 44th among public and private universities in the North that offer bachelor's and master's degree programs, according to the U.S. News & World Report's rankings for America's Best Colleges 2007."
RIT campus installing emergency alert system
Date CapturedThursday August 16 2007, 7:04 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The system will alert students, faculty members and staff employees using text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail and voice calls to cell and dormitory phones."
The Determinants of Teacher Attrition in Upstate New York
Date CapturedWednesday August 15 2007, 1:19 PM
A Monthly Column by EFAP Director John Yinger. Yinger writes, "School quality depends, among other things, on a school’s ability to attract and retain high-quality teachers. A recent paper by two of my colleagues and me examines one dimension of this topic, teacher attrition, using data for all teachers who started teaching in Upstate New York between 1985 and 1998."
Get Congress on board funding school buses best suited to kids
Date CapturedWednesday August 15 2007, 7:28 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Robin L. Leeds, industry specialist, National School Transportation Association opines, "Instead of advocating that Congress loosen the rules further so that school districts can turn student transportation over to federally funded public transportation systems and receive inferior service, why not advocate that Congress provide federal funding for school transportation as it does for public transportation? If school bus systems were federally subsidized, the cost to school districts would be lower, and parents would be assured that their children were receiving the safest, most appropriate transportation possible. Isn't that a better solution?"
Starting crime fight early
Date CapturedWednesday August 15 2007, 7:19 AM
Times Union reports, "Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York, which includes police, prosecutors and crime survivors, wants districts to tap into $146 million set aside in the state budget for pre-kindergarten programs. The group said high-quality pre-K, for children around age 4, not only prepares the boys and girls for years of schooling, but also deters them becoming criminals. At-risk youth are five times more likely to become chronic lawbreakers when excluded from pre-kindergarten, they also were more than twice as likely to become career criminals -- with 10 arrests or more -- by age 40, statistics cited by Fight Crime show. The data are from a long-term study performed at the Perry Pre-School Program in Michigan."
New Kids on the Block
Date CapturedTuesday August 14 2007, 10:27 AM
By Lisa Sanbonmatsu, Jeffrey R. Kling, Greg J. Duncan and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn write, "In the end, we were surprised and disappointed by the inability of the Moving to Opportunity experiment to help poor children succeed in school. After following more than 5,000 MTO children over five years, we can offer some tentative conclusions about policy interventions designed to improve student performance. Moving poor families to neighborhoods that, while less poor, have schools that are only marginally better than those in the original neighborhoods is unlikely to solve the children’s academic problems. Interventions might be more profitably focused on factors more directly related to the child, family, and school. The question remains whether these same conclusions will hold after a full decade of living in new neighborhoods, especially for the youngest children who, because of the MTO program, will have spent their entire lives outside of public housing projects. We will be collecting additional data next year and look forward to learning more."
The Confidence Men
Date CapturedTuesday August 14 2007, 10:09 AM
By Eric Hanushek . Hanushek writes, "Clients want a bottom-line statement about how much spending would provide an adequate education, and they want this cost estimate attached to their specific state. Few people care about the 'studies' on which consultants base their reports, or even their validity, because nobody really expects schools to implement these specific programs if given extra funding. Clients simply want a requisite amount of scientific aura around the number that will become the rallying flag for political and legal actions. Summing the added cost of the separate programs suggested by Picus and Odden, I estimate that the overall plan, if fully applied, would increase average spending in Washington by $1,760 to $2,760 per student, or 23 to 35 percent. This estimate of the increased spending necessary to achieve “adequacy” is very similar to the percentage increases they have recommended to other states, and numbers like these will presumably become part of the headlines surrounding the new court case. But pity the poor states that actually implement the Picus and Odden plan. They are sure to be disappointed by the results, and most taxpayers (those who do not work for the schools) will be noticeably poorer."
Wappingers looks at special ed needs
Date CapturedTuesday August 14 2007, 7:59 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "A Wappingers school district committee is working to create a one-year action plan to address the graduation and dropout rates of special education students by focusing on improving literacy and instruction, improving special education programs and addressing behavior issues that may lead to less instruction time."
Survey finds some mid-Hudson school subjects left behind
Date CapturedTuesday August 14 2007, 7:47 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "State and federal test requirements are forcing mid-Hudson schools to spend more time on math and English. The price is less time for everything else — from social studies and physical education to art and music, according to some educators. 'What gets tested gets taught,' said Jack Jennings, president and CEO of the Center on Education Policy, an education think tank that recently released a nationwide study on the issue."
MIDDLE MANAGEMENT -- $5M BOOST FOR WORST SCHOOLS
Date CapturedTuesday August 14 2007, 7:25 AM
NY Post reports, "The moves come on the recommendation of a task force created to tackle what educators have described as a 'crisis' of declining student achievement and escalating violence in middle schools. The initiatives are aimed at improving the learning and social environment for the schools' struggling students, officials said. The reforms would add the guidance counselors and related social supports, providing free teacher training at high-need schools and introducing advanced-level courses to all city middle schools by 2010. Speaking at Manhattan's JHS 44 yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein also announced the appointment of former Brooklyn Region 8 instructional leader Lori Bennett to the newly created role of director of middle-school initiatives."
Revamping special ed
Date CapturedMonday August 13 2007, 8:37 AM
Buffalo News opines, "Williams [Buffalo School Superintendent ] deserves credit for commissioning a study of the district’s special ed program, which led to a highly critical report from a Washington, D.C., consulting firm. The superintendent responded quickly to that criticism by announcing a plan that would move psychologists, social workers and other support staff from administrative offices into schools where they would team with principals, teachers, counselors, math and reading coaches, nurses and speech therapists to identify problems and ways to solve — addressing attitude or behavioral problems, for example, before a pupil is classified as being in need of the special ed program."
School Translators Can Help Parents Lost in the System
Date CapturedMonday August 13 2007, 8:37 AM
NY Times reports, "Forty-two percent of the parents of children in the school system [New York City schools], the country’s largest, are not native English speakers, and communicating with them is an immense challenge. That is especially the case at a time when the system is offering ever-increasing school choices but is also requiring students to go through a complex admissions process for high school and certain programs. So prodded by advocates for immigrants, Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein created a unit three years ago to translate a never-ending flow of school documents, like press releases, report cards and parent surveys, into the eight languages most commonly spoken in New York, after English: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Arabic, Urdu, Korean and Haitian Creole. It has since expanded to an office with 40 employees and a $4.5 million budget, and is the largest of its kind in any school system in the United States, said Kleber Palma, the unit’s director."
School supplies pile up for needy students
Date CapturedMonday August 13 2007, 8:16 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "A wide variety of Monroe County agencies, churches and businesses will donate school supplies to thousands of needy youngsters in the next few weeks. Some organizations are still appealing for drop-offs, while a few have already filled their storage rooms to bursting."
MIKE'S TIMELY VETO
Date CapturedMonday August 13 2007, 7:57 AM
NY Post opines, "The issue is the controversial ban on cellphones in public schools, which was only really enforced starting last year. The mayor is a chief supporter of the ban, arguing that cellphones in schools are both distracting and, at times, dangerous. And he's right: Not only are phones a serious classroom disruption, but they've also been used to cheat on tests, bully, deal drugs and coordinate gang activity."
New test rules fail CUNY's mission
Date CapturedSunday August 12 2007, 7:50 AM
NY Daily News op-ed contributor William Crain, professor of psychology at The City College, CUNY opines, "CUNY should totally revamp its admissions policy. It should give test scores only the weight they merit, and should use them as part of a holistic assessment that includes students' high school grades, talents and motivation. And it should look for ways to give more students a chance to enter the college of their choice. For generations, CUNY shone as a beacon of democratic opportunity. It can do so again."
Tribes say No Child Left Behind leaves no room for culture
Date CapturedSaturday August 11 2007, 12:03 PM
Santa Fe New Mexican reports, "State [New Mexico] Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia said schools in isolated rural areas, where many tribal and pueblo schools are located, often have difficulty recruiting teachers. The government needs to support ways to encourage Native Americans to become teachers so they can return to teach in their tribes and pueblos, Garcia said. The law also disregards tribal sovereignty by forcing schools to adhere to state academic standards, said Samantha Pasena, a recent graduate of the Santa Fe Indian School. In addition to issues facing Native Americans, the panel also brought up the concern that under No Child Left Behind, special-education students are forced to take the same tests as regular students."
Truth about School Construction Authority
Date CapturedFriday August 10 2007, 9:13 AM
Queens Courier letter to editor contributor Joel I. Klein, Chancellor of New York City Public Schools opines, "We are pleased that Senator Padavan, and environmental advocates, recognize that our present environmental review vastly improves on procedures in place before this administration. The Bloomberg Administration remains committed to protecting public interest and safety."
City trade school courses don't make grade
Date CapturedFriday August 10 2007, 8:43 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The city's vocational classes aren't up to snuff, a new report from the Independent Budget Office charges. Only 12% of career and technical programs are certified by the state, meaning the courses taken by about 110,000 high school students could be lacking. And only nine of the 22 vocational schools - 41% - meet federal No Child Left Behind standards, compared with 65% of city public schools overall."
MIKE KOS CELLS IN SCHOOLS
Date CapturedFriday August 10 2007, 8:25 AM
NY Post Maggie Haberman reports, "Mayor Bloomberg yesterday vetoed a City Council bill that would let parents give kids cellphones to carry to and from school as part of a battle over letting students have them inside the buildings."
US Department of Education -- Office of Inspector General (OIG) Perspective on the Unsafe School Choice Option
Date CapturedFriday August 10 2007, 8:14 AM
We suggest that the Department and Congress, in considering legislative changes, require states to ensure that their USCO policies meet the following basic requirements: 1) All violent incidents, according to state code, are factored into the PDS determination, without the use of disciplinary action qualifiers; 2) Benchmarks for determining PDS are set at reasonable levels that are supported by objective and reliable data; and 3) PDS are identified based upon the most current year of data. These suggestions are intended to affect immediate improvement of the USCO in its current state. However, based on our audit work and further research, there is an apparent reluctance to fully comply with the USCO provision. Therefore, we are also offering our perspective on more in-depth changes to the provision that should help USCO to be better received by the education community, and therefore, encourage more willing compliance. The lack of incentive to comply with USCO will need to be addressed and resolved in order for the provision to realize its full potential as a tool for improving the level of safety in our nation’s schools.
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 2:18 PM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. August 9, 2007, Volume 7, Number 30.
A Letter from Selected Civil Rights Groups on Multiple Measures
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 11:26 AM
EXCERPT: To counter the narrowing of the curriculum and exclusion of important subjects that has been extensively documented as a consequence of NCLB, the new law should also allow states to include other subjects, using multiple forms of assessment, in an index of school indicators. To ensure strong attention is given to reading and math, these subjects can be weighted more heavily. Graduation rates and grade promotion rates should be given substantial weight in any accountability system. Other relevant indicators of school progress, such as attendance and college admission rates, could be included.
New Jersey Governor Calls for Training Teachers on Internet Safety
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 11:15 AM
School Library Journal reports, "Teachers and administrators would use the training to instruct students, parents and community groups on the potential dangers they may encounter on the Internet, Corzine said in a letter to Attorney General Anne Milgram and Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. The letter asks that the departments of Law and Public Safety and Education work together to strengthen existing Internet safety training and that the program be established and implemented by the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year."
Louisiana Department of Education holds emergency management summit
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 10:45 AM
eSchool News reports, "As the two year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita nears, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) and the state attorney general's office joined together to co-sponsor the Statewide Summit on School Safety. The one-day summit, held July 27, brought together district superintendents, emergency management experts, and law enforcement from across the state and Florida. Shortly after taking office, State Superintendent Paul G. Pastorek, asked each district to submit its emergency management plans to the state for review."
Spitzer, Williams celebrate plan to improve students’ performance
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 10:39 AM
Buffalo News reports, "To applause and repeated kudos, Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer and Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams on Wednesday described a plan to increase instructional time and lower class sizes at 16 struggling Buffalo schools as a statewide model for improving student performance. But Williams’ suggestion that a final agreement with the teachers union is imminent was disputed later by union President Philip Rumore."
Borrowing for school upgrades approved
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 10:36 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Buffalo’s $1 billion school modernization blitz took a major step forward Wednesday when the city control board approved a $180 million borrowing for the next phase of the project. Officials were quick to point out that the state is footing the tab for 94 percent of the 10-year renovation plan."
The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 9:55 AM
Heckman and Masterov write, "We argue that, on productivity grounds, it appears to make sound business sense to invest in young children from disadvantaged environments. Sub- stantial evidence from economics, sociology and public policy studies suggests that children from disadvantaged families are more likely to commit crime, have out-of-wedlock births and drop out of school. Early interventions that partially remedy the effects of adverse early environments can reverse some of the damage done by disadvantaged families and have a high economic return relative to other policies. They will benefit not only the children themselves, but also their own children as well as society at large. While more rigorous analysis is necessary to obtain a better understanding of the effects of such programs, their precise channels of influence, and their precise benefits and costs, the existing evidence is promising." James J. Heckman is the Henry B. Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Economics, University of Chicago. Dimitriy V. Masterov is a graduate student in the Department of Economics, University of Michigan.
Westchester poised to approve money for Larchmont athletic field
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 8:48 AM
Journal News reports, "If all goes as planned, Sound Shore athletes and their parents will have something to cheer about when the school year begins - money to build a new athletic field at Flint Park."
City schools plan anti-violence event
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 7:20 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "City School District officials announced plans Wednesday for a communitywide violence prevention workshop next weekend. The three-day event will begin with a candlelight vigil and community parade at Wilson Magnet High School on Aug. 17 and will conclude on Aug. 19 at the city's annual Peace Festival, which is scheduled at the High Falls Festival Site."
BOOKS BEFORE BREAKFAST
Date CapturedThursday August 09 2007, 7:13 AM
NY Post opines, "Only 29 percent of students enrolled in city schools' free and reduced-cost lunch programs also take advantage of the schools' free breakfast, according to a recent report. To hear Gotham's 'hunger' advocates tell it, this portends a humanitarian crisis. Funny, we thought that students turning down free food is a fairly good indication that they're, well, not hungry."
Guidelines for Working with Law Enforcement Agencies
Date CapturedWednesday August 08 2007, 12:15 PM
By Michael Corn. EQ -- Volume 30 Number 3 2007. Checklist: * Create a policy to address the handling of all legal documents. * Form a team consisting of the security officer, legal counsel, and campus police. * Put campus legal counsel on your telephone speed-dial. * Meet with provost and/or chancellor to discuss law enforcement requests and investigations. * Review and document the salient features of your environment, including your institutional policies on data release and retention. * Understand your obligations with regard to confidentiality. * Discuss with the agent(s) in charge of an investigation whom you wish to inform of the investigation and why. * Work with the agent(s) in charge of an investigation to review what they are looking for and what will not be useful to them. * Develop internal procedures that control the materials and information of legally restricted information. Buy a safe for storing legal materials. * Work with law enforcement agents to better understand your environment and narrow the scope of information requests.
New York State Bar Association Holds Mock Trial Camp for High School Students
Date CapturedTuesday August 07 2007, 9:05 AM
Media are invited to the Doane Stuart School in Albany on Wednesday, August 8, 2007 from 9:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. for the New York State Bar Association’s Law, Youth and Citizenship Mock Trial Camp Program. The Association is hosting its annual week-long trial camp for high school students from across the state. This exciting event enables the best and the brightest high school students in New York State to spend an entire week in Albany, learning about the legal process from experienced attorneys and experts in their field.
Drug Testing
Date CapturedTuesday August 07 2007, 8:57 AM
Post-Standard opines, "Perhaps drug testing in the schools will spare some kids a lifetime of addiction. Perhaps it will even save some lives. Just the same, parents need to be concerned about protecting their children's basic rights."
JOEL KLEIN'S CHOICE
Date CapturedTuesday August 07 2007, 7:30 AM
NY Post opines, "We've been leery about the Gibran school from the outset, because it may prove to be more a madrassa than a true public school. But we've kept our counsel because of our high regard for Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. But if Klein chooses to go ahead with this dubious enterprise, he needs to do it with someone other than Dhabah 'Debbie' Almontaser as principal."
Grant to help train teachers
Date CapturedTuesday August 07 2007, 7:29 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The Greece Central School District has been awarded a three-year $765,000 federal grant to help train teachers in U.S. history."
No unwanted publicity
Date CapturedMonday August 06 2007, 9:19 AM
The Enquirer reports, "Started as part of the 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the act allows parents to approve their child's personal school information and image to be used for school purposes. These can include name, address, birthdays and participation in school activities including sports, awards, honors, scholarships and photographs. Parochial and private schools generally do not have to abide by FERPA, but many have developed their own guidelines and publicity waivers."
CITY PRINCIPAL IS 'REVOLTING'
Date CapturedMonday August 06 2007, 8:10 AM
NY Post reports, "Almontaser, a community activist and Muslim, has said the new grade 6-12 public school will be modeled on other dual-language city schools and have no religious component. But the shirt sales are giving new ammunition to critics who fear Almontaser's school will teach a biased view of Middle Eastern history."
Manuel 'Manny' Rivera
Date CapturedMonday August 06 2007, 7:54 AM
Times Union reports, "Rivera is Gov. Eliot Spitzer's senior policy adviser and point man on education issues, helping to oversee accountability issues proposed by the governor. He is working with the state Education Department to help implement the Contract for Excellence that Spitzer pushed through, which provides money to needy or under-performing schools but also sets priorities for making improvements. He was previously the Rochester schools superintendent and turned down an offer to run the Boston city school system to work in the Capitol."
Student-tracking system launches
Date CapturedSunday August 05 2007, 5:38 PM
Tulsa World reports "It will also provide a more accurate assessment of dropout and graduation rates and student mobility, said State Superintendent Sandy Garrett. 'Mobility is a huge issue in today's world,' she said 'People move quite frequently.' For some children, that can mean transferring to two, three or even four different schools during the school year, she said. 'With this system, records can be instantly transferred to new schools,' Garrett said."
NCAA panel wants to inform pregnant athletes about rights
Date CapturedSunday August 05 2007, 5:33 PM
AP reports, "The NCAA should focus on educating schools and pregnant athletes receiving scholarships about their rights, not create new rules, the outgoing head of the NCAA’s Committee on Women’s Athletics said. The committee was asked by NCAA head Myles Brand to discuss the issue after athletes at Clemson and Memphis said they had to sign documents stating they could lose their scholarships if they became pregnant. One Clemson athlete told ESPN she had an abortion to stay in school."
Charter school sought in Troy
Date CapturedThursday August 02 2007, 9:12 AM
Times Union reports, "A new charter school, True North Troy Preparatory Charter School, has filed an application with the state Charter Schools Institute to open for the 2008-09 school year. The proposed school would enroll 78 fifth-grade students during its first year. By its fifth year of operation it would have an enrollment of 299 students in fifth through eighth grades."
City schools add RTS buses
Date CapturedThursday August 02 2007, 8:38 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority and the City School District have agreed to expand bus service to city high schools despite a federal ruling that calls the existing service illegal. The parties have reached agreement for 38 additional Regional Transit Service bus routes to serve John Marshall High School and Wilson Foundation Academy — increasing to 146 the number of routes to city high schools this fall."
Graduation Matters: Improving Accountability for High School Graduation
Date CapturedThursday August 02 2007, 8:26 AM
By Daria Hall, Assistant Director for K-12 Policy at The Education Trust. "The Education Trust report provides recommendations for policy changes at both the federal and state levels, including the following priorities for NCLB reauthorization: * Crafting meaningful graduation-rate accountability provisions in the law and providing high schools with a greater share of the federal investment in education so they have more resources to meet ambitious improvement goals; * Targeting federal investments to improve high school curriculum and assessments; and *Better directing funds and interventions toward the lowest performing schools to ensure that high-poverty and high-minority schools get their fair share of the tools they need to be successful – strong teachers, high standards and high-quality curriculum and assessments."
GRADUATION MATTERS: How NCLB allows states to set the bar too low for improving high school grad rates
Date CapturedThursday August 02 2007, 8:21 AM
Despite the national focus on reforming America’s high schools, most states are setting woefully low goals for improving graduation rates and are not setting goals for ensuring that more low-income, minority, disabled and English language learner students graduate, according to a report released today by The Education Trust.
New York State ranks 44th in graduation rate
Date CapturedThursday August 02 2007, 8:15 AM
Times Union reports, "'We're a lot more honest, I think, than others,' said Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn. But he conceded that 'expectations must be much higher.' Yet the report found that New York, like many states, actually exaggerates its graduation rate in some instances. The report says the state told the U.S. Department of Education that 77 percent of its high school freshmen graduated in four years. But by what the report says is a more accurate measure, the figure was 12 points lower."
Why don't we make education succeed?
Date CapturedWednesday August 01 2007, 10:06 AM
Press Republican contributor Ken Wibecan opines, "A nation that sent a human being to stroll on the moon can surely figure out how to educate their young people. A little creative thinking can go a long way. In a sane society, schools that fail in their mission 'both private and public' would disappear while the good ones flourish. Either we make the difficult but necessary changes or we fall behind the rest of the world and complain about why Americans keep losing so many good jobs to foreign competition."
Technology grant will aid Mount Markham class
Date CapturedWednesday August 01 2007, 9:46 AM
uticaOD.com reports, "Marzeski's classroom will receive computers, camcorders, microscopes and other learning tools to help students achieve a 'hands-on' experience, Marzeski said. 'For a rural school like Mount Markham to have this opportunity it is just unheard of,' she said Tuesday, the day the grant was announced."
State is on guard to keep schools safe
Date CapturedWednesday August 01 2007, 8:52 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Alan Ray, director of communications and policy development, New York State Education Department opines, "During the past year, we have: *Provided help to Rochester's and other schools to create safer, more supportive learning environments and prevent bullying. *Held focus groups with parents, students, teachers and administrators to get more ideas on how to make schools safer. *Given uniform training to school personnel statewide on accurate reporting. *Made site visits to nearly 100 schools statewide to determine the accuracy of their data. *Provided detailed guidelines on the Internet so school officials can refer to them easily as needed. We are constantly adding to a question-and-answer document on the Web site as people seek additional guidance. *Developed a fully automated incident reporting system so schools can submit data electronically. This system has controls to help schools check the accuracy of their data and omit inadvertent errors."
PTA Response to Chairman Miller’s NCLB Reauthorization Proposal
Date CapturedTuesday July 31 2007, 9:09 PM
Our expectation is to work with Chairman Miller so that Congress will pass a bill providing more opportunities for parents to get involved, to build the vital parent-school-community partnerships, and to ensure schools will better inform parents about the progress of their child.
Agency helps homeless kids get ready for school
Date CapturedTuesday July 31 2007, 9:03 AM
NY Daily News reports, "For the last five years, the Newkirk Area Neighborhood Association, or NANA, has raised money and bought school necessities for children living in Brooklyn's 14 shelters. Once association members get the supplies ready, shelter staff members pick them up and distribute them to the youngsters."
Charters pass big test
Date CapturedTuesday July 31 2007, 8:59 AM
NY Daily News opines, "The opponents often argue that charter children do better than kids in neighborhood schools because they come from homes where adults are focused on education. In other words, charter kids have an advantage largely because grownups push them to succeed. This, it turns out, is myth. The truth is that charter schools are simply doing better jobs at education. So says a groundbreaking study that should be required reading for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and everyone else who has fought to limit the number of children who can attend a charter school."
Ruling halts use of RTS buses for school
Date CapturedTuesday July 31 2007, 8:53 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, " A ruling Monday by the Federal Transit Administration has said students in some Rochester high schools who use Regional Transit Service buses for transportation may not use them in the future. Privately operated bus companies have long argued that they were competing against RTS on an uneven plane because most of RTS' revenue comes from government aid."
Education in the Twin Tiers: Career center on track
Date CapturedTuesday July 31 2007, 8:41 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "'It really is designed to support anybody who wants to look at getting back to work or seeking education,' she [Brenda English] said. The center will be able to address adult literacy issues, provide classes for high school equivalency diplomas and upgrade the skills of people who don't have a high school diploma. The center will also provide noncredit training so people can get a job immediately, as well as the opportunity to begin studies toward two-year degrees that would be completed at CCC's Spencer Hill campus."
KLEIN SETS A RECORD
Date CapturedTuesday July 31 2007, 8:35 AM
NY Post opines, "Klein, with Bloomberg's strong backing: * Undertook to break up decades of bureaucratic infrastructure - sundering longstanding political alliances and an gering union leaders by the score. * Eliminated the corrupt community school boards, imposed a tougher new curriculum, demanded and got stricter performance standards - and put an effective end to social promotion. * Raised basic standards and expectations at the earliest grade levels and installed no-nonsense discipline to remove violent troublemakers from classrooms. * Encouraged the development of charter schools as an innovative way to challenge the long-accepted notions of education that clearly have not been working. * Demanded the same accountability and responsibility from teachers - and principals - as he has set for himself."
Federal grants will fund updates of school libraries
Date CapturedMonday July 30 2007, 12:38 PM
Buffalo News reports, "Ten schools in Niagara Falls will benefit from a $298,304 grant, and extended hours will be instituted to encourage families to visit school libraries."
Choices, Changes, and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era
Date CapturedMonday July 30 2007, 8:44 AM
This CEP report examines the amount of time spent during the school week on core academic subjects and how that allocation of time across subjects has changed since school year 2001-02 when NCLB was enacted. The report finds that approximately 62% of school districts increased the amount of time spent in elementary schools on English language arts and or math, while 44% of districts cut time on science, social studies, art and music, physical education, lunch or recess.
PTA leader has strong message
Date CapturedMonday July 30 2007, 8:31 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal opines, "Men concerned about how schools handle issues that stretch well beyond classrooms should heed Saylors' call to get more involved by joining the PTA. You don't have to have a child in school to become involved. Membership is open to anybody concerned about the health, well-being and education of American children."
No verdict in Ithaca City School District (ICSD) busing appeal
Date CapturedMonday July 30 2007, 8:24 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "New York state law requires public schools to transport children who live within the district but attend nonpublic schools within 15 miles of their homes, the same standard mileage limit for public school students. The school district changed its bus schedule to accommodate new start and stop times implemented at schools throughout the district. Gorsky challenged Ithaca's new schedule because it didn't synchronize with Immaculate Conception's schedule and made impractical for Immaculate Conception students to ride the bus. Gorsky filed an appeal with the Commissioner of Education at the end of October."
Time for a surge in war to save our kids
Date CapturedSunday July 29 2007, 9:18 AM
NY Daily News guest essayist Colin Powell, former U.S. secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and founding chairman of America's Promise Alliance opines, "Research shows that when young people receive four of five basic resources, which we call the Five Promises - caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education and opportunities to help others - they are twice as likely to receive A's in school, twice as likely to avoid violence and 40% more likely to volunteer. Together, we must ensure that 15 million more at-risk American young people experience these promises. Don't look at young people who are angry or adrift, standing on some city streetcorner, and think they're someone else's problem. They're not. By volunteering to help in this battle, you can help us win the war."
Picture the arts in schools
Date CapturedSunday July 29 2007, 9:07 AM
NY Daily News opines, "Building on an existing plan detailing curriculums in music, dance, theater and visual arts, ArtsCount adds accountability to the mix. It spells out, year by year, what arts training every student must receive. It will measure how good that instruction is. And it will note the results in annual school report cards, just like reading and math."
Demographic and School Characteristics of Students Receiving Special Education in the Elementary Grades
Date CapturedFriday July 27 2007, 9:48 AM
Findings from the analysis indicate that for the cohort of students beginning kindergarten in 1998, specific learning disabilities and speech or language impairments were the most prevalent primary disabilities over the grades studied. The percentage of the student cohort receiving special education grew from 4.1 percent in kindergarten to 11.9 percent of students in fifth grade. The results also indicate that higher percentages of boys than girls and of poor students than nonpoor students received special education.
MIKE HEAD OF THE CLASS
Date CapturedFriday July 27 2007, 8:39 AM
NY Post Maggie Haberman reports, "Bloomberg's takeover over the public schools was rated a success by 51 percent of voters in the Quinnipiac University poll taken this month. Some 27 percent said it's been a failure, and another 22 percent weren't sure."
KLEIN PLAYS FAVES: FOES
Date CapturedFriday July 27 2007, 7:59 AM
NY Post reports, "The Campaign for Fiscal Equity, whose 14-year-old lawsuit won billions of extra education funding for the city over the next four years, said some of the cash won't reach the struggling schools it's supposed to help."
Hebrew charter school in Hollywood may cross line of church-state separation
Date CapturedFriday July 27 2007, 7:45 AM
Sun-Sentinel reports, "Some, including those in the Jewish community, are having trouble with the concept of a dual-language Hebrew charter school that will also teach, according to its early Web postings, 'Jewish history and culture.'" Charter schools are privately run but publicly funded and must adhere to school board regulations and state requirements such as FCAT testing."
Ithaca City School District faculty member appointed to task force on preschool special education
Date CapturedThursday July 26 2007, 1:02 PM
Ithaca Journal reports, "The task force, which is comprised of 13 education professionals from across the state, was created to study ways of improving early education for children with disabilities. The group will examine the transition between early childhood programs and elementary school, the cost of preschool special education programs and the task force will do a comparative study of different state's special education preschool programs. Jasinski said he is excited to be part of the task force."
Binghamton High revamps school day schedule
Date CapturedThursday July 26 2007, 10:24 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The high school will switch from an eight-period day, which has been the norm, to a nine-period day, Principal Albert Penna said. The move is part of a comprehensive restructuring plan developed by Binghamton High School officials under the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and the state's new Contract for Excellence. The high school had to develop the plan because it is on a state list of schools needing improvement."
Pols dial up school fight
Date CapturedThursday July 26 2007, 10:16 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Hoping to force the Education Department's hand, the City Council passed legislation yesterday restating the right of children to use cell phones traveling to and from school."
THE CITY OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER BUREAU OF MANAGEMENT AUDIT : AUDIT REPORT ON THE MONITORING AND TRACKING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Date CapturedThursday July 26 2007, 9:55 AM
MD06-073A -- June 29, 2007. "Based on our findings, we make nine recommendations, five of which are listed below. DOE should: Develop and enforce written formal policies and procedures to ensure that services are provided according to the provisions of each student’s IEP. Develop policies to ensure that all attendance forms and summaries are maintained as evidence of services provided. Ensure that providers fill in all required information on the special education attendance forms and sign the forms as certification of the delivery of services. Ensure that supervisory review of attendance records is performed and documented. Institute a control (e.g., periodically reconcile special education attendance forms with general education attendance forms) to help ensure that the days that services are provided are accurately recorded."
Upkeep of Schools Is New Focus For Budget
Date CapturedThursday July 26 2007, 9:10 AM
Washington Post reports, "Howard's schools [Maryland] account for, by far, the largest of any of the county's capital budgets. County Executive Ken Ulman (D) has repeatedly said that the county's highly rated school system is 'the engine that drives the county.' But he cautioned in an interview this week that he and the council must weigh the needs of the schools against other demands on the county budget, from fire stations and libraries to community centers and government buildings, when deciding how to allocate finite resources. 'The bottom line is that we have some pretty tough decisions to make,' Ulman said. 'We'll have to find additional revenue or lower expectations.'"
Illinois schools install cameras despite privacy issues
Date CapturedWednesday July 25 2007, 9:51 AM
Daily Herald reports, "District 128 officials don’t have a formal policy regulating when the DVDs should be destroyed, Todoric said. Administrators declined to say how often discs are destroyed, citing security concerns. U.S. courts have upheld schools’ right to install cameras where students or employees don’t have an expectation of privacy, such as public hallways, said Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. It’s sensible for schools with security concerns to think cameras are a potential solution, he said. But the increased surveillance might affect how students feel about their schools, Yohnka said. For example, students might be reluctant to visit teachers to talk about problems if they feel they’re being monitored, he said."
Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts: School Year 2004–05
Date CapturedWednesday July 25 2007, 9:25 AM
This NCES brief publication contains data on revenues and expenditures per pupil made by school districts for school year 2004-05. Median per pupil revenue and expenditure data are reported by state, as well as values at the 5th and 95th percentiles. Data for charter schools are reported separately. There are also discussions on the different types of school districts, and other resources that may be helpful in analyzing school district level data. Revenues and expenditures for the 100 largest school districts are included, as well as federal revenues by program. Zhou, L., and Gaviola, N. (2007). Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts: School Year 2004–05 (Fiscal Year 2005) (NCES 2007-355). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved July 25, 2007 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=200735
Debate over school tests: What's being left behind?
Date CapturedWednesday July 25 2007, 8:52 AM
Star-Ledger reports, "Rothenberg [principal of Parsons Elementary School in New Jersey] stressed that while he fears some of the teaching creativity is lost with the focus on reading and math, his North Brunswick school is better for it. 'Kids have to learn reading and math first, and that should be the focus,' he said. 'It's not a bad tradeoff."'
SPECIAL-ED WOE
Date CapturedWednesday July 25 2007, 8:42 AM
NY Post Chuck Bennett reports, "The audit reviewed the records of 89 mainstreamed special-ed students during the 2004-05 school year. It found sloppy record-keeping and no formal rules for monitoring the delivery of services."
Buffalo schools get $6.8 million
Date CapturedTuesday July 24 2007, 10:52 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Buffalo Public School officials have announced the district has secured $6.8 million in grant funds from three sources in the state Education Department."
Fighting toxic school sites
Date CapturedTuesday July 24 2007, 7:17 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Toxic school sites could soon come face to face with a potent enemy - angry, protective parents."
Rural schools gather to enhance programs
Date CapturedTuesday July 24 2007, 7:14 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "Nearly 100 educators, principals, superintendents and students from rural school districts in Central New York gathered at Cornell University's Becker House Monday for the beginning of a two-day conference focused on improving rural student achievement. The conference is focused on increasing graduation rates among low-income, rural students and preparing rural students for higher education."
SCHOOLS BRUSHING UP ON THE ARTS
Date CapturedTuesday July 24 2007, 7:02 AM
NY Post Chuck Bennett reports, "'I didn't want the arts to be a throwaway. I didn't want the arts to be some add-on, some feel-good thing. I think arts education is critical,' Klein [NYC schools chancellor] said. He added that $250 million in this year's school budget will go toward arts education, including the hiring of 141 new teachers. More students also will be eligible to receive an Arts-Endorsed Regents Honors diploma for taking a concentration in arts classes."
Sex Ed is About Safety
Date CapturedMonday July 23 2007, 9:53 AM
Special Eduction Law blogger Amanda Windom writes, "One of the most controversial topics we face in schools today is sex education. Schools in Illinois vary greatly in the curriculum they offer ranging from none at all to abstinence-only to comprehensive sex education. Putting aside the moral, religious and other debates, the main issue here is safety. Regardless of our personal feelings about the topic the fact remains that children and teens must be educated about sex in a meaningful way, and if they are not educated at school or by parents they will develop ideas based on things they learn from friends or in the media, often to their detriment."
Law aims to keep teen drivers in school
Date CapturedMonday July 23 2007, 9:16 AM
UPI reports, " A law that took effect in Illinois this month will revoke the drivers' licenses of high school students who have bad attendance records."
Getting Down to Facts: A Research Project Examining California’s School Governance and Finance
Date CapturedMonday July 23 2007, 9:03 AM
The researchers aimed to make the best possible use of existing research findings, identifying important holes in existing research and determining whether there were empirical studies that could be performed in the given timeframe to fill some of these holes. The new empirical work stems from this approach. As a result, the studies each provide a strong review of the literature with targeted new empirical additions.
Grant aids districts to keep kids in school
Date CapturedMonday July 23 2007, 8:50 AM
Troy Record reports, "Goodwin [superintendent of the Lansingburgh School District] said the effort began as a look at issues affecting youth, which touched on the correlation between crime and young people, and then gradually narrowed its focus to keeping kids in school. 'There's a lot of issues that go into truancy - sometimes it's family structure, sometimes it's the child's education level, sometimes it's substance abuse or mental health issues that aren't being addressed,' Riegert said. 'Sometimes there's a perception by the child that there's no one who really cares if they go to school." Mary Capabianca, who is in her third year as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Troy district, concurred. She says reasons for truancy can include a lack of hope on the part of a student, or alternately a sense of obligation to help out their families during tough times.'"
Jury Backs Teacher Who Says Room Made Her Ill
Date CapturedSunday July 22 2007, 8:31 AM
Washington Post reports, "A Montgomery County [Maryland] jury has found in favor of a teacher who said she was driven from her job by mold in a portable classroom at a Burtonsville school."
Blind Brook school officials say Rye town reaps benefit of district's money
Date CapturedSunday July 22 2007, 8:23 AM
Journal News reports, "The town currently distributes the taxes to its three school districts - Blind Brook, Rye Neck and Port Chester - in 10 monthly installments. The new distribution method would allow the Blind Brook district to collect some $175,000 in interest on the taxes during the upcoming 2007-08 school year instead of the town, according to district estimates."
Rochester Mayor Duffy's visits to dropouts would send strong message
Date CapturedSunday July 22 2007, 8:16 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "Imagine the mayor and the school superintendent at the front doors of some of these kids. It would send a strong message that someone cares and holds them accountable for their actions."
Around the Nation: Districts Determined to Strive for Integration
Date CapturedSaturday July 21 2007, 2:29 PM
Supreme Court -- School Integration blogs, "As districts across the country ponder the likely effects of the decisions on their own programs, local media cover the often disheartened response. Fortunately, most communities are committed to maintaining plans unchanged, or modifying them in order to ensure that they are in compliance with the law."
Around the Nation: Districts Determined to Strive for Integration
Date CapturedSaturday July 21 2007, 2:29 PM
Supreme Court -- School Integration blogs, "As districts across the country ponder the likely effects of the decisions on their own programs, local media cover the often disheartened response. Fortunately, most communities are committed to maintaining plans unchanged, or modifying them in order to ensure that they are in compliance with the law."
Got a Great Internet Safety Program? ALA Wants to Hear About It
Date CapturedSaturday July 21 2007, 2:25 PM
School Library Journal reports, "If you have a great program on Internet safety, the American Library Association (ALA) wants to hear from you."
Rochester city, schools may swap land
Date CapturedSaturday July 21 2007, 9:37 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Negotiations between the city and the district to reach agreement on school facilities have taken years. The plan, which requires City Council approval, is seen as a groundbreaking collaboration between the city and the City School District."
Vouchers Could Desegregate Schools Better Than Buses
Date CapturedSaturday July 21 2007, 7:11 AM
Herbert J. Walberg, fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and chairman of The Heartland Institute's board writes, "In late 2006, Gregg Forster reviewed seven valid research studies of voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C., and concluded that each one showed that voucher-participating private schools were less racially segregated than public schools. Claims that vouchers would disadvantage poor and minority children, or children with special educational needs, or lead to greater segregation, are unsupported by the research on existing voucher programs. All the research instead points to the overwhelmingly positive effects."
Busing to continue for Dayton high school students
Date CapturedSaturday July 21 2007, 6:56 AM
Dayton Business Journal (Ohio) reports, "Superintendent Percy Mack said continuing busing will help the district avoid losing traction in its improvements in attendance and graduation rates. Attendance has risen to 91 percent from 85 percent in 2001; graduation rates rose from to 79.5 percent in 2006 from 51 percent in 2001."
Revised school code flags accomplices
Date CapturedFriday July 20 2007, 8:16 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "The Board of Education has amended Kingston High School's code of conduct in an effort to increase accountability among students. Changes to the Jefferson Code include the addition of the phrase 'aiding and/or abetting.' The move was made in response to an administrative request from members at the high school and will serve as an added level of regulations."
Cornell works with rural schools to increase grad rates
Date CapturedFriday July 20 2007, 8:09 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "About 100 representatives from 18 rural school districts in Central New York will attend a two-day conference starting Monday at Cornell University to discuss ways the university can help the districts improve student achievement. The conference will also focus on increasing graduation rates among low-income rural students and preparing rural students for higher education."
Newburgh school district unsettled by Supreme Court decision
Date CapturedThursday July 19 2007, 8:59 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, ""The state Department of Education is reviewing the impact of the decision. The issue will come before the state Board of Regents Wednesday, Robert Bennett, chancellor of the Regents, said yesterday. Among the mid-Hudson's 34 school districts, only four have non-white populations exceeding 40 percent: Newburgh (66 percent), Middletown (65 percent), Fallsburg (43 percent) and Monticello (44 percent), according to the most recent state Report Card data. Newburgh is the only one under a desegregation order. It went into effect in 1975."
Girls charter school awaits an OK
Date CapturedThursday July 19 2007, 8:30 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Previously, New York had reached its limit of 100 charter schools statewide. But state legislation that took effect July 1 authorizes an additional 100 charter schools — 50 to be approved by the SUNY panel and 50 to be approved by the state Education Department."
Chancellor Answers Critics on School Financing Data
Date CapturedWednesday July 18 2007, 8:34 AM
NY Times reports, "The city (New York City) this month said that it would use nearly half the funds to reduce class sizes. Detailed figures released by the city yesterday showed how much extra financing school districts and individual schools would receive, but still did not specify where class sizes would be cut. Critics say the distribution raises the question of whether schools that are relatively high-performing are getting too much of the money."
Regents exam: American history for dummies
Date CapturedWednesday July 18 2007, 8:29 AM
NY Daily News guest contributor Marc Epstein opines, "Before Mayor Bloomberg starts shelling out money to high school juniors for passing their New York State Regents exams, he would do well to bring as much scrutiny to the content of these tests as he does to the quantity of trans fats in restaurant food."
EYE$ ON SIZE
Date CapturedWednesday July 18 2007, 7:44 AM
NY Post Chuck Bennett reports, "Parents and advocates will be able to look at how the money is used in every targeted school — a move they had been loudly demanding for some time. Still, leaders of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the coalition of school and parent groups that initiated the suit against the state, were cautious in giving their thumbs up to the latest proposal, noting they still want to comb through the fine print. In all, the New York City school system will receive $1 billion extra in city and state funding for the 2007-08 school year. "
New school plan for aid, smaller classes
Date CapturedWednesday July 18 2007, 7:21 AM
NY Daily News reports, "More than $133 million will go to 688 schools that historically received less funding per student than similar schools. The rest will be steered to various citywide programs to improve teacher quality and reduce class size."
Court: MySpace suspension violated student's rights
Date CapturedTuesday July 17 2007, 10:04 AM
Student Press Law Center reports, "A school district violated the First Amendment by suspending a student who created a satirical profile of his principal on MySpace.com, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled July 10. 'The mere fact that the Internet may be accessed at school does not authorize school officials to become censors of the World-Wide Web,' the judge, Terrence McVerry, wrote in his opinion. 'Public schools are vital institutions, but their reach is not unlimited.'"
Pre-K programs growing throughout Tier
Date CapturedTuesday July 17 2007, 9:16 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "New York began its Universal Pre-Kindergarten program in 1997. But, in the 2002-03 school year, fewer than 250 of the state's 700 districts administered pre-kindergarten programs, according to the National Child Care Information Center. And grants had been frozen since 2001, meaning districts could not get into the program, said Cindy Gallagher, coordinator of the Office of Early Education and Reading Initiatives for the state Education Department. By contrast, this year's state budget boosted spending for Universal Pre-Kindergarten by $145.9 million to $438 million. The additional money means 44,000 slots were added to the 73,000 slots available in the last school term, state figures indicate. The state has about 240,000 4-year-olds, Gallagher said."
Ithaca City School District (ICSD) subs close in on forming union
Date CapturedTuesday July 17 2007, 9:08 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "Substitute teachers in the Ithaca City School District are a few steps closer to realizing their goal of becoming a union, representatives said. A conference on Wednesday will determine if there are any key issues the Ithaca City School District and the Ithaca Substitutes Association disagree on that need to be settled in a formal hearing."
Agreement with schools approved
Date CapturedTuesday July 17 2007, 9:03 AM
Buffalo News reports, "The Town Board [Tonowanda] also approved the hiring of three new police officers, two of whom will serve as full-time school resource officers at each of the high schools. Town and school officials are reacting to a rash of bomb threats that plagued the district, as many as 10 during the past school year. Most were at the high schools."
Congress Prepares for NCLB Reauthorization Debate
Date CapturedTuesday July 17 2007, 7:08 AM
School Reform News contributor Dan Lips, education analyst at The Heritage Foundation writes, "After months of committee hearings, congressional leaders are now looking to begin the legislative process for the scheduled reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Democrats control Congress, but Republican leaders are proposing an agenda of policy ideas to be considered in the reauthorization."
Fixing special ed
Date CapturedMonday July 16 2007, 10:18 AM
Buffalo News opines, "He [Buffalo school superintendent Williams] intends to establish teams of guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists, special-education teachers and parents at each school. He also intends to relocate specialeducation support staff from administrative offices to individual schools, continue intensive efforts to improve literacy in the early elementary grades and give special-education students greater choice of schools."
Utica schools to re-examine racial balance -- Utica schools to re-examine racial balance
Date CapturedMonday July 16 2007, 9:20 AM
uticaOD.com reports, "A recent Supreme Court decision could affect policies governing the Utica City School District's magnet program and its plans to redraw school attendance boundaries, school officials said. While school leaders say they will stay committed to creating diverse schools, the court's decision to strike down two other districts' integration plans worries some community members who wonder if the district will keep pushing to achieve racial balance in schools."
Clarkstown schools push for more seat belt use on buses
Date CapturedMonday July 16 2007, 6:47 AM
THE JOURNAL NEWS reports, "The new provision isn't a mandate, Brockmann said. Making seat-belt use mandatory would leave bus drivers stuck with the continual task of checking that children's seat belts remained fastened during bus rides. That, Brockmann [transportation director] said, could distract the drivers from their defensive-driving practices. Instead, bus drivers and bus attendants will encourage students to wear seat belts during brief lessons at the beginning of the school year. Other school district staff members will be asked to encourage seat-belt use, and 'Buckle up for safety' signs will be posted in schools and on buses."
State aid could shrink classes, lengthen school day
Date CapturedMonday July 16 2007, 6:29 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The contracts apply to 55 districts that have at least one school on the federal 'In Need of Improvement' list. These districts also received a $15 million increase or a 10 percent or more increase in state aid. In the contract, the district must show how it will use most of the additional state aid to implement programs and initiatives to address the lower-performing students identified by federal standards. The initiatives include reducing class size, increasing the length of the school day, professional development for teachers and principals, restructuring middle and high schools and implementing full-day kindergarten or pre-kindergarten or experimental programs."
Smaller schools work well in NYC
Date CapturedSunday July 15 2007, 12:33 PM
Murray B. Light, former editor of The Buffalo News opines, "Truancy, discipline problems, substance abuse and gang involvement show great improvement. The level of student activity in extracurricular school also is much higher and more varied in the small schools than in the larger ones. The report also shows that student attendance was better in the smaller schools and that a smaller percentage of students dropped out of the smaller schools than the larger ones."
Schools Diversity Based on Income Segregates Some
Date CapturedSunday July 15 2007, 8:53 AM
NY Times reports, "San Francisco began considering factors like family income, instead of race, in school assignments when it modified a court-ordered desegregation plan in response to a lawsuit. But school officials have found that the 55,000-student city school district, with Chinese the dominant ethnic group followed by Hispanics, blacks and whites, is resegregrating."
'PS' I LOVE YOU: $80M IN GIFTS GO TO SCHOOLS
Date CapturedSunday July 15 2007, 7:10 AM
NY Post reports, "Public schools are cashing in. The New York City school system netted about $80 million in private donations in Fiscal Year 2007. About $34.2 million came in through the Fund for Public Schools, a non-profit organization and the biggest provider of private money to the $15 billion school system."
Teachers, on Paper: The Chancellor’s View
Date CapturedSaturday July 14 2007, 9:55 AM
NY Times op-ed contributor Joel I. Klein, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education responds to “So Much Paperwork, So Little Time to Teach,” by Samuel G. Freedman. Klein writes, "He [Freedman] turns 'paperwork' into a dirty word. But when teachers track student performance, they can spot trends, tailor instruction to the needs of students and take corrective action. We have worked to eliminate busywork and have created easy-to-use tools that give teachers constructive information that makes them more effective. Our city is attracting, and holding on to, great teachers, and they are making a difference for our children"
Keep reform simple
Date CapturedSaturday July 14 2007, 9:43 AM
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise opines, "In New York, we vote on our school district budgets, but in Massachusetts, they vote on any local government budget that would increase its property tax levy by more than 2.5 percent. We have yet to see a downside to that. Schools are special, so maybe it's time the state takes over all basic K-12 education costs, letting individual school districts use property taxes to pay for extras."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedFriday July 13 2007, 11:06 AM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation -- July 12, 2007, Volume 7, Number 26 . Gotham City showdown: Ravitch and Cantor on NYC reading scores. Diane Ravitch's June 7 Gadfly article took the New York City Department of Education to task for hyping the most recent reading scores for students in grades 3-8. "The scores," she wrote, "were mainly flat or declining." And the much-ballyhooed rise in eighth-grade reading "downplayed the curious fact that eighth grade scores were up across the state." Her interpretation drew a critical review from David Cantor, the NYC Department of Education's Press Secretary. His critique and Ravitch's response follow.
Concerns on NYC's Contract for Excellence
Date CapturedFriday July 13 2007, 9:59 AM
Patrick Sullivan, member of the Panel for Educational Policy opines, "The absence of a coherent plan demonstrates a lack of willingness to be held accountable for overcrowding. No one wants the mayor and chancellor to fail in their efforts to improve our schools. However, if they continue their refusal to plan for and spend new state funding as intended, the state must hold them accountable."
Federal Support for Adolescent Literacy: A Solid Investment
Date CapturedFriday July 13 2007, 9:34 AM
This Alliance for Excellent Education brief lays out a set of strategic policy recommendations that include: (1) Encourage schools, districts, and states to articulate clear, comprehensive, actionable plans for improving literacy instruction; (2) Invest in tools that help schools identify struggling readers and appropriately adjust instruction in grades 4-12; (3) Invest in ongoing professional development programs designed to help all middle and high school teachers provide effective reading and writing instruction in their subject area; (4) Support and invest in accountability systems that give teachers strong incentives to provide effective reading and writing instruction; and, (5) Invest in ongoing research on and evaluation of strategies to improve adolescent literacy.
Why state aid hike won't fill the gap for Rochester city schools
Date CapturedFriday July 13 2007, 8:41 AM
The Post-Standard op-ed contributor Daniel G. Lowengard, superintendent of the Syracuse City School District opines, "The district has been completely transparent with respect to the development of its 2007-08 budget. The entire budget, with all its detail, was posted months ago (and remains there) on the district's Web site. We know how valuable our resources are; we want the public to fully understand our budget."
Ruling bans school busing in Roosevelt
Date CapturedThursday July 12 2007, 9:02 PM
Newsday reports, "Maureen Powell, 74, widow of a former Roosevelt school board trustee, complained to district officials when she noticed the buses in October 2005. Powell, who has long been active in district issues, argued that state law dictates that voters need to approve transportation."
Forum Curriculum for Improving Education Data: A Resource for Local Education
Date CapturedThursday July 12 2007, 7:00 PM
This curriculum supports efforts to improve the quality of education data by serving as training materials for K-12 school and district staff. It provides lesson plans, instructional handouts, and related resources, and presents concepts necessary to help schools develop a culture for improving data quality. National Forum on Education Statistics (2007). Forum Curriculum for Improving Education Data: A Resource for Local Education Agencies (NFES 2007-808). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon Offers Commencement Address at Brighter Choice Charter Schools 4th Grade Graduation
Date CapturedThursday July 12 2007, 9:47 AM
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon today highlighted the efforts of our nation's charter schools to empower parents and improve access to quality education for all students during a visit to Brighter Choice Charter Schools in Albany, N.Y. Offering the keynote address at the school's 4th grade commencement ceremony, Secretary Simon congratulated the students and teachers for their hard work to achieve the top ranking among Albany schools in English and math assessment scores. Additionally, Secretary Simon underscored the importance of No Child Left Behind reauthorization this year and touted President Bush's proposal to expand the availability of charter schools and provide more options for families.
Yonkers school panel's closed meeting may have violated law
Date CapturedThursday July 12 2007, 8:41 AM
The Journal reports, "While parents at Tuesday's meeting were shut out of any budget talk, the board did discuss fostering a better relationship with parents by awarding a contract to a company that would canvass parents about their views of the Yonkers public schools."
Long Island Schools Consider Pooling Resources and Investments
Date CapturedThursday July 12 2007, 8:35 AM
NY Times reports, "School and government officials on Long Island want to pool their resources and financial investments to operate more efficiently and tap into higher interest rates in what they say could become a model for the rest of New York State."
Pre-K for city kids 'a must'
Date CapturedThursday July 12 2007, 8:22 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Transportation and the lack of day care for older children are the most frequent reasons parents don't enroll their children in pre-K, Cala [Rochester District Superintendent] said."
Forbes flunks Ulster County schools
Date CapturedWednesday July 11 2007, 7:46 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "The study said Ulster County schools spend an average of $12,482 per pupil yet have a graduation rate below 84 percent - and the average SAT score barely cracks 1,000. Area school officials were quick to attack the study."
How Hard Can It Be to Teach? The Challenges Go Well Beyond the Classroom
Date CapturedWednesday July 11 2007, 5:53 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN writes, "The daily work in schools is so hard that most educators in the system do not distinguish between the chancellor’s office and the mayor, the labor unions and state government, the teachers’ contract and the federal No Child Left Behind law when they complain, frequently, that the 'system' is against them. Forces above and beyond school level often make the work in classrooms more difficult. And the work in classrooms is difficult enough."
Transferring Up
Date CapturedWednesday July 11 2007, 5:33 AM
NY Times op-ed contributor Jonathan Kozol opines, "Congress has an opportunity to take advantage of the opening created by Justice Kennedy later this year when it reauthorizes the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The law gives children the right to transfer from a low-performing school to a high-performing school if the low-performing school has failed to demonstrate adequate improvement two years after being warned of its shortcomings."
Summer NYC school program feeds city's children for free
Date CapturedTuesday July 10 2007, 9:31 AM
Newsday reports, "The $23 million program takes more than 7,800 employees and 99 school kitchens to prepare the meals, and 84 trucks to deliver them. The food is being served at 1,166 locations, up from 966 last summer."
Educational equality slips from hands of students
Date CapturedTuesday July 10 2007, 9:07 AM
Louisiana Weekly Guest Commentary by U. S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, "The Student Bill of Rights will guarantee that all students have access to: * High quality teachers and school administrators * Rigorous academic curricula and methods of instruction * Small class sizes * Quality facilities, textbooks, instructional materials and supplies * Up-to-date library resources * Up-to-date computer technology * Quality guidance counseling
Research Links Summer Break, Achievement Gap
Date CapturedTuesday July 10 2007, 8:51 AM
NPR Larry Abramson reports, " Research indicates that low-income school kids lose an average of two months of reading achievement over the summer. The achievement gap between whites and minority children is being attributed to this factor."
Just a hint of gain for empower schools -- Joel's pet program shows slight boost
Date CapturedMonday July 09 2007, 10:17 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Chancellor Joel Klein created the empowerment school program at the beginning of the 2006 school year to give principals more independence in spending and instruction. A total of 332 principals signed on. Although the difference between empowerment school averages and those of other city schools is only a few percentage points, the Ed Department sees the scores as a signal that giving principals more autonomy works."
SCHOOL BATTLE OVER CLASS SIZE
Date CapturedMonday July 09 2007, 9:34 AM
NY Post reports, "Advocates yesterday slammed the city Department of Education for not putting up a five-year strategy to reduce class size as part of its plans to spend $4.7 billion in additional funding for schools."
Education, building and money: a look at the Wicks Law
Date CapturedMonday July 09 2007, 9:28 AM
The Journal News reports, "Unless you're in the building trades or a public entity doing some construction, proposed changes to the Wicks Law probably didn't register particularly loudly on your interest meter. But like any other change that affects education, the issue is really about money: an estimated $13 million more in school construction costs per year in Rockland taxpayer dollars charged for Wicks Law compliance, according to research by members of the Rockland School Boards Association."
Reform needed for school funding
Date CapturedMonday July 09 2007, 8:53 AM
Ithaca Journal op-ed contributor Ron Mac Lean, on behalf of Citizens Advisory Committee, Political Action Concerning Education and the Trumansburg Central School District opines, "For many years, numerous organized attempts have been made to convince our legislators that the School Aid Formula is not fair and equitable to all students throughout New York. Under the present method of school aid distribution, the “wealthier” school districts continue to prosper with curriculum, costs per student and tax levy disproportionate to 'poorer' districts. A recent New York Times article noted that in 2005, of the 100 highest-spending districts in the nation, 25 are in Westchester County and 38 are on Long Island. This year Albany did take a step in the right direction by revising portions of the funding formula."
Closed-door sessions are lawful
Date CapturedMonday July 09 2007, 8:33 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayists Joe Moscato and Frank Oberg opine, "Your editorial accuses us of being fond of the use of executive session. We did not invent the executive session. It is prescribed by law. The law clearly defines matters that may be discussed in executive session. They fall into two categories: mandatory and permitted. It's noteworthy to observe that all school districts in New York state use this process. Executive sessions are usually requested by the superintendent and are rarely initiated by the board."
Suburbs need not fear school vouchers
Date CapturedSunday July 08 2007, 9:10 PM
Christian Science Monitor contributor Walt Gardner, former teacher and lecturer opines, "Emboldened by their ability to prevail in the courts, suburbanites aren't likely to relinquish their hold on maintaining local schools for themselves. They've worked too hard and too long to establish residency in communities where existing schools have garnered well-deserved reputations for educational quality. After all, they have as much of a right for their children to benefit from top-flight schools as parents from the inner cities do for their children."
An insider's view of a school board
Date CapturedSunday July 08 2007, 11:30 AM
Times Union reports, "He [Peter Golden] was motivated to start it [blog], he said, because more people vote in presidential elections than in school board races, even though the latter could have more of a direct effect on their lives. 'I wanted to open the process," Golden said. "I wanted people to be more interested.'" (website address is: http://petergolden.com/Boardside.htm)
State measures on steriods in high school sports
Date CapturedSaturday July 07 2007, 1:04 PM
AP reports on state-by-state glance at high school steroid policies: TESTING MANDATED BY LAW.
FUROR OVER SCHOOLS SITE
Date CapturedSaturday July 07 2007, 7:10 AM
NY Post reports, "The plaintiffs, a coalition of environmentalists and community residents, are worried about the engineering controls to contain the toxins. They fear that some of the controls, such as a ventilation system to disperse toxic fumes or using plastic caps to isolate contaminated soil, could break down over years. But, without a long-term monitoring plan, no one would know, Palmer said. The site is contaminated by mercury, lead and benzene, a suspected carcinogen. The city committed $30 million to clean up the 6.6-acre site, which over the years had been home to an industrial laundry, a rail yard, gas station and gas manufacturing facility. That cleanup effort is under way."
CITY EYES 1,300 NEW TEACHERS
Date CapturedFriday July 06 2007, 10:27 AM
NY Post reports, "The city wants to hire 1,300 new teachers to reduce class sizes, using some of the millions of dollars in extra school funding it wrangled from the state, the Department of Education said yesterday."
City Schools Focus New Aid on Reducing Class Sizes
Date CapturedFriday July 06 2007, 10:10 AM
NY Times reports, "Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced yesterday how the city school system plans to spend $228 million in new education financing from the state, including allocating nearly half the money to reduce class sizes. That money, $106 million, will allow the city to add 1,300 teachers to cut class sizes, and officials say they will concentrate on the most crowded classrooms with students most at risk of failure. The city also plans to use $57 million for increased instructional time for students, $44 million toward professional development for teachers and principals, $20 million for middle and high school restructuring and $294,000 for expanding full-day prekindergarten slots."
Schools Move Toward Following Students’ Yearly Progress on Tests
Date CapturedFriday July 06 2007, 10:02 AM
NY Times reports, "Concerned that the traditional way amounted to an apples-to-oranges comparison, schools in more than two dozen states have turned to growth models. Now a movement is mounting to amend the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which is up for reauthorization this year, to allow such alternative assessments of student progress. Many urban educators contend that growth models are a fairer measure because they recognize that poor and minority students often start out behind, and thus have more to learn to reach state standards. At the same time, many school officials in affluent suburbs favor growth models because they evaluate students at all levels rather than focusing on lifting those at the bottom, thereby helping to justify instruction costs to parents and school boards at a time of shrinking budgets"
Middle Class STAR
Date CapturedThursday July 05 2007, 12:30 PM
Monthly Column by EFAP Director John Yinger. Yinger writes, "This spring New York State passed a new property tax relief program called Middle Class STAR, which is an extension of the original STAR (School Tax Relief) program with some modifications. This column takes a look at Middle Class Star (MC STAR) and, in particular, asks whether it has the same shortcomings as the original, which have been explored in several of my previous columns."
For Home Students, Chance to Join the Club in Public School
Date CapturedThursday July 05 2007, 9:04 AM
Washington Post reports, "Say you're a home-schooled student, but you want to learn about photography, and think the best way to learn, barring lessons on dad's bulky Polaroid, is working on the high school yearbook. Impossible, right? Home-schoolers in high school clubs?"
New Math May Lower Graduation Numbers
Date CapturedThursday July 05 2007, 8:59 AM
Washington Post reports, "Now, educators are taking a closer look at attrition, the winnowing-down of a high school population over time, as the basis for a new and more accurate -- and less flattering -- way of calculating the graduation rate. All 50 governors have agreed to a new method for calculating the graduation rate. Their proposal, which will be adopted in Virginia by 2008, in the District by 2010 and in Maryland by 2011, is fairly simple: Divide the number of freshman in one year by the number of graduates four years later, adjusting for students who transfer in or out or repeat grades."
Albany schools weigh cellphone use, clothing
Date CapturedThursday July 05 2007, 8:07 AM
Times Union reports, "Harry Corbitt, director of safe schools and violence prevention, said cellphone use can be problematic. 'Cellphone use doesn't help,' he said. 'It hinders law enforcement. Students call their parents, and they rush to school.' Corbitt, a retired State Police colonel, said the district is seeking Homeland Security funds for a system that would alert parents and the media if an incident occurs."
A Local Lesson That Democrats Fail
Date CapturedTuesday July 03 2007, 9:18 AM
Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen opines, "The litany of more and more when it comes to money often has little to do with what, in the military, are called facts on the ground: kids and parents. It does have a lot to do with teachers unions, which are strong supporters of the Democratic Party. Not a single candidate offered anything close to a call for real reform. Instead, a member of the audience could reasonably conclude that if only more money were allocated to these woe-is-me school systems, things would right themselves overnight."
M-E district set to offer pre-K classes in September
Date CapturedTuesday July 03 2007, 8:27 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The Maine-Endwell Central School District, using a $140,616 state grant, is planning to offer the first pre-kindergarten program in its history, beginning in September."
Gangs, dropouts fuel city crime
Date CapturedTuesday July 03 2007, 8:20 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "Reducing crime in the Rochester community is going to take the aggressive targeting of two key problems: the high school dropout rate and the presence of gang activity. The dropout rate is a well-known struggle in the city, but the prevalence of gangs isn't as widely discussed."
BEYOND 'BROWN' -- RACE-BLIND ROADS TO DIVERSITY
Date CapturedMonday July 02 2007, 9:51 AM
NY Post Op-Ed contributor ANDREW J. COULSON director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom opines, "A central goal of compulsory integration polices has been to achieve racial balance at the school level. But Harvard's Civil Rights Project has observed that public schools are little more racially integrated today than they were before such policies were introduced.
White Plains defends using race in school choice program
Date CapturedMonday July 02 2007, 8:59 AM
THE JOURNAL NEWS reports, "To assign students, officials consider race, ethnicity, gender, whether any siblings attend the school and whether space is available. Lotteries are held when the demand is too great at one school or for blacks, whites or Hispanics when one or more of the groups are underrepresented at a particular school. White Plains officials contend that's a different situation than in Louisville, where the mother of a student sued after her son was denied a transfer because his school needed to maintain its level of white students to meet the district's guidelines. In Seattle, parents filed suit when minority students were chosen over whites to attend a high school to maintain its racial balance. Because race is just one of several factors used to assign students, Connors said the district should not be affected by the court's narrow ruling."
Never-ending story -- Reading shouldn't take a 'summer vacation'
Date CapturedMonday July 02 2007, 8:51 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin GUEST VIEWPOINT contributor Maria Neira, former bilingual elementary school teacher and vice president of New York State United Teachers opines, "By encouraging their children to read -- and by reading to and with their children -- parents can help children close the achievement gap and do better in school by avoiding the 'summer slump.' Any time that parents spend reading with their children is helpful to the learning process. Parents should also encourage discussion about plot, characters and themes. Talking to children about their favorite characters, or about the parts of a book they liked best, is a way to help develop reading comprehension skills."
Money for Nothing
Date CapturedMonday July 02 2007, 8:26 AM
NY Times Op-Ed contributor BARRY SCHWARTZ opines, "Obviously, the intrinsic rewards of learning aren’t working in New York’s schools, at least not for a lot of children. It may be that the current state of achievement is low enough that desperate measures are called for, and it’s worth trying anything. And we don’t know whether in this case, motives will complement or compete. But it is plausible that when students get paid to go to class and show up for tests, they will be even less interested in the work than they would be if no incentives were present. If that happens, the incentive system will make the learning problem worse in the long run, even if it improves achievement in the short run — unless we’re prepared to follow these children through life, giving them a pat on the head, or an M&M or a check every time they learn something new. Perhaps worse, the plan will distract us from investigating a more pertinent set of questions: why don’t children get intrinsic satisfaction from learning in school, and how can this failing of education be fixed? Virtually all kindergartners are eager to learn. But by fourth grade, many students need to be bribed. What makes our schools so dystopian that they produce this powerful transformation, almost overnight?"
Money, Not Race, Fuels New Push to Buoy Schools
Date CapturedSaturday June 30 2007, 11:13 AM
NY Times TAMAR LEWIN and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN report, "For several years, two lawyers intent on helping black children do as well in school as white children had a kind of roadshow: Michael A. Rebell would describe the recent successes of state-court litigation, forcing more financing for poor children’s schools, as a matter of basic equity. But James Ryan would argue that integration was the best approach. "
Small Schools Are Ahead in Graduation
Date CapturedSaturday June 30 2007, 8:35 AM
NY Time JULIE BOSMAN reports, "Graduation rates at 47 new small public high schools that have opened since 2002 are substantially higher than the citywide average, an indication that the Bloomberg administration’s decision to break up many large failing high schools has achieved some early success. Most of the schools have made considerable advances over the low-performing large high schools they replaced. Eight schools out of the 47 small schools graduated more than 90 percent of their students. One campus of small schools at the old Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, for example, reported a 92 percent four-year graduation rate this month. In 2002, 40 percent of its students graduated."
Rescuing Brown v. Board of Education: Profiles of Twelve School Districts Pursuing Socioeconomic School Integration
Date CapturedFriday June 29 2007, 2:07 PM
By RICHARD D. KAHLENBERG, SENIOR FELLOW AT THE CENTURY FOUNDATION concludes, "Making American schools integrated is tough work, requiring strong political leadership and a sustained commitment to the promise of equal opportunity. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in the Louisville and Seattle cases present new obstacles, but across the country, school districts are not giving up, and indeed, are coming up with an alternative that can be an even more powerful engine for social mobility."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedFriday June 29 2007, 9:12 AM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation -- June 28, 2007, Volume 7, Number 25.
Patrons’ Sway Leads to Friction in Charter School
Date CapturedFriday June 29 2007, 9:04 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, "The Reichs said the problem was that the board was 'constituency-based' and that they wanted members with practical skills like fund-raising or public relations instead. To get the changes, they threatened in a strongly worded letter to cut off their support unless all but three of the board members resigned. Among those told to quit were five parent and faculty representatives. At a board meeting last month, parents lashed out at the Reichs, angrily describing their relationship as that of master and servant or landlord and tenant."
Ruling on race and schools watched
Date CapturedFriday June 29 2007, 8:50 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "A 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that voluntary race-based admission policies in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., schools are unconstitutional threatens Rochester's Urban-Suburban Interdistrict Transfer Program. But Fred Wille, superintendent of Monroe-BOCES I, says the decision won't shelve Rochester's program — the oldest voluntary school desegregation program in the United States. BOCES I coordinates it."
Dropout Rates in the United States: 2005
Date CapturedThursday June 28 2007, 9:02 PM
This report builds upon a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988. It presents estimates of rates for 2005, and provides data about trends in dropout and completion rates over the last three decades (1972-2005), including characteristics of dropouts and completers in these years. Among other findings, the report shows that in students living in low-income families were approximately six times more likely to drop out of high school between 2004 and 2005 than of their peers from high-income families. Laird, J., DeBell, M., Kienzl, G., and Chapman, C. (2007). Dropout Rates in the United States: 2005 (NCES 2007- 059). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved June 28, 2007 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
Use of Race in School Placement Curbed
Date CapturedThursday June 28 2007, 5:59 PM
NY Times reports, "In a decision of sweeping importance to educators, parents and schoolchildren across the country, the Supreme Court today sharply limited the ability of school districts to manage the racial makeup of the student bodies in their schools."
City schools audit points to 'issues'
Date CapturedThursday June 28 2007, 8:50 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said his office has uncovered 'some management issues' within the Poughkeepsie City School District and will release details of the yearlong audit soon."
Union to Help Charter Firm Start School in the Bronx
Date CapturedThursday June 28 2007, 8:46 AM
NY Times reports, "Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school operator from Los Angeles, is seeking to expand into New York with the cooperation of the teachers’ union. Under the proposal, Green Dot, which is heavily financed by the billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, would open a high school in the South Bronx. The school, which must be approved by the state, would become one of only a handful of charter schools in the city to use a union contract."
Not in our school's backyard
Date CapturedThursday June 28 2007, 8:35 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Junior High School 113 parents received notices this week that the city will install one of its new Alternative Learning Centers in the basement of the Fort Greene school. It will be one of 28 such programs slated to open in city schools in September. The centers are revamped versions of Superintendent Suspension Sites, catering to students suspended by superintendents for six to 90 days."
New Hampshire Governor Lynch Signs Law Aimed at Increasing New Hampshire’s High School Graduation Rate
Date CapturedWednesday June 27 2007, 8:54 AM
AllAmericanPatriots.com reports, "New Hampshire Governor John Lynch today signed into law legislation raising the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18, as part of an overall statewide effort to increase New Hampshire’s high school graduation rate. The legislation is one of Gov. Lynch’s top priorities."
Regents: Schools must have contracts of accountability
Date CapturedTuesday June 26 2007, 8:48 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "With the new school year only a few months away, the state Education Department and school officials are racing to get effective accountability contracts in place for 56 school districts receiving large state-aid hikes. The school systems have to develop 'Contracts for Excellence' because they have a minimum of one underperforming school and are getting funding increases of at least $15 million or 10 percent more than last year. Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed the measure, which was included in the Legislature's budget as part of a $7 billion boost in state school aid over four years."
Explain school violence data
Date CapturedTuesday June 26 2007, 8:40 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "Is my child safe at school? There's no more important query for a parent. Government is doing far too little to answer it."
NYS Dept. of Labor to Inspect Employers for Compliance with Child Labor Laws
Date CapturedMonday June 25 2007, 9:02 PM
With the end of the school year, the employment of minors rises dramatically, particularly in the restaurant, retail, construction, and recreational industries, among others. In order to ensure that this summer employment is in compliance with the law, inspectors will visit employers unannounced. Businesses and municipalities that violate the laws are subject to civil penalties, which can be as high as $1,000 per violation for the first offense. During 2006, the NYS Department of Labor cited 252 businesses for child labor violations and collected $120,800 in civil penalties. The NYS child labor laws apply to the employment of all minors under 18 years of age. These laws prohibit particularly dangerous types of employment, such as working with certain kinds of machinery. Child labor laws also set work time limitations for children to prevent them from working excessive hours during the day, or working too late at night. There are also requirements regarding school attendance rules, employment certificates and permits.
Schools call roll at a border crossing
Date CapturedMonday June 25 2007, 8:42 AM
LA Times reports, "Children who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants but live in Mexico cross every morning to get a better education for free in Arizona, breaking the law that requires them to live within the boundaries of the district. To many of their parents, who have ties in both countries, not living in the district is the educational equivalent of jaywalking."
Asbestos in Schools -- The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA)
Date CapturedSunday June 24 2007, 7:13 PM
US Environmental Agency
It's the students who were cheated
Date CapturedSunday June 24 2007, 12:56 PM
Newsday opines, "Don't buy into the argument that the Uniondale scandal is a side-effect of ratcheting up the pressure on school districts to perform better and better on 'high stakes' testing. There's legitimate debate on that issue in the state and around the country, but it's not relevant here. And don't buy into the notion that the investigators were picking on a minority district struggling to improve. No, the issue here is cheating, nothing more and nothing less. And not cheating by students with answers scribbled on their wrists, but by one or more adults responsible for the district's performance."
Bloomberg's Misguided Pay-the-Student Plan
Date CapturedSaturday June 23 2007, 6:15 PM
Huffington Post contributor Diane Ravitch comments, "From the point of view of society, the plan is wrong because it tears at the social fabric of reciprocity and civic responsibility that makes a democratic society function. Should we pay people to drive safely? Should we pay them to stop at red lights? Should we pay citizens for doing the things that good citizens do on their own? The pay-for-behavior plan is anti-democratic, anti-civic, anti-intellectual, and anti-social. It is the essence of the nanny-state run amok."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedFriday June 22 2007, 9:09 AM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation -- June 21, 2007, Volume 7, Number 24.
Evaluation of D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After One Year
Date CapturedFriday June 22 2007, 8:56 AM
The report studies five key outcomes of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: school differences; academic achievement; parental perceptions of school satisfaction and safety; student reports of school satisfaction and safety; and the impact of using a scholarship. The analysis estimates the effects of the program approximately seven months after the start of the students' first school year in the program and finds no statistically significant difference in test scores overall between students who were offered a scholarship and students who were not offered a scholarship. Wolf, Patrick, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, and Marsha Silverberg. Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After One Year. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007.
Voucher Use in Washington Wins Praise of Parents
Date CapturedFriday June 22 2007, 8:53 AM
NY Times reports, "Students who participated in the first year of the District of Columbia’s federally financed school voucher program did not show significantly higher math or reading achievement, but their parents were satisfied anyway, viewing the private schools they attended at taxpayer expense as safer and better than public schools, according to an Education Department study released yesterday. "
Graduation season: Don't forget the dropouts
Date CapturedFriday June 22 2007, 8:29 AM
Ithaca Journal opines, "For those who don't get their high school diploma, the statistics are not promising. Compared with other people their age, the dropout is more likely to end up in prison, divorced, unemployed, living in poverty, unhealthy or receiving public assistance, according to a report on high school dropouts from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The dropout earns about $9,200 less a year than high school graduates. And a study conducted in 2001 found that four out of 10 young adults who did not receive a high school diploma received some type of government assistance. When the Ithaca City School District and the Village at Ithaca published the first Equity Report Card, we were particularly concerned that more than four out of 10 African American, Latino or Native American children who entered ninth grade in 2001 did not graduate in 2005."
Longer school day part of teacher pact
Date CapturedFriday June 22 2007, 8:20 AM
Times Union reports, "The school day will get a little longer in the Albany schools next year under a contract with teachers approved Thursday. In the middle and high schools, there will be 30 more minutes of classroom time each day. In the elementary schools, students will be taught for an extra 15 minutes each day. Students in both schools now spend six hours and 30 minutes in class."
School mixes-up mailings of test results
Date CapturedThursday June 21 2007, 8:52 AM
Newsday reports, "'The people stuffing the envelopes didn't double check that the proper tests were in the proper envelopes,' said Mullin [Fort Salonga Elementary School Principal], who added that she doesn't know how widespread the problem is."
MAYOR MIKE'S POVERTY PERVERSITY
Date CapturedThursday June 21 2007, 8:26 AM
NY Post contributor Nicole Gelinas, contributing editor at City Journal writes, "The program doesn't do anything to address social dysfunction: the normalcy of single motherhood in the targeted neighborhoods, and the fact that kids grow up in such a difficult home environment that they have a hard time learning when they finally get to school - something $5 for a kid to take a test can't help. Worst of all, the mayor's program makes the dangerous assumption that a focus on specific behaviors can replace the traits - self-motivation, personal responsibility and, contrary to the Bloomberg cash offers, an ability to delay gratification - that are behind those behaviors. Bloomberg may instead send an unintended message to the truly dependent among the poor that the government owes them money just to participate minimally in society."
His Charge: Find a Key to Students’ Success
Date CapturedThursday June 21 2007, 8:17 AM
NY Times reports, "His [Roland G. Fryer] first job, though, he said, will be to mine data — from graduation rates to test scores to demographic information — to find out why there are wide gulfs between schools. Why, for example, does one school in Bedford-Stuyvesant do so much better than a school just down the block? And he will monitor the pilot program to pay fourth- and seventh-grade students as much as $500 for doing well on a series of standardized tests. That program will begin in 40 schools this fall. He hopes to find other ways to motivate students. 'I don’t know what it is, but I will tell you what it can’t be,' Dr. Fryer said. 'It can’t be what happened when I was in schools, you know, people come and say, you know, "Go to school and get a good job."’ Words like that, he said, were not enough, because 'this dream that we are all talking about is less tangible to people who have not actually seen someone making the dream real.'”
Principals respond to truant sweep
Date CapturedWednesday June 20 2007, 3:11 PM
Maryland Gazette reports, "The law states that starting in October, students will have to present their school attendance records to the Motor Vehicle Administration to get a driver's permit. Students under the age of 16 with more than 10 unexcused absences in the prior school semester will not be allowed to get a permit."
Production Functions and Cost Functions for Public Education
Date CapturedWednesday June 20 2007, 9:31 AM
A monthly column by EFAP director, John Yinger -- "Economists study the production of a good or service using two closely related tools: production functions and cost functions. A production function shows the outputs that can be produced with various combinations of inputs. A cost function show how much it costs to produce various output levels given input prices. These two tools are widely used in studying public education. Dozens of scholars have used education production functions to estimate the impact of a policy, such as smaller class sizes, on student performance (the output). Many other scholars have studied the cost of reaching various levels of student performance, given the wages that must be paid to attract teachers of a given quality (often called the opportunity wage)."
School is fine - for teachers
Date CapturedWednesday June 20 2007, 9:20 AM
Denver Post columnist Al Knight opines, "Skepticism is the only appropriate response to news that the Denver Public Schools will hold principals and teachers more accountable for low student attendance."
Reforming No Child Left Behind by Allowing States to Opt Out: An A-PLUS for Federalism
Date CapturedTuesday June 19 2007, 5:28 PM
Dan Lips, Education Analyst in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation writes, "After more than four decades of unsuccessful federal intervention, it is time for Congress to con­sider a new approach. Returning greater authority to the states would empower parents, local school leaders, state policymakers, and governors to take responsibility for local schools and implement reforms to strengthen public education."
SENATORS ANNOUNCE NEW LEGISLATION TO COMBAT CASES OF TEACHER-STUDENT SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
Date CapturedTuesday June 19 2007, 12:14 PM
Members of the Senate Majority Conference today announced legislation will be advanced to help combat the sexual abuse of students in New York State. The bill would require the immediate decertification of teachers following a conviction for a serious crime against a child, and also includes a provision that will require schools to contact both the parents of an alleged child victim, as well as law enforcement, whenever a report of abuse is made.
State bill would require campus security plans
Date CapturedTuesday June 19 2007, 9:43 AM
Newsday reports, "State Sen. Kenneth P. LaValle has introduced 'comprehensive campus security plan' legislation that would require all public and private colleges in New York to develop emergency plans, have a relationship with local law enforcement and conduct emergency drills. The bill would also provide $7.1 million to finance more mental health counselors for the state's public colleges in the aftermath of the April massacre at Virginia Tech."
Endangered After-School Programs
Date CapturedTuesday June 19 2007, 9:37 AM
NY Times opines, "More than 200 after-school programs serving kindergarteners through high-school students will have to drastically reduce operations or close unless $30 million can be raised before September. In New York City, the fate of 118 after-school programs, serving almost 20,000 children, is up in the air."
Students must unplug during Regents, or face losing their scores
Date CapturedTuesday June 19 2007, 8:48 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "On orders of the state Education Department, the students are banned from using any "electronic device" during the all-important exams, including bathroom breaks. The ban covers cell phones, MP3 players, pagers, CD players, video devices — and all associated headphones, headsets, microphones and earplugs. 'If your cell phone rings, you may not answer it. If your pager beeps or vibrates, you may not look at it. You must turn these and other such devices OFF right now,' says the statement students hear before exams. Failure to comply vaporizes their score on the test. Students have to pass a battery of the exams to get their high school diplomas, so there is plenty of pressure to cheat."
Most Rockland districts opt for universal pre-k next year
Date CapturedMonday June 18 2007, 9:14 AM
The Journal News reports, "Like Pataki, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has promised increased funds over the next four years until all of New York's 4-year-olds can be part of the program. There are some changes from the original version, however. For the first time, school districts can send a child to a program outside their district, giving parents and districts a wider range of options. Two other pre-kindergarten programs, including the decades-old Experimental (now Targeted) preschool program, have been rolled into Universal pre-K and will share in the same money pool. And instead of a set amount for each participating district, regardless of economic need or location, the state created a sliding scale. School districts can receive anywhere from $2,000 to $5,700 per child. So what's the downside that has some schools refusing the money? It doesn't begin to cover the real costs of child care, which Brown said ran to about $11,000 a year for an infant and $10,500 a year for a pre-schooler in Rockland."
Kids' buses ride a road to peril
Date CapturedMonday June 18 2007, 8:20 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Overall, The News found numerous flaws in the system that's supposed to ensure the buses are safe for city school kids: *Buses breaking down days after winning passing grades from city and/or state safety inspectors. *Drivers saying they are forced to drive unsafe buses. *Bus companies knowing ahead of time about supposedly unannounced inspections."
New Illinois truancy law clashes with federal law
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 11:41 PM
"Another new law is coming that could further drive down truancy rates in Rockford schools. It threatens something that many teenagers hold dear: their driver’s licenses." "Starting July 1, the new state law requires Illinois school districts to report chronic and habitual truants to Secretary of State Jesse White. Students on the list will not be allowed to obtain a learner’s permit or driver’s license until they are 18, unless the School District certifies that the applicant has resumed regular school attendance. Rockford School District attorney Stephen Katz raises one concern with the new law — another law, called the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act, prohibits sharing student records without parental permission to all but a select group of agencies."
Kids don't drop out all of the sudden
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 11:51 AM
Roanoke Times opines, "Addison's reward system proves that dangling carrots does work by giving students an incentive to learn beyond the satisfaction of earning good grades. But so too must schools, starting in the primary grades, use sticks to compel attendance. This means diligently tracking down absentees, talking with the parents, hounding them and, if necessary, taking enforcement action. If Roanoke can get kids coming to school, it stands a better chance of keeping them in school."
Mr. Rivera Goes to Albany -- Is Spitzer’s new education lieutenant a genuine reformer?
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 11:21 AM
City Journal contributor Peter Meyer (Contributing Editor of Education Next) writes, "It was a promising sign, perhaps, that the 57-year-old Rivera, a grandfather, had turned down a cushy $300,000 offer to take the reins of Boston’s 150-school district in order to try to fix—with no real power and a mere $169,000 salary—New York’s 4,448 schools. He had to be nuts—a plus when doing real education reform."
NBC Developing Web Site for Students
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 11:09 AM
NY Times reports, "NBC News actually has, and in a formal presentation to broadcast industry analysts today, the network is to announce an online venture intended as a supplement to Advanced Placement high school courses in three subjects: American history, government and English. The effort, which the network is spending nearly $10 million to develop, draws heavily on its exhaustive film and video archives chronicling the most important events of the last half century, as well as on its best-known journalists, who will have a chance to report on stories that occurred long before they were born."
DOE Officials Field Parents' Questions At Town Hall Meeting
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 10:59 AM
NY1 reports, "Parents with questions about their children's schools got some time with Department of Education officials Saturday. Chief Family Engagement Officer Martine Guerrier led a town hall meeting, open to all parents, at Brooklyn Tech High School in Fort Greene. "
Three Districts Urge Voters to Accept Reduced Budgets
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 10:52 AM
NY Times reports, "ANXIOUS to retain local control, schools leaders in three Westchester districts are urging voters to approve pared-down budget proposals on Tuesday rather than face cuts imposed by the state. District officials in Greenburgh, Mamaroneck and Pleasantville are offering 2007-8 budget proposals that are leaner than those rejected last month. Revamping the original budgets in response to community concerns required eliminating a range of services and items, officials said. For example, Mamaroneck restructured administrative costs by trimming five proposed content directors, Greenburgh cut back hours at the high school fitness center, and Pleasantville dropped plans to buy computer software and eliminated an existing third-grade violin program."
Connecting With the Voters on Bond Issues
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 10:48 AM
NY Times reports, "Voting on school bonds or budgets is often the only time the public gets to give thumbs up or thumbs down to taxes, and in recent years it has been saying no more often."
State toughens its penalties for school truancy
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 10:41 AM
Mainetoday.com reports, "Parents of [Maine] elementary schoolchildren will face larger fines and more intervention from the state if their children miss a lot of school, under a bill passed by the House and Senate this week."
SCHOOL WEAPON-SCAN 'SUCCESS'
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 9:41 AM
NY Post reports, "Students checked more than 1,500 guns, knives and other dangerous items at the door at New York City schools this year - down 18 percent from last year."
GOP tax plan awaits response
Date CapturedSunday June 17 2007, 9:32 AM
Times Herald-Record opines, "Will the state have the $9.5 billion it will need? Why, after the state came up with an extra $1.9 billion in school aid this year, did property taxes not go down this year? Will the Republican estimate of $33 billion in increased revenues over the next five years hold up? And how much of that money will be available for school aid, how much is already earmarked for other programs, how much will be necessary for increases in transportation, health care and other spending? The impact on each community, the potential savings and the likelihood of participation will vary according to the level of taxation. That should make the proposal more palatable to those who worry about giving up control to the state. No other proposed piece of legislation awaiting action in the waning days of the legislative session can compare with this one for impact now and in the future."
Test fraud lands Uniondale schools on probation
Date CapturedFriday June 15 2007, 7:26 PM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "In what appears to be the worst case of test fraud in recent state history, the State Education Department has invalidated all test results in the Uniondale district for last year's math assessments in grades three to eight, together with all math Regents exams at the district's high school. All eight of the district's schools have been placed on academic probation as a result of the state's findings, and could see their state scholastic ratings slip next year if test scores don't improve. However, none of the 5,100 Uniondale students who took those tests have been implicated in the case, and no individual exam scores will be affected."
Good News on Math
Date CapturedFriday June 15 2007, 9:54 AM
NY Times opines, "The new scores won’t be considered fully legitimate until New York’s students are judged on the federally backed National Assessment of Educational Progress. That’s the country’s most rigorous exam and the yardstick for measuring state standards and tests. Even so, all signs suggest that the city and state are on the right track."
School tax elimination proposal widely booed but ignites debate
Date CapturedFriday June 15 2007, 8:21 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "McMahon [director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy] said the proposal was unrealistic because it could essentially force the state to raise income taxes by 25 percent, a move that would further hurt the state's business competitiveness and hammer people who rent rather than own homes. Also, the proposal doesn't include businesses that pay property taxes."
Valley Central hopes to do the No Child Left Behind act one, or two, better
Date CapturedFriday June 15 2007, 7:38 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Every member of the Accountability Task Force has equal leverage. 'We have some teachers (on the task force) who are among the greatest thinkers in the district,' said Hooley, 'and they're not afraid to disagree with me.' When the plan is finished, by the start of the next school year, Valley Central will have an in-house system for measuring expectations and achievement in every department."
Most School Districts Have Developed Emergency Management Plans, but Would Benefit from Additional Federal Guidance
Date CapturedThursday June 14 2007, 2:07 PM
GAO Report: While most school districts have procedures in their plans for staff roles and responsibilities, for example, school districts have not widely employed such procedures as, academic instruction via local radio or television, for continuing student education in the event of an extended school closure, such as might occur during a pandemic. Likewise, while many districts have procedures for special needs students, GAO found during site visits that some of these procedures may not fully ensure the safety of these students in an emergency. Finally, while most school districts practice their emergency management plans annually within the school community, GAO estimates that over one-quarter of school districts have never trained with any first responders and over two-thirds of school districts do not regularly train with community partners on how to implement their school district emergency management plans. Many school districts experience challenges in planning for emergencies, and some school districts face difficulties in communicating and coordinating with first responders and parents, but most do not have such challenges with students. Based on GAO’s survey of school districts, in many school districts officials struggle to balance priorities related to educating students and other administrative responsibilities with activities for emergency management and consider a lack of equipment, training for staff, and personnel with expertise in the area of emergency planning as challenges. In an estimated 39 percent of school districts with emergency management plans, officials experienced a lack of partnerships, limited time or funding to plan, or lack of interoperability between equipment used by school districts and first responders.
Opposing view: We're attacking the issues
Date CapturedThursday June 14 2007, 10:24 AM
USA Today op- ed contributor Hank M. Bounds, Mississippi's education superintendent opines, "In Mississippi, we know real improvement takes more than changing the standard on a test. Clearly, expectations and standards matter, but school leaders must focus on more than just standards. That is why we are increasing the rigor of the curriculum and assessments, increasing the quantity and quality of teachers and administrators, creating a culture that values education, and redesigning education for the 21st century workforce. We have built the most comprehensive plan in the country to attack all of these issues. Overcoming the poverty that has historically kept Mississippi near or at the bottom will not be easy, but it must be done. It is the right thing to do for our children."
GOP: Eliminate Property Tax
Date CapturedThursday June 14 2007, 10:19 AM
WAMC: Senate Republicans have unveiled major property tax reform legislation that would replace the property tax on primary homes as a funding source for public schools with a state subsidy over a five-year period. Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.
School bus bill stalled in Assembly: GOP
Date CapturedThursday June 14 2007, 9:16 AM
NY Daily News reports, "A measure intended to spare kids from the types of school bus abuses documented by the Daily News in a series of reports this year is in danger of dying because of Assembly inaction, Republicans said yesterday. "
Senate approves measure to end property taxes for homeowners
Date CapturedThursday June 14 2007, 9:07 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The head of the state's largest teacher union said he is concerned districts won't receive adequate funding. 'While we understand property tax is something everyone is struggling with ... we don't want to wind up eliminating the property tax and the ability to properly fund schools,' said Richard Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers. Senate Education Committee Chairman Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, said a state takeover of funding would not reduce traditional state aid to schools, though it could limit how much districts spend."
School tax plan passes state Senate -- Bill offers elimination of burden on homeowners
Date CapturedThursday June 14 2007, 8:43 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The measure would allow school districts to call for a public vote on whether to opt into the program, which would phase out property taxes on primary residences over five years. Businesses and apartments would not get the break. If every district entered the program, the state would dole out $9.5 billion annually after five years to districts instead of placing the burden directly on homeowners."
Fuzzy Understandings of FERPA
Date CapturedThursday June 14 2007, 8:16 AM
Inside Higher Ed reports, "A federal report on the Virginia Tech shootings considers the misunderstanding of federal and state privacy laws to be a 'substantial obstacle' to the information sharing needed to protect students."
Report to the President on Issues Raised by the Virginia Tech Tragedy
Date CapturedWednesday June 13 2007, 8:11 PM
Key Findings -- *Critical Information Sharing Faces Substantial Obstacles: Education officials, healthcare providers, law enforcement personnel, and others are not fully informed about when they can share critical information on persons who are likely to be a danger to self or others, and the resulting confusion may chill legitimate information sharing. *Accurate and Complete Information on Individuals Prohibited from Possessing Firearms is Essential to Keep Guns Out of the Wrong Hands: State laws and practices do not uniformly ensure that information on persons restricted from possessing firearms is appropriately captured and available to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). *Improved Awareness and Communication are Key to Prevention: It is important that parents, students, and teachers learn to recognize warning signs and encourage those who need help to seek it, so that people receive the care they need and our communities are safe. *It is Critical to Get People with Mental Illness the Services They Need: Meeting the challenge of adequate and appropriate community integration of people with mental illness requires effective coordination of community service providers who are sensitive to the interests of safety, privacy, and provision of care. *Where We Know What to Do, We Have to be Better at Doing It: For the many states and communities that have already adopted programs, including emergency preparedness and violence prevention plans, to address school and community violence, the challenge is fully implementing these programs through practice and effective communication.
This Is a Test. Results May Vary.
Date CapturedWednesday June 13 2007, 10:25 AM
NY Times reports, "Mr. Tobias [directs the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education} said officials generally did not analyze high scores as aggressively as falling ones, and his remark betrays a weary understanding of educational politics. 'Why would you take away your own good story?' he said."
It all adds up to success
Date CapturedWednesday June 13 2007, 10:15 AM
NY Daily News opines, "Next year, Bloomberg and Klein are giving teachers the ability to closely track how well students are learning, so those who lag can get immediate special attention. And the mayor and chancellor are giving parents report cards that will grade how individual schools are working. The trends are moving in the right direction after years of stagnation, and the innate abilities of thousands of kids are finally being unlocked."
Elmira Heights board OKs changes in school day
Date CapturedWednesday June 13 2007, 8:47 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "Superintendent Mary Beth Fiore, who presented the plan to the board at its regular meeting, said the revised schedule will add 30 to 45 minutes of instruction time each day in the elementary grades."
My View: Ignore the Albany circus and report on the tax tragedy
Date CapturedWednesday June 13 2007, 8:29 AM
Times Herald-Record op-ed contributor Antonio J. Gajate opines, "The lack of a meaningful nonpartisan response from the Albany Legislature to the demands for property tax reform in this state seems to be running neck and neck with the lack of reporting by the Times Herald-Record about all the work being done by grass-roots groups throughout the region and the state regarding property tax reform, particularly how it relates to school funding."
STATEWIDE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IMPROVES ACROSS GRADES 3-8 ON 2007 MATH TESTS
Date CapturedWednesday June 13 2007, 7:58 AM
NY SED press release: Achievement in grade 3-8 math has improved overall this year, according to State test results announced today by Regents Chancellor Robert M. Bennett and State Education Commissioner Richard Mills. The improvement is notable in middle school, from grades 5-8. This year, 73 percent of students across grades 3-8 achieved the math standards, compared to 66 percent last year. Fewer students also are showing serious academic problems in all grades. The achievement gap narrowed. Across grades 3-8, the number of black students achieving the standards increased from 46 percent last year to 55 percent this year. The number of Hispanic students achieving the standards increased from 52 percent last year to 61 percent this year. White students increased from 76 to 82 percent. Results for students with disabilities also improved overall.
Law aims to shield kids -- Schenectady County passes housing rules for sex convicts
Date CapturedWednesday June 13 2007, 7:53 AM
Times Union reports, "Convicted sex offenders across Schenectady County will be forced to move if they live near schools, day care centers and playgrounds, under a new county law enacted late Tuesday. The change requires sex offenders -- at every level -- to leave their homes starting Oct. 1, should they reside within 2,000 feet of public parks, pools and playgrounds, as well as schools, day care and youth facilities. Under a second law which takes effect immediately, offenders cannot move within 2,000 feet of such areas."
Anti-truancy efforts begin to pay off for Rockford
Date CapturedTuesday June 12 2007, 9:41 AM
Rockford Register opines, "Truancy court may seem harsh, but it is not nearly as harsh as life without a good education. Kids who go to school regularly get better grades. Students who enjoy success at school are more likely to graduate. Teens who graduate are more likely to get better jobs and earn more money to support themselves and their families. Truant students are three times more likely to turn to crime than those who attend school regularly. We have a new jail for those students, but would rather see them turn their lives around than become guests at the criminal justice complex."
Truants dent Texas wallet
Date CapturedTuesday June 12 2007, 9:11 AM
Galveston Daily News reports, "Truant students will cost Galveston public school district thousands of dollars in state money this year, a Region IV consultant told trustees last week. School districts receive funding based on average daily attendance. Records show that Galveston Independent School District’s absenteeism rate was so high in 2006-07 that, on average, each student missed 9.9 days during the year, said Jim Vinson, who conducted an audit on the district’s public education information management system (PEIMS) reports."
New York City math scores climb
Date CapturedTuesday June 12 2007, 7:46 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "Fourth-graders did better than last year, but their 74.1% passing rate was less than their peers in 2005, when 77.4% passed. This year's eighth-graders had the highest passing rate since 1999 with 45.7% passing, compared with the previous high of 42.4% in 2004. In 1999, 2000 and 2001, less than 23% of eighth-graders passed. Sol Stern, a frequent Bloomberg critic and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said the scores 'are better than being flat,' but grumbled: 'If that's all you can produce with 15 extra school days [the sum of 37-1/2 minutes over a year], 4 billion extra dollars, thousands of extra teachers and a greater emphasis on test preparation, I don't think it's spectacular. It's not worth the Nobel Prize.'"
Schools call 4-day week a success
Date CapturedMonday June 11 2007, 1:42 PM
Deseret Morning News reports, "Student absences are down. Learning time is up. And people are happy. The four-day school week Rich School District started this past school year is going well, Superintendent Dale Lamborn and Rich Board of Education members told the [Utah] State Board of Education on Thursday. Students go to school Monday through Thursday. Fridays are typically set aside for athletic events under the three-year program approved by the State Board of Education last year."
Plan to pay kids for grades sees success, and suspicion
Date CapturedMonday June 11 2007, 1:36 PM
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE reports, "The cash-for-kids incentives that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Education officials are considering in a bid to boost attendance and marks are similar to what the 2,000-student district in Coshocton, Ohio, has tried for three years. And so far, so good, according to Conshocton's School Superintendent Wade Lucas."
A Spectrum of Disputes
Date CapturedMonday June 11 2007, 8:22 AM
NY Times op-ed contributors Paul T. Shattuck, an assistant professor at Washington University’s School of Social Work and Maureen Durkin, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health write, "The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 1 in 150 8-year-old children are on the “autism spectrum.” This proportion is alarming if compared directly to estimates of the frequency of autism before the 1990s, which were in the range of 1 per 2,000 to 5,000. But does this really mean we have a growing autism epidemic, or have we just become better at counting autistic traits in the population that have always been there at roughly the same level?"
Questions, answers about No Child Left Behind
Date CapturedMonday June 11 2007, 7:20 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "The No Child Left Behind law has set a 2014 deadline for states to make public school students proficient in math and reading, but each state decides how to meet that goal. Some states have adopted strategies that disguise how far students still are from achieving proficiency, as measured by the one federal test administered in all 50 states.
School district aims to improve summer for homeless kids
Date CapturedMonday June 11 2007, 6:55 AM
Kingston Freeman reports, "The Kingston school district is preparing its annual summer recreation services for homeless children in hopes of offering a stable activity amid the chaos of changing beds and homes.
Recommendations to Reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Date CapturedSunday June 10 2007, 1:20 PM
Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
New York Suburban School Districts Among Top Spenders
Date CapturedSunday June 10 2007, 10:43 AM
NY Times reports, "New York’s high teacher costs are partly attributable to smaller class sizes: The state’s suburban districts, for instance, employ far more teachers than the rest of the country — 76 per 1,000 students, compared with the national average of 60 — but only slightly more than the New Jersey suburbs, at 74, and Fairfield, at 70. New York’s suburban districts, though, pay more for each teacher, even compared with New Jersey and Connecticut — about $133,000 in salary and benefits for each full-time teacher, compared with $94,000 in northern New Jersey and $100,000 in Fairfield, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Mr. Ernst said teacher salaries reflect higher costs in the state, and a more favorable legal and political atmosphere for labor in New York that makes it difficult to get concessions in years when money is tight. But Richard C. Iannuzzi, president of the New York State United Teachers, said teacher salaries were simply a further demonstration of the state’s commitment to education."
Buffalo Public Schools see dire straits if city wage freeze is lifted
Date CapturedSunday June 10 2007, 10:12 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Lifting the wage freeze will eat up the Buffalo Public Schools’ $16.4 million rainy day fund in the next four years, shut down the recently established junior varsity sports program and force the layoff of 90 staff members and the closing of five schools, system officials say. Those projections get far worse if the Buffalo Teachers Federation wins an impending court battle and the school system is forced to pay workers for four steps on the salary ladder rather than just one, said Gary M. Crosby, chief operations and financial officer."
A+ on school safety
Date CapturedSunday June 10 2007, 10:04 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Schools have experienced a 33% drop in serious crime, a 40% decline in weapons changes and a 50% drop in sexual assaults since the NYPD took over security five years ago, Kelly [Police Commissioner] notes. This academic year alone, the NYPD has seized 23 guns, 111 pellet guns, 224 knives and 135 box cutters. The department has placed a mix of regular police officers and NYPD-trained school safety agents, who are not armed, in city schools."
Send charter law to reform school
Date CapturedSunday June 10 2007, 9:44 AM
Times Union op-ed contributor Thomas Rogers, executive director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents opines, "Until the state pays the bulk of the costs, local districts -- whose taxpayers finance charter schools -- must have more say regarding charter school approval and renewal. The current system makes charter schools and district schools into enemies, instead of collaborators. Other statutory reforms must include: Robust oversight and consequences for academic failure. A state-financed safety net to accommodate enrollment fluctuations. Penalties for charter schools that plan poorly or send students back to the district schools. Downward recalculations in funding if charters do not enroll disabled students in proportions similar to district schools. Timelines for major decisions, scheduled to permit adequate planning by school districts and informed voting by the public. Prohibitions on management companies taking profits from academically failing schools."
Cash is cool: Mike
Date CapturedSaturday June 09 2007, 8:12 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Mayor Bloomberg defended a controversial proposal to pay kids for high test scores yesterday, but said there are no specific plans to make it happen."
Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment, High School Completions, and Staff From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2005-06
Date CapturedFriday June 08 2007, 10:43 AM
This report presents 2005-06 school year information at the national and state level on student enrollment by grade, numbers of teachers and other education staff, numbers of high school completers, and the averaged freshman graduaution rate for 2004-05.
Study: Big Differences in State Tests
Date CapturedThursday June 07 2007, 11:04 AM
AP Nancy Zuckerbrod reports, "The federal government's first-ever comparison of how states test for student progress in school shows big variations across the nation. For example, a reading score that rates a fourth-grader 'proficient' in Mississippi would be a failing score in Massachusetts, according to a report released Thursday by the Education Department."
City Nonprofit Group Gets Money for Merit Pay at Charter Schools
Date CapturedThursday June 07 2007, 10:05 AM
NY Times reports, "The United States Department of Education has awarded a $10.5 million grant to a New York City nonprofit group to create merit pay systems in 10 local charter schools, local and federal education officials announced yesterday. The grant, to be spent over five years, will allow the charter schools to pay annual performance bonuses of up to $8,000 for school supervisors, $6,000 for teachers and $2,000 for aides."
Four simple steps can boost grad rate Reworking Rochester: Schools
Date CapturedThursday June 07 2007, 6:41 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Michael Christman, president of the New York State Institute of Educational Excellence opines, "An examination of district data provides us with four simple steps that can be accomplished now: Ensure that all students attend school regularly; ensure that all students are safe while at school; ensure that all students take the coursework necessary to graduate; and ensure that everyone is held accountable for the outcome."
Boosting safety on campuses
Date CapturedThursday June 07 2007, 6:33 AM
Newsday reports, "James McCartney, president of the New York State University Police Officers Union, which represents about 400 university police officers and investigators, said more officers are needed, and some officers on smaller campuses in particular are not adequately trained."
Harpursville schools cleared of discrimination charges
Date CapturedWednesday June 06 2007, 9:24 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The Harpursville Central School District has been cleared of charges that it discriminated against its female athletes. In a decision dated June 1, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights concluded there is insufficient evidence to support any of the three allegations filed against the rural Broome County district."
Ten States Awarded Grants to Help Expand School Choice
Date CapturedWednesday June 06 2007, 9:21 AM
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today that ten states have been awarded a total of $284 million to help create new charter schools and increase the school choices that parents have to provide to their children.
Schools failing to secure exams
Date CapturedWednesday June 06 2007, 9:01 AM
Times Union reports, "Several school districts sampled statewide failed to properly protect Regents exams before they were administered, a state comptroller's office report released Tuesday said. The state Education Department ships the Regents materials in sealed packages that are locked inside boxes, according to the report, released by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Schools are required to inventory the packages and place them back in the boxes in a safe or vault until exam day."
Foster Care Children Need Better Educational Opportunities
Date CapturedTuesday June 05 2007, 3:33 PM
Dan Lips, Education Analyst in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation writes, "Federal, state, and local policymakers should amend existing programs to improve education options for foster children. As policymakers design these reforms, they should consider four important principles. *New education options for foster children should be structured to address potential legal and constitutional questions. *Opportunity scholarship programs should be structured to ensure that they do not cre­ate adverse incentives for placement and adoption. *Scholarship programs should be designed to address non-tuition costs and considerations arising from school choice. *Policymakers should consult with people and organizations in the foster care community when designing their initiatives to ensure that policies best meet foster children's needs."
Some High Schools Avoid Valedictorians
Date CapturedTuesday June 05 2007, 10:20 AM
NPR Morning Edition, June 4, 2007 -- Steve Inskeep reports, "Some high schools are getting rid of a senior class tradition — naming a valedictorian. They say that lowering competition among students is better for their overall success. Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota will graduate its last valedictorians this year. Next year, exceptional students will receive just an honors diploma."
Changes in Instructional Hours in Four Subjects by Public School Teachers of Grades 1 Through 4
Date CapturedTuesday June 05 2007, 10:14 AM
Authors: Beth A. Morton, Education Statistical Services Institute--American Institutes for Research, and Ben Dalton, formerly of the Education Statistical Services Institute--Americian Institutes for Research. In the two most recent administrations, 1999-2000 and 2003-04, weekly teacher instructional hours in English increased while instructional time in mathematics, social studies, and science decreased. Despite the fluctuations in hours of instruction, total instructional time in the four subjects as a percentage of the student school week did not change significantly between 1987-88 and 2003-04; it was about 67 percent of the school week in each year.
Poll: Schools aren't meeting data-storage rules
Date CapturedMonday June 04 2007, 2:10 PM
eSchoolNews reports, "Six months after new federal rules mandated that schools, businesses, and other organizations keep tabs on all digital communications produced by their employees, an informal survey of K-12 school districts by data-management company CommVault suggests that most schools still aren't prepared to meet the new requirements."
Texas school ready for handheld computers
Date CapturedMonday June 04 2007, 11:23 AM
Baytown Sun reports, "Each of the 350 students will receive a specially designed handheld computer on which they can type notes, exchange e-mails with teachers and fellow students, create and view customized graphic animations and multimedia presentations, present their projects to the class and research topics on the Internet."
Dealing with a batty situation: Wood vs. metal
Date CapturedMonday June 04 2007, 11:17 AM
USA Today Jack Carey reports, "Proponents of the new law say metal bats increase the risk of injury because balls come off faster, giving players less time to react. Metal bat advocates say there's no proof they're less safe than wood."
‘Failing’ schools to get axe - DOE decides to reshuffle the deck once more
Date CapturedMonday June 04 2007, 11:08 AM
Bay Ridge Courier reports, "Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced plans to revamp 'failing' alternative schools and programs due to poor attendance and success rates. To be eliminated are schools for pregnant girls, New Beginnings centers, which take in disruptive students, and many schools operated by Offsite Educational Services (OES), the alternative high school system that helps students earn General Equivalency Diplomas (GED) and offers small learning environments."
A game plan for state universities
Date CapturedMonday June 04 2007, 10:59 AM
Ithaca Journal Jay Gallagher opines, "The idea that more classes and a longer school year equals more value to the student may be a hard sell, but it is an approach that would certainly distinguish SUNY from many of its peer institutions. Maybe some day SUNY could challenge the University of North Carolina or UCLA to have all of its English majors, say, take the same test and see who does better."
State improves tracking of student performance, information
Date CapturedSunday June 03 2007, 10:18 AM
The Journal News reports, "Because every public school and charter school student has been given a unique 10-digit identification number, it is possible to track students as they move from school to school, anywhere in the state. That will help the state develop more accurate graduation and dropout rates. The system, which will be maintained by an outside contractor, also holds the promise of richer analysis of student performance. Musser said it would be possible, for example, to analyze the relationship between a pupil's performance on third-grade tests and his or her achievement in upper grades. Such research will help the state and schools develop education policy and help students who are poor performers in lower grades be able to pass high school Regents exams."
Local schools make radical changes to battle dropout rate
Date CapturedSunday June 03 2007, 10:10 AM
The Journal News reports, "From creating evening and weekend classes to instituting formal programs that allow students five years to graduate, the schools have made radical changes in an effort to boost achievement and keep kids in school. But officials say there are more complex reasons behind this life-changing decision made by too many teens. Often, schools are blamed for a student's choice to leave, but educators say many drop out for myriad reasons, including incarceration, drug abuse, problems at home or other reasons outside the purview of the classroom."
My faith is in cash; City's public education stinks, so I gave Catholic schools $22.5M
Date CapturedSunday June 03 2007, 9:19 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "Wilson, who was married but has no children, is himself the product of public schools. But that was back before teachers were unionized, he said. Wilson angered city teachers union President Randi Weingarten when he used the announcement of his big gift last month to blame unions for the problems with schools. And, during his 90-minute sitdown with The News, he continued his assault, repeatedly knocking unions for 'feather-bedding' and creating a 'rigidity' that hurts kids. He said he wants to help Catholic schools both because he thinks they're better and because they're 'under siege' from unions determined to 'deprive them of a shred of government money.'"
Driving privilege linked to attendance helps keep students in school
Date CapturedSaturday June 02 2007, 10:42 AM
Jackson County Floridan reports, "When high school graduation ceremonies took place across Florida recently, it's probable a state attendance law passed in 2004 kept at least some of the students from dropping out."
Auburn schools fight poor attendance
Date CapturedSaturday June 02 2007, 10:35 AM
Post-Standard reports, "He [Auburn schools Superintendent John Plume] addressed the problem in this month's district newsletter and said the district will take these steps in 2007-08: *Attempt to list attendance records on student transcripts that are reviewed by colleges and businesses. *Make more calls to parents and dole out more consequences for unexcused tardiness and absences. *Give students with the best attendance first crack at taking driving classes in the summer. 'However, little will change unless students want to be in school and parents and community members help boost the importance of improved attendance,' he said in the newsletter."
Demilitarizing What the Pentagon Knows About Developing Young People: A New Paradigm for Educating Students Who Are Struggling in School and in Life
Date CapturedFriday June 01 2007, 12:53 PM
CCF Working Paper, May 2007, Hugh B. Price, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies. "Millions of adolescents are marginalized academically and destined for oblivion in the twenty-first century economy. They barely, if at all, will be able to uphold their obligations as citizens and providers. The U.S. military figured out how to nurture and unleash the potential of young people like these generations ago. By demilitarizing and deploying what the Pentagon knows about educating and developing aimless young people, these troubled and troublesome young Americans can be transformed into a valued social and economic asset to our nation."
The Condition of Education 2007
Date CapturedFriday June 01 2007, 12:37 PM
This website is an integrated collection of the indicators and analyses published in The Condition of Education 2000–2007. Some indicators may have been updated since they appeared in print.
OH, MANN! PREP SCHOOL GAGGED
Date CapturedFriday June 01 2007, 7:55 AM
NY Post reports, "Posh Riverdale prep school Horace Mann is giving its students an education in totalitarianism. The student newspaper The Record was banned from publishing two letters to the editor as well as an op-ed piece about the firing of Professor Andrew Trees."
Report shows schools' progress under No Child Left Behind Act
Date CapturedThursday May 31 2007, 7:55 PM
AP reports, "Almost half the eligible schools in New York received ratings of 'High Performing/Gap Closing' for the 2005-2006 school year under the No Child Left Behind Act, state education officials said Thursday. The 1,658 public schools, 14 charter schools and 288 public school districts got the designation for meeting all applicable state standards and showing adequate progress in English and math for two years. They included 1,120 elementary schools, 301 middle and 251 high schools. Another 220 public schools, six charter schools and 26 districts were designated 'Rapidly Improving' -- about 6 percent of those eligible -- because they were below state standards in at least one subject but improving. The 148 elementary, 44 middle and 34 high schools improved for three straight school years."
Facing Federal Cuts, High School Yields to Military Recruiters
Date CapturedThursday May 31 2007, 10:13 AM
Daily Californian reports, "High schools are required to release the information of all juniors and seniors under the No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2002. However, Berkeley High had not been releasing the data, instead giving students the option to elect to have their information passed on, Coplan [district spokesperson] said."
Capping property tax is way to escape 'tax hell'
Date CapturedThursday May 31 2007, 9:37 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin op-ed contributor Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco opines, "A property tax-cap on its own would have merit, but our plan goes much further in assisting local school districts and municipalities with costs. It: * requires that the state pay for any mandate it imposes on a school district or municipality that costs more than $10,000 a year or $1 million statewide. * provides 100 percent reimbursement to schools for costs incurred in administering fourth- and eighth-grade math and English tests. * creates an Office of State Inspector General for Education to investigate financial abuse, corruption and misconduct in schools. * consolidates school district paperwork requirements. * lets neighboring school districts and municipalities join to pool their risks and so lower their health-insurance costs."
New Covenant's fate
Date CapturedThursday May 31 2007, 9:29 AM
Times Union opines, "Whatever meeting, or review, is planned should have been held long ago, before New Covenant officials decided to announce the school's closing. As for any new information that might be presented, it is beside the point. What matters is what has long been known about New Covenant -- some of the lowest test scores in the Capital Region and, in view of the State University of New York, which granted the charter, a chaotic environment. New Covenant has had time enough to prove itself. It hasn't."
ELIOT'S ODD ED. REFORMERS
Date CapturedThursday May 31 2007, 9:05 AM
NY Post opines, "Under Goldstein, CUNY accepts every New Yorker with a high-school diploma who wishes to attend. Not everyone starts at the senior-college level, but everyone can earn a spot - over time, with hard work. He's shown the way. Will Spitzer's panel follow? "
New Jersey charter schools deserve larger share of state aid package
Date CapturedWednesday May 30 2007, 10:16 AM
Asbury Park Press reports, "A couple of real-life scenarios illustrate the impact of the state's policies toward charter schools: Two siblings in Newark attend different public schools: One attends North Star Academy Charter School and has an almost certain prospect of attending a four-year college. The other child attends East Side High School and has only a 15 percent chance of attending a four-year college. The child who attends East Side High School receives $17,974 in education funding, and the child who attends North Star is funded at $10,582, or 59 percent of his sister's funding level. Two young brothers share a room and live with their single mother in an apartment in Red Bank. One attends Red Bank Middle School, the other Red Bank Charter School. The boy at Red Bank Middle School will receive Targeted At-Risk Aid (TARA) funding next year, while his brother at Red Bank Charter will not. Each pair of siblings comes from the same home and therefore shares the same socioeconomic backgrounds, challenges and needs, yet they are not treated equally by the state."
Institute for Student Achievement Receives $18,000 Investment From the Long Island Community Foundation
Date CapturedWednesday May 30 2007, 10:09 AM
This grant will support ISA's partnership with Hempstead High School, where ISA is working to transform the school into four small, personalized and academically small learning communities that graduate students on time and college ready. The conversion of Hempstead High School brings together three institutions, ISA, Adelphi University and the Hempstead School District, that share a vision for the development of Hempstead High School into a school of academic excellence. This transformation represents a critical "first" for Long Island, as it is the most ambitious conversion of a large, comprehensive high school ever to be undertaken in the region. The conversion of the school, which serves approximately 1,800 students, will not be merely the downsizing of a large school. It will be a culture shift -- from a community characterized by low expectations, impersonal relationships and poor instruction -- to a school characterized by high expectations, high student academic achievement and a personalized learning environment that welcomes students and parents. This shift will result in an increased student attendance rate, an increased course passing rate and an increased graduation rate.
New York Is Top State in Dollars Per Student
Date CapturedWednesday May 30 2007, 9:23 AM
NY Times reports, "Nationwide, public school districts spent an average of $8,701 per student on elementary and secondary education in the 2005 fiscal year, 5 percent more than in the previous year. New York, which also came in highest last year, spent $14,119 per student, followed by New Jersey at $13,800, Vermont at $11,838 and Connecticut at $11,572."
Real education begins at home, especially in summer
Date CapturedWednesday May 30 2007, 9:16 AM
Times Herald-Record op-ed contributor Dorothy Rich, founder and president of the nonprofit Home and School Institute, MegaSkills Education Center in Washington opines, "In the light of what we are learning about how many children today are feeling lonely, it is more important than ever for families to use time off from school to help children feel loved and be able to do better when schools come back into session again."
ELIOT'S COLLEGE TRY
Date CapturedWednesday May 30 2007, 9:01 AM
NY Post op-ed contributor THOMAS W. CARROLL, a graduate of SUNY-Albany and president of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability opines on considerations, "Creating a new school of education focused less on education theory and more on proven teaching techniques. Right now, the best urban schools in the state - including those run by KIPP Achievement First and Uncommon Schools - have to retrain and 'reprogram' teachers who've graduated from even the 'best' ed schools. Why not let these successful schools design from scratch an ed school that gets it right the first time?"
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedTuesday May 29 2007, 5:04 PM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; May 24, 2007, Volume 7, Number 20
At Black Colleges, Door Open for Whites
Date CapturedTuesday May 29 2007, 10:24 AM
AP reports, "The first of what are now called historically black colleges and universities was Cheyney University in Pennsylvania, which was founded in 1837 so that blacks -- barred from attending many traditional schools -- could get advanced educations. Since then, more than 100 such institutions have been established in the U.S. and about 285,000 students attend the schools each year. Lawsuits have forced many of the schools -- about half of them are public -- to diversify their student bodies, Baskerville said. In the 2005-06 school year, nearly 10 percent of their students were white, according to her association's data. Scholarships, new programs and recruitment have attracted dozens of whites to schools such as South Carolina State University, where they account for around 4 percent of the student body, said university spokeswoman Erica Prioleau."
Oneida mayor: Schools should run sports camps
Date CapturedMonday May 28 2007, 9:08 AM
Post-Standard reports, "The Oneida Recreation Department will not offer any summer sports camps this year after Mayor Leo Matzke decided the programs should be run by the city school district because they take place at school facilities."
Literacy, really
Date CapturedMonday May 28 2007, 8:59 AM
The Journal News opines, "For starters, school leaders must have high expectations for all staff and students, and quickly supply academic interventions for struggling students. Mills [New York State Commissioner of education] also said that infusing literacy, the ability to read and write well, into every facet of schooling must be paramount. Written answers, say, on a chemistry test, actually have to be properly constructed with correct spelling and grammar. "Literacy,'' Mills said, "must be emphasized across all subjects.'' The other testing area that "most people predicted doom in,'' the commissioner said, was the performance this year of "English Language Learners'' who have been in the country at least a year and now are required by NCLB to take the same English tests as peers; previously students could get a waiver of three years of more. More than double the number of such students took the tests this year - 72,000-plus - yet a higher percentage met or exceeded the standard than last year, 18 percent to 16.2 percent statewide. Not great, but not doom."
A property tax outcry, but little else
Date CapturedMonday May 28 2007, 8:40 AM
Times Union reports, ""We are bombarding Farrell, saying get that bill out of Ways and Means,' said tax activist Gioia Shebar. Farrell, a former state Democratic chairman, heads the Ways and Means Committee, which controls tax policy bills in the Assembly. A top aide to the Assemblyman says Farrell hasn't ruled out action on the bill. But Farrell's constituents live in Manhattan, and property taxes probably aren't a top priority among them. New York City schools rely far less on property taxes, so tax rates in the city are lower than in the rest of the state. Of the 107 Democrats who control the 150-seat Assembly, 65 represent districts in New York City. Assembly Democrats also are closely aligned with the state's major teachers union, New York State United Teachers, which is cautious about moving away from property taxes to finance schools. One factor behind policymakers' preference for the property tax is its stability. Revenue from income taxes tends to fluctuate with the economy, while property taxes, which people will pay before they pay other bills, are reliable. 'One of the things we've always been concerned about is a stable funding source for schools,' said NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn."
Teachin' substance with style; Grand Concourse charter school tops city's 4th-grade test scores
Date CapturedSunday May 27 2007, 4:23 PM
NY Daily News Ethan Rouen reports, "The teachers often work 13-hour days, meeting with parents, grading weekly book reports and testing students every other month. Following tests, students are regrouped based on their performance. The school frowns on social promotion, refusing to graduate unprepared students based on age or parent pressure. The repetitive testing also serves as a way for Victor to grade his teachers."
Greece schools seek alternate plan for buses
Date CapturedSunday May 27 2007, 4:07 PM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "On May 15, voters rejected a proposition that called for $1.6 million in financing to purchase 27 new buses to replace old buses the district planned to retire. Voters also rejected the school budget; $21.4 million in state aid-funded repairs and renovations; and setting up a savings account to pay for future bus replacements. The board of education adopted an austerity budget on May 22."
Charter Schools Look to Address Educational Woes
Date CapturedSaturday May 26 2007, 8:49 AM
NPR News & Notes, May 25, 2007 · Charter schools are an increasingly popular alternative to traditional public schools. Ted Hamory, co-founder of New City Public Schools, and Jennifer Stern, a partner in the Charter School Growth Fund, talk to Farai Chideya about whether these schools are living up to their hype.
Secretary Spellings Approves Additional Growth Model Pilots for 2006-2007 School Year
Date CapturedSaturday May 26 2007, 8:44 AM
The Department intends to gather data to test the idea that growth models can be fair, reliable and innovative methods to measure student improvement and to hold schools accountable for results. Growth models track individual student achievement from one year to the next, giving schools credit for student improvement over time. The pilot program enables the Department to rigorously evaluate growth models and ensure their alignment with NCLB, and to share these results with other States.
State warns KIPP school to shape up or be closed
Date CapturedSaturday May 26 2007, 8:33 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Buffalo’s KIPP Sankofa Charter School, considered a promising alternative for inner-city middle school students when it opened in 1993, is plagued by failure and is fighting for its life. The school, located in the Central Park Plaza, was recently cited by the state’s Charter Schools Institute for low test scores, high teacher turnover, severe disciplinary problems, poor teacher training and failure to use test score data to guide instruction."
New Yorkers' per-pupil school spending moves from third highest to highest, Census Bureau data show
Date CapturedFriday May 25 2007, 1:38 PM
By Matthew Maguire and Claire Hazzard
Steroids testing in high schools long overdue
Date CapturedFriday May 25 2007, 10:35 AM
Newsday Jim Baumbach writes, "Last year New Jersey installed a statewide random testing program for teams in all sports that qualify for the championships. Texas and Florida also have begun the process of random steroid testing. But Weisenberg's (Assemblyman) steroid-testing bill outdated those states by many, many years, yet it hasn't seen the light of day. It's been passed by the Senate numerous times and in January was passed on to the education committee, which is where it sits down. But there's still little hope. Weisenberg said he's managed to get it passed through the education committee in the past, but it has never made it past the codes committee, which oversees all new laws with penalties. But Weisenberg said the bill does not advocate seeking criminal offense for a failed steroid test. Instead, it seeks to use a failed test as a way to educate the athlete. 'There are no consequences,' he said. 'The consequences are that you have to get psychological help. Families need to understand the consequences of being involved in steroids.' Here's the exact wording of the summary listed on the bill: 'Requires the education department to establish guidelines for drug testing of student athletes by public and non-public school authorities wishing to conduct such testing; specifies that student and parent or guardian must consent to testing; makes numerous related provisions; establishes the class C felony of criminal sale of an anabolic steroid to a minor or, being over 21 years of age, knowingly and unlawfully selling an anabolic steroid to a person who is under 21 years of age; establishes state grants to school districts for the cost of testing students for anabolic steroid use, and appropriates $5,000,000 therefor.'"
GOLD-PLATED SCHOOLS
Date CapturedFriday May 25 2007, 10:11 AM
NY Post opines, "To be sure, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein have made some gains in New York's schools. But the tax burden - in the suburbs and upstate in particular - has long since passed acceptable levels. The state's economy, outside Manhattan, is suffering dearly for it. Bottom line? Potential investors in New York - the kind who create jobs - got a heads-up from the Census Bureau yesterday: Look elsewhere."
Buffalo superintendent gets locked in
Date CapturedFriday May 25 2007, 10:00 AM
Buffalo News opines, "Even though the superintendent’s contract was extended by a board in a better position to evaluate him, he now faces a tougher task than he would have in forging teamwork with a new board and new board members who were shut out of this decision. Both sides should get past that hurdle and get to work on the real needs of the district, its employees and, most of all, its schoolchildren."
Vote on Buffalo superintendent pact angers newcomers
Date CapturedFriday May 25 2007, 9:46 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Board President Florence D. Johnson and a school system attorney refused to provide a copy of the contract extension Wednesday evening and Thursday, saying it had not been notarized. Camille Jobin-Davis, assistant director of the state Committee on Open Government, said Thursday that is not a legitimate reason to deny access. 'This is a public record,' she said. 'Whether or not it’s been notarized wouldn’t have a bearing. It should be made available.'”
Where's my school tax rebate?
Date CapturedFriday May 25 2007, 9:20 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "The confusion stems from the Legislature's insistence on doling out the relief as post-school-tax rebates. That's instead of taking it off the top of school tax bills, like Gov. Eliot Spitzer wanted. It's a complex proposition because Spitzer preferred to distribute the relief based on income levels. So, unlike the rebates that were automatically mailed out last year, the state's 3.3 million homeowners will have to apply for their checks."
N.Y. SCHOOLKIDS AT HEAD OF THE CLA$$
Date CapturedFriday May 25 2007, 8:59 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "According to the data, which considered the 2004-05 school year, New York state spent $14,119 per student, outpacing its neighbors and leaving the national average of $8,701 in the dust."
Schenectady City schools could lose police presence
Date CapturedFriday May 25 2007, 8:51 AM
Times Union reports, "The assignment of police officers to the city schools could be a casualty of the Police Department's effort to get more officers on the street. Police Department spokesman Lt. Peter Frisoni said no decisions have been made, but the six school resource officer positions and the single officer assigned to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program could be reassigned to new beats as the department tries to overcome a persistent staff shortage."
School board e-mail exchange could violate open meeting law
Date CapturedThursday May 24 2007, 10:09 AM
Palo Alto Daily News reports, "Digital correspondence including the entire board 'comes very close to a Brown Act violation if it doesn't cross the line,' said Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition."
Ottumwa, IOWA school parents peeved over policy
Date CapturedThursday May 24 2007, 8:19 AM
The Ottumwa Courier reports, "The district’s attendance policy, which went district-wide the first day of this school year, allows a virtually unlimited amount of 'excused' absences approved by a doctor or school nurse. Parents can only keep a child out six days without proof. After six 'unexcused' absences, the district starts sending letters stressing the importance of attendance. Successive letters contain stronger, more insistent language. If those do not work, the district orders an attendance hearing with the parents. If ignored, they can bring in the county attorney. 'These are threats and strong-arm tactics that are going to alienate parents,' Runkle claims."
A moment to evaluate Mills
Date CapturedThursday May 24 2007, 8:06 AM
Newsday opines, "Mills should keep his job - for now. But the state must do its job, in Roosevelt and beyond. And that includes starting to think about new leadership in Albany."
$CHOOL HOLY WAR
Date CapturedThursday May 24 2007, 7:36 AM
NY Post reports, "The atheist philanthropist who gave the New York Archdiocese $22.5 million for Catholic school scholarships yesterday blasted the city's public school system as 'lousy.' Robert Wilson laid the blame for the state of the public schools on the United Federation of Teachers, the union that represents teachers at city schools. Wilson, 80, told Bloomberg News that his huge donation 'was a chance for a very modest amount of money to get kids out of a lousy school system, and into a good school system.'"
A GLIMMER OF HOPE
Date CapturedThursday May 24 2007, 7:26 AM
NY Post opines, "Previously, English as a Second Language (ESL) students didn't have to take the reading test until after their third year in a U.S. school. In New York City, this meant a sudden jump in students taking the test despite not being proficient in English - from 24,000 last year to nearly 55,000. Obviously, kids still learning the language will have trouble passing an English reading test. Factor out those students, and the city's third-grade pass rate is virtually unchanged from last year. The total results for all kids in grades 3-8 in city schools were also virtually unchanged - 50.7 percent passing last year, 50.8 percent this year. Take ESL students out of that mix, and it becomes a rise from 53.2 percent to 56 percent."
How to Protect Kids' Privacy Online: A Guide for Teachers
Date CapturedWednesday May 23 2007, 9:21 AM
Whether playing, shopping, studying or just surfing, today's kids are taking advantage of all that the web has to offer. But when it comes to their personal information, who's in charge? The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, requires commercial website operators to get parental consent before collecting any personal information from kids under 13. COPPA allows teachers to act on behalf of a parent during school activities online, but does not require them to do so. That is, the law does not require teachers to make decisions about the collection of their students' personal information. Check to see whether your school district has a policy about disclosing student information. Here's a look at the basic provisions of the law and what they mean for you and your students.
MIDDLE SCHOOL PERFORMANCE IMPROVES ON 2007 GRADE 3-8 ENGLISH TESTS
Date CapturedWednesday May 23 2007, 8:56 AM
Achievement in grade 3-8 English has improved overall this year, according to results from newly released State tests. The improvement is notable in middle school. Grades 6-8 improved. Grade 6 increased by 2.8 percent, grade 7 improved by 1.4 percent, and grade 8 increased by 7.7 percent. Fewer students also are showing serious academic problems in all grades except grade 3. The number of English Language Learners taking this year’s tests more than doubled from 2006. This increase was caused by new federal rules under NCLB in which all ELL students who have been in the country for at least one year are now required to take the tests. Nevertheless, the performance of ELL students dipped only modestly in each grade, a better result than many predicted. The increase in the number of students tested was especially large in elementary school; scores declined overall in grades 3 and 4. The change in rules also affected the overall performance of Hispanic and Asian students. Results for students with disabilities improved overall. The decline in the percentage of students who showed serious academic problems was especially large.
Yonkers still lacks teaching assistants
Date CapturedWednesday May 23 2007, 8:45 AM
The Journal News reports, "For three years, the school district and the city's teachers union have been unable to reach a compromise on the hiring of teaching assistants. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires school districts to use teaching assistants, versus teacher aides, to give instructional support to students. The Yonkers school district still has not hired any teacher assistants, who have higher education and certification standards than aides."
Community School lessens dropout crisis
Date CapturedWednesday May 23 2007, 8:17 AM
Ithaca Journal guest columnist Gerry Friedman, retired as principal of the TST Community School opines, "Everybody knows that 'one size fits all' does not. That is as true in education as in other aspects of our lives. The TST Community School was established as an alternative to a student's regular high school. It is successful because it has a cadre of highly qualified, experienced, outstanding teachers and staff who specialize in working with students who have not been successful in other schools. The cost is reasonable when the aid is considered. The school has been successful for many years. If school districts are to successfully work on reducing their dropout rate, allowing students to attend the Community School should be a major part of the plan."
Regents board touts rise in English scores
Date CapturedWednesday May 23 2007, 7:56 AM
Times Union reports, "State education officials on Tuesday applauded what they said were rising scores for reading and writing, especially in the middle-school grades, which are typically characterized by a decline in academic accomplishment."
Transition Leader Is Named for Ailing Roosevelt Schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 22 2007, 9:02 AM
NY Times WINNIE HU reports, "State education officials have asked a veteran school administrator who is a former president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents to oversee a transition period for the troubled Roosevelt Union Free School District on Long Island. The administrator, William Brosnan, will lead transition efforts until a new superintendent is appointed, Richard P. Mills, the state education commissioner, said yesterday."
Mike gives high marks for rising scores
Date CapturedTuesday May 22 2007, 7:23 AM
NY Daily News reports, "State officials are expected today to release lackluster reading scores for city elementary schoolers, but that didn't stop Mayor Bloomberg yesterday from touting near-perfect success in improving the schools. 'By virtually every objective measure - attendance, promotion rates, test scores, you name it - student achievement is on the rise,' the mayor said as he released City Hall's version of the 2006 graduation rate. City officials put the graduation rate at a record-breaking 60% because they include kids who graduate in August after summer school, kids who drop out and earn GEDs and special education students who earn individualized diplomas."
County's rural libraries worth a visit
Date CapturedTuesday May 22 2007, 7:08 AM
Ithaca Journal guest columnist Lois Maki, Newfield Library director opines, "Story times, summer reading programs and other special events encourage children's reading. Connecting with the young people in our communities is an especially important goal at all the rural libraries. Visits by authors, illustrators, puppeteers, magicians, musicians and more have been a staple of children's programming by these libraries. Visits by school classes and librarian visits to the schools are another great way of introducing libraries to young people. Several of the rural libraries routinely employ high school students. This provides jobs, teaches skills and often helps teens gain experience in a positive work environment. The library profits by having employees who bring energy, up-to-date computer skills and enthusiasm to their job. All of these services and more are found at the rural libraries, but they are special in another important respect. These libraries are part of their communities. They are connected locally, knowing their patrons and being able to respond to them in a personal way. Each of these communities — Dryden, Groton, Newfield and Trumansburg — has its own flavor, which is reflected in the libraries. The collections, programs and services of each library are unique, just as each of these communities is unique."
SCHOOL CHOICE BY THE NUMBERS: THE FISCAL EFFECT OF SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAMS, 1990-2006
Date CapturedMonday May 21 2007, 7:54 AM
Prepared by Susan L. Aud, PhD, SeniorFellow, Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, "Key findings include: School choice programs have saved a total of about $444 million from 1990 to 2006, including a total of $22 million saved in state budgets and $422 million saved in local public school districts. Every existing school choice program is at least fiscally neutral, and most produce a substantial savings. Only Utah’s Carson Smith voucher program and the two century-old 'town tuitioning' programs in Maine and Vermont are neutral; every other school choice program has produced at least $1 million in savings. In nearly every school choice program, the dollar value of the voucher or scholarship is less than or equal to the state’s formula spending per student. This means states are spending the same amount or less on students in school choice programs than they would have spent on the same students if they had attended public schools, producing a fiscal savings."
Tax relief package unveiled
Date CapturedMonday May 21 2007, 7:29 AM
Legislative Gazette reports, "The proposal, called the Property Taxpayer Protection Act, is aimed at cutting the cost of education and Medicaid and providing incentives to municipalities working to consolidate services ¯ all in the name of lowering property taxes. One major piece of the proposal would cut the amount schools can spend. Specifically the act would limit the amount school districts could increase tax levies to 4 percent, or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower."
Parents' rights supersede privacy law
Date CapturedMonday May 21 2007, 7:19 AM
Newsday contributor Carol R. Richards, Newsday's former deputy editorial page editor currently teaching journalism at Hofstra University opines, "The federal privacy law was written three decades ago to help elementary school parents get their hands on pupil records, but it has turned into an Iron Curtain between parents and collegians at times of need. As Murphy [Rep.] said, "The whole thing is: Shouldn't we err on the side of parents loving their kids?" Absolutely. "
Ithaca Central School District programs extend academic support
Date CapturedMonday May 21 2007, 7:13 AM
Ithaca Journal Op-ed contributors Lisa Harris, director of Academic Intervention Services and others write, "Money from the Consolidated Grants is continually being cut. However, the ICSD has done its best to provide instructional enrichment in after-school/extended-day programs. These programs offer field trips, exposure to arts, sciences and crafts, as well as assistance with homework practice and review or previewing of key concepts, including vocabulary. Mentoring and tutoring provided by trained community volunteers augment our staff's resources."
Poor grade for timing?
Date CapturedSunday May 20 2007, 3:25 PM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "Officials representing the state's school superintendents are relieved by the timing. A group representative, Robert Lowry, was outspoken earlier this month, declaring that it would be wrong to publish report cards immediately before elections - especially since this wouldn't allow schools time to correct any mistakes."
A push to raise bar for school smarts
Date CapturedSunday May 20 2007, 10:31 AM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND AND MARY ELLEN PEREIRA report, "Scholastic standards set by New York and other states for their students fall far short of national standards, according to educational activists with deep pockets who are pushing for higher expectations."
Civics Exam: Schools of choice boost civic values
Date CapturedSunday May 20 2007, 9:23 AM
Patrick J. Wolf, professor of education reform and 21st century chair in school choice at the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions writes, "In summary, the empirical studies to date counter the claims of school choice opponents that private schooling inherently and inevitably undermines the fostering of civic values. The statistical record suggests that private schooling and school choice often enhance the realization of the civic values that are central to a well-functioning democracy. This seems to be the case particularly among ethnic minorities (such as Latinos) in places with great ethnic diversity (such as New York City and Texas), and when Catholic schools are the schools of choice. Choice programs targeted to such constituencies seem to hold the greatest promise of enhancing the civic values of the next generation of American citizens."
What's Being Said About NCLB?
Date CapturedSaturday May 19 2007, 9:49 AM
Susan Black, an ASBJ contributing editor writes, "The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law in 2002, is scheduled for congressional reauthorization this year. Exactly when Congress and the president will sign on the dotted line is uncertain, and some officials speculate a vote on NCLB will be postponed until after the 2008 elections. But that uncertainty hasn’t slowed a storm of reports, hearings, and intense lobbying seeking to modify the five-year-old law. In Congress, more than 40 bills proposing changes to NCLB are pending, including one introduced by Rep Don Young (R-Alaska). His bill, H.R. 5709, incorporates recommendations made by the National School Boards Association. It seeks to remedy 'unintended consequences' from the way the current law is interpreted and implemented."
STAFFING SCHOOLS
Date CapturedSaturday May 19 2007, 9:20 AM
NY Post Op-Ed contributor Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers opines, "Finally, I proposed a service differential to compensate teachers who go above and beyond for their students. As an alternative to taking courses to earn additional income, teachers would provide extra service, such as developing a unit of lesson plans for their department or designing a school-to-work internship program. These proposals are powerful recruitment and retention incentives that would transform hard-to-staff schools into schools that teachers would gravitate to and parents would want their children to attend. After all, that is what it's all about, isn't it?"
Baltimore school officials at risk of firing
Date CapturedSaturday May 19 2007, 8:52 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "At a recent school board meeting, Gittings [president of the administrative union of Baltimore City public schools] said principals have trouble updating records because of high student turnover in city schools. He said that other systems do not have the same issues and that it can take up to a day to update just one student file."
New Mexico Youth Task Force assesses student needs
Date CapturedFriday May 18 2007, 8:44 PM
Cibola County Bureau reports, "The meeting of the new Community Task Force, formed to deal with the growing problems of truancy and violence in the schools, got underway Wednesday morning at the Coyote del Malpais Golf Course. The purpose of the task force, which includes representatives from different agencies in the community, is to formulate programs to help keep kids in school, and to deal with the problems they have in society."
Ed groups push for joint NCLB changes
Date CapturedFriday May 18 2007, 8:36 PM
Six of the nation's top education groups, including the National School Boards Association, jointly urged Congress to reauthorize NCLB to focus on five major areas of change: • A redesign of the federal accountability framework to improve public schools rather than abandon them. • Valid, reliable, unbiased assessment systems that are aligned with state standards. • Maximum flexibility for states and school districts to address the assessment and learning needs of English language learners and students with disabilities. • Helpful interventions tailored to the needs of schools and communities rather than the current system of punitive sanctions. • Determination of the qualifications of principals, teachers, and other education professionals by states and local school districts.
Calling All Principals
Date CapturedFriday May 18 2007, 10:04 AM
The Queens Courier opines, "We say to all principals, it is up to you to set policy. Make the right choice in this issue and allow the kids to carry a cell phone to and from school. Let us not wait for a tragedy in our schools to change a wrong-headed policy made by Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein."
Principals Act in Plan to Reduce Bureaucracy
Date CapturedFriday May 18 2007, 9:53 AM
NY Times reports, "More than a third of New York City’s public school principals embraced a challenge from Chancellor Joel I. Klein to free themselves as much as possible from outside oversight under a new reorganization and become full stewards of their individual schools, the city said yesterday. But few took up the chancellor’s offer to work with a private nonprofit group. And a great majority chose to align themselves with veteran schools superintendents from the traditional schools bureaucracy."
STATE OF NEW YORK COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION CYBER CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN
Date CapturedFriday May 18 2007, 9:18 AM
New York State School and District Report Cards for School Year 2005-2006
Date CapturedFriday May 18 2007, 8:45 AM
These Report Cards are produced to inform the people of New York State about the performance of public schools and districts. We hope that these reports are used in constructive conversations which lead to improved education for all children in the State. Select a county to access school and district reports:
Error clouds vote on school budget
Date CapturedFriday May 18 2007, 8:40 AM
Times Union reports, "A state Education Department error left voters thinking they could save $1.37 million by rejecting Albany's school budget this week.."
U.S. Education Official Testifies Before House Homeland Security Committee
Date CapturedThursday May 17 2007, 6:26 PM
Today, Holly Kuzmich, deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Education, testified before the House Homeland Security Committee to discuss ways the federal government can help keep our nation's schools and college campuses safe learning environments.
Property Taxpayer Protection Act proposed
Date CapturedThursday May 17 2007, 9:32 AM
News 10 Now reports, "The bill would limit school tax raises to four percent or the current inflation rate, depending on which one is lower. It will also eliminate funded state mandates to school districts. Supporters say it will save taxpayers $16 billion over five years."
School leaders blame charter schools for Albany's budget failure
Date CapturedThursday May 17 2007, 9:22 AM
Capital News 9 reports, "According to the State Charter School Association, there are seven charters currently up and running with two more on the way. They said the superintendent is making charter schools scapegoats for the district's shortcomings. 'What they really need to do is adjust to the reality that for the last 7 years parents have been taking their children out to new opportunities. She can't continue to run a district that assumes 10,000 kids when in fact it's 1,500, 1,600 children fewer,' said New York Charter School Association Policy Director Peter Murphy. He said 16 percent of the district's kids are in charter schools while they only get 10 percent of the budget, and the district gets transitional aid to boot."
PRINCIPAL PACT
Date CapturedThursday May 17 2007, 9:14 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "New York City public-school principals and other administrators overwhelmingly ratified their contract deal with the city that calls for a 23 percent raise in exchange for fewer seniority rights, their union announced yesterday."
New Hampshire dropout bill passes House
Date CapturedThursday May 17 2007, 8:48 AM
Concord Monitor reports, "The bill would do more than simply raise the attendance age or require 16- to 18-year-olds to remain in the classroom against their will. An at-risk student 16 or older could leave the traditional school setting if the student worked with a parent or guardian and the school principal and guidance counselor to develop an 'alternative learning plan' as a route to a diploma or GED certificate. The alternative plans could include internships, community service, apprenticeships, online courses or other programming."
New York Statewide Annual School District Budget Voting Results
Date CapturedThursday May 17 2007, 8:33 AM
(Listed by BOCES Region)
Study Finds College-Prep Courses in High School Leave Many Students Lagging
Date CapturedWednesday May 16 2007, 7:20 AM
NY Times KAREN W. ARENSON reports, "Only a quarter of high school students who take a full set of college-preparatory courses — four years of English and three each of mathematics, science and social studies — are well prepared for college, according to a study of last year’s high school graduates released yesterday by ACT, the Iowa testing organization."
Rigor at Risk: Reaffirming Quality in the High School Curriculum
Date CapturedWednesday May 16 2007, 7:10 AM
The Rigor at Risk report suggests that some students progress toward college readiness in high school, but many lose momentum during their last two years there. There are action steps that states and schools can take to improve the rigor of high school core courses: 1. Specify the number and kinds of courses that students need to take to graduate from high school ready for college and work. 2. Align high school course outcomes with state standards that are driven by the requirements of postsecondary education and work. 3. Hire qualified teachers and provide training or professional development support to help them improve the quality of the courses they teach. 4. Expand access for all students to high-quality, vertically aligned core courses. 5. Measure results at the course level.
GIVING UP ON SCHOOL REFORM?
Date CapturedTuesday May 15 2007, 8:03 AM
NY Post Op-Ed contributor Rev. Johnny Ray Youngblood, co-chair of East Brooklyn Congregations and of the Metro NY Industrial Areas Foundation opines, "The impact on the teaching corps in poor-performing schools is obvious. Newer and younger teachers have a very high attrition rate. Assigned to schools no other teacher chooses to go to, surrounded by teachers as new and inexperienced as themselves, younger teachers tend to have less support, less mentoring and less success. A large percentage leaves within three years. The effect on the students is also great. They don't benefit from the wisdom and professionalism that years of trial and error can bring a teacher. Instead, they see the newest and least equipped teachers year after year. Turnover in their schools is much higher than in other schools. Their morale and performance suffer. The financial impact is also serious. Because the better schools have higher numbers of veteran teachers, they have bigger budgets than poorly performing schools. Funding formulas announced by Chancellor Klein last week begin to correct this unequal funding. But the success of the city's most challenged schools depends not just on more funds but also on the gradual redistribution of more experienced teachers into every city school. Without a corps of veteran teachers, no amount of money can make students and schools succeed."
SCHOOL BUDGETS: VOTE NO
Date CapturedTuesday May 15 2007, 7:58 AM
NY Post opines, "Yes, Albany agreed to ship more cash to both homeowners and local districts. Lawmakers expanded rebates and exemptions to ease local taxes and goosed state aid to schools to $19.7 billion - a record $1.7 billion jump, on top of last year's record spike of $1.1 billion. But none of this has actually slowed spending growth. On the contrary: All it's done is bloat school budgets - as we repeatedly said it would. Only spending caps can hold down levies. But the pols in Albany won't impose them, lest they anger the education cartel, which funds them generously. So taxpayers are left holding the bag."
Vote on schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 15 2007, 7:46 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "Turnout in local school elections traditionally is low. That has never made much sense, given that school payments are the largest piece of the annual local property tax bill. Today should be different. Because of the influx of state aid and the general failure of local districts to keep their proposed tax increases under the inflation rate, this is one of the most important school election days in recent times. It is important, too, to elect board members who understand the balance between school quality and fiscal discipline."
When the schoolhouse feels like a jailhouse: Relationships between attendance, school environment and violence in New York city public schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 15 2007, 1:04 AM
By: Sharon Balmer [2006] -- This quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine whether the implementation of a punitive discipline policy, known as the Impact Schools intervention, in ten New York City high schools was successful in increasing attendance rate.
Community Schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 15 2007, 12:53 AM
"Findings have consistently shown that the comprehensive, coordinated services offered in schools as part of a community schools strategy are most effective when partnering schools have stable leadership and a strong core instructional program. Support services cannot compensate for weaknesses in these areas, however when integrated into a school with a stable leader and a strong instructional program, they add great value. In addition, community schools’ extended-day programs are most effective in offering enrichment rather than remediation services."
Section 104.1(i) of Commissioner’s Regulations
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 9:18 PM
EXCERPT: (vi) a description of the incentives to be employed to encourage pupil attendance and any disciplinary sanctions to be used to discourage unexcused pupil absences, tardiness and early departures; (vii) a description of the notice to be provided to the parent(s) of or person(s) in parental relation to pupils who are absent, tardy or depart early without proper excuse. (viii) a description of the process to develop specific intervention strategies to be employed by teachers and other school employees to address identified patterns of unexcused pupil absence, tardiness or early departure; (ix) identification of the person(s) designated in each school building who will be responsible for reviewing pupil attendance records and initiating appropriate action to address unexcused pupil absence, tardiness and early departure consistent with the comprehensive attendance policy. (3) The board of education, board of cooperative educational services, charter school board, county vocational education and extension board and governing body of a nonpublic school shall annually review the building level pupil attendance records and if such records show a decline in pupil attendance the board or governing body shall revise the comprehensive pupil attendance policy and make any revisions to the plan deemed necessary to improve pupil attendance. (4) Each board of education, board of cooperative educational services, charter school board, county vocational education and extension board, and nonpublic school shall promote necessary community awareness of its comprehensive attendance policy by: (i) providing a plain language summary of the policy to the parents or persons in parental relation to students at the beginning of each school year and taking such other steps deemed necessary to promote the understanding of such policy by students and their parents or persons in parental relation; (ii) providing each teacher with a copy of the policy and any amendments thereto as soon as practicable following initial adoption or amendment of the policy, and providing new teachers with a copy of the policy upon their employment; and (iii) making copies of the policy available to any other member of the community upon request.
Section 3211 - Title IV, Article 65, Part I -- Records of attendance upon instruction
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 9:00 PM
Sec. 3211. Records of attendance upon instruction. 1. Who shall keep such record. The teacher of every minor required by the provisions of part one of this article to attend upon instruction, or any other school district employee as may be designated by the commissioner of education under section three thousand twenty-four of this chapter, shall keep an accurate record of the attendance and absence of such minor. Such record shall be in such form as may be prescribed by the commissioner of education. 2. Certificates of attendance to be presumptive evidence. A duly certified transcript of the record of attendance and absence of a child which has been kept, as provided in this section, shall be accepted as presumptive evidence of the attendance of such child in any proceeding brought under the provisions of part one of this article. 3. Inspection of records of attendance. An attendance officer, or any other duly authorized representative of the school authorities, may at any time during school hours, demand the production of the records of attendance of minors required to be kept by the provisions of part one of this article, and may inspect or copy the same and make all proper inquiries of a teacher or principal concerning the records and the attendance of such minors. 4. Duties of principal or person in charge of the instruction of a minor. The principal of a school, or other person in charge of the instruction upon which a minor attends, as provided by part one of this article, shall cause the record of his attendance to be kept and produced and all appropriate inquiries in relation thereto answered as hereinbefore required. He shall give prompt notification in writing to the school authorities of the city or district of the discharge or transfer of any such minor from attendance upon instruction, stating the date of the discharge, its cause, the name of the minor, his date of birth, his place of residence prior to and following discharge, if such place of residence be known, and the name of the person in parental relation to the minor.
National Dropout Prevention Centers
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 7:40 PM
The mission of the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network is to serve as a research center and resource network for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to reshape school and community environments to meet the needs of youth in at-risk situations so these students receive the quality education and services necessary to succeed academically and graduate from high school.
The Virtual Y: A Ray of Sunshine for Urban Public Elementary School Children
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 2:51 PM
(See page 30 of document for chart of factors impacting attendance). The National Center for Schools and Communities at Fordham University report presenting the results of seven years of evaluation for the YMCA of Greater New York’s Virtual Y after school program finding, "Third and fourth grade Virtual Y participants outperformed the comparison group in school attendance. We controlled for students’ gender, race, age, and prior school attendance in our analyses. • The average school attendance of third grade children (94.4 percent) and fourth grade children (94.9 percent) participating in the Virtual Y exceeded the average attendance of children in the comparison group (93.9 percent and 94.2 percent respectively) taking into account initial differences in student attendance and demographic background. • The difference between the mean school attendance of second grade Virtual Y students (93.7 percent) and comparison group students (93.4 percent) was positive but not significant.
104.l Pupil attendance recordkeeping
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 10:43 AM
EXCERPT (FULL TEXT AT LINK) (ix) identification of the person(s) designated in each school building who will be responsible for reviewing pupil attendance records and initiating appropriate action to address unexcused pupil absence, tardiness and early departure consistent with the comprehensive attendance policy. (3) The board of education, board of cooperative educational services, charter school board, county vocational education and extension board and governing body of a nonpublic school shall annually review the building level pupil attendance records and if such records show a decline in pupil attendance the board or governing body shall revise the comprehensive pupil attendance policy and make any revisions to the plan deemed necessary to improve pupil attendance. (4) Each board of education, board of cooperative educational services, charter school board, county vocational education and extension board, and nonpublic school shall promote necessary community awareness of its comprehensive attendance policy by: (i) providing a plain language summary of the policy to the parents or persons in parental relation to students at the beginning of each school year and taking such other steps deemed necessary to promote the understanding of such policy by students and their parents or persons in parental relation; (ii) providing each teacher with a copy of the policy and any amendments thereto as soon as practicable following initial adoption or amendment of the policy, and providing new teachers with a copy of the policy upon their employment; and (iii) making copies of the policy available to any other member of the community upon request.
Sec. 3212-a. Records of telephone numbers
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 10:26 AM
1. Each school shall maintain a record of the telephone number of each pupil enrolled in the school and each person in parental relation to such pupil including the residential and business telephone numbers of persons in parental relation to pupils unless such person or pupil chooses not to supply such numbers. The record of such telephone numbers shall, except as otherwise provided by law, be accessible solely for emergency purposes. 2. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable in any school district in which the board of education has adopted a resolution providing that the record otherwise required hereby shall not be maintained.
ATTENDANCE INCENTIVES
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 10:16 AM
Attendance policy and programming, coupled with school climate and increased academic performance, offers a unique opportunity to engage the entire school community – parents, staff, students, and community members – in a process that will build upon the strengths of all concerned. Maintenance of high attendance rates depends upon incentives that range from climate/culture to district-wide and building programs to recognition for accomplishments to individual sanctions (disincentives). Each category has distinct functions. Although districts will differ in the incentives employed depending upon the philosophies and needs of family and community, programs are quite likely to span the entire spectrum. The specific strategies developed and implemented by a district will reflect the diversity and creativity that exists within schools and their communities.
Give schools more time to comply with Contract for Excellence
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 8:56 AM
Legislative Gazette reports, "Educators and lawmakers alike praised Gov. Eliot Spitzer for his landmark investment in public schools, but a Senate bill passed unanimously last week would allow certain schools more time to comply with new accountability measures the increased funding is tied to."
Arabic school fails the test
Date CapturedMonday May 14 2007, 8:34 AM
Daily News contributor Diane Ravitch, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the Brookings Institution in Washington opines, "The American public school is supported by public tax dollars because it has an important role in American society. It is the one institution that is supposed to teach children to think critically about the world they live in and at the same time to prepare them to take responsibility as American citizens. The founders of American public education knew that our democratic experiment would survive only if the people were educated enough to participate in our democracy and to select wise leaders."
Truancy Reduction: Keeping Children in School
Date CapturedSunday May 13 2007, 5:47 PM
By Myriam L. Baker, Jane Nady Sigmon, and M. Elaine Nugent.
Schools in Tier step up security to tighten access: Officials stress ongoing process
Date CapturedSunday May 13 2007, 10:52 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Several Tier school districts plan to improve security this year, including making upgrades at some of the buildings where the Press & Sun-Bulletin found vulnerabilities last month. But despite efforts in Binghamton, Whitney Point and other places to protect students and staff against violence, several U.S. senators say America's schools need another $20 million a year to make them safer. Days before voters decide if school budgets will be adopted, a look at spending plans across districts in three counties shows some looking to tighten door security, others slated to buy surveillance cameras, and all hoping that their particular anti-violence measures will prevent the attack that many believe could happen somewhere, but all hope they don't have to face."
Districts, voters put to test again
Date CapturedSunday May 13 2007, 10:49 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal opines, "Certainly, everyone can agree educating our children is one of the most important functions any community faces. Indeed, vibrant schools are essential for strong communities and tend to increase property values for homeowners. But there is a line at which people living on Hudson Valley incomes simply can't afford to keep up with the increases that go well beyond the rate of inflation. School officials and taxpayers undoubtedly will continue to grapple with these issues in the years ahead."
Reopen school talks
Date CapturedSunday May 13 2007, 10:41 AM
Buffalo News opines, "New York State’s schoolchildren received a huge gift when newly elected Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer earmarked millions of dollars in state aid for education. A district still struggling to enhance student performance and meet tough standards must spend as many of those dollars as possible in the classroom. Part of that spending — in the district’s view, $32.8 million — reasonably can go to contracts that improve district employee performance, morale and enthusiasm. Codifying the single-payer plan, which requires the district to match benefits under the previous multiple-insurer array and has worked as promised so far, is one way the unions can help reach that goal. The teachers union has argued that the single-payer plan must be negotiated, not imposed. This is its chance. The district has come up with a reasonable plan that looks several years ahead, and the BTF and other unions should embrace that for the sake of the students."
National Compulsory School Age Requirements
Date CapturedSunday May 13 2007, 8:55 AM
Education Commission of the States -- Compulsory school attendance refers to the minimum and maximum age required by each state in which a student must be enrolled in and attending public school or some equivalent education program defined by the law.
Higher school costs create a taxing issue: Districts have far outpaced inflation for years
Date CapturedSunday May 13 2007, 8:10 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Over the past 10 years, the amount of tax collected by the 58 school districts outside of Rochester in the six-county region — Monroe, Orleans, Wayne, Livingston, Genesee and Ontario counties — has risen at rates often double, and sometimes triple, that of inflation. School officials say they have little leeway to control many mandated costs. That's little comfort to those paying the taxes, who have an opportunity to vote in school elections Tuesday."
Where have all the dollars gone?
Date CapturedSunday May 13 2007, 8:01 AM
Newsday opines, "Where have all those dollars gone? Why can't more of them end up in taxpayers' pockets? Why can't schools keep up the high academic standards that help make Long Island one of the nation's most desirable places to raise children, but do it for even a little less - so we don't drive away homeowners with the nation's highest taxes? And what will happen when, inevitably, the state no longer doles out record school-aid increases, as it did this year? What are districts doing to prepare for the leaner years? As voters throughout the state go to the polls Tuesday to pass judgment on their school districts' annual spending, those are all legitimate questions and concerns. And there are answers - even if many taxpayers and lawmakers really don't want to hear them. Want to curtail costs? Try merging districts or scrapping laws that hamstring school boards from bargaining harder with powerful unions."
School survey: Syracuse parents pleased
Date CapturedSunday May 13 2007, 7:53 AM
Post-Standard reports, "The first major survey in more than a decade of Syracuse school district parents shows about 75 percent of them - be they black, white, more educated or less educated - generally are satisfied with the education their children receive. On the flip side, about one-quarter of parents or guardians are not satisfied, and school environment and discipline are big concerns."
New Study Says NYC Small High School Reforms Boost Student Performance
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 10:52 PM
A report examining the first group of the new small high schools in New York City that opened four years ago finds that those schools are making significant progress with impressive graduation rates. According to “Rethinking High School: Inaugural Graduations at New York City’s New High Schools,” these small schools are beating the odds with graduation rates that are 20 percentage points higher than the citywide rate. The schools surveyed also had higher attendance and ninth-grade promotion rates, two predictors of graduation rates, according to WestEd. The most recent data available indicate that the average attendance rate at the 14 new schools was 89% in 2004-05. The ninth-grade promotion rate across the featured schools was 92% in the same year and 91% in 2005-2006, according to the report.
Matching Foster Care and School Records: How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM
Vera Institute of Justice researchers Dylan Conger and Alison Rebeck find, "In comparison to children in the general student population, foster children have very low attendance rates. Yet, many foster children’s attendance rates improved from before to after entry into care. Younger children, those who remain in care for at least the entire semester after placement, children with stable placements, children in foster boarding homes or kinship homes, and those who entered care on charges of abuse or neglect show greater gains than other children. This finding indicates that these foster care experiences may improve an important aspect of school stability. Other foster care experiences contributed to declines or smaller gains in attendance. Children with short stays in foster care do not progress as well as children who stay longer, suggesting room for improvement during discharge planning conferences. These discussions could place greater importance on the consequences of educational disruptions and ensure that aftercare services are sufficient to help families provide for their children’s educational needs."
How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM
Matching Foster Care and School Records In comparison to children in the general student population, foster children have very low attendance rates. Yet, many foster children’s attendance rates improved from before to after entry into care. Younger children, those who remain in care for at least the entire semester after placement, children with stable placements, children in foster boarding homes or kinship homes, and those who entered care on charges of abuse or neglect show greater gains than other children. This finding indicates that these foster care experiences may improve an important aspect of school stability. Other foster care experiences contributed to declines or smaller gains in attendance. Children with short stays in foster care do not progress as well as children who stay longer, suggesting room for improvement during discharge planning conferences. These discussions could place greater importance on the consequences of educational disruptions and ensure that aftercare services are sufficient to help families provide for their children’s educational needs.
How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM
Matching Foster Care and School Records In comparison to children in the general student population, foster children have very low attendance rates. Yet, many foster children’s attendance rates improved from before to after entry into care. Younger children, those who remain in care for at least the entire semester after placement, children with stable placements, children in foster boarding homes or kinship homes, and those who entered care on charges of abuse or neglect show greater gains than other children. This finding indicates that these foster care experiences may improve an important aspect of school stability. Other foster care experiences contributed to declines or smaller gains in attendance. Children with short stays in foster care do not progress as well as children who stay longer, suggesting room for improvement during discharge planning conferences. These discussions could place greater importance on the consequences of educational disruptions and ensure that aftercare services are sufficient to help families provide for their children’s educational needs.
How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM
Matching Foster Care and School Records In comparison to children in the general student population, foster children have very low attendance rates. Yet, many foster children’s attendance rates improved from before to after entry into care. Younger children, those who remain in care for at least the entire semester after placement, children with stable placements, children in foster boarding homes or kinship homes, and those who entered care on charges of abuse or neglect show greater gains than other children. This finding indicates that these foster care experiences may improve an important aspect of school stability. Other foster care experiences contributed to declines or smaller gains in attendance. Children with short stays in foster care do not progress as well as children who stay longer, suggesting room for improvement during discharge planning conferences. These discussions could place greater importance on the consequences of educational disruptions and ensure that aftercare services are sufficient to help families provide for their children’s educational needs.
How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM
Matching Foster Care and School Records In comparison to children in the general student population, foster children have very low attendance rates. Yet, many foster children’s attendance rates improved from before to after entry into care. Younger children, those who remain in care for at least the entire semester after placement, children with stable placements, children in foster boarding homes or kinship homes, and those who entered care on charges of abuse or neglect show greater gains than other children. This finding indicates that these foster care experiences may improve an important aspect of school stability. Other foster care experiences contributed to declines or smaller gains in attendance. Children with short stays in foster care do not progress as well as children who stay longer, suggesting room for improvement during discharge planning conferences. These discussions could place greater importance on the consequences of educational disruptions and ensure that aftercare services are sufficient to help families provide for their children’s educational needs.
Why Students Don't Attend School
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 8:10 PM
Excerpts from "Increasing Student Attendance: Strategies from Research and Practice," Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory , written by Jennifer Railsback -- "Corville-Smith et al. (1998) found six variables that were statistically significant predictors for distinguishing absentee high school students from regularly attending students: Students' school perceptions: Absentees are less likely to perceive school favorably; Perception of parental discipline: Absentees perceive discipline as lax or inconsistent; Parents' control: Absentees believe parents are attempting to exert more control over them; Students' academic self-concept: Absentees feel inferior academically; Perceived family conflict: Absentees experience family conflict; Social competence in class: Absentees are less likely to feel socially competent in class;" ADDITIONALLY -- "Below are other commonly cited reasons that students have given for not attending school (Clement, Gwynne, & Younkin, 2001;Wagstaff, Combs, & Jarvis, 2000): Viewed classes as boring, irrelevant, and a waste of time; Did not have positive relationships with teachers; Did not have positive relationships with other students; Was suspended too often; Did not feel safe at school; Could not keep up with schoolwork or was failing (and there were no timely interventions); Found classes not challenging enough (worksheets and reading with lectures were the predominant activities), and students can miss class days and still receive credit; Couldn't work and go to school at the same time.
Re-Engaging Youth in School: Evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 5:46 PM
National Center for School Engagement, August 10, 2006. "The following data reflect all seven demonstration sites in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Truancy Prevention project. These sites are located in Suffolk County, New York; Contra Costa, California: Tacoma and Seattle, Washington; Houston, Texas; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Jacksonville, Florida. The purpose of collecting these data was to identify the intervention population and track truant students’ progress. The first set of tables is the aggregate of these seven sites from the projects inception to July 21, 2006. Following these data are the individual site reports. This report includes the following information: • Students Served • Ethnicity of Students • Grades of Students • Age of Students • Gender of Students • IEP status • Discipline Problems • Involvement with Juvenile Justice • Primary Care Giver • Income Eligibility Status • Students who live in home with only one adult • Students who have no working adult in the home • Average Number of children in the home • Unexcused Absences over Time • Excused Absences over Time • Tardies over Time • Days of In-School Suspensions • Days of Out-of-School Suspensions • Overall Academic Performance (over time)" "The overarching goal of truancy prevention is obviously to improve attendance and this effort was successful. In general, while excused daily absences did not change appreciably, unexcused daily absences fell dramatically and tardies declined. Period absences did not change linearly and therefore a meaningful trend isn’t apparent. Of the sites that reported enough update data, the most successful sites were Jacksonville and Honolulu. These sites primarily targeted parents because the target student population were elementary students. All sites had less information for students across time. One reason for this may be that students who no longer needed intervention were no longer tracked. Thus, reported improvements may actually be smaller than what actually occurred." " In general, the elementary-level truancy issues may be easier to deal with because the children are not 'deep-end' yet and the parents are the primary focus. Older truants are likely to have more challenges and thus may require more intensive services."
Schools Discover Automated Calling And Go Wild
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 4:38 PM
Wall Street Journal reports, "But snafus in some systems across the country have resulted in parents' being bombarded by calls five nights a week. Schools send endless repeats of the same messages, or place calls at 2 a.m., or send updates about kids who don't even go there anymore. At Whittier High School, the system hasn't been fine-tuned to differentiate between absences and lateness. [Name deleted] says she gets calls saying her grandson [name deleted], a 10th grader at Whittier, skipped class, so she goes with him to the school office to clear his record. 'He has water-polo practice and he's sometimes a little late to class,' she says. But 'there's no talking to this recording.' The school district says if a student arrives in class after the teacher submits the day's attendance list, that can register as a skipped class and trigger a call home."
STATE FORMULA AIDS AND ENTITLEMENTS FOR SCHOOLS IN NEW YORK STATE (AS AMENDED BY CHAPTERS OF THE LAWS OF 2006)
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 3:40 PM
The University of the State of New York -- THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT -- State Aid Unit -- October, 2006. Some definitions -- A. Total Aidable Pupil Units (TAPU): The total aidable pupil unit is the sum of several pupil counts, each count being assigned a distinct weighting. Weightings are used as a means of reflecting the assumed average cost of educating a particular pupil category. These categories and weightings are further explained by the following: 1. Full Day K-12 Adjusted Average Daily Attendance (Adjusted ADA) (Weighting = 1.00): The Adjusted ADA includes the average number of pupils present on each regular school day, the full-time-equivalent enrollment of resident pupils attending a charter school, the enrollment of pupils with disabilities in full time BOCES programs, and the equivalent attendance of students under the age of 21 not on a regular day school register in programs leading to a high school diploma or high school equivalency diploma. This average is determined by dividing the total number of attendance days of all pupils by the number of days school was in session and attendance was recorded. 2. 1/2-Day K Adjusted Average Daily Attendance (Weighting = 0.50): A 0.50 weighting adjustment to the average daily attendance for half-day kindergarten attendance. 3. Pupils in Dual Enrollment with a Nonpublic School (Weighting = 1.00 * Fraction of Day in Public School Programs): The attendance of nonpublic school pupils in career education, gifted and talented, or special education programs of the public school district as authorized by Section 3602-c of the Education Law. Attendance is weighted by the fraction of the school day that the student is enrolled in the public school programs. 4. Pupils with Special Educational Needs (PSEN)(Additional Weighting = 0.25): The number of pupils with special educational needs attending the public schools of the district is determined by the percentage of pupils below minimum competence as measured by the third and sixth grade pupil evaluation program (PEP) tests in reading and mathematics. The average of the percentage of pupils in a district who scored below the State reference point on these third and sixth grade PEP Tests in 1984 85 and 1985 86 continues to be used to determine the number of pupils with special educational needs. This percentage is multiplied by the district's adjusted ADA to produce the number of pupils for weighting. The PSEN pupil count is equal to the number of eligible pupils multiplied by the 0.25 additional weighting. Since this is an additional weighting, these pupils also would have been counted under average daily attendance. 5. Secondary School Pupils (Additional Weighting = 0.25): Eligible pupils in grades seven through twelve receive an additional weighting of 0.25. Eligible pupils for this weighting are defined as the number of students in average daily attendance in grades seven through twelve excluding any such students whose enrollment generates Public Excess Cost Aid. The eligible pupils are multiplied by 0.25 to produce the additional secondary school weighting. 6. Summer Session Pupils (Weighting = 0.12): Summer session pupils are those pupils who attend Approved programs of instruction operated by the district during the months of July and August, other than pupils with disabilities in twelve month programs. The full weighting of 0.12 is applicable if the student attends a total of 90 hours of class sessions during the summer. B. Adjustment in Computing Total Aidable Pupil Units Based on Enrollment Growth: For TAPU aids payable during 2006-07, attendance in the year prior to the base year is multiplied by the ratio of base year enrollment to year prior to the base year enrollment. Base year is the school year prior to the current year. (Example: For the 2006-07 aid year, 2005-06 is the base year and 2004-05 is the year prior to the base year.) C. Selected TAPU: For the purposes of computing Formula Operating Aid, districts may use the total aidable pupil units as described above or the average of such number and the total aidable pupil units calculated for aid payable in the base year. The higher of these two figures is usually referred to as Selected TAPU.
Perfect Attendance?
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 12:42 PM
Education Week reports on Ohio online charter schools, where "Twenty of the state’s 41 online charters reported perfect attendance last year [2005]."
As Studies Stress Link to Scores, Districts Get Tough on Attendance
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 12:20 PM
Education Week reports, "Student attendance also has been a big focus in Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y. When officials of the 37,000-student Rochester district looked at attendance and achievement patterns, researchers found that students who had scored between 85 and 100 on the state English tests had attended school an average of 93 percent of the time. Students who scored below the 54th percentile had an 85 percent attendance rate. The district is now phasing in new minimum attendance requirements, shooting to hit 93 percent districtwide by 2004. Students are now required to attend school 85 percent of the time, or 153 days a year. The new policy would add the equivalent of 14 days of school. Rochester also is getting the community to help with its efforts. Attendance information is shared with community organizations such as the YMCA, city recreation programs, and churches so that they can help reinforce the commitment to school attendance. In addition, the city has coordinated a summer-jobs program for students who maintain at least C averages and who attend school at least 90 percent of the time. 'We must deconstruct the policies that encourage kids to miss or leave school, and construct the incentives to get them to stay,' said Clifford B. Janey, the superintendent of the Rochester schools. 'Attendance should be linked to achievement.' Meanwhile, Buffalo is already seeing gains that officials attribute to relatively simple adjustments in the district's attendance policy this fall. By stating a new minimum attendance rate—85 percent—and making it clear, for the first time, that students who fall short cannot take final exams, the district seems to be raising attendance. In report covering the first five weeks of the school year, one Buffalo high school's attendance rate went from 81 percent in the same period last year to 88 percent. The yearlong average-attendance rate for the school last year was 76 percent, which mean that one in every four students was absent. The 47,000-student Buffalo district is providing home visits for students who have health problems, and automated phone calls to homes for every absence. 'Children and families are making better choices,' said Susan Doyle, the principal of the Buffalo Traditional School and the chairwoman of the district's attendance committee. 'They're changing doctor's appointments, and students are coming to see me before and after school, not during classes.'"
More schools on LI making the grade
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 9:26 AM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "Private analysts are skeptical. They note that the state Education Department for the first time this year has decided not to release "school report cards" until budget votes are completed. Voters need those report cards to judge schools' performance, analysts say, because the reports cover test results for a full range of subjects, not just the highlights. And some voice concern that the state would release the names of the highest-scoring schools so close to election time. "So we're having a cheerleader session before the budget vote," said B. Jason Brooks, a senior research associate at the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability, an Albany-area think tank. 'Yet parents and residents don't have straightforward data.'"
U.S. Department of Education Awards $1.6 Million to Help Students Develop Strong Character and Good Citizenship
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 9:15 AM
The Partnerships in Character Education Program awards grants for up to four years to eligible state and local education agencies to design and implement character education programs that teach students core ethical concepts, such as: civics; citizenship; justice; responsibility; and respect themselves and others. Grant recipients must show how they have integrated character education into classroom instruction and teacher training. They also must involve parents, students and the community in the process. The projects are evaluated to determine their success in helping students develop positive character, reduce discipline problems and improve academic achievement. Projects also must increase parent and community involvement with the school.
Scarsdale schools' plan to drop AP courses sparks backlash
Date CapturedSaturday May 12 2007, 8:54 AM
The Journal News reports, "McGill [Scarsdale superintendent Michael V. McGill] said money has nothing to do with it. Rather, the school district wants to offer an education that will distinguish it from the thousands of high schools that offer AP courses. McGill explained that the board was responding to concerns about the quality of the advanced placement courses. The board authorized McGill on Monday to eliminate AP art and social studies courses in September to determine if an advanced topics plan works for those subjects. If results are positive, the district will eliminate AP courses such as English, math, science and foreign languages. McGill said that students who want to take an AP test can still do so, and the district will provide test preparation courses. About 70 percent of Scarsdale's high school students take an advanced placement class, and about half of those take more than one."
Community colleges and teacher preparation: Roles, Issues and Opportunities
Date CapturedFriday May 11 2007, 9:03 AM
May 2007 ECS issue paper by Tricia Coulter PhD and Bruce Vandal PhD highlight recommendations includings: (1) Teacher preparation should be viewed as a four-year process that includes content and pedagogical training throughout the four-years; (2) Program and course development should be a collaborative process including representation from universities, community colleges and the K-12 sector; (3) Each state department of education should encourage ongoing collaboration and communication among legislators, community colleges, universities and the K-12 sector on how community college teacher preparation can be used to improve the quality of teacher preparation and ameliorate teacher shortages; and (4) Policymakers and institution leaders should consider providing resources to community colleges and K-12 school districts to support customized training for teachers through contracts and/or partnerships between community colleges and school districts.
Laptops a Bust
Date CapturedFriday May 11 2007, 8:14 AM
Post-Standard reports, "Although the number of schools with one-to-one computing is still growing - one study found that half the nation's largest school districts aim to be there by 2011 - a U.S. Department of Education study also showed other districts are abandoning the idea. The federal study concluded the laptops did not measurably improve grades or test scores."
Schools vary on drug-use penalties -- With no statewide protocol, area districts differ on severity
Date CapturedFriday May 11 2007, 7:59 AM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The state Department of Education, state School Boards Association and the Monroe County School Boards Association do not offer opinions on how long to suspend young people who abuse alcohol and drugs on campus. 'We leave it totally to local discretion,' said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for the state Education Department, which doesn't keep data on different schools' policies."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedThursday May 10 2007, 4:40 PM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation -- May 10, 2007, Volume 7, Number 18
Charter Schools in New York State for School Year 2004-2005
Date CapturedThursday May 10 2007, 10:39 AM
How should schools react to threats?
Date CapturedThursday May 10 2007, 10:13 AM
uticaOD.com reports, "Young people sometimes say things they don't mean, and it may be difficult to determine the seriousness of threatening statements. How schools should react and when they should alert parents to a situation is a complicated question, parents and school administrators said. The State Department of Education mandates that districts have a safety plan in place, but does not give specifics."
Education reform meets truancy head on
Date CapturedThursday May 10 2007, 9:42 AM
On Board Online • Volume 6 • No. 17 • October 10, 2005. "While truancy is an age-old problem, the number of students cutting school increased 61 percent between 1989 and 1998, according to the Colorado Foundation for Families and Children. And truancy is blamed for high juvenile crime rates. In cities with aggressive truancy programs, juvenile crime rates have dropped considerably, 68 percent in Minneapolis alone."
HS doesn't like money? I'll check it out - Randi
Date CapturedThursday May 10 2007, 8:57 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Though the school's students come from poor families, most are academically successful and therefore unable to benefit from Title I unless parents and teachers vote for a 'schoolwide option' to free up the cash. Parents voted unanimously to do so, but most teachers are opposed. The school could lose as much $70,000 again next year."
Citywide Budget Data
Date CapturedWednesday May 09 2007, 10:30 AM
As part of the Fair Student Funding initiative, the Department of Education [New York City] is committed to providing more information about school funding levels. This data set shows details pertaining to preliminary school budgets for the 2007-2008 school year. Using this data set, you can see information for 1,391 of New York City’s schools regarding: 07-08 preliminary budget allocations 07-08 adjusted per capita data for comparison to previously released 05-06 data 07-08 Average Teacher Salary (ATS) This data set allows some comparison between different schools’ funding levels. However, the set is neither comprehensive nor perfect. It covers only funds that are recorded on the school budgets that principals monitor and control. Therefore, large amounts of money spent in schools on students do not appear here at all, including centrally funded administrative services such as food, transportation, maintenance, utilities; instructional supports, such as related services in special education’ and fringe benefits for school employees.
NYS Office of Mental Health and Education Department Together Promoting Healthy Child Development
Date CapturedWednesday May 09 2007, 10:02 AM
Michael F. Hogan, Ph.D., Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and Richard P. Mills, Commissioner of the New York State Education Department (SED), today co-hosted a gathering of parents, school teachers and administrators, pediatricians, mental health providers and advocates, to celebrate National Children's Mental Health Awareness day. Held in the Cultural Education Center's Huxley Theater, the event celebrated children's emotional wellbeing and healthy development, and focused on the shared goals and new directions that OMH and SED are undertaking for the children of New York State.
CASHING IN ON KIDS
Date CapturedWednesday May 09 2007, 9:55 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "According to the plan, a school could receive as little as $3,788 for a first-grader who lives above the poverty line, did not transfer from a failing school and is proficient in English. But a first-grader who lives in poverty, transferred from a failing school and cannot speak English could funnel $8,212 to the same school's coffers. Depending on a child's special needs, a school could expect to receive an additional $2,121 and $8,637. While schools already receive additional city money to address student needs - including learning and English-language difficulties - budgets have never been so specifically weighted to student traits."
PEACE IN KLEIN'S TIME
Date CapturedWednesday May 09 2007, 9:46 AM
NY Post opines, "Schools Chancellor Joel Klein yesterday laid out a funding plan for city schools - and, in so doing, made clear just what City Hall paid to buy peace from labor and allied radical groups. His plan includes funds to cover a deal announced last month with teachers' union boss Randi Weingarten and her radical pals. Officials say this won't cost more than 'a few million' dollars. But for how long did Weingarten stay bought? Not so long, it seems."
Charter schools are on the way
Date CapturedWednesday May 09 2007, 9:14 AM
Times Herald-Record opines, "Believers believe they offer a new birth of freedom from unions and regulations; nonbelievers believe they offer a government-funded attack on standards and salaries."
Newburgh's busing policy up to voters
Date CapturedWednesday May 09 2007, 8:46 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Every weekday, buses in the Newburgh School District move a small-town-sized mass of kids to and from school. Orange County's largest district shuttles more than 11,600 students (public, private, parochial and special needs) to 88 Hudson Valley facilities. It's a pricey undertaking. The proposed 2007-2008 pupil transportation budget is roughly $12.6 million, a 14 percent hike over this school year. That transportation slice accounts for about 6 percent of Newburgh's $203.71 budget proposition, which goes before the voters May 15."
Senate slams Spitzer school reform plan
Date CapturedWednesday May 09 2007, 8:31 AM
Times Union reports, "At issue is the Contract for Excellence program, under which 56 school districts statewide are slated to receive an approximately 10 percent boost, or an extra $15 million in aid. But they also must enact changes in their programs."
Board tables vote on expanding Indiana pilot attendance plan
Date CapturedTuesday May 08 2007, 9:41 AM
South Bend Tribune reports, "According to the proposed policy, students are allowed to accumulate nine absences per semester. A 10th absence puts a student in a no-credit status. After a ninth absence, the student would be referred to a credit redemption program after school. The student, the policy states, would have the opportunity to make up class work and class time to regain credit status. One hour of after-school work would make up for one hour of absence from a class. While students wouldn't necessarily be making up the work, they would be making up the time. They would, however, be required to do homework or read during that time."
A check mark under 'tardy' for the state
Date CapturedTuesday May 08 2007, 9:35 AM
Times Union reports, "Typically, the state Education Department releases the data to the media in the form of lengthy computer files. Newspapers and other outlets then sift through the data and present it in a user-friendly form that allows for school-to-school and district-to-district comparisons. But as of Monday, the data hadn't been released to the media. Education Department officials did not say why, but did say it could be coming as soon as this week."
Manhattan School Survey Pushed Back
Date CapturedTuesday May 08 2007, 9:26 AM
NY Times reports, "The Department of Education has extended a deadline for surveys measuring satisfaction in the schools from May 18 to June 1, officials said. The surveys, for parents, teachers and students from grades 6 to 12, are part of a $2 million city effort."
Letter of law foiled North Carolina schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 08 2007, 9:20 AM
The News & Observer reports, "One word - 'uniform' - doomed the Wake County school system's efforts to require students to attend year-round schools. In his decision last week blocking the system's plan to convert 22 schools to mandatory year-round schedules, Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. focused on a state law that says school systems shall offer a 'uniform term of nine months.' He said the General Assembly hadn't given Wake the specific authority to mandate a school term of longer than nine months."
Cell ban upheld - principals get leeway
Date CapturedTuesday May 08 2007, 9:15 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The city's controversial school cell phone ban will stand - but principals may make exceptions, a Manhattan judge ruled yesterday. Judge Lewis Stone wrote in a 50-page decision that the Education Department's cell phone policy is not unconstitutional."
Illinois Efforts to Promote Internet Safety Education for School Age Children
Date CapturedTuesday May 08 2007, 9:08 AM
Government Technology reports, "Joined by educators from Chicago Public Schools (CPS), CPS Board President Rufus Williams and area lawmakers, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan unveiled new and concentrated measures designed to help protect today's school children from threats not known to school kids of just a few years ago: online predators and other criminals that use the Internet to perpetrate crimes against children."
SCHOOL DISTRICTS PROPOSE PLANS TO RAISE SPENDING AT TWICE THE INFLATION RATE, STUDY FINDS
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 11:01 AM
Statewide, proposed school budgets in the "School Tax Watch" sample would increase per-pupil spending to an average $18,035. That figure represents a 6 percent increase – twice the estimated 3 percent rate of inflation. The proposed increase includes the record $1.7 billion increase in state aid provided in this year’s budget. Total school property taxes in these districts would increase by nearly $700 million, to $16.5 billion. Overall spending would increase to $28 billion, a $1.6 billion increase from the previous year. At the same time, enrollment is expected to remain flat. The per-pupil property tax levy is expected to increase by 4 percent, down from the previous year's increase of 6 percent.
District using busing information in study
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 10:56 AM
uticaOD.com reports, "School district leaders will rely on computer software programs to study the city's student population."
NYSUT says more funding needed for violence prevention
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 10:51 AM
Legislative Gazette reports, "The resolution approved by delegates urges amendments to SAVE that would increase funding for violence prevention programs and school-based mental health services, provide whistle-blower protections to those who report school districts not doing enough to maintain a safe environment, fund alternate settings for students who have been removed from the classroom and provide training to help teachers understand their rights in removing disruptive students."
Open top-grade downtown school
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 10:43 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Op-Ed contributor Eric Bourgeois, member of Board of Contributors opines, "Working with local businesses (specifically those downtown) would be an invaluable experience for these students, and enable these businesses to create the next generation of leaders. Learning outside of the classroom along with internship opportunities would give Rochester a very talented pool of home-grown talent. Graduates would have built-in networking opportunities with the organizations with which they developed relationships during their schooldays."
School budgets too fat
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 10:39 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "In most districts, voters will make the final call. They've generally been kind over the years when schools propose bumps, even large ones, in spending and taxes. But this is the year to be especially scrupulous in examining the rationale for school increases, attending public hearings, asking informed questions and showing up to vote on May 15. School boards and superintendents, for their part, should schedule more hearings than usual and give the electorate answers to the unavoidable question: Why, if you're getting more money from the state, are you raising property taxes to the extent you are? The answers may satisfy you, and, in some cases, the higher local spending may be justified. But demand details — and reject spin."
In the school-aid shell game, you pay
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 9:17 AM
Newsday Op-Ed contributor Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council opines, "Indeed, state legislators and school board members don't like to mention that state aid and STAR dollars come from us. It's a shell game. As public school spending marches higher, more money is found under the local property tax shell, the state tax shell, or both. And little of this is about educating children. We passed adequate spending levels for a proper education long ago. It's about taking more from the taxpayers to hand over to public school teachers and administrators, who already rank among the highest compensated in the nation. When it comes to dollars for public schools, state legislators and school boards are not lost in a desert. Instead, they are awash in money. Think about that when you vote May 15, and when state legislators come up for re-election next year. It's not manna from heaven. It's your money."
School-tax surpluses could strain residents
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 8:55 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Here is the law for taxpayers: You have three years to pay your school taxes or the county sells your property. Here is the law for school districts: Any undesignated money over 2 percent of the upcoming school budget goes to lower that tax levy that year. No three-year wait. Period. That's the law on what is euphemistically called a 'fund balance.' 'Surplus' is simpler. But 10 of 37 school districts in the mid-Hudson carried more than the legal 2 percent surplus into the current school year."
BOOK WORMS LURK
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 8:42 AM
NY Post DOUGLAS MONTERO reports, "Hundreds of city elementary-school kids are sitting ducks at public libraries where they hang out alone, unsupervised and vulnerable, because their parents can't afford after-school baby sitters or don't want to deal with their own kids. The crisis has turned libraries into impromptu day-care centers and good-hearted librarians into unofficial baby sitters for children who have nowhere to go between 3 and 6 p.m. 'It's a growing problem throughout the state,' said Michael Borges, the executive director of the New York Library Association. 'It's unfortunate that parents are so desperate that they have to use a library as a baby-sitting service.'"
Law gives parents more access to childrens' incident reports
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 8:42 AM
AP reports, "A key provision of 'Jonathan's Law' will require residential health facilities to notify parents and guardians within 24 hours of incidents affecting the health and safety of their children. The law will require facilities to provide parents and guardians with incident reports upon request and it will give parents access to records pertaining to allegations of patient abuse or mistreatment."
THE SCHOOL SCAM
Date CapturedMonday May 07 2007, 8:33 AM
NY Post opines, "The annual cash bath, of course, thrills school staffs, union brass and others who make a living off education. And they show their appreciation with generous campaign contributions and other forms of consideration at the appropriate moments in the two-year election cycle. But does it improve learning? If only."
When school workers are arrested, parents deserve real answers
Date CapturedSunday May 06 2007, 9:22 AM
The Journal News reports, "When school district employees are removed from a classroom, put on paid leave and have criminal charges filed against them, residents of a school community might have a few questions about what is going on in their schools."
District targets sports conduct
Date CapturedSunday May 06 2007, 9:02 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "The Horseheads Central School District is developing a "cutting edge" code of conduct for student-athletes, coaches and parents/spectators that could become a model for districts all over New York state."
Newburgh School District to vote on $204M budget
Date CapturedFriday May 04 2007, 9:02 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "The Newburgh District plans to use 'Excellence' dough to: Hire 27 elementary teachers, 25 secondary teachers, three special education teachers, one social worker and three teaching assistants. Establish and expand Extended School Year and Expanded School Day programs. Establish a high school program for grades 9-12 and create grades K-8 programs in at least two elementary schools."
California k-12 school funding reform
Date CapturedFriday May 04 2007, 8:14 AM
Contra Costa Times opines, "At the top of any K-12 funding reform should be greater local control, meaning fewer state mandates and less categorical spending. Let school districts decide how they can best spend the money. The state also should put an end to ADA funding and use enrollment figures instead, updating them once or twice a year. The time and money spent compiling the daily attendance of every student in California is wasteful and unnecessary. Fluctuations in ADA have no relationship to the costs of running a school. Total enrollment does. School districts also need to take a closer look at just how much of the revenue they get goes directly into the classroom -- the higher the percentage the better."
How School Testing Got Corrupted
Date CapturedThursday May 03 2007, 10:31 PM
Huffington Post contributor Diane Ravitch writes, "If we want better schools, we must have a solid, knowledge-rich curriculum, one that includes history, science, geography, the arts, civics, and other disciplines, not just reading and math. We must have effective instruction based on that curriculum. Our assessments should be based on the curriculum. Sadly what we are doing today is to use the tests as a substitute for curriculum and instruction. This won't work, and it will only damage American education. We may get higher scores -- short-term -- but we won't get better education."
School truancy bill moving forward
Date CapturedThursday May 03 2007, 10:26 PM
MaineCoastNow.com reports, "Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, attendance is one of the markers measuring how well a school is doing overall. Some Augusta schools have been cited for not meeting that standard."
Study: Local taxes up despite historic state school aid
Date CapturedThursday May 03 2007, 10:11 PM
AP MICHAEL GORMLEY reports, "The state Business Council's annual School Tax Watch reported Thursday that despite the state aid increase of $1.8 billion approved April 1, the per pupil property tax levy will increase 4 percent on average statewide. That would be down from a 6 percent increase a year ago, according to the business group. State aid is now about $19 billion a year. Between state and local sources, per-pupil spending will increase 6 percent to $18,035, on average, according to the Business Council. That's about twice the inflation rate."
ACLU Urges Rhode Island Supreme Court to Review Truancy Courts
Date CapturedThursday May 03 2007, 9:32 AM
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today asked the state Supreme Court to review a case that raises fundamental questions about the procedures used by so-called “truancy courts” that prosecute students who are absent from school. The ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case arguing that essential due process safeguards are absent from the operation of these courts, which have become increasingly prevalent in public schools across the state. “The ACLU is very concerned about the increasing numbers of parents and children pulled into the truancy court system,” said Amy Tabor, an ACLU cooperating attorney and author of today’s brief. “Some school districts treat children as truant whenever they arrive at school a few minutes late, even though their lateness has resulted in only a few minutes of missed homeroom.”
Statement from Secretary Spellings on National Charter Schools Week
Date CapturedThursday May 03 2007, 8:34 AM
These schools [charter] are dispelling the myth that some children can't learn. By acting as laboratories for best practices, they are changing attitudes about education and they're getting great results for kids. Charters are also transforming urban education and tackling head-on our nation's stubborn achievement gap. They are proving that new approaches to education can work—that breaking tradition and taking risks can yield tremendous results for students. Through the groundbreaking No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush and I have supported a robust expansion of school choice options for students and parents, helping to pave the way for greater access to charter schools. Since 2001, the President has invested $1.4 billion in the Charter Schools Program to facilitate start-ups and spread clear information about successful schools and provided over $262 million for charter school facilities. We will continue to support charter schools as they strive to help students achieve their potential.
School board ties professional development to state standards
Date CapturedThursday May 03 2007, 8:13 AM
Kingston Freeman reports, "The goal of the plan is to boost student achievement through continued staff education. The plan passed unanimously, but there was contention at Wednesday's meeting over wording in the plan setting a goal for professional staff to implement 100 percent of state standards for education. Trustee Marc Tack argued that focusing solely on state standards ignores the district's mission, which is 'to educate, inspire, and graduate students who are excellent in scholarship and character and are empowered to reach their maximum potential as responsible and productive members of society.'"
Funds for school safety, crime programs
Date CapturedThursday May 03 2007, 8:08 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "The Secure Our Schools program, which is part of COPS, provides grants that can be used for metal detectors, locks, improved lighting, school security assessments and security training for students and staff. The federal government pays for half the cost with states and local governments covering the rest."
Effort helps connect donors and schools
Date CapturedThursday May 03 2007, 8:05 AM
Times Union reports, "Students are getting everything from musical instruments to tap shoes from a Web site that matches private sector donors with public schools' needs for specific resources. It's called DonorsChoose."
Schools seek money, clarification of privacy laws to become safer
Date CapturedWednesday May 02 2007, 9:26 AM
The Journal News reports, "Meanwhile, the head of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities said state and federal lawmakers need to give more direction about when schools can notify families without violating student privacy."
Rochester city schools will falter if leaders get faulty data on pupil progress
Date CapturedWednesday May 02 2007, 9:07 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Cynthia Elliott, Rochester Board of Education member opines, "There is no doubt in my mind that people genuinely want to help our children succeed. But that involvement will be ineffective and our goal of 100 percent graduation rates will not be realized if we don't have accurate information. Only with accurate information can we even begin to entertain the strategies to achieve academic excellence."
Officials to revisit truancy program
Date CapturedWednesday May 02 2007, 8:46 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Deputy Mayor Patty Malgieri said Tuesday that city and school officials will begin work next week to retool a truancy program that has struggled in its first year. 'Kids can't learn if they're not in their seats,' she said. Truancy feeds the city's dropout and unemployment rates, officials say, which connect to crime, poverty and other issues."
STEPS pilot program a great resource for Rockland schools
Date CapturedWednesday May 02 2007, 8:34 AM
The Journal News opines, "This program can mitigate the self-evident price society pays from the stigma that stops identification of treatment of emotional problems. Look at teen suicide rates; look at what happens when that violence is turned outward."
An appeal for help at SUNY
Date CapturedWednesday May 02 2007, 8:25 AM
Times Union reports, "The recommended ratio of counselors to students on a college campus is one counselor for every 1,000 to 1,500 students, a range that takes into account the availability of off-campus support, according to data Ryan cited from the International Association of Counseling Services. At SUNY's state-operated campuses, which doesn't include community colleges, the ratio is one counselor for every 1,700 students. At the University at Albany, with 17,000 students, it is one for every 2,000 students."
Keeping Kids in the Classroom
Date CapturedTuesday May 01 2007, 10:52 AM
Washington Post reports, "The problem of truancy has drawn widespread attention this year, prompting some area lawmakers to call for tough measures to keep track of the most habitual offenders and leading school officials to crack down on those who constantly skip class. In its recently concluded session, the Maryland General Assembly passed a measure that would make it possible to deny driver's licenses to students who have too many unexcused absences. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) is expected to sign it. During the same session, some lawmakers in Prince George's proposed strapping ankle bracelets on students to electronically monitor the whereabouts of those who constantly skip school. That bill did not advance. But the county's police announced April 11 that they had caught 425 truants in a crackdown that began in February."
N.C.A.A. Cracks Down on Prep Schools and Angers Some
Date CapturedTuesday May 01 2007, 8:52 AM
NY Times reports, "The N.C.A.A. quietly passed legislation last week to continue its fight against prep schools that require minimal academic study. In perhaps its most significant move to deter diploma mills, the N.C.A.A. will limit high school students to one core course that would count toward college eligibility after a student’s four-year high school graduation date. The decision will shut down a glaring N.C.A.A. loophole, one exploited by diploma mills: students avoided graduating high school to pad their grade point average in a fifth year. The N.C.A.A. also hopes the new policy will help eliminate schools that exist solely to qualify players for college scholarships."
School culture can breed violence
Date CapturedTuesday May 01 2007, 8:39 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Alex Zapesochny, president and chief operating officer of iCardiac in Rochester, and a Community Member of the Democrat and Chronicle Editorial Board opines, "Most teenagers are good-hearted, but they feel pressure not to risk their social standing. But like most hierarchies, the ones within schools are highly fragile when challenged. All it takes is for some teens to start saying 'enough' and reach out to others, especially the loners. It won't prevent all future shootings, but it's humane and a good start. "
How'd You Do In School Today?
Date CapturedTuesday May 01 2007, 8:33 AM
Washington Post reports, "Sherry Turkle, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, warns against 'overtechnologizing.' A grade-tracking system like Edline, Turkle says, 'sounds to me terribly intrusive.' The best way for parents and students to communicate is to talk about what is going on at school, she says. "When you just see a grade as a number, it's not necessarily opening the possibility of dialogue. Potentially it's closing down dialogue." Turkle says Edline reminds her of the panopticon, an 18th-century idea for a specially designed building that would enable jailers to watch prisoners without the prisoners knowing they were being observed. The panopticon has become a metaphor for Big Brother."
Rochester school funding accord reached
Date CapturedTuesday May 01 2007, 8:10 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "City aid to Rochester public schools will remain about $119 million for another year under a deal Mayor Robert Duffy and outgoing city school Superintendent Manuel Rivera announced Monday. As part of the deal, the City School District will reimburse the city $1.1 million for the cost of school resource officers and the city will seek a third-party ruling on whether the city must pay $119 million next year. Resource officers are city police officers who serve in the schools."
Rivera moves on
Date CapturedTuesday May 01 2007, 7:51 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "But there's more to Rivera's record than this. His success in raising fourth-grade test scores at nearly every elementary school was a testament to his focus and emphasis on school-based leadership. His work in the elementary grades, along with his restructuring of the unwieldy and often unsafe middle schools, was a chief reason he was chosen state and national superintendent of the year in 2006. Rivera kept the peace with the labor unions, forged good relations with state politicians and, by and large, with the elected school board. Most of all, he's seen the good and the bad. If he can bring that knowledge and wisdom to bear on Spitzer and state Education Commissioner Richard Mills, he will continue to serve children well."
Schools survey sez... $3.3M plan will quiz all PS teachers, students & parents for overall grade
Date CapturedTuesday May 01 2007, 7:37 AM
NY Daily News reports, "In anonymous surveys going out this week, parents will describe their perceptions of schools, while teachers will rate their principals - and reveal whether parents respond to calls home. And kids in grades six through 12 will rate the quality of their assignments and disclose whether their classmates are in gangs or use drugs."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedMonday April 30 2007, 10:39 AM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; April 26, 2007, Volume 7, Number 16.
Another 'F' for Rochester city schools
Date CapturedMonday April 30 2007, 8:34 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "Whether you accept the state's contention that the city's four-year graduation rate is 39 percent or the city's argument that it's really 53 percent, the point is that not enough is being done at every level, but especially in the middle grades, to prepare children for high-school work and the Regents testing mandate. The graduation rates mirror, in a way, what's happening on the eighth-grade math and language tests: very weak performance at too many schools that leads to students feeling at sea once they get to high school."
DESPERATE CITY 'OUT' TO RESCUE SCHOOLS
Date CapturedMonday April 30 2007, 7:53 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Facing a steady decline in student performance through the middle grades and pressure to combat that decline, the city is seeking an outside firm to help it devise a new 'middle school strategy,' The Post has learned. The strategy would look at everything from 'school design' to staff experience and per-pupil spending, to determine why students score lower on tests as they get older."
FRIEDEN'S NEW FOUL
Date CapturedMonday April 30 2007, 7:45 AM
NY Post op-ed contributor David Yassky, north Brooklyn representative, New York City Council opines, "The rules would cost parochial schools millions of dollars, quite possibly forcing some of them to shut down. Most important, these new rules would cross the line that should separate church and state. Of course, we do want the Health Department to protect children against dangers like lead exposure. But existing rules already do that. Now the Health Department wants to impose much more comprehensive regulations on parochial preschool facilities - mandating a certain number of square feet per child, a certain number of toilets per child and so forth."
State probes test fraud in Uniondale schools
Date CapturedSunday April 29 2007, 9:31 AM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "The state is investigating potentially large-scale test fraud in the Uniondale school district, including alleged tampering with Regents exams required for graduation, state and local officials said. Investigators from the state attorney general's office questioned both school administrators and teachers last week, according to Uniondale officials who expressed anguish about the situation. The district plans to send out letters Monday to parents of the district's 6,400 students, acknowledging the state probe. Findings could be announced this week. Education Department officials said if any district staffers are implicated, students' scores on past tests would not be affected -- unless students themselves also are found culpable."
A test for the Regents
Date CapturedSunday April 29 2007, 9:26 AM
Newsday opines, "Meanwhile, the problems of poverty force the schools to divert more money from the classroom - for everything from security to special education - than any other district. And political tweaking of state formulas on behalf of the wealthy means Roosevelt still won't get a fair share of school aid. It's show time Even before the next school year, Mills and the Regents must take these steps. They must find new leaders who will in turn inspire teachers, parents and students. And in so doing, they can create a national model of success for other struggling schools - especially those that fall through the cracks in the suburbs. It's an effort that will take the cooperation of everyone from state educators and lawmakers to local governments that aren't normally involved in education. Everyone from private philanthropists to community groups and parents. It's time to give the students of Roosevelt and their parents the fair shake that was denied the thousands who came before them. This is a test not just of Albany's competency but of its character."
Most Tier classroom doors lack effective lock systems
Date CapturedSunday April 29 2007, 9:22 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Most Southern Tier classroom doors can't be locked from the inside, despite evidence that locking doors can help protect children during a threat to a school."
High school revelations
Date CapturedSunday April 29 2007, 9:18 AM
The Journal News opines, "More starkly than ever, the new data capture the gulfs between wealthy and poor school districts, between white and non-white students, between general education students and disabled ones. The only way to narrow those gaps is to quickly identify students in danger of failing to meet standards, consistently give them resources and supports, and for those still struggling in high school, give them the time they need to pull through."
Tech Valley High's first students meet
Date CapturedSunday April 29 2007, 9:02 AM
Times Union reports, "The school will have no more than 400 students in grades 9-12 drawn from 48 school districts within the two BOCES, which serve seven counties: Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Schoharie, Saratoga and Greene. It will focus on math, science and technology. In fall 2008, the school will add up to 48 sophomores. In fall 2009, the high school will open in its own building in Rensselaer County, with 100 students in each grade."
Charter school for at-risk youth announces layoffs
Date CapturedSaturday April 28 2007, 5:39 PM
Austin American-Stateman reports, "Schell [director of development for the school] said several factors, including having a high percentage of economically disadvantaged and homeless students, make it difficult to accurately predict attendance."
Houston school district says charter school falsified records
Date CapturedSaturday April 28 2007, 3:41 PM
AP reports, "A charter school for at-risk teens inflated attendance by more than 200 students last year and must repay $358,000 in state funding it received for the students, school district officials say."
Secretary Spellings Seeks Public Comment on Campus and School Safety
Date CapturedSaturday April 28 2007, 10:35 AM
As part of this effort, Secretary Spellings today met with state and local leaders, educators, mental health experts, parents, students, and local law enforcement officials in Albuquerque, to determine how the federal government can best help states and localities keep students safe. Secretary Spellings announced that she is seeking public comment online at http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/dialogue.html in an effort to expand this important discussion and gather thoughts and suggestions from across the country. Secretary Spellings will consider these suggestions as she develops recommendations for a report to President Bush next month. "Nothing is more important to American parents than the safety of their children," said Secretary Spellings. "I invite all concerned Americans—parents, educators, law enforcement officials and students—to share their ideas about school safety online at safeschools@ed.gov. Together, we can strengthen our best practices, raise awareness of warning signs and help prevent tragedies."
School districts serve all children
Date CapturedSaturday April 28 2007, 10:13 AM
The Journal News opines, "Those who come to the board, no matter from what community, need to remember that all youngsters in East Ramapo, no matter what kind of school they attend, are the district's children."
A Lack of Interest (and Candidates) in New System’s School Parent Councils
Date CapturedSaturday April 28 2007, 9:52 AM
NY Times reports, "Unlike the old school board elections, open to all registered voters, current state law restricts this election so that only the top three officers of each school’s parent association vote for council members. Parents serving on the district councils are ineligible to be officers in the parent associations of their own schools. Many parents who have been elected to the councils say they feel out of the loop, disrespected by an education department that, they say, decides first and asks later. And several council presidents said they were frustrated by a perceived lack of support from school principals, many of whom do not even know who their council members are."
North Carolina district unveils warning system
Date CapturedFriday April 27 2007, 8:47 AM
Rocky Mountain Telegram reports, "The system, which is used at more than 8,500 sites nationwide, allows schools to send four types of messages: community outreach, emergency communication, attendance notification and school surveys."
Districts want strings detached from aid
Date CapturedFriday April 27 2007, 8:24 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Under the new spending rules, the district must use the aid to implement full-day kindergarten, restructure middle and high schools, reduce class size, extend the school day or improve teacher and principal quality. The districts could spend up to 15 percent implementing a research-based program of their own as well."
Districts await correction on graduation data
Date CapturedFriday April 27 2007, 8:14 AM
Times Union reports, "'You can actually see why these things happen because it's a very complicated process,' said Jim Baldwin, superintendent at the Questar III BOCES, which helps school districts interpret the reams of data they must collect."
Course Credit Accrual and Dropping Out of High School
Date CapturedThursday April 26 2007, 8:05 PM
By Gillian Hampden-Thompson (AIR), Gregory Kienzl (AIR), Bruce Daniel (KForce) and Akemi Kinukawa (Child Trends). The findings from the analysis indicate that high school dropouts earn fewer credits than do on-time graduates within each academic year, and the gap in course credits accrued between dropouts and on-time graduates increased across academic years. Differences were also observed in the course credit accrual of dropouts and on-time graduates by selected subjects (e.g., mathematics, science, and English). In addition, the gap in the cumulative number of course credits accrued between on-time graduates and dropouts grew more pronounced over time, and the disparity in cumulative course credits was most evident in the final academic year in which they earned any course credits.
Improving by degrees
Date CapturedThursday April 26 2007, 10:16 AM
NY Daily News opines, "Many have attacked the reforms, and many have doubted whether students were actually learning more. Gains on standardized reading and math tests have been questioned as the products of dumbed-down exams. And Klein's own tally of rising graduation rates has been dismissed as statistical balderdash. His numbers and the state's figures differ because they count varying student populations, but Mills has now certified the trend. And it is happily up. So much so that Mills pointed other districts to some of the techniques now in use in the city's schools, virtually all of which hinge on constantly measuring the progress of individual students and tailoring teaching to their needs. The approach is at the heart of the drive by Bloomberg and Klein to hold everyone in every school accountable for producing results, as opposed to moving students along on a conveyor belt of failure. It's very basic, and it's working. Well done."
Rochester's 39% graduation rate is worst in N.Y.'s Big 4
Date CapturedThursday April 26 2007, 10:12 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The City School District's four-year graduation rate of 39 percent is the lowest of New York's big four upstate city districts, according to state Education Department data released Wednesday. The district's rate dropped from 41 percent in 2005, according to the state. The big four city districts — Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and Yonkers — had an average rate of 45 percent in 2006. Statewide, the average for all schools was 67 percent."
Teaching city pupils how to succeed in business, life
Date CapturedThursday April 26 2007, 9:30 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributor Marcia O'Brien, assistant professor, Roberts Wesleyan College opines, "At Roberts, our students designed business camps for teens: Women of Hope for girls and Men of Standard for boys. These camps, held on our campus during the February school break, teach young people how to start and succeed in their own businesses. They live and dine on campus; take finance, business ethics and marketing classes; develop life skills, and more. The camps are free for the students, paid for by grants and Roberts Wesleyan College. "
NEW GRADUATION RESULTS RELEASED FOR HIGH SCHOOLS STATEWIDE
Date CapturedThursday April 26 2007, 9:07 AM
Statewide high school graduation results released today show that: Statewide, 72 percent of the students who started 9th grade in 2001 had graduated after 5 years, by June 30, 2006. Statewide, 67 percent of the students who started 9th grade in 2002 had graduated after 4 years. This is an increase of one percentage point from the 4-year graduation rate of students who started 9th grade in 2001. The 4-year graduation rate of African-American students increased from 44 to 47 percent between 2004 and 2006, although it remains far too low and far below the rate of white students. The 4-year graduation rate of Hispanic students increased from 41 to 45 percent between 2004 and 2006, although it also remains far too low. New York City has increased its 4-year graduation rate from 44 percent in 2004 to 50 percent in 2006.
School Push-Outs: An Urban Case Study
Date CapturedWednesday April 25 2007, 11:46 AM
Elysa Hyman writes, "While the specter of the No Child Left Behind Act continues to loom over our nations’ schools, grassroots organizations, parent groups, attorneys, educators and policymakers must monitor their local school systems and take action if schools are engaging in exclusionary practices. National coalitions must be formed to highlight the unintended effects of the Act and to advocate reform of laws and policies that punish schools for trying to educate all students or that provide incentives for schools to push them out of the building."
If you pay 'em, they will come!
Date CapturedWednesday April 25 2007, 10:20 AM
NY Daily News reports on Mayor Bloomberg's trip to Mexico, "The Mexican government says the payments, which were created 10 years ago, have helped lower school dropout rates, boost school attendance and reduce health problems among children."
Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort
Date CapturedWednesday April 25 2007, 10:10 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, "The project will not endorse candidates — indeed, it is illegal to do so as a charitable group — but will instead focus on three main areas: a call for stronger, more consistent curriculum standards nationwide; lengthening the school day and year; and improving teacher quality through merit pay and other measures. While the effort is shying away from some of the most polarizing topics in education, like vouchers, charter schools and racial integration, there is still room for it to spark vigorous debate. Advocating merit pay to reward high-quality teaching could force Democratic candidates to take a stand typically opposed by the teachers unions who are their strong supporters. Pushing for stronger, more uniform standards, on the other hand, could force Republican candidates to discuss the potential merits of a national curriculum, a concept advocates for states’ rights deeply oppose and one that President Bush has not embraced."
Educating Children in Foster Care: The McKinney-Vento and No Child Left Behind Acts
Date CapturedWednesday April 25 2007, 9:44 AM
Casey Family Programs write, "The recommendations, included as part of a comprehensive report released at a congressional briefing, deal with the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The recommendations are: Improve school stability by ensuring that the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act applies to all children in out-of-home care, and increase funding for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to a level that covers all eligible children. Ensure that children and youth in foster care have access to education-related support services by making them automatically eligible for Title I, Part A services and including them in the set-aside that exists for homeless children. Increase funding for school counselors and mental health services."
State targets districts to boost performance
Date CapturedWednesday April 25 2007, 9:30 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "The contracts require the districts to spend a big chunk of their state aid on programs that boost student academic performance. The booster programs are targeted at full-day prekindergarten and kindergarten, reducing class size, lenghtening school days, improving the quality of teachers and principals and restructuring middle and high schools. Additional accountability measures will permit parents and the community to see where and how the money is spent and what the results are, the state said."
Here's a bright idea: Turn off the lights!
Date CapturedWednesday April 25 2007, 9:21 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Lights at the historic Tweed Courthouse, which houses the Education Department headquarters, were still blazing at 3:50 a.m. Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said Tweed is regularly cleaned during off-hours. The department's building at 65 Court St. in Brooklyn also was lit well into the wee hours. Feinberg said those lights had to be on because of an unspecified number of information technology and payroll employees who work overnight. She refused to provide an exact number of late-night workers and referred further questions to the city. The Education Department paid $172,000 in the most recent fiscal year for lighting, elevators, air conditioning and heating for the Court St. building. If the department stopped running its lights at night, it would potentially save a third of that cost, or about $57,000 a year. The city could hire one new teacher at the average starting salary of $42,512 or two new cops at $25,000 each."
School Districts (outside of NYC) that will have to file Contracts for Excellence for the 2007-08 School Year
Date CapturedTuesday April 24 2007, 9:49 PM
Metal-bat ban set for September in NYC high schools
Date CapturedTuesday April 24 2007, 10:02 AM
AP reports, "The measure outlaws metal bats under the theory that they crack harder and faster hits, raising the risk of injury because young players have less time to react to speeding baseballs. Opponents, including Little League Baseball and sporting goods makers, say there is no evidence metal bats are more dangerous. Youth leagues and lawmakers are proposing similar bans in other areas, including New Jersey, where a 12-year-old boy went into cardiac arrest and suffered serious injuries after a batted ball struck him in the chest."
State school boss Richard Mills won't quit
Date CapturedTuesday April 24 2007, 9:44 AM
Newsday reports, "Mills and his department received multiple warnings over the past three years that Roosevelt's finances were in weak shape, though the exact size of the deficit was not revealed until last month. "What's going on in Roosevelt is a black mark on the Regents, and we need to fix it," said Merryl Tisch of Manhattan, recently elected the board's vice chairman. "And we need to hold the commissioner responsible." The board is expected to review Roosevelt developments in May, though it is not scheduled to formally review Mills' job performance until July."
Senators Discuss Preventing College Attacks
Date CapturedTuesday April 24 2007, 9:08 AM
NY Times reports, "Much of the testimony focused on the difficulty of securing campuses that are essentially small towns and the challenges of balancing the rights of individuals to privacy with the need for community safety. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the committee’s ranking Republican, questioned witnesses about whether they believed that some of the laws that govern privacy of medical and school records needed to be changed. None had a ready answer, but they agreed that the most difficult situations involved students who were clearly troubled yet refused treatment. They also agreed that university officials often hesitated to act because they feared litigation."
Bloomberg Reaches Deal With Principals
Date CapturedTuesday April 24 2007, 8:56 AM
NY Times reports, ""The deal was the second time in less than a week that Mr. Bloomberg took a long stride in seeking to quiet some of the loudest critics of his education policies. On Thursday, he reached agreements with the teachers’ union and several advocacy groups that have opposed his reorganization of the school bureaucracy."
Schools Revisit Gun Policies After Virginia Tech Rampage
Date CapturedTuesday April 24 2007, 8:52 AM
NPR Talk of the Nation reports, "Last week's deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech shattered the image of college campuses as idyllic sanctuaries of safety. Virginia Tech — like most American universities — forbids students from carrying guns on campus. Now many schools are re-evaluating their gun policies."
PRINCIPALS GET 25G EXTRA CREDIT IN DEAL
Date CapturedTuesday April 24 2007, 8:28 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Ending nearly four years of ugly haggling, the city reached a tentative contract yesterday with the union representing school administrators that gives 23 percent raises and offers principals an extra $25,000 a year to take over underperforming schools. The nearly seven-year retroactive deal with the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators also provides every principal the chance to earn a $25,000 bonus based on their students' progress and sharply curtails seniority rights for assistant principals. The pact concludes a stalemate that loomed over the Bloomberg administration's efforts to reform the school system, in part by broadening the authority of principals this fall in exchange for greater scrutiny."
A battle with absentees
Date CapturedMonday April 23 2007, 11:08 AM
Indianapolis Tribune opines, "Changing the pattern of poor attendance must start with parents, who must take the time to ensure that their children are in school each day. But school districts, police and the community as a whole also have vital roles to play in holding students and their parents accountable. At a time when a good education has never been more important for economic stability, the high truancy rates that plague Wayne Township and other school districts are intolerable. Missing school may well translate into young people missing opportunities to graduate, land good jobs and secure their future."
New & Notes
Date CapturedMonday April 23 2007, 10:20 AM
From the desk of Johanna Duncan-Poitier, Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education - P-16, April 20, 2007.
Local colleges evaluate safety in wake of Virginia Tech
Date CapturedMonday April 23 2007, 9:33 AM
Newsday reports, "Even before last week's massacre at Virginia Tech, colleges and universities across Long Island had been quietly upgrading campus security for years. Even so, Virginia Tech is a new wake-up call, and it has spurred college officials and local police to re-evaluate security, in particular how to respond to an emergency."
Racial disparities persist in special education, discipline
Date CapturedMonday April 23 2007, 9:21 AM
The Journal News reports, "A new Department of Education report on the 2005-06 school year said minority students in Nanuet, Ardsley, Port Chester-Rye and Irvington were identified as having learning disabilities or placed in restrictive settings at significantly higher rates than other groups. In Yonkers, black students served suspensions of over 10 days at nearly five times the rate of whites."
Rush to slash class size will hurt our schools
Date CapturedMonday April 23 2007, 9:00 AM
NY Daily News Op-ed contributor Michael Rebell, executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity, at Teachers College, Columbia University opines, "A mandated average class-size reduction plan is likely to be applied across the board to virtually all schools in the system, while it is clear that we should, at least at first, target the students with the greatest education deficits. Let's not forget that it was for them that the CFE case was waged and won, and that the Court of Appeals invalidated the old funding system to ensure that funding follows need. When they meet tomorrow, the Board of Regents should approve regulations that allow class-size reductions to be limited to low-performing schools and to follow improvements in teacher quality and the availability of adequate space."
School districts advised to protect computer data
Date CapturedSunday April 22 2007, 9:43 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Threats to computer data pose a major challenge to school district financial controls, according to a top state official."
Audits show some schools spending without getting voter approval
Date CapturedSunday April 22 2007, 9:38 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "A Times Herald-Record review of school districts' 2005-2006 audits reveals some minor infractions and one more major trend: spending without taxpayer approval."
ELIOT TALKS THE TALK
Date CapturedSunday April 22 2007, 9:32 AM
NY Post opines, "So, yes, Spitzer is again saying the right things. Mayoral control is essential to the schools. If New Yorkers aren't happy with education, they need to be able to give someone - the mayor - the boot. But Spitzer's pattern of speaking loudly while wielding a small stick shouldn't raise hopes too high."
PRINCIPALS CRAM FOR BIG CHANGES
Date CapturedSunday April 22 2007, 9:26 AM
NY Post reports, "City principals will flock to a Manhattan hotel tomorrow for a crash course in the school system's latest reorganization, scrambling to learn details about a newly revealed program they must implement by the fall. The symposium at the Grand Hyatt will attempt to explain three 'support organization models,' which all schools must choose from in the next month. The support organizations are designed to help schools hit accountability targets, provide professional development, attract high-quality teachers and design programs to help scores and attendance, according to the Department of Education."
CITY EDUCATION PLAN TO BOOT 'NEGATIVE' PTA FOLKS
Date CapturedSunday April 22 2007, 9:20 AM
NY Post reports, "Principals may soon have the power to expel parents from PTAs. The city Department of Education is mulling a stunning policy change that would allow principals to ban parents from the volunteer panels for patterns of 'negative behavior.' The controversial proposal to alter existing chancellor's regulations comes as the DOE is trying to increase parent involvement - adding paid parent coordinators at each school and hiring a $150,000 parent czar."
Mr. Rivera Goes to Albany
Date CapturedSaturday April 21 2007, 10:58 PM
City Journal, Spring 2007; Peter Meyer, a Contributing Editor of Education Next writes, "Rivera says that he will push the governor’s initiatives, which he helped create as a member of Spitzer’s education-policy transition team; they include detailed accountability standards and the Contract for Excellence, which obligates educators to spend money on 'what works.'"
charter school report card --- see stability
Date CapturedSaturday April 21 2007, 10:51 PM
Ten Accountability Lessons: What Works and What Does Not What Works and What Does Not
Date CapturedSaturday April 21 2007, 9:53 PM
Boosting Accountability in New York’s Schools How to Meet the Governor’s Historic Challenge March 8, 2007 Ten Accountability Lessons: What Works and What Does Not What Works and What Does Not Paul E. Peterson Paul E. Peterson – Harvard University Harvard University Lesson 1: Lesson 1: Overall, accountability seems to have Overall, accountability seems to have positive effects. positive effects. Effect of State Accountability Effect of State Accountability Systems on NAEP Performance Systems on NAEP Performance 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 none with report card with accountability math gains 4th to 8th grade (% of a standard deviation) Change in NAEP Test Scores Change in NAEP Test Scores (All Students, 1992/98 (All Students, 1992/98 - 2005) 2005) 18.5 2.5 10.7 -0.3 25.2 11.2 14.1 1.2 19.7 8.1 13.3 0.3 -10 0 10 20 30 4th Grade Math 4th Grade Reading 8th Grade Math 8th Grade Reading Change in Score (1992/98 to 2005) U.S. Florida New York Note: For 8th Grade Reading, comparison years are 1998 and 2005; for all others, 1992 and 2005. Stars denote changes in the state scores that were significantly higher or lower than the changes in the U.S. overall. Change in NAEP Scores Change in NAEP Scores (Black Students, 1992/98 (Black Students, 1992/98 - 2005) 2005) 27.7 7.9 18 0 35 17.8 14.8 2.4 24.6 8.3 25.2 -3.8 -10 0 10 20 30 40 4th Grade Math 4th Grade Reading 8th Grade Math 8th Grade Reading Change in Score (1992/98 to 2005) U.S. Florida New York Note: For 8th Grade Reading, comparison years are 1998 and 2005; for all others, 1992 and 2005. Stars denote changes in the state scores that were significantly higher or lower than the changes in the U.S. overall. Change in NAEP Scores Change in NAEP Scores (Hispanic Students, 1992/98 (Hispanic Students, 1992/98 - 2005) 2005) 24.2 6.9 14.1 3.5 25.6 12.1 18.4 4.5 29.2 24.2 21.4 3.9 0 10 20 30 40 4th Grade Math 4th Grade Reading 8th Grade Math 8th Grade Reading Change in Score (1992/98 to 2005) U.S. Florida New York Note: For 8th Grade Reading, comparison years are 1998 and 2005; for all others, 1992 and 2005. Lesson 2: Lesson 2: Accountability, as we know it, is not Accountability, as we know it, is not transforming schools. transforming schools. National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1971-2004 Age 17, Math 225 250 275 300 325 1971 1982 1993 2004 Scale Score White Black Hispanic National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1971-2004 Age 17, Reading 225 250 275 300 325 1971 1982 1993 2004 Scale Score White Black Hispanic Lesson 3: Lesson 3: Accountability is cost effective. Accountability is cost effective. Lesson 4: Lesson 4: NCLB NCLB’s measuring stick is flawed measuring stick is flawed – standards vary by state. standards vary by state. Variation in State Variation in State Proficiency Proficiency Standards, 2005 Standards, 2005 Lesson 5: Lesson 5: NCLB NCLB’s measuring stick conflicts measuring stick conflicts with state accountability measures. with state accountability measures. Comparison with Florida Comparison with Florida’s Measuring Stick Measuring Stick Lesson 6: Lesson 6: NCLB does a poor job of identifying NCLB does a poor job of identifying good schools. good schools. Accuracy of Measuring Stick Accuracy of Measuring Stick Lesson 7: Lesson 7: For accountability to work, states For accountability to work, states need to build a data base that can need to build a data base that can track students over time. track students over time. Lesson 8: Lesson 8: Schools respond if accountability Schools respond if accountability contains a penalty. contains a penalty. Florida Student Gains from Being Florida Student Gains from Being Threatened by the Voucher Option Threatened by the Voucher Option 10 percent of a standard deviation 10 percent of a standard deviation (about half the size of the class size reduction, (about half the size of the class size reduction, at little or no cost) at little or no cost) Lesson 9: Lesson 9: Student accountability is more Student accountability is more effective than school accountability. effective than school accountability. “The student is the crucial actor. The student is the crucial actor. Whether we adults like it or not, he or Whether we adults like it or not, he or she decides what has been purveyed. she decides what has been purveyed.” - Theodore Theodore Sizer Sizer High Stakes Testing in Chicago High Stakes Testing in Chicago Math Results Math Results High Stakes Testing in Chicago High Stakes Testing in Chicago Reading Results Reading Results Achievement Trend Achievement Trend – Chicago vs. Chicago vs. Other Large Midwestern Cities Other Large Midwestern Cities Change in Test Score Gains Change in Test Score Gains Resulting from Florida Resulting from Florida’s Retention s Retention Policy Policy – Low Performing Students Low Performing Students Change in Test Score Gains Change in Test Score Gains Resulting from Florida Resulting from Florida’s Retention s Retention Policy Policy – Retained Students Retained Students Impact of School Autonomy and Impact of School Autonomy and Central Exams on Math Test Scores Central Exams on Math Test Scores % of a standard deviation % of a standard deviation % of a standard deviation % of a standard deviation Statewide MCAS Math Results Statewide MCAS Math Results 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 Percentage at or above proficient 4th grade 8th grade 10th grade Lesson 10: Lesson 10: Principals and teachers, not schools, Principals and teachers, not schools, need to be held accountable. need to be held accountable.
For Some Schools and Taxpayers, a Big Relief
Date CapturedSaturday April 21 2007, 10:14 AM
NY Times reports, "'There are two factors that really drove aid downstate,” said Paul Francis, the governor’s budget director. “One is that by sending more money to high-needs districts, that’s going to drive more money downstate because of New York City and certain suburban districts. The other is that a disproportionate amount of aid that was directed in the final negotiations went to New York City and Long Island.'”
Key Initiative Of 'No Child' Under Federal Investigation
Date CapturedSaturday April 21 2007, 9:39 AM
Washington Post reports, "Despite the controversy surrounding Reading First's management, the percentage of students in the program who are proficient on fluency tests has risen about 15 percent, Education Department officials said. School districts across the country praise the program."
State comptroller questions Roosevelt finances anew
Date CapturedSaturday April 21 2007, 9:25 AM
Newsday reports, "'Serious concerns were identified that what was being proposed was not sufficient to meet the challenges of the deficit ... ' said state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. 'They didn't follow their own spending plans in previous years.' In addition, some of the methods the district proposed for closing the budget gap were found to be financially unsound or illegal, the comptroller's office said. For example, the district said it was considering using the tax levy to pay down the deficit when state law says that such revenue can only be used for operating expenses."
PRINCIPALS NEARING NEW PACT WITH CITY
Date CapturedSaturday April 21 2007, 9:14 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "It was expected that the pact would call for raises of more than 22 percent - bumping the pay of principals and their assistants beyond that of teachers, whose union has negotiated two wage hikes since the contract expired almost four years ago. Such a raise would increase the top salary to about $150,000 for principals and to about $130,000 for assistants. In exchange, the city has demanded provisions aimed at weeding ineffective assistant principals out of the school system."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedFriday April 20 2007, 9:32 AM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. April 19, 2007, Volume 7, Number 15
Charter school finds home, still needs state approval
Date CapturedFriday April 20 2007, 9:22 AM
Kingston Freeman reports, "Washington [co-applicant for the Teaching Wisdom and Responsibility Charter School of Higher Learning] said she has been working on the charter school plan for two years and has secured space on O'Neil Street to house the school. The school would target students at risk of being left behind academically and will only admit students who scored at Levels 1, 2 or a low 3 on New York state's four-level English language arts or math exams. Washington hopes the school eventually will serve grades kindergarten through eight but said it will start with just kindergartners and fifth-graders. The following year, those students would become first and sixth graders and new classes of kindergartners and fifth-graders would come in, she said. The process the would continue until the school served all grades."
Duffy, Rivera meet to mend fences
Date CapturedFriday April 20 2007, 9:13 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Mayor Robert Duffy, outgoing city school Superintendent Manuel Rivera and city and school district officials met Thursday to clear the air over requests for information concerning the academic achievement of students and the funding and operation of city schools. The meeting is the first since City Hall filed an open records request for and obtained a list of items from the district, including graduation and suspension rates, central office salaries and bonuses, and various district policies."
Boosting Accountability in New York's Schools
Date CapturedFriday April 20 2007, 9:12 AM
How to Meet the Governor's Historic Challenge, Thursday, March 8, 2007. A panel of state and national education experts gathered at the state Capitol in Albany March 8 to examine and debate Gov. Spitzer's historic education reform plan, which aims to hold New York schools more accountable than ever before. This page features a link to a slide presentation by one of the featured speakers, and also includes streaming audio of the event including John C. Reid, Assistant Secretary for Education State of New York; Thomas W. Carroll, President, Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability; Paul E. Peterson Director, Program on Educational Policy and Governance Kennedy School of Government; Moderator: David F. Shaffer, President, Public Policy Institute of New York State; Panelists: Carl Hayden, Chancellor Emeritus, New York State Board of Regents; Richard C. Iannuzzi, President, New York State United Teachers; Timothy G. Kremer, Executive Director, New York State School Boards Association; Thomas L. Rogers, Executive Director, New York State Council of School Superintendents; Sol Stern, Contributing Editor, City Journal and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Mayor Revises Some Points of School Budget Proposal
Date CapturedFriday April 20 2007, 9:01 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, "The deals also call for the city’s Education Department to establish committees to improve parent relations, to comply with a new state law requiring the city to reduce class sizes, and to provide oversight of the new budget process. In addition, the administration agreed to work with the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, on improving middle schools."
$IGNS OF PEACE IN TEACHER TALKS
Date CapturedFriday April 20 2007, 8:53 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Labor, immigrant and political activists who had complained about an ongoing overhaul of the school system softened their stance at a hastily called City Hall press conference upon winning concessions on how schools will be funded. Under the deal, a city plan to funnel more money to historically low-performing and underfunded schools would not factor in teachers' salaries and would allocate more cash for students not proficient in English."
THE SCHOOL WARS: TEACHERS UNIONS MAULED GOV
Date CapturedFriday April 20 2007, 8:46 AM
NY Post Op-ed contributor Thomas W. Carroll, president of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability opines, "In sum, the governor's vision for educational accountability got mangled in the legislative process. The public and educators will get much better student data. But the political process removed the 'teeth' from any consequences for failure. Teachers unions hijacked the infusion of billions of dollars in state money for things they favor - smaller class size (read more dues-paying teachers) - and blocked crucial companion measures like longer school days, longer school years and more flexible work rules that are the sine qua non for successful schools, especially those serving economically disadvantaged populations. At the same time, the governor couldn't expand school choice on anything like the scale of the vast need for alternatives, especially in New York City. The net result: New York state will spend billions more on public schools, and likely produce marginal, if any, changes in outcomes. Eventually, the new assessment system will let us demonstrate this failure conclusively - but that will be faint solace for the generation of children who will be forever damaged by our failure to get reform right."
THE SCHOOL WARS: LESSONS FROM NYC
Date CapturedFriday April 20 2007, 8:40 AM
NY Post Op-ed contributor New York City Mayor Bloomberg opines, "I've always been a strong believer in the idea that if an extra year is necessary in order to learn basic and essential skills and knowledge, then that year is well-spent. And as our program to end social promotion demonstrated real results, the status-quo crowd stopped screaming. Turning around the school system in D.C. won't be any easier than it's been here in New York. But it can be done - and it must be done. The future of our cities, and of our nation, rests on whether we can create schools where children receive the high-quality education they will need to pursue their dreams in the 21st century. Our children deserve nothing less, and we can't settle for anything less."
ALUMNI SEETHE AT CLUB RED
Date CapturedThursday April 19 2007, 10:03 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports on the Beacon School spring-break field trip to Cuba, "'Beacon's overly liberal and, in my opinion, quite un-American viewpoints, rants and now, apparently, actions have finally gotten them into some trouble,' wrote one alumnus about the trip."
Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2004-05 (Fiscal Year 2005)
Date CapturedThursday April 19 2007, 9:45 AM
This brief publication contains basic revenue and expenditure data, by state, for public elementary and secondary education for school year 2004-05. It contains state-level data on revenues by source and expenditures by function, including expenditures per pupil. Zhou, L., Honegger, S., and Gaviola, N. (2007). Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2004–05 (Fiscal Year 2005) (NCES 2007-356). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved April 19, 2007 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007356.
At city universities, NYPD is vital asset
Date CapturedThursday April 19 2007, 9:35 AM
NY Daily News reports, " A City University of New York official who asked not to be named said that a 2002 internal review by former NYPD commissioner William Bratton encouraged all 22 colleges in the system to establish close relationships with the NYPD, and to use the department without hesitation."
Laws Limit Options When a Student Is Mentally Ill
Date CapturedThursday April 19 2007, 9:14 AM
NY Times TAMAR LEWIN reports, "For the most part, universities cannot tell parents about their children’s problems without the student’s consent. They cannot release any information in a student’s medical record without consent. And they cannot put students on involuntary medical leave, just because they develop a serious mental illness. Nor is knowing when to worry about student behavior, and what action to take, always so clear."
Parents, UFT and city in talkathon
Date CapturedThursday April 19 2007, 9:01 AM
NY Daily News CARRIE MELAGO reports, "The city officials offered to modify the proposed new school funding plan, possibly leaving teachers' salaries out of the formula, sources said. They also suggested the creation of a task force to study parent involvement, sources said. 'There were crumbs for everybody,' said a person who attended the meeting."
Principally, a hefty pay raise is near
Date CapturedThursday April 19 2007, 8:57 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "Every public school principal, assistant principal and supervisor is in for a 22% raise - if their union can reach an agreement with the city. School leaders have been without a raise since their last contract expired in 2003, even as Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has moved to give them unprecedented power to run their schools - and suffer the consequences if they fail. Now, city and union sources say a deal is close that would bump top principals from their current ceiling of $125,000 to more than $150,000 within the next couple of years. Assistant principals, who now make between $88,000 and $107,000 - in some cases, less than the veteran teachers who work for them - would leap ahead of nearly all teachers."
BACKFIRING BAN, RETHINK THE DRINKING AGE
Date CapturedThursday April 19 2007, 8:45 AM
NY Post Op-ed contributor George F. Will opines, "Students may not care about McCardell's cause because they have little trouble finding fake IDs, or getting older friends to purchase their alcohol. His strongest argument, however, may be that delaying legal drinking until 21 merely delays tragedies that might be prevented with earlier instruction in temperance. The age that has the most drunk driving fatalities? Twenty-one."
SUNY EYEING TEXT-MESSAGE ALARM SYSTEM
Date CapturedThursday April 19 2007, 8:40 AM
NY Post reports, "The SUNY system is "actively considering" mandating that all of its 64 campuses adopt emergency text-messaging programs that could instantly warn students via their cellphones in the event of a massacre like the one at Virginia Tech, officials said. SUNY - which has more than 417,000 students - may also adopt a 'reverse 911 system,' in which students and staff would be called en masse on their cellphones with 'a specific' voice message about a threat or emergency, said SUNY spokesman David Henahan yesterday."
Eight for 2008: Education Ideas for the Next President
Date CapturedTuesday April 17 2007, 6:51 PM
Education Sector is offering the following eight education ideas for the 2008 presidential campaign -- Unlock the Pre-K Door , Offer Teachers a New Deal , Create a National Corps of 'SuperPrincipals', Open New Schools in Low-Income Neighborhoods, Launch Learning into the 21st Century, Reward Hard-Working Immigrant Students, Give Students a Roadmap to Good Colleges, Help Students Help Others.
Record state education budget aligns with NYSSBA Principles of Funding Reform
Date CapturedTuesday April 17 2007, 11:44 AM
On Board Online • Volume 8 • No. 7 • April 16, 2007. David A. Little, Director of Governmental Relations writes, "While interpretations about this year’s state budget abound, one thing is clear: With a record investment of state funding, this year’s budget made public education the state’s top spending priority. With nearly $1.7 billion in direct aid to school districts and nearly as much again to offset local property tax increases, the 2007-08 state budget far outstripped its predecessors in support of public education."
Chancellor Klein Specifies Restructuring of New York City Schools
Date CapturedTuesday April 17 2007, 7:48 AM
NY Times reports, "Principals are being asked to choose among three options: empowerment, in which schools are organized into networks and led by network support teams; partner support organizations, in which nine private nonprofit groups can be hired on contract to provide support to schools; and four learning support organizations, run by former regional superintendents, each with a different theme."
Santa Ana Unified School District board affirms school attendance inquiry
Date CapturedMonday April 16 2007, 6:37 PM
LA Times reports, "Santa Ana Unified School District trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to spend as much as $25,000 to audit their class-size-reduction program, an investigation prompted by reports that teachers were asked to sign falsified class rosters and that the district misused substitute teachers in an attempt to qualify for $16 million in state funds. The board also questioned why administrators failed to come to them two months ago when they realized classes were not shrinking as expected after the winter break and instituted the strategy to use long-term substitute teachers to reduce class densities."
Doubts Grow About 'No Child Left Behind'
Date CapturedMonday April 16 2007, 6:00 PM
Oxford Analytica reports, "One recent empirical study found several enduring political fissures in response to the law, which will influence the NCLB reauthorization debate: 1. Regional divisions. A South-North divide has emerged in response to the law. Southern states have had a more positive reaction than Northern states. States in the South typically have more room for educational improvement and get a larger relative financial boost from federal dollars. 2. Urban-rural divide. Voters in rural districts are positive about NCLB, because they generally witness more funds going to their schools. Yet parents in urban areas are increasingly unsettled by the influence of the law. Urban schools find meeting NCLB targets more difficult. 3. Union politics. Many state-level initiatives that predated NCLB focused on the failings of teachers and entrenchment of teachers' unions. NCLB addressed many of these concerns, but it continues to attract opposition from many educators. 4. Partisan cleavages. Although NCLB originated as a bipartisan initiative, traditional divisions have become increasingly apparent. Democrats are increasingly concerned about the enhanced federal role in school testing and teacher assessment, while Republicans generally favor this approach. However, Republican resistance to providing additional funding is hardening."
Proposed NYC Public School Causes Stir
Date CapturedMonday April 16 2007, 9:33 AM
Newsday NAHAL TOOSI reports, "The school, which is named after the famed Lebanese-American Christian poet who promoted peace, would be one of a few nationwide that incorporate the Arabic language and Islamic culture. Almontaser and city Department of Education officials say the curriculum will be in line with basics required from public schools while integrating elements of its theme. For instance, the role of Arabs in developing algebra would be explored in math. In history, students may study Egypt's extraordinary past. And Arabic will be offered as a second language. The goal is to eventually teach half of the classes in Arabic. Plans are to open this September with a 6th grade and gradually expand into a middle school and high school. About half the students are expected to be of Arab heritage, though the school will have open admission."
Our school districts often keep secrets
Date CapturedMonday April 16 2007, 8:54 AM
Times Herald-Record Steve Israel writes, "When something is glossed over or covered up, rumors fly. When those rumors aren't addressed immediately, they grow. Soon, folks doubt administrators and board members — just like they doubt all elected officials."
Break Rochester city-school ice
Date CapturedMonday April 16 2007, 8:46 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "Now that the City School District has provided the information requested by Mayor Duffy about the district, the two should come together for a meaningful dialogue. It's unfortunate that it took the city filing a Freedom of Information Law request to obtain the information — graduation and suspension rates, district policies and salary and bonus information — but now's the time for officials to work toward a consensus on finances and school performance."
ASBESTOS FURY; CITY TOO CHEAP TO SAVE SCHOOLKIDS: DOE VET
Date CapturedMonday April 16 2007, 8:23 AM
NY Post reports, "DOE spokeswoman Marge Feinberg insisted that the city's schools are safe and that the agency removes exposed asbestos as soon as it's alerted. But a lab hired by Kielbasa and Gleason found asbestos in samples obtained from the eight sites last November and December. 'I find it in libraries. I find it in classrooms. I find it in hallways. I find it in machinery rooms, near ventilation ducts,' he said."
NEW YORK CITY HIGH SCHOOL SPURS FUROR WITH CUBA TRIP
Date CapturedMonday April 16 2007, 8:14 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "A group of Manhattan public high-school students and a history teacher with a soft spot for Cuba flouted federal travel restrictions by taking a spring-break field trip to the communist nation - and now face up to $65,000 apiece in fines, The Post has learned. The lesson in socializing and socialism was given to about a dozen students from the selective Beacon School on the Upper West Side, which for years has organized extravagant overseas trips with complementary semester-long classes. Some past destinations include France, Spain, South Africa, Venezuela, Mexico and, according to the school Web site, Cuba in 2004 and 2005."
Sunday, April 15, 2007: Open thread: Should school attendance be mandatory?
Date CapturedSunday April 15 2007, 8:17 PM
AFT Salary Survey: Teachers Need 30 Percent Raise
Date CapturedSunday April 15 2007, 5:11 PM
New York dropped to sixth in the nation for its average teacher salary in 2004-05, according to the American Federation of Teachers’ (AFT) annual teacher salary survey released today. Nationally, anemic teacher salary growth continues to lag behind inflation and precludes many teachers from finding affordable housing and paying off student loans. The average teacher salary in New York for the 2004-05 school year was $55,665, up 0.9 percent from the previous year when it was ranked third. New York was ranked fifth in the nation for beginning teacher salary, at $37,321, an increase of 2.5 percent from 2004.
Pennsylvania schools asked to increase training
Date CapturedSunday April 15 2007, 3:28 PM
The Sentinel reports, "The Pennsylvania Department of Education is asking schools to add something to their curriculum: Job skills training. 'If Pennsylvania’s students are to succeed in the workplace,' says the department in recently approved career education and work standards for elementary and secondary schools, 'there are certain skills that they need to obtain prior to graduation from high school.' The standards set objectives, beginning as early as third grade, for helping students identify their career aptitudes, getting the necessary training and obtaining and keeping jobs."
Connecticut's New Education Commissioner Faces a Long To-Do List
Date CapturedSunday April 15 2007, 9:42 AM
NY Times reports, "Mr. McQuillan, who is to begin his job on Monday as the state’s commissioner of education, said Connecticut has been a leader in education reform and has a unique governing structure that fosters teamwork among local school boards, the State Department of Education, legislators and educational advocates."
California Attendance Improvement
Date CapturedSunday April 15 2007, 9:23 AM
Involves three elements to reinforce regular school attendance: prevention, early identification, and intervention.
Should teen mothers be held to truancy standards?
Date CapturedSaturday April 14 2007, 8:49 PM
A Shrewdness of Apes blog: "Well, here's an interesting dilemma: Well, here's an interesting dilemma: A 16-year-old student who claims in a lawsuit that her school district discriminated against her because she is a teen mother has missed 211 days of school over the last four years, according to officials in the Harrisburg area school district. A 16-year-old student who claims in a lawsuit that her school district discriminated against her because she is a teen mother has missed 211 days of school over the last four years, according to officials in the Harrisburg area school district."
Rochester city schools release records
Date CapturedSaturday April 14 2007, 5:55 PM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "An initial look at the other data finds: Total state aid to the City School District has increased from $293.7 million in 2003-04 to a projected $366.6 million for the coming year. Average attendance among secondary school students was 84.4 percent during the last school year. The goal is to achieve 93 percent by 2009-10. An earlier district policy required students to achieve that mark in 2003-04 to get a passing grade. Sixty-five percent of students who started kindergarten in the district in 1993-94 graduated in 2005-06, accounting for students who legally transferred out of the district."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedFriday April 13 2007, 10:18 AM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; April 12, 2007, Volume 7, Number 14
The Autonomy Gap: Barriers to Effective School Leadership
Date CapturedFriday April 13 2007, 10:01 AM
By Hartford Superintendent Steven J. Adamowski with Susan Bowles Therriault and Anthony P. Cavanna. Based on a series of interviews with a small sample of district and charter-school principals, the report shows that most district principals encounter a sizable gap between the extent and kinds of authority that leaders need to be effective and the authority that they actually have. The researchers interviewed thirty-three principals in five cities located in three states-one western, one mid western, and one southeastern state. Participants were asked to rate the importance of twenty-one job functions, then report on their perceived level of autonomy over those functions.
Longer school days aren't a panacea
Date CapturedFriday April 13 2007, 9:43 AM
USA TODAY contributor Marisa Treviño opines, "Surely adding hours to the school day must help students, right? In fact, there's little evidence that more hours mean more productive ones."
Incident adds urgency to an issue
Date CapturedFriday April 13 2007, 9:24 AM
Times Union reports, "Board of Education members say they hope the problem of underage drinking will be a topic of conversation in the community now that 18 students have served in-school suspensions for attending a pre-dance party where alcohol was consumed."
Charter schools are given a break
Date CapturedFriday April 13 2007, 8:47 AM
Buffalo News reports, "'The victory here is that you’ll have more charter schools and that the law remains largely intact,' said Peter Murphy, policy director for the New York Charter Schools Association. 'The message will get out that we’re now back in business.' At the same time, districts with large concentrations of charter schools — including Buffalo — got some fiscal relief after arguing for years that they suffer under the existing funding formula. A newly created pool of 'transition aid' will provide Buffalo $12 million next school year to cushion the $60 million the district makes in transfer payments to 15 charter schools."
Education Department official's disclosure raises questions about oversight
Date CapturedFriday April 13 2007, 8:40 AM
AP reports, "The student lending industry is already under scrutiny by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is investigating allegations of possible kickbacks to school officials for steering students to certain lenders. Cuomo's investigators say they have found numerous arrangements that benefited schools and lenders at the expense of students."
School Official Visits District Run by State
Date CapturedFriday April 13 2007, 8:35 AM
NY Times reports, "Responding to a recent state audit that projected a $12.3 million budget deficit in the chronically troubled Roosevelt school district, Richard P. Mills, the state education commissioner, acknowledged to an audience of parents and teachers on Thursday night that he had failed to notice that the district had been spending millions it did not have."
High style, no class
Date CapturedFriday April 13 2007, 8:24 AM
NY Daily News reports, "City investigators are probing whether bureaucrats built themselves a cozy lounge using money that was supposed to be used to repair crumbling schools, sources told the Daily News. The Education Department's Division of School Facilities - which fixes broken windows, replaces damaged doors and completes other school maintenance - has spent $38,000 for custom bookshelves, electrical wiring and other features inside the room, sources said. But work on the room inside the division's headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, was halted this week after the office of Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon paid a visit, the sources said."
Poor need housing, not handouts
Date CapturedThursday April 12 2007, 6:50 PM
NY Daily News reports, "The program, 'Opportunity NYC,' will pay 2,500 families up to $5,000 a year each in stipends ranging from $50 to $300 for everything from exemplary attendance in elementary school, to scoring high on a crucial exam, to keeping a doctor's appointment for a checkup."
Upstate schools strapped for federal cash
Date CapturedThursday April 12 2007, 9:15 AM
Observer-Dispatch reports, "As Upstate New York school districts finalize their budgets for next year, they are facing a nearly $207 million shortfall in federal funds to help low-income students succeed, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Wednesday. That money was promised as part of the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind law, which aims to improve learning in the nation's schools and measure the results through increased testing."
Catholic schools need more than our prayers
Date CapturedThursday April 12 2007, 9:00 AM
NY Daily News guest contributor Peter Meyer, contributing editor at Education Next and author of a new report in that journal, titled "Can Catholic Schools Be Saved?" opines, "This is not a sectarian fight, nor should it be. The era of choice in public schools has opened the way for daring reform in the public school system - and the most daring and successful of these new schools look remarkably like Catholic schools of old: they are focused and mission-driven. Parents deserve a choice in the school their children attend. It is in the educational interests of our children not only to allow that competition to take place, but to encourage it."
Educrat on buses: Yep, we goofed
Date CapturedThursday April 12 2007, 8:56 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has created a new managerial position overseeing the investigations unit and has promised to hire four new investigators."
Blowing the whistle
Date CapturedThursday April 12 2007, 8:44 AM
NY Daily News opines, "Weingarten's purposes are particularly transparent in that city laws already protect whistleblowers who report gross mismanagement or abuse of authority, and a special investigator is tasked with investigating school complaints. New York State law also protects whistleblowing teachers. Regardless, the Council Education Committee yesterday voted 14 to 1 in favor of Weingarten's bill. Among those in support was Chairman Robert Jackson, who allowed that he doesn't really know what's covered under existing law but "wholeheartedly supports" Weingarten's bill anyway. If it sounds good for kids, that's good enough for Jackson. But the people it's really good for are teachers who are worried about being subject to hard data analysis of student progress."
Who Cares About Truancy in Seattle Public High Schools?
Date CapturedWednesday April 11 2007, 8:15 PM
Truancy is not exactly a new problem, and the literature abounds with approaches to increasing school attendance.
Troubled Schools Turn Around by Shrinking
Date CapturedWednesday April 11 2007, 12:54 PM
NPR Larry Abramson reports, "So what are the chances that Northwestern can be reborn as an effective, small, career-oriented high school? Allan Golston has spent years trying to reform high schools for the Gates Foundation. He says Northwestern already has one strike against it: It has a history to overcome. 'New schools are just easier,' Golston says. Comprehensive high schools are more challenging, because 'the number of supports that you need in these comprehensive high schools are significant.'"
School bus big to face City Council
Date CapturedWednesday April 11 2007, 8:15 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The new bureaucrat in charge of city school buses is scheduled to appear before the City Council today to answer questions about abuse aboard buses, which was exposed by the Daily News' 'School Bus Disgrace' series."
School Records on Special English Classes Are Called Works of Fiction by Critics
Date CapturedWednesday April 11 2007, 8:10 AM
NY Times Samuel G. Freedman, professor of journalism at Columbia University writes, "According to official school documents, amplified by interviews with a teacher at the school and a union representative, the school tried at one point to create a paper trail to make it appear it was offering E.S.L. classes that were not being held."
End city district tug of war over school finances, record
Date CapturedWednesday April 11 2007, 7:52 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Op-Ed contributors, Rochester Board of Education president and additional board members opine, "City Hall has taken a public stand that funding should be tied to academic achievement. Certainly, this board expects and promotes improved academic standards. Yet reducing aid will not produce better outcomes. No one would suggest that the police force cut its budget because the crime rate is rising. Money does not equal results; however, no reasonable person could expect better results from fewer resources. The district has been focusing on fundamentals, and we have been getting results by virtually every measure. Even our seniors are graduating to a higher standard. Our graduation rate has hovered around 50 percent for many years, but in 2003, only 21 percent of our students earned a Regents diploma. Now, 52 percent of our graduates earn Regents diplomas in four years and an additional 6 percent get theirs in five years."
UFT BIDS TO GRADE MIKE PLAN
Date CapturedWednesday April 11 2007, 7:35 AM
NY Post David Andreatta writes, "The head of the city's teachers union wants to put together a "multipartisan" task force to judge mayoral control of the school system and devise possible alternatives, The Post has learned. Delegates of the United Federa tion of Teachers were expected to vote as early as today to give their president, Randi Weingarten , the green light to move on the project.."
BLOOMBERG'S BULL'S-EYE
Date CapturedWednesday April 11 2007, 7:30 AM
NY Post opines, "Again, there's nothing wrong with looking out for No. 1. And most teachers do care a great deal about their students. But let's be clear: The union and its political allies (as we've noted before) have their own agenda here. They want to restore the old status quo - a system over which they and the entrenched educrats held sway, but one that failed to educate huge numbers of kids. Indeed, they want to ensure that they, and those who dance to their tune, are the ones who call the shots."
Fund the Child: A Better Way to Help Disadvantaged Students
Date CapturedTuesday April 10 2007, 10:55 AM
HumanEvents.com contributor Dan Lips writes, "In January, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed that Gotham adopt three new policies: 'backpack funding,' school-based management, and widespread school choice. This bundle of reforms -- known as the 'weighted student formula' -- embodies a new approach to education finance."
Not all schools benefit from state budget's boost to pre-k
Date CapturedTuesday April 10 2007, 9:47 AM
THE JOURNAL NEWS reports, "In districts that already offer pre-K, some educators say they are pleasantly surprised and want to use the money to enroll as many children as possible come September. Others worry that if they expand, they'll be left paying for expensive programs themselves if the aid dries up. And in districts that do not offer pre-K - and will not be offering it soon -- educators are wondering where their share of the money will end up going, because the funds cannot be used for anything else. 'I thought, "OK, we're not using the money. What's going to happen to it?" ' said Haldane Schools Superintendent John Di Natale. It turns out the money that has been allocated to districts without pre-K programs will go into the state's general fund."
Don't rush school accountability measures
Date CapturedTuesday April 10 2007, 9:33 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "The contracts for excellence don't mean much if districts are offered enticing new piles of categorical aid — money for such things as class size reduction and teacher quality — but aren't told with clarity how their progress will be assessed. The narrow windows are yet another consequence of a budget process that starts too late. If Spitzer and the Legislature had cut a deal on schools early in the session, the regulations for the contracts could have been properly prepared and vetted by now. In the absence of that, the state should take pains to work with districts on accountability measures that not only are fair but are given a public airing. "
Mayor Attacks Critics of Plan to Fix Schools
Date CapturedTuesday April 10 2007, 9:10 AM
NY Times reports, "While the mayor suggested that the gathering yesterday was evidence of a groundswell of support for his agenda, the group was composed of many people who also have business dealings with the school system, including two former Education Department officials, leaders of nonprofit organizations that are helping to run schools and high-profile donors who have given millions to support the mayor’s work. Mr. Bloomberg has come under increasing attack from parent groups, community advocates, elected officials and union leaders, urging him to halt his plans to reorganize the school bureaucracy. These plans include eliminating the city’s 10 instructional regions and adopting a new school budgeting system."
Schools for scandal
Date CapturedTuesday April 10 2007, 8:57 AM
NY Daily News opines, "Cuomo's probe of 100 colleges and six lending firms has exposed a slew of dirty business practices among private lenders, a largely unregulated industry that affects 90% of U.S. college students and did $85 billion in business last year alone. Schools get bonuses from private lenders when their students take out loans; the bigger the loan, the bigger the payoff. They get even more if they put the companies on preferred-lender lists. College administrators get gifts and trips. The companies even staff university financial aid call centers, passing themselves off as school administrators giving students unbiased advice."
Blazin' Bloomberg, Mike fires salvo at school policy foes, comparing them with NRA fanatics
Date CapturedTuesday April 10 2007, 8:52 AM
NY Daily News CARRIE MELAGO reports, "Bloomberg said his detractors, including the teachers union, are merely a 'small chorus' that supports the status quo for its own self-interest, just like the National Rifle Association. 'You always do have the problem of a very small group of people who are single-issue focused having a disproportionate percentage of power,' he said. 'That's exactly the NRA.'"
BROOKLYN SCHOOL IN SPACE WAR
Date CapturedTuesday April 10 2007, 8:44 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Parents claim the new school would force PS 282 to cram 35 students to a classroom and compromise its art, science and computer-instruction programs."
MIKE'S SCHOOL-WAR BLAST: UFT = NRA
Date CapturedTuesday April 10 2007, 8:36 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Bolstered by a vote of confidence from 100 civic leaders, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday took aim at what he called 'special interests' trying to derail his education reforms, and compared the tactics of the teachers union to those of gun lobbyists."
Contact Your Senators Today-- Support Federal Funding For Libraries!
Date CapturedMonday April 09 2007, 2:22 PM
Please contact your Senators immediately and ask them to sign the "Dear Colleague" letter (PDF) being circulated by Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) in support of funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Program.
‘Standards-based growth report’ may replace grades
Date CapturedMonday April 09 2007, 9:40 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Without using actual grades, it would track student progress in 54 academic categories in seven subject areas. If the new system is adopted, Buffalo will join a growing number of districts across the state that have made similar dramatic changes. Advocates say the new reports would end rampant grade inflation, eliminate wide disparities in grading from teacher to teacher and school to school and give parents a true picture of how their children are matching up to state learning standards."
Education law needs flexibility
Date CapturedMonday April 09 2007, 9:35 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal opines, "Spellings says the new tests won't be as easy as those given to the severely disabled already exempted from the regular tests, but they won't be as difficult as those given to the great majority of students. While that sounds promising, it is essential the tests are counted toward a school's performance. Some groups representing disabled students say accountability standards have to be in place because these children were often ignored until No Child Left Behind forced schools to pay more attention to them. There is, indeed, a danger of lowering the bar to the point where some special education students won't be challenged to the degree they should be. More details about the tests will have to be fleshed out over time. But the announcement does show the administration has heard some of the criticism and is proposing changes. That is a good sign in what promises to be a contentious debate about the renewal of No Child Left Behind."
Inside Education: Universal pre-school's new funding a tease?
Date CapturedMonday April 09 2007, 9:27 AM
Journal News reports, "Like the 1997 proposal, the money could be here this year and, once programs are established, disappear, leaving the district the unhappy task of either eliminating a popular program or asking taxpayers to pick up the slack."
'CHARTERS' RACE IS ON
Date CapturedMonday April 09 2007, 8:31 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Advocates of the alternative public schools say they have been deluged with inquiries from potential operators seeking advice on meeting new demands in the measures that raised the cap from 100 to 200 schools last week."
Joint Statement on Reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 6:39 PM
The groups worked together to offer recommendations in 11 areas, including giving states and schools the flexibility to use "growth models" to gain credit for increasing student achievement; creating rewards and differentiating consequences; supporting meaningful, long-term school reform; and ensuring fair testing of special populations. Recommendations also ask that the reauthorization include a renewed state-federal partnership that will provide states the flexibility to ensure the law works effectively in each and every state.
Charter, Private, Public Schools and Academic Achievement: New Evidence from NAEP Mathematics Data. 2006.
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 6:23 PM
Author: Chris Lubienski and Sarah Theule Lubienski. "Findings reveal that demographic differences between students in public and private schools account for the relatively high raw scores of private schools on the NAEP. Indeed, after controlling for these differences, public school students generally score better than their private school peers. Three other findings warrant mention. First, Lutheran schools are the highest performing private schools. Second, Conservative Christian schools, the fastest growing private school sector, are the lowest performing private schools. Third, fourth graders in charter schools scored below public school students, but eighth graders in charter schools scored above public school students. This suggests that assessments of charter schools must pay careful attention to the sample population that is being examined."
High school attendance, discipline, grades available to parents online
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 4:40 PM
Eagle Tribune (MA) reports, "The program also includes student biographical information, some of which, Hill admitted, is incorrect. He's hoping making that information available to parents will help clear up those errors."
New Jersey Special Education Enrollment Up Again in ’06
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 11:08 AM
NY Times reports, "School officials have many theories about the growth, including the increasing sophistication of parents advocating for services for their children and backdoor efforts by districts to get more state money and increase achievement scores. But one thing is certain: The increase in special education enrollment is adding to tax bills."
Long Island Aid Comes at Westchester’s Expense
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 11:04 AM
NY Times reports, "Westchester has high taxes, but it also has the highest incomes in the state by far — about $300,000 per student in the schools, compared with about $160,000 on Long Island and it fell below that cutoff because of its high average income. In spite of its many affluent enclaves, Nassau and Suffolk Counties are more diverse than Westchester, and their ratios are above the cutoff. The result is that all Long Island districts will get the higher aid amount, a total of more than $70 million of the $100 million in high-tax aid. Only some Westchester districts get aid, and it amounts to a total of $1.2 million."
$187 Million Public School, Under a Cloud in New Jersey
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 10:41 AM
NY Times WINNIE HU reports, "The new high school here will not be endowed with luxuries like a food court, a swimming pool or a greenhouse, even though at $187 million it is one of the most expensive to be built in the state’s history. It would have cost $30 million more had an additional wing of classrooms and an auxiliary gym not been shelved to save money. As it is, the price tag covers the land, the design and the construction costs for a 407,000-square-foot school on a 26-acre property along Route 27. If it is ever finished. This month, the Schools Construction Corporation, the state agency financing the campus, is expected to suspend work on some of the 40 projects it is developing because it has run out of money."
Syracuse budget shares little with district, Mayor intends to keep money from PILOT, STAR programs schools sought.
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 10:36 AM
Post-Standard reports, "The Syracuse school district will not receive a chunk of the money the city receives from payment-in-lieu of-taxes agreements, nor will it get a bigger cut of the money the city gets from the STAR state aid program. The district had asked for a revenue boost from both those sources in its effort to close a nearly $20 million budget gap that could force the district to cut 276 positions."
Fixing the School Aid Formula
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 10:24 AM
NY Times opines, "Mr. Spitzer and the Legislature have clearly not removed all the fiddling from the budget process. You can be sure that Westchester lawmakers will fight fiercely to adjust things to their benefit, as they have every right to do. But the bottom line for this year: Westchester made out O.K. Long Island did better than O.K. The New York City schools did well, and will do better in coming years, and so the rigged process that unfairly brought wheelbarrows of cash to Long Island over the years will not be sustainable. The process of adjusting an unjust system is far from over. But at least it has begun."
Cost of charter schools puts Albany in spiraling tax trap
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 10:17 AM
Times Union Fred LeBrun opines, "What the superintendent [Eva Joseph] says the district desperately needs -- deserves -- is a tailor-made charter school compensation package from the state Legislature that recognizes the realities of Albany's nearly unique situation. Buffalo deserves one too, she says. As proof she points this out: The new onerous benchmark for any school district in terms of possibly putting a brake on charter schools is when enrollment reaches 5 percent of the district's student population. Next year, Albany taxpayers will be funding four times that. At the moment, the district is cranking up the numbers for the upcoming."
Sports spending misplaced
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 10:11 AM
Times Union contributor ROB McCAFFREY, former member of the Brittonkill school board, in a letter to the editor writes, "Schools pretend that the expensive athletics programs are about developing character, sportsmanship, values and so on, in the students. However, ample evidence demonstrates that, in practice, many young athletes learn to cheat, lie, degrade others, take drugs and be bad sports (following adult examples, of course) for the sole purpose of winning (see http:// charactercounts.org/sports/ survey2004). As a school board member, I saw the dark side of sports many times, and my board could or would do nothing about it."
Charter schools are here to stay
Date CapturedSunday April 08 2007, 9:50 AM
Times Union Op-Ed contributor THOMAS W. CARROLL opines, "Among the measures rejected during negotiations on the charter-school bill were: a cap on additional charters in Albany and Buffalo, limits on enrollment growth, a 20 percent funding cut for elementary and middle-school charters, automatic unionization, elimination of the ability of charters to contract for management assistance, and subjecting charter school facilities (which receive no state building aid) to prevailing-wage mandates and the state Education Department's onerous building code and approval process. At the same time, charter advocates were able to get language approved making clear that new charters could be granted over district opposition, even in high density districts like Albany and Buffalo, when a significant educational benefit can be shown for students likely to attend a proposed charter school. This was a major child-centered victory. To give Albany, Buffalo and other districts time to adjust to the decisions of thousands of parents to move their children to public charter schools, the Legislature approved state-financed transition aid. This was a reasonable accommodation that the Brighter Choice Foundation and others backed."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedSaturday April 07 2007, 12:37 PM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; April 5, 2007, Volume 7, Number 13
Montanta GOP vows school-funding fight
Date CapturedSaturday April 07 2007, 9:26 AM
AP reports, "Education groups are mixed on the bill. While they support the idea of state funding for all-day kindergarten, they also believe many schools - particularly smaller ones - need more money for basic needs first. They also want the state's share of school funding increased."
Student claims school discriminates against her as a teen mom
Date CapturedSaturday April 07 2007, 9:14 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "According to the complaint, A.C. has missed a number of school days to care for her child. Some of those absences are because she had to take the boy to doctor's appointments, she claims. Other times, if her mother cannot watch her son, she has no other available child care. But the school district has ruled that those absences are unexcused and, therefore, its officials believe A.C. and her mother are guilty of violating state truancy laws. The school district has filed charges against A.C. four times and against her mother five times, according to the lawsuit."
CITY SUED OVER SCHOOL PLAN FOR TAINTED LAND
Date CapturedSaturday April 07 2007, 8:59 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "A coalition of South Bronx community groups sued yesterday to stop the city from building what would be New York's largest school complex ever - on contaminated ground. The organization claims the city has failed to live up to a deal to adhere to recommendations made by an environmental consultant for the $235 million plan."
Shamed into action
Date CapturedSaturday April 07 2007, 8:49 AM
NY Daily News reports, "In reaction to the Daily News investigative series 'School Bus Disgrace' Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced March 22 that he was ordering a complete overhaul of the system that oversees school bus safety."
New York City readies for eight new charter schools
Date CapturedFriday April 06 2007, 1:10 PM
Crain Communications reports, "Officials at the New York City Department of Education say two new charter schools are scheduled to open in September—Bedford-Stuyvesant Collegiate Charter School in Brooklyn and Carl C. Icahn Charter School Bronx North—because they were approved before the cap was reached in January 2006. Two other schools have received preliminary approval by the DOE and have been sent to the New York State Board of Regents for approval. Six more are under review by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. "
Longer school day would have benefits
Date CapturedFriday April 06 2007, 10:01 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin 'Guest Viewpoint' Binghamton resident Jane Shear opines, "Teachers also need professional development time where they can compare best practices, analyze data and plan interesting and successful curricula. This should be done before the school year starts, but it is also important to have time during the course of the school year. A longer school year would enable us to have periodic breaks, at the end of each nine-week block of time, during which students would have time to reenergize for the following quarter, while teachers would have time to examine what has been accomplished and what needs to be done next. I believe that a longer school year and a longer school day will enable students and teachers to better work toward our common goal, which is to help each and every student graduate with high levels of the skills they will need in adult life. A firm commitment to education from all of us, teachers, students and parents working together, will help us achieve this goal."
Computer security issues cited in Webster schools
Date CapturedFriday April 06 2007, 9:54 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The audit released this week has been discussed with school officials who have responded with a plan to correct the problems. Some of the changes have already been implemented. Last summer, auditors found that the district's network server computers and other equipment were installed in 13 separate rooms throughout the district. Only three of the rooms were locked and only one was equipped with an adequate cooling and ventilation system. Auditors found that the district's system of passwords was inadequate. The district did not require employees to use complex passwords and users were not required to change passwords periodically. The district's financial software also does not turn off after being inactive for a period of time. As a result, users often stay logged on throughout the day, even when they were not at their computers, which increases the risk of unauthorized users accessing the computer system and the data stored there."
Into School, Out Of Control
Date CapturedThursday April 05 2007, 5:35 PM
Hartford Courant reports, "The problem of violence among older children at the high school and middle school levels has been present for years in New Britain and across the country. But now, school officials say, an increasing number of elementary school children are resorting to physical and psychological abuse to resolve conflicts."
New Jersey bill would boost school bus safety standards
Date CapturedThursday April 05 2007, 4:27 PM
The Times of Trenton reports, "The new legislation would require potential school bus drivers to go through classroom and behind-the-wheel training and pass a written test, Turner [Senate Education Committee Chair] said. School bus drivers also would be required to complete at least four hours of classroom training every four years in order to renew their certification, and undergo biennial medical exams and random drug testing."
LATEST INFORMATION ON THE NEW YORK 2007-2008 STATE BUDGET
Date CapturedThursday April 05 2007, 10:28 AM
New & Notes
Safety first
Date CapturedThursday April 05 2007, 10:01 AM
Staten Island Advance opines, "If Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way, New York City, which bans smoking in bars, the use of trans fats in restaurants, noisy ice cream trucks and countless other practices and behaviors city officials don't condone, will never ban the use of dangerous metal bats in youth baseball games."
Westchester lawmakers to push for more school aid
Date CapturedThursday April 05 2007, 9:30 AM
Journal News reports, "They [Brodsky and five Assembly colleagues] sent a letter yesterday to Paul Francis, Gov. Eliot Spitzer's budget director, laying out their case. The $100 million was to be used to aid "high-tax" districts, the lawmakers noted, and Westchester certainly qualifies. 'Once a decision was taken to provide High Tax Aid, the decision to exclude Westchester's students and taxpayers was discriminatory, unfair and destructive,' the lawmakers wrote. 'That decision must be reversed and we ask for your help and the active support of the Governor to reach that goal.' But in an interview, Francis rejected the idea, noting that Westchester schools overall got a 9.4 percent increase in state aid and that the new tax-rebate plan is generous to the county as well. 'Our view at this point is the overall set of efforts to Westchester (represents) ... a fair way to end this year,' he said. 'Next year is the right time to address these issues.'"
Effectiveness of Reading and Mathematics Software Products: Findings from the First Student Cohort
Date CapturedThursday April 05 2007, 9:16 AM
National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance study finds: "Test scores were not significantly higher in classrooms using the reading and mathematics software products than those in control classrooms. In each of the four groups of products-reading in first grade and in fourth grade, mathematics in sixth grade, and high school algebra-the evaluation found no significant differences in student achievement between the classrooms that used the technology products and classrooms that did not. There was substantial variation between schools regarding the effects on student achievement. Although the study collected data on many school and classroom characteristics, only two characteristics were related to the variation in reading achievement. For first grade, effects were larger in schools that had smaller student-teacher ratios (a measure of class size). For fourth grade, effects were larger when treatment teachers reported higher levels of use of the study product." Dynarski, Mark, Roberto Agodini, Sheila Heaviside, Timothy Novak, Nancy Carey, Larissa Campuzano, Barbara Means, Robert Murphy, William Penuel, Hal Javitz, Deborah Emery, and Willow Sussex. Effectiveness of Reading and Mathematics Software Products: Findings from the First Student Cohort, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2007. Prepared under Contract No.: ED-01-CO-0039/0007 with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Charter schools come out winners as statewide cap is doubled to 200
Date CapturedThursday April 05 2007, 9:11 AM
Buffalo News reports, "A newly created pool of 'transition aid' will provide Buffalo $12 million next school year to cushion the $60 million the district makes in transfer payments to 15 charter schools. Even so, Buffalo school officials said they would need to recover an additional $28 million to equalize transfer payments with savings the district realizes from the loss of students to charter schools. In addition, the transition aid is scheduled to be phased out over the next three years, said Gary M. Crosby, chief operations and financial officer for the Buffalo schools."
If school funding is locked up, other services will be shut out
Date CapturedThursday April 05 2007, 9:05 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Op-Ed contributor Lois Giess, president, Rochester City Council opines, "At the last moment during the New York state budget process, a little-noticed bill titled 'Maintenance of Effort' was approved by the state Legislature and apparently will be signed by Gov. Spitzer. This bill has been reintroduced in one form or another virtually every year for more than a decade, and, until Sunday, had successfully been fought by the affected cities. It requires that the city governments in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers continue the current level of funding for public schools, regardless of circumstances. It has been and will be presented as a law intended "for the children," but it is not and never has been. Rather, it is another example of the powerful lobbying influence of New York State United Teachers, which has always placed the salary and job retention demands of its members above all other legitimate governmental responsibilities. It further enshrines in law the failed efforts to "fix" the educational problems in New York by throwing limitless amounts of money at higher staff salaries."
School ends program to equip students with personal computers
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 4:05 PM
AP reports, "One of the first high school laptop computer programs in the country will be phased out over the next three years. The Liverpool School Board agreed to end the program because teachers complained the machines had become a distraction in class, with some students downloading music and games. Liverpool initiated its voluntary computer leasing, rent-to-own program seven years ago. About 1,550 of the high school's 1,962 students were enrolled in the laptop lease program, said Maureen Patterson, assistant superintendent for instruction. Administrators said they wanted to put control of technology back in the hands of teachers. Too much emphasis was placed on the technology and not on how laptops could be used as a tool within the lesson, they said."
College officials owned stock in preferred lenders
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 4:02 PM
AP reports, "Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office is investigating stock grants from student loan companies to financial aid officers at three major universities as part of a widening investigation into the $85 billion student loan industry. Cuomo's office on Wednesday sent a subpoena to Columbia University and sent letters to the University of Southern California and the University of Texas seeking information about financial aid officers ownership of stock in a loan company that appears on each school's list of preferred lenders. Securities and Exchange Commission records for Education Lending Group Inc. show officials at the three schools in September 2003 owned at least 1,500 shares each of the company. Education Lending Group's subsidiary, Student Loan Xpress, is listed as a preferred lender at each school."
Internet Safety: Newest School Subject
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 3:09 PM
VOA reports, "More and more schools across the country are taking on the task of teaching Internet safety to students and parents. School officials are stepping in, even though the online luring or harassment is primarily happening off campus."
New York State Catholic Conference criticizes state budget decisions
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 3:01 PM
Catholic News Service reports, "Barnes [Catholic conference executive director] blamed Silver and the state's powerful teachers' unions for the exclusion of the tuition tax deduction from the education portion of the state's $121 billion budget, despite strong support for the credit by the Senate and Gov. Eliot Spitzer. He said New York is ranked second in the nation 'and soon likely to be first' in its per-student cost of more than $15,000 a year for public education, but has 'graduation rates that are a scandalous 48th.' Yet Silver, he said, 'could not see fit to give parents of children in independent and religious schools, who save the state $7.5 billion every single year, a deduction that amounts to about $68 per child.'"
Bush administration wants to loosen NCLB rules
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 1:16 PM
AP reports, "The Bush administration wants to loosen the rules so that many more disabled children can take tests that are simpler than those required by the president's signature No Child Left Behind law. The changes would triple the number of those children who could take simplified tests. Roughly 10 percent of special education students -- those with the most serious cognitive disabilities -- currently can take easier, alternative tests and have the results count toward a school's annual progress goals under the law. Under final rules the administration was to unveil Wednesday, about another 20 percent of children with disabilities would be allowed to take alternative tests."
Schools say no to Rochester Mayor Duffy request
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 9:24 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Mayor Robert Duffy's request for information from the school district is a moot point and will not receive a response, district officials said Tuesday. But an incensed City Hall is not backing down and intends to take the unprecedented step of filing a Freedom of Information Law, or open records, request to get the data. City spokesman Gary Walker said he plans to hand-deliver a copy of the request today. Duffy wrote Superintendent Manual Rivera on March 1 requesting a bevy of information, including graduation and suspension rates, various district policies as well as salaries and bonuses paid to central office employees. The mayor wrote that he needed the information to help decide on the appropriate funding level for the district. The city has provided the district $119.1 million each of the past three years. But Duffy has been hammering on the district's poor graduation rates, currently worst in the state. For its part, the district has argued that improvements at the elementary school level are signs of progress."
LATEST INFORMATION ON THE 2007-2008 NY STATE EDUCATION BUDGET
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 9:16 AM
2007-08 State Aid Projections; Preliminary Estimates of 2006-07 and 2007-08 State Aids; Payable Under Section 3609 and Other Aids.
P-16 Education: A Plan for Action
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 9:10 AM
Improve high school attendance and graduation rates by setting performance targets, promoting promising practices that remove barriers to graduation, and holding schools accountable for dramatic improvements. Problem: Since higher standards were adopted in 1996, the number of high school graduates each year has increased. However, only 64% of students who entered 9th grade in 2001 graduated in four years; 18% were still enrolled and 11% had dropped out. Rates for Black and Hispanic students were below 45%. Data show that graduation rates are closely tied to attendance rates. As attendance declines below 95%, graduation rates decline significantly. And both attendance and graduation rates decline with poverty. New York’s current graduation rate standard is only 55%, one of the lowest in the nation. Schools need to focus on the least served students, such as Black males, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities. Actions: ¦ Set a State graduation rate standard, publish four- and five-year graduation rates by school, and specify a schedule of improvement targets for schools to close the gap between their graduation rate and State standard. Set targets now for the students who entered 9th grade in 2004 and will graduate in 2008. This action is especially important to ensure that more schools intervene to help the most underserved students, such as Black males, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities Research and benchmark other states for effective, innovative strategies that improve high school graduation and attendance rates. Include strategies that begin in middle school and focus on the transition from middle to high school. Emphasize a meaningful curriculum that includes the arts, music, physical education and career and technical programs. Provide effective strategies to schools to enable them to achieve the State targets through regional networks
Message from Johanna Duncan-Poitier, Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education- P-16
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 9:03 AM
It is an exciting time for education in New York State. For the first time in recent history, we have a solid P-16 action plan for statewide education reform and the resources necessary to fully support our schools and to help all students reach high standards of performance. The Board of Regents have set forth a P-16 agenda to improve graduation rates, strengthen instruction, raise learning standards, and increase accountability. At the same time, the new 2007-08 State budget includes an unprecedented increase of $1.7 billion in aid to school districts across the State. With the action plan and resources as the foundation for the future of education in this State, we are well-positioned to marshal the talent and energy across the Pre-Kindergarten through higher education continuum to achieve greater success for all students.
Good calls on education
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 8:49 AM
Times Union opines, "While it will take time before the full impact of the first state budget under Governor Spitzer is fully known, three results are readily apparent. And all of them are positive."
Real N.Y. school reform has only just begun
Date CapturedWednesday April 04 2007, 8:34 AM
NY Daily News guest contributor Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform opines, "Many Democrats in particular will find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between, on the one hand, a reform-minded governor who is responding to a frustrated public and, on the other, to entrenched political forces that have proven to be more than willing to simply continue along without making important changes that would make excellence commonplace in our schools. Among the reforms we must begin to try without further delay: genuine accountability for our teachers that gives principals more authority to hire and fire educators; pay scales that give different teachers different salaries, based on market realities and quality; an aggressive overhaul of the way teachers are trained; and more choice for students and families. To be sure, the most historic part of this year's education budget is the resolution of the 14-year-old Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, under which the state will now hike its spending on education by billions of dollars per year. But lasting change will require much more than just sending more and more money into systems where children compete with grownups for their share of the attention. In that regard, the fight has just begun."
When Schools Stay Open Late: The First Year Findings
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 6:20 PM
The first-year findings reveal that while 21st-Century after-school centers changed where and with whom students spent some of their after-school time and increased parental involvement, they had limited influence on academic performance, no influence on feelings of safety or on the number of “latchkey” children and some negative influences on behavior. [A “center” refers to after-school services operated in one school, and a “program” refers to one or more centers operated in one school district. The study measured impacts at the program level but not at the center level.] U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Under Secretary, When Schools Stay Open Late: The National Evaluation of the 21st-Century Learning Centers Program, First Year Findings, Washington, D.C., 2003.
National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teachers
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 5:32 PM
The National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, & Teaching (NCREST) is a research and development organization at Teachers College, Columbia University. Founded in 1990 by Linda Darling-Hammond and Ann Lieberman, NCREST is currently co-directed by Jacqueline Ancess and Thomas Hatch. NCREST is affiliated with Teachers College Department of Curriculum and Teaching.
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Touts Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind for Arizona's Children
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 10:54 AM
Secretary Spellings also discussed new proposals President Bush put forth in urging Congress to reauthorize No Child Left Behind this year, including provisions that would enhance the availability and performance of charter schools. To give more students the chance to attend a successful charter school, the President also recommended that districts be permitted to lift arbitrary limits on the number of charters available within a state. Moreover, he has pledged to support all viable charter applications that can improve outcomes for students and provide greater flexibility in charter schools' use of grant funds.
Massachusetts schools to pilot longer schedules
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 10:37 AM
Berkshire Eagle reports, "For the past five months, Pittsfield Public Schools have been working steadily toward a plan to pilot a longer school day. In October, the state Board of Education voted to issue the district a $10,000 Expanded Learning Time planning grant, which will be used specifically to address the needs of Silvio O. Conte and Morningside community schools.The subsequent outcome will be a 25 percent increase — 300 hours per year — in these pupils' time in school, beginning with the 2008-2009 school year."
Get Mayors in the Schooling Game
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 9:58 AM
David Harris, President and CEO of The Mind Trust and Andrew J. Rotherham, co-founder and co-director of Education Sector and a member of the Virginia Board of Education opine, "Mayors can open their own public schools. Doing so does not mean walking away from other struggling public schools, but it does mean providing more high quality seats for students and introducing healthy competition into the public sector. This is not just a theory. In Indianapolis, America's 12th largest city, Mayor Bart Peterson is creating an entirely new sector of public schools. In 2001, the Indiana legislature granted the Mayor of Indianapolis the authority to issue public school charters to nonprofit entities as part of broader charter school legislation. Mayor Peterson, a Democrat who has served as mayor since 2000, enthusiastically embraced the authority and the idea of public charter schooling. Public charter schools are independent public schools that are tuition-free, open to all children, and publicly financed."
Get Mayors in the Schooling Game
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 9:58 AM
David Harris, President and CEO of The Mind Trust and Andrew J. Rotherham, co-founder and co-director of Education Sector and a member of the Virginia Board of Education opine, "Mayors can open their own public schools. Doing so does not mean walking away from other struggling public schools, but it does mean providing more high quality seats for students and introducing healthy competition into the public sector. This is not just a theory. In Indianapolis, America's 12th largest city, Mayor Bart Peterson is creating an entirely new sector of public schools. In 2001, the Indiana legislature granted the Mayor of Indianapolis the authority to issue public school charters to nonprofit entities as part of broader charter school legislation. Mayor Peterson, a Democrat who has served as mayor since 2000, enthusiastically embraced the authority and the idea of public charter schooling. Public charter schools are independent public schools that are tuition-free, open to all children, and publicly financed."
Proposed school funding plan divisive, damaging
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 9:34 AM
Ithaca Journal guest columnist Mark Lewis, Superintendent of the Lansing Central School District opines, "I urge all Lansing taxpayers to visit the School Statewide Finance Consortium Web site [ www.statewideonline.org ] to learn more about what is being proposed in the name of support for all Upstate districts. See firsthand how it will affect your property taxes, then let our representatives in Albany know that the SSFC proposal is divisive, damaging, and worst of all, unfair to Lansing taxpayers."
Schools budget, gov win cheers for fund formula
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 9:25 AM
NY Daily News reports, ""What has school reformers excited is a four-year plan to better distribute school dollars using a formula based exclusively on need - not on political clout. That formula will mean that city schools, given New York's poverty rate and the high number of city kids struggling to learn English, could get close to $6 billion more by 2010 - numbers consistent with the ruling of the state's highest court in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, which ordered a more equitable distribution of school funds."
MIKE BLASTS CURBS ON CHARTER SCHOOLS
Date CapturedTuesday April 03 2007, 8:40 AM
NY Post DAVID SEIFMAN and DAVID ANDREATTA report, "His remarks, made at city Department of Education headquarters during a press conference to invite applications for new charter schools, were interpreted by many as veiled slaps at Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the state and city teachers unions, which championed the initiatives. Among the provisions is a mandate to ensure that proposals to place charter schools inside buildings housing traditional public schools - a common occurrence in a city short on space - would now be subject to a public forum. The initiative is a direct outgrowth of a nasty civic battle last year that pitted a public school for gifted students in Silver's home district against the city, whose plans to have the school share space with a new charter school were ultimately beaten back."
School Aid Fight Erupts in Albany as Budget Passes
Date CapturedMonday April 02 2007, 10:38 AM
NY Times DANNY HAKIM and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN report, "The Bloomberg administration also praised the lifting of the state’s limit on charter schools, but there were compromises on that front, too, including a provision that automatically unionizes the employees of any charter school serving more than 250 students in its first two years. In an interview, Chancellor Klein said of the budget, 'It’s obviously a very solid deal for us.' 'There is no doubt that if we infuse over the next four years the kinds of money that Albany has committed to, that we will be able to achieve our goals,' he said, 'including an overall considerable reduction in class size.'”
Mad finish for budget
Date CapturedMonday April 02 2007, 10:29 AM
DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF JOE MAHONEY reports, "As part of the school aid budget, Spitzer succeeded in driving through a class-size reduction initiative for low-performing and overcrowded schools that delighted teachers' union President Randi Weingarten. The budget requires school districts to come up with ways to reduce the ratio of students to teachers in low-performing and overcrowded schools by a variety of methods, including building more classrooms and placing more than one teacher in a classroom."
Charter OK no help till next year
Date CapturedMonday April 02 2007, 10:20 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "Many of the city's 58 charter schools have long waiting lists of parents hoping to enroll kids. The schools, often seen as innovative, are subject to less bureaucracy and have more flexibility than traditional public schools. The new charter law addresses some parent concerns by requiring the Education Department to hold hearings before placing a charter within an existing public school. It also requires new charters that enroll 250 students in their first two years to hire only unionized employees."
Fears on school funding
Date CapturedMonday April 02 2007, 10:14 AM
NY Daily News CARRIE MELAGO reports, "The promise behind the plan is that it will end inequity among schools and replace unfair, decades-old formulas that have led to drastic variations in funding, even among similar schools. Under the plan, certain city funds will be directed to schools on a per-pupil basis. Extra cash then will be added to a school's budget based on its students' special needs, ability to speak English, family income and other factors. But the Education Department has not yet decided on the exact formula, causing anxiety among some parents who fear better-performing schools will lose out."
Public has right to bus-stop data
Date CapturedMonday April 02 2007, 10:02 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal opines, "Freeman [Committee on Open Government] says the names of the reviewers should have been identified. It's not always easy to get volunteers to sit on school committees and, thus, officials may be inclined to shield them from a possible public backlash when they do. But Freeman said they were performing a governmental function. As he often does in these cases, Freeman pointed out the Freedom of Information Law is based upon a presumption of access. He is correct. If the bus routes are to remain as is, the public should at least have all relevant information about the decision-making process that led to these results."
Bills target gangs that prey on New York state’s students
Date CapturedMonday April 02 2007, 9:48 AM
Legislative Gazette reports, "'Gang Free School Zones,' as the plan has been designated, would amend New York State penal law and increase the penalties for engaging in gang activity on school grounds. But the bills need to be amended to include a definition of what constitutes gang membership because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that language in some anti-gang bills was too vague, according to Guillermo Martinez, legislative director for Rivera. The Supreme Court determined that under freedom of association, gang membership must be specifically defined in all legislation, said Martinez. Under the new language that is to be added to the bill, gang membership will be defined as a group of three or more people forming a formal or informal alliance, network or arrangement who use common identifying signs, symbols, tattoos, physical markings or a common dress code, and who conduct in or engage in criminal activity."
New York school uniform legislation debated
Date CapturedMonday April 02 2007, 9:42 AM
Legislative Gazette reports, "According to the bill, there is a 'strong co-relation between school gang violence proliferation and the distinctive and casual clothing school kids wear to school.' Proponents say uniforms would decrease the ability of students to show gang affiliation or hide weapons. Uniforms would also impact the social and economic status of families by providing 'inexpensive uniforms' and improving student concentration by placing a greater focus on academics, according to the bill. Jane Hannaway, the director of educational policy at the Urban Institue, said the basic idea of school uniforms is to create school order, which is 'very important.'”
Squeeze out the lemons
Date CapturedMonday April 02 2007, 9:29 AM
NY Daily News opines, "It would be nuts to oppose a system driven by hard data on how well kids learn. But foes of the reforms are demanding that Klein and Mayor Bloomberg slam on the brakes. They have invented a parents revolt and staged noisy protests, fronted by United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and her allies at ACORN and the Working Families Party. Last week, they got more than half the City Council to call for a halt - with some pols even pining for the days when schools were run by corrupt, mismanaged, patronage-driven boards. All this sound and fury is part of a campaign in support of a system that failed kids year after year and let everyone in a school dodge responsibility for promoting students who didn't learn. It was the children who suffered. Anyone who'd perpetuate such a system, who'd put a stop to reforms aimed at truly putting the children first, can't have the kids' best interest at heart. If you are confused by all the noise, ask yourself this: Who could possibly be against getting rid of bad teachers, and why?"
Turn to private and corporate donations
Date CapturedSunday April 01 2007, 10:24 AM
Newsday Op-Ed contributor Timothy P. Mulhearn, president of United New Yorkers for Choice in Education opines, "Private donations could help public schools maintain or expand academic and athletic programs without asking for increased tax revenue or charging players to play on sports teams. The funds could be used to hold tax rates steady. Wealthier individuals or businesses would be encouraged to become engaged with local schools, which can only strengthen the community. As New York State becomes an increasingly expensive place to live and more businesses contemplate relocating, this legislation is a sound attempt to make it a more attractive environment in which people can live, work and raise their families. The sponsors of the Educational Tax Incentives Act have 38 co-sponsors from urban and suburban regional areas of the state. It is in all New Yorkers' interest that the legislature pass it. "
Outside-the-box funding
Date CapturedSunday April 01 2007, 10:19 AM
Newsday Op-Ed contributor Martin R. Cantor, director of the Long Island Economic and Social Policy Institute at Dowling College in Oakdale and a former Suffolk County economic development commissioner opines, "Let's think of teachers as state, rather than local, employees. Teachers and their benefits account for 68 percent of all education spending in the state, or $18.5 billion. If Albany paid teachers, local school budgets would drop by 68 percent. Remaining education expenses could be covered by modest local commercial property taxes."
Late budget deal would boost LI school aid by $205M
Date CapturedSunday April 01 2007, 10:10 AM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND reports, "As part of the budget deal hammered out in Albany Saturday night, the Island's public schools will get a total $2.19 billion in state assistance next year, up 10.3 percent from this year's figure. The latest increase is even higher than the record 7.1 percent hike adopted by lawmakers at this time last year -- also just in time to meet the state's April 1 deadline."
Schools big winner in budget deal
Date CapturedSunday April 01 2007, 9:43 AM
NY Daily News Albany Bureau Chief Joe Mahoney reports, "Missing from the budget is Spitzer's proposal to create a $1,000 tuition tax deduction for low- and middle-income parents who send their children to private and parochial schools. 'We compromised no more than we thought it was right or appropriate to accomplish the twin objectives of both timeliness and the policy pursuits we sought,' Spitzer said."
A fund boost for charters?
Date CapturedSaturday March 31 2007, 9:46 AM
Newsday reports, "There are about 4,000 charter schools nationwide, according to the pro-charter Center for Education Reform. The budget agreement between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the state legislature, which is expected to be passed by Sunday, gives the State University of New York and the state Board of Regents the authority to hand out charters to groups interested in running schools. Bloomberg said Friday he was disappointed the deal did not give the schools chancellor similar authority."
Faith, Stable Homes Close Black-White Achievement Gap
Date CapturedSaturday March 31 2007, 9:37 AM
Christian Post reports, "Jeynes' analysis of a study on a national sample of 20,706 12th-grade high school students indicated that highly religious African American and Latino students from intact families, when controlling for socioeconomic status, scored equally as well as white students on the social studies test and the Test Composite (combination of math and reading). The two groups of students also showed little difference on math and reading with 0.4 percent of blacks and Latinos scoring better than whites on math and 0.4 scoring worse on reading tests."
Charter the right course
Date CapturedSaturday March 31 2007, 8:56 AM
NY Daily News opines, "Small, flexible and free to experiment with reforms that would be impossible within the confines of a 600-page union contract, New York City's 47 charters get superior results. Last year, 66% of their elementary kids were up to snuff on standardized math tests, compared with 53% in city-run schools in the same districts. The comparison on English tests was 56% passing in the charters, 48% in city-run schools. Charters are giving low-income, minority children a fighting chance to get ahead in life - and blazing the trail toward better education for all. Lawmakers should do all they can to spread this opportunity far and wide. That means a straightforward expansion of charters without costly mandates and innovation-squashing rules."
Budget dance speeds to close
Date CapturedSaturday March 31 2007, 8:48 AM
Times Union reports, "On education, the legislative leaders said about $1.7 billion in aid will be added to funds for schools, including $1.1 billion under Spitzer's new foundation formula that drives funds to the neediest districts. But the language on how to make schools more accountable and shrink class sizes was unwritten late Friday. The school aid formulas also were still unclear. As a result, district-by-district funding estimates were unavailable as of late Friday, a clear signal of the unsettled nature of that financing. Further, the Legislature did not have a clear answer on how $22 million in aid to districts hosting charter schools -- called transition aid -- was going to be cut up. Albany is expected to get a big share of the money."
SPITZER'S SCHOOL SELLOUT ...
Date CapturedSaturday March 31 2007, 8:42 AM
NY Post opines, "The charter battle is about something more vital than money: It's about this state's children and what sort of future they are able to make for themselves. It wasn't enough that the unions and the education lobby made off like bandits, with $7 billion of new cash over the next four years. Spitzer also seems willing to let unions and educrats shackle charters beyond recognition. Even the fig leaf of 100 more charter schools can't hide that. What a disgrace."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedFriday March 30 2007, 4:15 PM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation April 1, 2007, Volume 0, Number 0
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch: Plan would allow flexible, sensible school funding
Date CapturedFriday March 30 2007, 9:08 AM
Union Leader Op-Ed by New Hampshire Gov. Lynch opines, "This amendment sets a floor -- requiring the state to provide at least 50 percent of the statewide cost of an adequate education -- and ensures that the state will not abandon its responsibility for education. It requires that some state education aid be provided to every school district. And with this amendment, we will be finally able to effectively target education aid -- lifting up the communities that need help the most and finally ensuring that all children in all our communities have the opportunity they deserve for a good education and better lives."
School Achievement, Perceptions Of Ability, And Interest Change As Children Age
Date CapturedFriday March 30 2007, 9:04 AM
Science Daily Reports, "Children in early grades may like a subject in which they don't feel very competent, or they may feel competent in a subject in spite of poor grades. But by the end of high school, children generally feel most interested in subjects in which they feel they are the strongest.
SCHOOL WARS: NOTHING TO FEAR
Date CapturedFriday March 30 2007, 8:19 AM
NY Post Adam Brodsky opines, "RUN for your lives, kiddies! Mad Chancellor Klein is about to launch School Reorganization No. 3! That's the hysterical message from labor and left-wing groups opposed to Joel Klein's latest school reforms. Wednesday, more than two dozen Chicken Little members of the City Council actually announced legislation to slow Klein down - lest the sky tumble down on Gotham's young'uns. Some state lawmakers are set to sound similar alarms on Monday. Please. The kids will be fine, reforms and all. At worst, their schools won't be any more awful than they've been for the past few decades. Anyway, the Big Reorg isn't really all that big. Some of Klein's ideas are so commonsensical, anyone opposing them couldn't possibly have kids in mind. Others merely hold promise - or seem little more than spine-stiffening exercises. It's hard to see cause for fear - while there may be grounds for hope."
DEAL A BUDGET BOOST TO CHARTER SCHOOLS
Date CapturedFriday March 30 2007, 8:14 AM
NY Post KENNETH LOVETT and FREDRIC U. DICKER report, "Gov. Spitzer and legislative leaders yesterday agreed on a new state budget that officials say includes authorization for 50 new charter schools in the city. Legislative sources said the overall deal would add at least $1.3 billion to Spitzer's already record $120.6 billion budget plan, which critics say spends way too much and threatens the state's fiscal future."
MIKE'S MILLIONS TO BE 'REWARD' $$ FOR POOR
Date CapturedFriday March 30 2007, 8:06 AM
NY Post reports, "Regular attendance at elementary school would be worth $25 every two months. At the high-school level, the payoff doubles to $50. Students who get high grades on major exams could earn $200 to $300 a pop for their struggling households. Similar payoffs would be available for 20 to 25 other activities deemed beneficial to society and the family."
New York mayor announces antipoverty experiment
Date CapturedThursday March 29 2007, 5:46 PM
International Herald Tribune reports, "Under the program, which is based on a similar effort in Mexico but is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, families would receive payments every two months for meeting any of 20 or so criteria per individual. The payments would range from perhaps $25 for an elementary school student's attendance to $300 for greatly improved performance on a standardized test, officials said."
‘Warehouses of violence’ label disputed as schools list efforts to improve behavior
Date CapturedThursday March 29 2007, 5:38 PM
Buffalo News reports, "Some community activists and Council members say part of the solution to school violence involves expanding or restoring programs that have been ravaged by budget cuts in recent years. They cited the need to properly fund after-school programs in community centers and school-based efforts that teach life management skills. School officials said students also must be included in devising solutions. The system will hold a focus group Friday with youngsters."
On LI, new numbers bring a sigh of relief
Date CapturedThursday March 29 2007, 8:57 AM
Newsday reports, "More than $500 million in extra education aid could ameliorate the blow Long Island school districts had feared under Spitzer's new funding formula, which funnels more money to high-needs districts. The Island's Republican senators succeeded in doubling the amount of school aid the governor had earmarked for the region, adding up to $115 million, said state Sen. John J. Flanagan of East Northport. Others from the delegation predicted that the region's share of school operating aid would be restored to its traditional 13 percent, although state money for school building projects had not been negotiated."
Charter schools deliver success
Date CapturedThursday March 29 2007, 8:39 AM
Times Union contributors Rev. Karim Camara and Sam Hoyt opine, "We cannot afford to ignore promising efforts to increase the supply of quality, high-performing education offerings for New York's children. If anything, we've got to find ways to streamline the application process for successful charter school operators so they are not held back from doing the important work of helping public education live up to its promise to educate all of our children."
POL PUSH VS. SCHOOL CHANGES
Date CapturedThursday March 29 2007, 8:25 AM
NY Post David Andreatta writes, "[City Councilman and head of Education Committee] Jackson promoted the nonbinding measure [resolution urging the Department of Education to stop its reorganization of the school system] outside City Hall with a dozen officials and about 40 parents and protesters, who chanted 'Listen to the parents!' as Mayor Bloomberg exited the building without acknowledging the rallying cry. 'That just shows what he's doing - he's not listening even when you scream and yell,' said parent Corinna Lindenberg."
Mike's school funding fix worked out West
Date CapturedThursday March 29 2007, 8:11 AM
NY Daily News Guest Contributor Arlene Ackerman, Christian A. Johnson professor of Outstanding Educational Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University opines, "Many have complained that the reform push here has shut out community voices. But to their credit, Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein are now doing extensive outreach. People shouldn't hesitate to speak out - not only about what they think the precise sums of money ought to be but also, in the end, about how individual schools should spend their budgets given newfound autonomy. In San Francisco, site-based decision-making provided new opportunities for community members to participate in the decisions that matter most to children. The same can happen here. The mayor and chancellor have aroused anxiety in part because they have tackled one issue that we in San Francisco didn't address. We essentially said that schools with many senior teachers would be held harmless for those teachers' higher costs. Bloomberg has said he will do that for existing teachers, but not for future teachers. Because high-poverty schools chronically have lower-salary teachers, that's a big step. The mayor deserves applause for tackling this challenge."
Absent students miss out on invaluable classroom learning experiences
Date CapturedThursday March 29 2007, 8:00 AM
Norwich Bulletin contributor Elizabeth Osga, superintendent of schools in Griswold writes, "Aside from illness and valid emergencies, there are few defensible reasons for school absence. A strong family expectation for attendance sends a message learning is important. It also creates the foundation for lifelong work ethic. But, not to be lost in the discussion of school attendance is the value of each and every lesson. Because of such lessons, writers can end columns with sentences that begin with subordinate clauses."
Why We Must Continue Funding Rural Schools
Date CapturedWednesday March 28 2007, 6:48 PM
Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo writes, "Ideally, management of our forested land would generate the revenue necessary to assist with services in cash-strapped communities with large amounts of federally owned land. Unfortunately, that just hasn’t been the case for some time. We must continue to work to remove impediments to forest health and productivity. However, in the meantime, Congress must commit the resources necessary to ensure that rural communities across this country do not have to forgo road maintenance, close libraries, and make cuts to children’s education. Anything less is unacceptable."
Young African-American boys are in crisis -- and nation is silent
Date CapturedWednesday March 28 2007, 12:24 PM
Sun Times contributor Rev. Jesse Jackson writes, "These kids face long odds from day one. In the crucial early years -- from the time of conception to age 3 -- when the mind is largely forged, they are shackled. One in five children is raised in poverty in this rich country, with no systematic program to ensure prenatal care, health care, day care, parental education. We've got too many babies raising babies who don't have the resources or the knowledge of how to take care of their children. We should be mobilizing intervention on the front side of these lives. Instead, we spend more on police, crime and prisons on the back end."
True accountability
Date CapturedWednesday March 28 2007, 9:26 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "In his State of the City address Monday night, Mayor Duffy did the expected — he highlighted his accomplishments during his first 15 months in office. But he was also honest about the challenges. Most interesting, however, was his focus on Rochester city schools. He pointed to the $119 million in funding the city provides the school district, more than Buffalo provides its schools, even while graduation rates are alarmingly lower here. That's a problem, Duffy said, and he plans to sit down with school officials to see where the disconnect is occurring between dollars and results. Does that mean less funding to the school district? Duffy didn't go that far. But for true accountability to take place, the school system must face consequences if results aren't realized."
Illinois uses test loophole
Date CapturedWednesday March 28 2007, 8:51 AM
Chicago Tribune reports, "Under the reform, schools are judged only on the scores of students enrolled for a 'full academic year.' Each state is allowed to determine what constitutes a full year. Until last year, Illinois schools were responsible only for students enrolled by Oct. 1 of that school year. Now, students must be enrolled by May 1 of the previous school year for their score to count under the federal law. The relaxation of the rules helped 53 schools, including 28 in Chicago, escape the federal failing schools list. Schools that land on the roster face a series of escalating sanctions, including allowing students to transfer to better campuses and offering free tutoring to those who remain. The enrollment exemption is designed to avoid penalizing schools that have many students transferring in after the school year has begun -- often, children from homeless, migrant and low-income families."
Budget adds $1 billion
Date CapturedWednesday March 28 2007, 8:34 AM
Times Union reports, "The proposal provides about $500 million more in school aid to address complaints from some districts, particularly in wealthier areas of the state, that Spitzer's initial plan didn't increase their funding enough. The deal further alters Spitzer's plan to expand the STAR school property tax program, which provides tax relief through assessment abatements. Spitzer wanted to aim the new cuts at the middle class. The agreement calls instead for rebate checks, which Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno favored, and while Spitzer said it still targets the middle class, it will reach higher-income people as well."
School bus disgrace spurs Assembly panel to OK cams
Date CapturedWednesday March 28 2007, 8:28 AM
NY Daily News reports, "At least two other safety bills have been proposed in addition to the two camera proposals, including a measure before the City Council to require bus monitors on all school buses."
WFP: WEINGARTEN'S FAKE PROTESTERS
Date CapturedWednesday March 28 2007, 8:23 AM
NY Post opines, "The far-left Working Families Party and its minions - 27 members of the City Council, led by Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson, answering to teachers-union boss Randi Weingarten - are holding a press conference/rally today at City Hall to launch the latest assault on continuing mayoral control of the city's public schools. Specifically, the group will announce a new council resolution calling on Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein to postpone an upcoming school-reorganization plan, pending a 'dialogue' on the future of the city's schools."
Low-Income Parents Make Informed Education Decisions for Their Kids
Date CapturedTuesday March 27 2007, 8:43 PM
The study indicates most parents take the decision seriously and research their options aggressively: 85 percent visit the schools, and 75 percent said they read printed information about schools, had their child visit the school, and talked with teachers and administrators. Opening Doors: How Low-Income Parents Search for the Right School, by Paul Teske, Jody Fitzpatrick, and Gabriel Kaplan, published in January 2007 by the University of Washingtonn
School completion and student engagement: Information and strategies for educators
Date CapturedTuesday March 27 2007, 2:25 PM
Anderson, A. R., Christenson, S. L., & Lehr, C. A. (2004). School completion and student engagement: Information and strategies for educators. In A. S. Canter, L. Z. Paige, M. D. Roth, I. Romero, & S. A. Carroll (Eds.), Helping children at home and at school II: Handouts for families and educators (pp. S2-65–S2-68). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
Compromises floated as budget deadline approaches
Date CapturedTuesday March 27 2007, 12:42 PM
AP Michael Gormley reports, "One of the Spitzer proposals was pushed Tuesday by a coalition of Catholic bishops, Protestant, Jewish and other Christian leaders. They supported Spitzer's plan for a $1,000 tax deduction to offset the cost of private and parochial school tuition as a break for parents who also pay taxes toward _ but don't use _ public schools. New York Roman Catholic Cardinal Edward Egan said the measure only means $50 to $80 in savings for most parents paying tuition for the 500,000 students statewide attending private or parochial schools, but it's a start to greater state support of taxpayers sending their children to private schools. The measure is strongly opposed by the New York State United Teachers union that stated in lobbying ads that public money shouldn't go to private interests when there is still a need to better fund high-needs, mostly urban schools."
PTA Urges Inclusion of Four Key Principals in NCLB Reauthorization
Date CapturedTuesday March 27 2007, 11:40 AM
The recommendations outline four major principals: assuring the implementation of parent involvement provisions required in NCLB; delivering clear, timely information to parents; integrating Parent Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) into parent involvement plans; and providing incentives to businesses and community groups to encourage school-community partnerships.
Middletown schools chief fears that Gov. Spitzer's 'contract for excellence' will punish proactive districts
Date CapturedTuesday March 27 2007, 9:18 AM
The 'contract for excellence' requires districts to spend most of the extra state money on programs that improve student learning — smaller class sizes, more instructional time, full-day kindergarten and the like. Here is the Catch-22 in Spitzer's plan: Districts can only spend the additional money on new programs, not current ones. But Middletown already has many of these programs, which are paid for by local taxpayers, Eastwood said. The restrictions mean the school district can't use the new money without duplicating what it already has. 'Since we have been proactive, we get punished,' Eastwood said. Middletown has nearly $5.8 million in state aid at stake. Other districts may be in a similar situation and not yet know it, Eastwood said. 'It will be kind of like a kick in the teeth when they find out,' he said. Spitzer's proposals create other problems as well, according to Bob Lowry, deputy director of the state Council of School Superintendents. Say voters force their district into a contingency budget. Then the district can neither spend the state aid as Spitzer mandates nor use it to lower taxes, Lowry said. Spitzer's excellence contract also forces superintendents into three-year contracts tied to student performance. If test scores don't improve enough, they can be fired."
School aid clash in Albany
Date CapturedTuesday March 27 2007, 8:59 AM
Post-Standard reports, "The purpose of a school aid formula, says Syracuse University professor William Duncombe, who studies and develops them, generally is to equalize resources to give struggling districts a better shot at meeting achievement standards."
O-A urges drivers to stop when its buses do
Date CapturedMonday March 26 2007, 5:45 PM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "On Tuesday, the Owego-Apalachin Central School District will work with local law nforcement to promote Operation Safe Stop Day, a statewide effort to educate motorists about school bus safety. The O-A district has informed the state police, Tioga County Sheriff's Office and Owego Police Department of specific locations where violators are known to pass a school bus, transportation supervisor Anthony Quaranta said. If violators are caught, they will be ticketed, he said. Drivers are supposed to stop for buses in both directions when the red lights are flashing, even if the bus hasn't come to a complete stop. 'New York state estimates 50,000 vehicles a day pass school buses,' Quaranta said."
The Future of NCLB
Date CapturedMonday March 26 2007, 9:55 AM
Huffington Post contributor Diane Ravitch writes, "First, the federal government should establish national standards in basic academic subjects (reading, mathematics, science, and history). Second, it should annually administer national examinations in those subjects. Third, it should make the results available to states and school districts. It should be left to the states to decide which actions to take in response to this information. The states, working with the school districts, should decide which combination of rewards and sanctions will improve student achievement."
Self-regulation abilities, beyond intelligence, play major role in early achievement
Date CapturedMonday March 26 2007, 9:45 AM
Eurekalert.org reports, "Although intelligence is generally thought to play a key role in children's early academic achievement, aspects of children's self-regulation abilities—including the ability to alternately shift and focus attention and to inhibit impulsive responding--are uniquely related to early academic success and account for greater variation in early academic progress than do measures of intelligence. Therefore, in order to help children from low-income families succeed in school, early school-age programs may need to include curricula designed specifically to promote children's self-regulation skills as a means of enhancing their early academic progress. Those are the findings of a new study conducted by researchers at the Pennsylvania State University and published in the March-April 2007 issue of the journal Child Development."
Research: Summer Vacation Hurts Low-Income Kids' Chances for Academic Success
Date CapturedMonday March 26 2007, 9:37 AM
Battle Creek Enquirer reports, "The study ["Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap"]contends that there is a summer learning gap between lower- and higher-income children and it begins during elementary school. Higher-income children's home environments are resource rich. They are more likely to have access to magazines, books, and have their parents read to them. Consequently, this gap accumulates over the years and results in unequal placements in college preparatory tracks once the children get to high school. The gap also increases the chances that children from low socio-economic families will drop out of high school and decreases their chances of attending a four-year college."
No Retreat on School Reform
Date CapturedMonday March 26 2007, 9:28 AM
Washington Post Op-Ed contributor Sen. Edward Kennedy, a lead author of the Leave No Child Behind Act opines, "Part of the act's promise was that greater accountability would be accompanied by greater support. We knew that federal resources would be critical to achieving the goals. When the law was adopted in 2002, Congress delivered $22 billion to support public education -- an increase of 20 percent over the previous year. This was an unprecedented federal investment. The law promised increased funding levels over the life of its provisions, in step with the increase in targets for student performance. Yet year after year, the federal government has failed to provide the resources that states and school districts need to improve struggling schools. Assessment and accountability without the funding needed to implement change is a recipe for failure.":
Bitter fight over school aid splits lawmakers
Date CapturedMonday March 26 2007, 9:09 AM
Buffalo News reports, "The governor’s allies say his plan recognizes that needs are greater in struggling schools in Buffalo and other communities that have seen the ability to hike property taxes eroded by stalled economies. Detractors say it is a Robin Hood approach that fails to recognize suburban schools still have rising costs, in part due to state mandates, and that the resulting increase in property taxes to cover Albany’s smaller shares to the suburbs will only convince more people to flee the state."
Spitzer's school BMI plan borders on tyrannical
Date CapturedMonday March 26 2007, 8:54 AM
Times Union contributor and parent SVEN R LARSON, in a Letter to the Editor writes, "Ideas of enforced physical conformity have been practiced before, in a country six time zones east of New York. The results were disastrous. Perhaps the governor should give that some thought before he takes his BMI grade idea any further. He should also consider the risks of an epidemic of eating disorders among our kids. After all, that is the only way most kids will be able to comply with the anatomic standards in Gov. Spitzer's dream world."
Proponents tout legislation on sex education
Date CapturedMonday March 26 2007, 8:45 AM
Times Union reports, "The Healthy Teens Act, a bill before the state Legislature, would establish a fund for school districts that teach abstinence and explain how to use birth control. The federal government offers $13 million for abstinence-only programs but no money for sex education that teaches teenagers how to have safe sex, said JoAnne Smith, president and CEO of Family Planning Advocates of New York State. 'Young people deserve better,' Smith said. 'There is no evidence whatsoever, none, that abstinence programs work.'"
Spitzer's new math
Date CapturedSunday March 25 2007, 10:45 AM
Newsday opines, "Spitzer's proposed aid package for 2007-08 is part of a bigger, four-year plan. But this year, many Long Island districts receiving the minimum increase will see only 20 percent of their four-year total. Giving these districts more money up front would help boost their aid this coming year - and thus give them time to prepare for smaller increases in the future. That's fine, but only if the schools are serious about reining in annual spending hikes now running at twice the rate of inflation. Spitzer's plan is stellar in theory, but it needs fixing before it can work fairly in practice. That should be the goal of everyone in Albany."
Divvying up the aid
Date CapturedSunday March 25 2007, 10:29 AM
Newsday Op-Ed contributor Leanna Stiefel, professor of economics at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and an associate director at NYU's Institute for Education and Social Policy writes, "New York has been out front in the amount of political bargaining that determines funding, but is way behind in making the system fairer and more transparent. More than 40 states use some version of a 'foundation' aid formula that bases state aid on student need and district fiscal capacity. Many allow the richer, often suburban districts to supplement the amount with local revenues, but usually an add-on limit is arrived at by a political compromise that keeps the richer suburban districts supporting the entire state system. Few states, though, have no real formula and start as New York does from a determination of shares. New York's citizens and lawmakers have a number of decisions to make. Among them is an answer to the question: Are we a state community? In a time and world that are divided and divisive, do we in this state want to move toward a public school system that provides adequate funds to students who are at particular risk of not making it? Do we want to try to provide equal opportunity for all? Or not?"
Blaming the poor for their plight
Date CapturedSunday March 25 2007, 10:14 AM
Newsday Op-Ed contributor Amy Stuart Wells, Professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University writes, "Indeed, what makes people poor is their lack of access to decent paying jobs in a service economy that pays well-educated and well-connected professionals extremely well and pays people with less formal education next to nothing - not to mention their lack of benefits, most importantly health care. What keeps people poor is the growing segregation between the rich or well-off in terms of where people live and send their children to school. As income gaps have grown and housing prices have exploded, people with money have been able to move farther away from those without. The exclusivity of these communities, protected by zoning ordinances, is the very factor that sends their property values even higher, making their residents and public schools wealthier still."
Adding taxpayers to charter equation -- now that's reform
Date CapturedSunday March 25 2007, 9:46 AM
Times Union Fred LeBrun opines, "Will the cap on the number of charter schools allowed in the state -- now set at 100 -- be raised? The governor wants 150 more of them, which is stupefying. But that's what he wants, based, presumably, on what New York City wants. The Senate is willing to go along with him. The Assembly is trying to buck the governor, limiting the increase to 50. Frankly, zero is a rounder number. Unfortunately, the steamroller governor has so intimidated the Assembly that it is not clear how resolute it will be on behalf of what I strongly believe to be the majority of upstate New Yorkers who don't want more charters. The tyranny of a powerful minority is propelling charter schools over the will of the majority in this state, and trying to keep the table tilted in favor of imposing charter schools in districts that may not want them. That's indefensible, but they're getting away with it because the governor is aiding and abetting. The reform governor, remember? This is not giving government back to the people, as he promised."
Education rally touts Spitzer plan
Date CapturedSunday March 25 2007, 9:41 AM
Times Union reports, "Speakers lauded Spitzer's $19.2 billion education proposal while blasting the Senate majority for lopping state aid to so-called high-need districts like Schenectady and siphoning it to wealthier downstate suburbs. Kris Thompson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, disagreed with that assessment. 'The suburban school district would suffer the most under the governor's proposal, it is not equitable nor is it fair to the districts,' Thompson said during a phone interview afterward. 'The Senate wants this record increase to be distributed fairly throughout the state.'"
State senator calls for changes in law
Date CapturedSunday March 25 2007, 9:29 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports on Sen. Saland on NCLB, "'We believe that the No Child Left Behind Act contains restrictions that stifle innovations and undermine the effectiveness of state programs,' he said in a statement. 'We further believe that NCLB constitutes an enormous unfunded or under-funded mandate imposed on states and local school districts.'"
New York City Schools Chancellor KLEIN EDGES TOWARD SCHOOL REVOLUTION
Date CapturedSunday March 25 2007, 9:06 AM
NY Post reports, "Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said during a teaching symposium yesterday that the city should 'take a serious look at some of the recommendations' in a December report by the bipartisan New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce and consider making 'bold, systemic challenges to the status quo.' The report entitled 'Tough Choices or Tough Times' - the subject of yesterday's panel discussion - made several recommendations, including a 'state board qualifying exam' that would be taken by all children after 10th grade to determine the future of their education. Depending on their scores, students would be sent for two years in high-level secondary school or two to three years in regional vocational schools or community or technical colleges. The commission - which counts Klein as a member - also advocated the elimination of school districts and local school funding, a system of 'contract schools; run by independent entities, high-quality universal pre-K, free adult education and an option for teachers to take higher salaries in exchange for fewer pension benefits."
Length of School Day
Date CapturedSaturday March 24 2007, 3:00 PM
Length of School Day: The minimum length of school day for purposes of generating State Aid is 2.5 hours for half-day kindergarten, 5.0 hours for full-day kindergarten through grade 6 and 5.5 hours for grades 7-12. These hours are exclusive of the time allowed for lunch. If school district officials establish a school calendar in excess of 180 required days, the excess days need not comply with the mandated daily time requirements. (Commissioner's Regulations 175.5) Students of compulsory attendance age must be scheduled for attendance upon instruction for the entire time the school is in session. The term session refers to the period during which instruction is provided. However, such daily sessions may include supervised study periods, supervised cooperative work study, release time for college study or school-to-work programs, and as well as traditional classroom instructional activities. (Education Law 3210(1))
School Year, Extraordinary Condition Days, Examination Days, Superintendent's Conference Days, Length of School Day and Student Attendance
Date CapturedSaturday March 24 2007, 2:48 PM
Days of Session: School districts must be in session for all students, including students with disabilities, for not less than 180 days. Included in the 180 days are days on which attendance is taken, days on which Regents examinations, State Assessments or local examinations are given and days on which superintendent's conference days are held. School district officials may not claim partial or full attendance on days when classes are not in actual session. This situation is most likely to occur on Regents examination days or superintendent's conference days. Such days do count toward the 180 required days, but, since they are not days of actual session, they do not affect and are not factored into average daily attendance. (Education Law 3604(7)).
Ohio legislators, educators look to solve school funding
Date CapturedSaturday March 24 2007, 9:16 AM
Coshocton Tribune reports, "Ten years ago today the Supreme Court ruled that Ohio's method of funding education was unconstitutional. A decade and three more unconstitutional rulings later, organizations, legislators and educators say they are trying to come up with a fair and equal method of funding Ohio's 613 districts. Educators hoped the unconstitutional ruling passed on March 24, 1997, would bring change, not years of more struggling to provide equal, quality education throughout the state."
Ohio teachers union sues state over charter school program
Date CapturedSaturday March 24 2007, 9:10 AM
AP reports, "The state's largest teachers union sued the state over its charter school program on Friday, saying it lacks proper oversight and takes needed money from traditional public schools. The Ohio Education Association listed the Ohio Department of Education, the State Board of Education and Susan Zelman, the state superintendent of public instruction, as defendants."
TUSD plan: Students stay near home
Date CapturedSaturday March 24 2007, 8:33 AM
Arizona Daily Star reports, "'In 1978, TUSD settled a class-action lawsuit filed by Hispanic and black parents. TUSD agreed to bus students across the city as well as establish magnet schools to racially integrate the district. By creating magnet schools with specific entrance criteria and prescribed ethnic balances, TUSD sought to entice some of its top students to leave their neighborhoods and further create integrated schools. Under the terms of the lawsuit, any changes to TUSD must be approved by a federal judge. The terms of the settlement gave TUSD five years to rectify the problem. The order still has not been lifted, though board members and Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer say they've done what they were ordered to do. TUSD also receives state funds for desegregation efforts. For the 2006-2007 school year, it received $62.4 million in state funds for desegregation. If unitary status is granted, according to state law, TUSD will continue to receive the money.'
Reading sometimes takes a backseat to mischief in Lower Hudson libraries
Date CapturedSaturday March 24 2007, 8:23 AM
Journal News opines, "In Yonkers, the situation has gotten so bad that the board of the Yonkers Public Library was moved earlier this month to adopt a new measure: children 8 years old and younger must now be accompanied by a caregiver. If an unaccompanied child is found at the library during the day, the library staff will decide, based on circumstances, whether to call the police or Child Protective Services. If a child is found alone at closing time, librarians will be required to call the authorities. In addition, during school hours, school-age children will only be allowed in the library with written permission from a guardian or their school."
Now, mayor sees school bus woes
Date CapturedSaturday March 24 2007, 8:17 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Mayor Bloomberg yesterday admitted that the city should have done a better job in protecting school kids from physical and sexual abuse aboard school buses."
Ithaca Central School District progress on equity: Myth or reality?
Date CapturedFriday March 23 2007, 9:45 AM
Ithaca Journal contributor Michael Koplinka-Loehr, part-time coordinator of the Village at Ithaca writes, "The ultimate evidence of progress in the realm of equity in Ithaca schools will be increased proportions of students from all backgrounds meeting and exceeding state academic standards. Independent of your personal predisposition about progress, your constructive involvement is needed to bridge the academic outcome divide. Volunteer now to help all students achieve their dreams, and to craft a community that we all can be proud of for generations to come."
1,600 educators to arrive in Ithaca today
Date CapturedFriday March 23 2007, 9:33 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "The conference offers teachers and support staff from within the T-S-T BOCES system 134 workshops, which will be held throughout Ithaca. Workshops are located at Cornell's main campus, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca High School and T-S-T BOCES. Among the more popular workshops are 'undoing racism,' 'how to lose five to 10 pounds quickly' and workshops focused on 21st Century literacy. 'Those address how to use iPods educationally or create infinity groups for kids so they can be engaged in social networking around a topic,' Fontana [director of staff development and research for the ICSD] said."
Rochester City School District expects more aid
Date CapturedFriday March 23 2007, 9:00 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "When the smoke clears, the City School District could use the additional funds for initiatives that: Extend the school year from 180 to 200 days for students in first through eighth grades who are not meeting state language arts and math standards. Provide funding for a pilot program in some currently unnamed city schools to lengthen the school day. Provide intervention programs for three high schools — Jefferson, Monroe and the International Finance & Economic Development Career school at Franklin — recently cited by the state for registration review. Establish an African-American studies program. Convert Frederick Douglass from a middle school — which the state has recently threatened to close — to a high school with grades 7 through 12. The district has a pending partnership agreement with the State University College at Brockport that will make Douglass an early college high school, [City School Superintendent ]Rivera said."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedThursday March 22 2007, 9:37 PM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; March 22, 2007, Volume 7, Number 12
Bill Would Protect Against Cuts
Date CapturedThursday March 22 2007, 9:56 AM
Washington Post reports, "Under the legislation, governors would be required to certify that their states do not have time to train teachers on a new test and that alternatives then available are 'not in the best interest of the public school system and the children the system serves.'"
Utah heats up long-simmering school-voucher debate, Governor has signed into law the first 'universal' voucher program in the US
Date CapturedThursday March 22 2007, 9:49 AM
Christian Science Monitor reports, "The idea of vouchers dates back to the 1950s, when economist Milton Friedman suggested it would promote competition and improve schools. Proponents also argue that families should be able to apply some tax dollars to whatever school they choose. Opponents insist that public money should be used only for public schools, rather than to subsidize private and religious institutions. The Reagan administration pushed for vouchers, as did the current Bush administration in the initial education-reform proposals leading up to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which is now five years old and up for reauthorization. But so far, voucher programs have persisted only in about half a dozen states and districts; most are offered to students in low-income families, low-performing schools, or special-education programs."
Movies in class are a waste of time
Date CapturedThursday March 22 2007, 9:04 AM
Times Herald-Record opines, "Some teachers at Newburgh Free Academy are upset with a new school policy that requires them to ask permission before using a film in class. The teachers call this censorship. That's because you get a lot more attention shouting 'censorship' than you do shouting 'bureaucracy.' The teachers complained that the new policy would prevent them from using controversial films as a way to discuss important issues in class. But what it really does is force the teachers to justify the use of class time to view films. Judging by the way films have been used in Newburgh recently, those are very legitimate concerns for the parents and the administration."
District Attorneys, Police Associations, Lawmakers and former Gang Members to Unveil Proposal to Stop Gang Activity in New York Schools, other measures
Date CapturedThursday March 22 2007, 9:00 AM
Increase in gang related criminal activity is on the rise throughout New York State. A state commission report on the growing problem and its recommendations have not been acted upon by the state legislature. Lawmakers and law enforcement agencies will unveil will criminalize gang activity on and near school grounds and renew calls for other anti gang measures lingering in Albany.
No agreements on school funding
Date CapturedThursday March 22 2007, 8:36 AM
Newsday reports, "With Long Island's share of school funding now seen as the highest hurdle in talks on a new budget, Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Deputy Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos met privately yesterday to air opposing views but reached no agreements. Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and other Long Island legislators are resisting Spitzer's proposed elimination of a tax rebate check program and other changes that they say would mean lost dollars to Nassau and Suffolk residents. A key stumbling block is the system of "shares" that has long distributed state school aid on a pre-set geographic basis. According to Skelos spokesman Tom Dunham, Skelos told the governor yesterday that 'the shares are sacred.'"
Wasted cash cost city tots class - audit
Date CapturedThursday March 22 2007, 8:33 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Among allegations are unexplained checks, cash withdrawals listed as loan repayments and school directors paying themselves rent for space in buildings they own. Other allegations include centers appearing to use prekindergarten funds for things like karate uniforms, even though karate is not an approved activity for kids that age."
Charter school cost aid sought
Date CapturedThursday March 22 2007, 8:28 AM
Times Union reports, "Spitzer, a charter supporter who has proposed increasing the number of such schools allowed in New York, is the first governor to provide transitional aid. Alliance for Quality Education Executive Director Billy Easton called the $15 million a "good first step," but not nearly enough. 'The problem with the mathematics is that it's not enough money,' Easton said. Easton said his group would like to see Spitzer's figure triple. He said the Senate majority proposed adding $7 million worth of transition aid in its one-house budget, but didn't direct it to high-need districts."
Timing and Duration of Student Participation in Special Education in the Primary Grades
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 9:19 PM
Emily W. Holt, Daniel J. McGrath, and William L. Herring. This Issue Brief reports the timing of entry into special education and the number of grades in which students receive special education across the primary grades. About 12 percent of students receive special education in at least one of the grades: kindergarten, first, and third grade, including 16 percent of boys, 8 percent of girls, 18 percent of poor children, and 10 percent of nonpoor children. One in three students who receive special education in early grades, first receive special education in kindergarten. Half of those who begin special education in kindergarten are no longer receiving special education by third grade. In addition to students’ gender and poverty status, results are presented separately for other student and school characteristics, including race/ethnicity and school control, urbanicity, region, and poverty concentration. Data for this brief come from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K).
Los Angeles Unified is counting its truants
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 10:10 AM
LA Times reports, "Although the Los Angeles Unified School District has ramped up its efforts to keep students in school, a new report shows that thousands are still skipping class routinely, and the problem is rampant in a few low-performing schools. The report is the first in what is intended as a series of monthly accounts that will track truancy and absenteeism in every middle and high school in the district — something that has not been done in such a systematic way before. The information is considered critical because students typically begin skipping school sporadically before dropping out altogether. L.A. Unified is trying to tackle a dropout rate that is officially 24.1% but has been estimated at close to double that."
Ohio judge flunks moms of truant children
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 9:46 AM
Times-Reporter reports, "[Judge]Kate said poor attendance by children often is a symptom of a larger problem in the home. She noted her courtroom is the last stop in the process of school officials trying to work with parents throughout the school year and seeing no improvement."
State comptroller will monitor Roosevelt spending
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 9:18 AM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "Starting in May, auditors from the comptroller's regional office in Hauppauge will bring an added layer of financial supervision to the already much-monitored school district. They will check expenses and revenues as they come in, rather than waiting until year's end as usual."
Charter school group announces expansion
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 8:52 AM
AP reports, "A national nonprofit charter school organization once featured on Oprah Winfrey's talk show said Tuesday it had raised $65 million toward a $100 million goal to greatly expand its presence in the Houston area. Starting this summer, officials with the nonprofit Knowledge is Power Program Foundation said the money will be used to expand the Houston chain from eight schools and 1,700 students to 42 charter schools with 21,000 students over the next decade."
Focus on black male representation in special ed, honors classes
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 8:26 AM
Journal News contributor Fred Smith, assistant superintendent, pupil personnel and curricular services, New Rochelle School District writes, "The question is this: 'Are black males overrepresented in special-education programs and underrepresented in honors programs?' The African American Men of Westchester, along with other groups, organizations and individuals, is looking for answers, in an upcoming forum hosted by Iona College's Department of Teacher Education. AAMW has long been concerned about the high numbers of African-American, Hispanic/Latino and American Indian students in classes for the educable mentally retarded, the emotionally disturbed and the learning disabled. AAMW is also concerned about the low numbers of students from these groups who are assigned to programs for the gifted and talented."
Citywide class size cuts would hurt the poor
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 8:19 AM
NY Daily Guest Op-Ed writes, "While research shows that - all things being equal - smaller classes are good for student achievement, particularly in the lower grades, not everything is ever equal. The truth, therefore, is far more complicated. You see, reducing class size requires the system to hire many more teachers. In a small school district, that's no big problem. But here in the nation's largest school system, which already employs some 80,000 teachers, hiring more teachers means delving deeper into a labor pool that is already stretched thin. If New York City were to reduce class size across the board, many parents would see their children placed with less-qualified teachers. Not exactly what they were promised."
Fix bus mess: Pols
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 8:10 AM
NY Daily News reports, "In separate announcements yesterday, two state senators and a member of the City Council each proposed bills to reduce the growing number of cases of physical and sexual abuse aboard school buses. The measures propose requiring video cameras on all buses, expanding the use of monitors for buses with special-needs students to all buses, and requiring criminal background checks and fingerprinting for all monitors."
POTEMKIN PROTESTERS
Date CapturedWednesday March 21 2007, 7:30 AM
NY Post opines, "Frankly, it's the UFT and its dubious allies who are disrespecting parents. Shame on them."
Key State Education Policies on PK-12 Education: 2006
Date CapturedTuesday March 20 2007, 12:20 PM
This CCSSO report informs policymakers and educators about the current status of key education policies across the 50 states that define and shape elementary and secondary education in public schools. The report is part of a continuing biennial series by the Council’s state education indicators program. CCSSO reports 50-state information on policies regarding teacher preparation and certification, high school graduation requirements, student assessment programs, school time, and student attendance. The report also includes state-by-state information on content standards and curriculum, teacher assessment, and school leader/administrator licensure.
50-State Report on Key State Education Policies
Date CapturedTuesday March 20 2007, 12:06 PM
From the Council of Chief State School Officers , "The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) announces publication of the biennial report Key State Education Policies on PK-12 Education: 2006. The most recent edition of this report updates two decades of research, providing 50-state analysis and trends for state policies that define teaching and learning across the nation. The report covers several areas of state policy that will define efforts of states, districts, and schools to meet key requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)."
Rallying for more funding
Date CapturedTuesday March 20 2007, 10:44 AM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "A regional struggle over state school aid is heating up on Long Island, as opponents and supporters of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed budget stake rival claims for more money. Yesterday, representatives of 19 school districts, mostly in Brookhaven and Islip Towns, joined in contending that the governor's plan shortchanges the Island. Organizers billed the news conference as the largest number of districts ever to speak with a single voice on the subject of aid, but acknowledged the difficulty of forging coalitions in a region so diverse."
Bruno attacks Spitzer on school aid formula
Date CapturedTuesday March 20 2007, 8:31 AM
Newsday DAN JANISON reports, "Bruno stood at a news conference with David Little, government relations director for the New York State School Boards Association, who praised the Senate's proposed changes in the Spitzer funding formula, particularly relating to special-education aid. Spitzer's proposal would make special-education funding part of the state's basic school-aid distribution formula for the first time. Little praised the Senate for looking to keep it a separate funding stream because this "recognizes the needs of high-needs districts, but doesn't pit high-needs districts against high-tax districts" such as those in Nassau and Suffolk."
Save these students
Date CapturedTuesday March 20 2007, 8:17 AM
NY Daily News columnist Bill Hammond writes, "What is it about charter schools that makes people in Albany so nuts? These privately managed public schools are working miracles in the inner cities of New York, delivering superior education to poor kids at lower cost than many regular public schools. A sane state government would let a thousand charters bloom. Yet Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his majority Democrats - who claim to represent the downtrodden - are trying to squash the movement."
News spurs ed chief to review bus oversight
Date CapturedTuesday March 20 2007, 8:13 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Reacting to an ongoing Daily News investigation, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said yesterday that he'll consider expanding the number of investigators who probe abuse incidents on school buses."
PARENT PROTEST SHAKES SCHOOL-SHAKEUP MEETING
Date CapturedTuesday March 20 2007, 8:04 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Dozens of angry parents, students and activists last night disrupted a panel meeting headed by Chancellor Joel Klein, in protest of his planned reorganization of the city's school system. Chanting, 'No respect for parents' and 'Listen to the parents,' about 60 protesters stalled the monthly gathering of the Panel for Educational Policy at Department of Education headquarters for 20 minutes."
MATH AND MARXISM, NYC'S WACK-JOB TEACHERS
Date CapturedTuesday March 20 2007, 7:51 AM
NY Post Op-Ed contributor Sol Stern, fellow at the Manhattan Institute writes, "THERE'S a fifth column in New York City's public schools - radical teachers who openly undermine Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's curriculum mandates and use their classrooms to indoctrinate students in left-wing, anti-American ideology. One center for this movement is El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice in Brooklyn, the city's first 'social justice' high school. The school's lead math teacher, Jonathan Osler, is using El Puente as a base from which to organize a three-day conference in April on 'Math Education and Social Justice.'"
NCLB: Don't scrap it; just fix it
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 10:43 AM
Tallahassee Democrat contributor Sally Butzin, president and executive director of the Institute for School Innovation opines, "It's not too late to return to the original intent of NCLB and fine-tune it. It would be a shame to return to the old days of low expectations and one-size-fits-all teaching. But NCLB as currently being administered and implemented must be fixed before all our creative teachers leave in disgust, and more children drop out of the system altogether. Public education is at a crossroads. I hope our leaders will have the wisdom to keep the good in NCLB, fix the bad, and throw out the ugly."
Union does disservice to Roosevelt
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 10:24 AM
Newsday Ray J. Keating opines, "Government's failure in terms of educating our children is on sad display in Roosevelt. Lots of hard-earned taxpayer dollars have been wasted. But far worse, so many individuals have failed to reach their full potential due to a lousy education. Why can't we have a school choice plan like Utah's in New York? And why not start in districts like Roosevelt so parents can give their kids a chance by liberating them from failing schools? There is no reason we cannot, except for politicians who cower before the education unions. Our elected officials should be ashamed."
School choice would help fix No Child law
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 10:13 AM
News-Leader contributor Cal Thomas opines, "A serious school choice program, not more money to subsidize underachievement, is one answer to poor performance. Competition improves everyone's product and service. It's working in those states and localities that have managed to nominally free themselves from the teachers unions, which seek to maintain the education monopoly for political influence. Paying bonuses to the best teachers is another good idea. There is another point no one in government will address. It is that not all children are equally intelligent."
Buffalo Schools Superintendent Williams says severe staff shortages allow student unrest to boil over
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 10:01 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Efforts to curtail violence in Buffalo public schools are hampered by a severe shortage of teachers, counselors and social workers to help troubled students, School Superintendent James A. Williams says. Williams suggests that part of the answer may be a strict code of everyday conduct and expectations such as those at Catholic, private and charter schools. Even so, the underlying causes of school violence are so broad and deeply rooted that it will take Buffalo at least several years to dramatically reduce the incidence of fighting and assaults, Williams said."
Rochester City schools in distress
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 9:25 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "While outgoing Rochester schools superintendent Manuel Rivera has been aggressive in dealing with poor middle school performance, it's clear from the state's tougher stance on performance that the new superintendent must bring in major credentials in education reform. For the new leader, there will be no time for settling in or the typical new-arrival 'assessment'' of the situation. This community will need from the new superintendent a commitment from day one to shake up the status quo, to continue those aspects of Rivera's program that worked — and there were many — and to quickly identify and change those that didn't."
What Albany owes N.Y.C.
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 9:15 AM
NY Daily News opines, "School mandates - Spitzer would give Mayor Bloomberg the flexibility to use the extra school aid as he thinks best. But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver tied it with strings sought by United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. These include a requirement to cut class sizes, which may or may not be the best use of dollars but would surely boost the number of teachers. Drop the mandates."
Sex & secrecy in back of the bus
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 9:04 AM
NY Daily News reports, "A four-month Daily News investigation into the troubled network that transports 142,000 New York City public and private school students daily has documented a secret history of physical and emotional abuse, from broken bones to shattered psyches. But the most gutwrenching, nauseating behavior uncovered has been sexual in nature. On many occasions, the sexual abuse victims have been especially vulnerable special-needs students, mercilessly violated within a transportation system designed to protect those most at risk."
Take 'em to school, Mike
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 8:59 AM
NY Daily News opines, "The drumbeat of opposition to school reform grows ever louder under the skillful orchestration of teachers union President Randi Weingarten. It's time for Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein to fight back with facts."
NYPD UNCOOL IN SCHOOL, ACTIVISTS CHARGE
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 8:48 AM
NY Post reports AP story, "The New York Civil Liberties Union said that, in recent years, it has received hundreds of complaints from both students and teachers about foul language, rough treatment and unwarranted arrests by the NYPD's 4,827 school-safety agents."
SCHOOL BOOK UPROAR
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 8:42 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "A group of Korean-American parents is demanding an award-winning memoir be yanked from libraries and reading lists at city middle schools because of what they say are historically distorted, racist and sexually explicit passages. The book, 'So Far from the Bamboo Grove,' is the story of an 11-year-old Japanese girl's perilous escape from World War II Korea, in which she witnesses brutality at the hands of Koreans, including the rapes of young girls and the tossing of a dead infant from a moving train."
White Plains elementary to be among state's first "green" schools
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 8:38 AM
The Journal News reports, "A closed system of pumps and wells will circulate water through the earth hundreds of feet below a parking lot, then bring it back up to help heat and air-condition the building above. Windows and reflectors will be positioned to flood classrooms and hallways with sunlight instead of tungsten and florescence. Toilets will flush with quarts of water rather than gallons. Recycled steel and other materials will be used in everything from hallway lockers to linoleum tiles. The roof over the auditorium and cafeteria will be planted with grasses and wildflowers, providing a natural insulation. Welcome to the new Post Road Elementary School, a 21st-century showcase for environmentally smart architecture that will replace a 92-year-old building that opened in an era when anyone talking about a green building was referring strictly to its color."
Bus attacks spark outrage
Date CapturedMonday March 19 2007, 8:34 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The ongoing News investigative series, 'School Bus Disgrace,' reveals a hidden history of abuse on school buses - from beatings, drivers and bus monitors being arrested, rude and nasty behavior being inflicted on students, and students being abandoned on buses or dropped far from their homes."
Spitzer: They Can’t Handle the Truth
Date CapturedSunday March 18 2007, 10:58 AM
Room Eight blogger Larry Littlefield writes, "I’d like us to be 'one state,' but not if doing so means the city is made to sacrifice to help the rest of the state while the rest of the state is outraged because they are told, falsely, that they are being cheated by the city. This is an outrage, and what is said and not said, because politicians want to pander to those outside the city, has consequences. Someone should go to the libraries Upstate and collect some juicy quotes from the days when NYC was flat on its back economically, and the rest of the state resented bailing us out. Even though, net of all state revenues and expenditures, NYC was always a net contribuor the state budget, even in the early 1990s when 1 million were on welfare and the city lost 300,000 jobs. What an attitude! Please Governor Spitzer, stop feeding it!"
Off the Hook
Date CapturedSunday March 18 2007, 9:51 AM
Washington Post opines, "Contrary to the claims of its critics, No Child Left Behind is having, in its fifth year of operation, a positive impact on American education. Before it was implemented, school districts could use the performance of high-achieving students to hide the fact that they were failing students from families with low incomes, minority students, English-learners and students with disabilities. These students had been made invisible, and as a result little attention was paid to improving their performance. No Child demanded that districts show progress for these subgroups as well as overall; as a result, there are encouraging gains in student learning on the elementary level."
The Wide Spectrum Of Sex-Ed Courses
Date CapturedSunday March 18 2007, 9:37 AM
Washington Post reports, "Disputes over sex-education seldom reach federal court, Staver said, because matters of curriculum are mostly left to local school boards. Many states, including Virginia and Maryland, explicitly permit parents to opt out if they don't like the lessons. Or, they can simply withdraw from the school."
A valuable lesson
Date CapturedSunday March 18 2007, 9:20 AM
Newsday Op-Ed contributor Joseph A. Laria, acting superintendent of the North Babylon Union Free School District opines, "In the effort to restore human and civic values into the fabric of children's lives, schools have a very important role to play. It's easy to forget this in a climate in which standardized testing scores preoccupy state education officials, school boards, administrators, teachers, parents and students. Schools can and must teach values. In fact, New York State education law requires instruction in civility and character education, focusing on basic civic values such as justice, honesty, self-discipline, due process, equality, majority rule with respect for minority rights, and respect for self, others and property. The law speaks for a shared value in our state that education is not just about the basics."
Little Consistency in Bus Safety Standards
Date CapturedSunday March 18 2007, 8:58 AM
NY Times reports, "Nationally, about 25 million children ride school buses to and from school, and a study released in November showed that bus-related accidents account for about 17,000 injuries a year — more than most previous studies, which used data from different sources. There are about 20 deaths a year involving drivers and students on school buses or in loading zones, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences said. 'No one had ever taken a look at the entire spectrum of injuries before,' said the senior author of the study, Dr. Gary A. Smith, the director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The study looked at emergency room visits for school-bus-related injuries from 2001 through 2003. It found a total of 51,000 injuries, 3 percent serious enough to require admission to the hospital. (The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, using information from a sampling of school districts, has estimated 8,500 to 12,000 injuries a year.) Most injuries occurred in September and October and involved children 10 to 14 years old. About 42 percent of the injuries involved another motor vehicle coming in contact with the bus, Dr. Smith said. More than half the injuries to children younger than 10 were to the head; lower-extremity injuries were the highest in children 10 to 19."
Albany Divided on Calculation of School Aid
Date CapturedSunday March 18 2007, 8:49 AM
NY Times reports, "The Senate’s proposal put education advocates in an awkward position: Should they accept a proposal that calls for more spending but uses the old shares system, or hold out for a new shares system? Several said that the Senate proposal was like getting a bonus instead of a raise — a nice influx of money in the short term, but one that is not built into salaries as a starting point for future years. Geri Palast, the executive director of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which brought the court case, said: 'This is a historic moment where we can finally realize the promise of C.F.E. The good news is that there will be a major investment in education — both the governor and the Senate have talked about major investments — but the critical element still is to make sure that the formula goes to the neediest districts.'”
The Center May Not Hold for NCLB
Date CapturedSaturday March 17 2007, 6:22 PM
US News & World Report writes, "Republican leaders no longer stand strongly behind the Bush administration on education. But the mutiny is against more than Bush. It is also against the law itself. In just five years, the law has transformed public education, giving the federal government more say over what and how children learn than perhaps ever before. To maintain federal funding, all levels have had to change practice: States have had to develop detailed math and reading standards for third through eighth grade, teachers have had to devote weeks of their school year to testing those standards, and schools have had to live by the tests' consequences, facing sticks like forced restructuring or mandatory after-school tutoring if their students don't perform."
4 IPS schools must convert to year-round
Date CapturedSaturday March 17 2007, 11:04 AM
Indianapolis Star reports, "Students and teachers at four of the worst-performing [Indianapolis]city schools will have to cut their summer vacations short this year. Indianapolis Public Schools will require Donnan Middle School, Marshall Middle School, Longfellow Middle School and School 44 to hold classes an extra 25 days and convert to a year-round calendar. Those schools are in danger of being disbanded after failing to meet federal benchmarks on student testing for at least five years in a row. 'We have four schools struggling to achieve adequate yearly progress, and IPS feels this extended school year will provide students with the kind of instruction they need to have academic success,' spokeswoman Mary Louise Bewley said. The school year would start for the 1,900 students in those schools on July 23. Students would have a shorter summer break than students at other schools but would have the same winter and spring breaks as other students."
School meeting minutes put online
Date CapturedSaturday March 17 2007, 10:22 AM
Observer-Dispatch (Utica) reports, "Nearly half of local school districts now post Board of Education meeting minutes online, and several other districts might be heading in that direction, according to an Observer-Dispatch survey. Districts who make minutes available online say it's an easy way to ensure the public has access to the information at any time. And the idea won praise from a state Committee on Open Government official, who said posting information might save district staff time processing Freedom of Information requests."
Local Administrator Honored for Outstanding Contributions to Education
Date CapturedSaturday March 17 2007, 10:12 AM
Ira Goldstein, managing coordinator for emerging technology with Capital Region BOCES, has been selected as the recipient for the Leadership and Support Award by the School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS).Goldstein will be recognized for his achievements at the SAANYS annual awards ceremony on May 11, 2007 at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Reynolds spotlights school safety programs
Date CapturedSaturday March 17 2007, 10:02 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Flanked by County Executive Maggie Brooks, Greece Supervisor John Auberger, Greece Central School District Superintendent Steve Achramovitch and other officials, Reynolds, R-Clarence, Erie County, outlined three federal initiatives in which schools may take part: The Safe School/Healthy Students initiative, a U.S. Department of Education program that provides school funding for violence and substance abuse prevention. The U.S. Justice Department's Weed and Seed program, which promotes collaboration with law enforcement, community service groups and schools to reduce community crime, weed out' criminals and 'seed' positive, proactive community groups throughout communities. The Department of Education's Emergency Response and Crisis Management Grant program, which provides money so schools can improve their emergency response plans. Reynolds also outlined the Gang Elimination Act of 2007, legislation he sponsored that is pending in the House and would require the U.S. attorney general to develop a national strategy to eliminate the illegal operations of international drug gangs in the United States."
FBI: Extremists Seek School Bus Work
Date CapturedSaturday March 17 2007, 9:52 AM
AP reports, "Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, ''Parents and children have nothing to fear.'''
Spitzer plan sacrifices LI schools
Date CapturedFriday March 16 2007, 10:21 AM
Newsday Op-Ed contributor Dean G. Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), New York State Senate deputy majority leader writes, "The Senate Republican plan helps every homeowner and offers significantly greater relief than the governor's proposal. Under Spitzer's scheme, homeowners with household incomes below $80,000 would receive an additional tax exemption equaling 50 percent of their current STAR savings this year, with the savings declining as household income rises. This year, our plan provides every homeowner with a check for approximately 90 percent of the STAR benefit, regardless of household income. The Senate Republican plan also promotes school budget accountability. The governor's proposal would distribute these property-tax relief funds to the school districts, which, in turn, are expected to pass these savings to taxpayers. By providing this benefit directly to homeowners, the Senate Republican plan enables property-tax payers to distinguish between actual school district spending and property-tax relief."
But State Senate must not lose sight of Albany's looming future deficits
Date CapturedFriday March 16 2007, 10:09 AM
Newsday opines, "Based on a study by the Long Island Association and the Long Island Education Coalition, the senators criticize Spitzer's plan to maintain the region's share of new school money by substituting greater tax relief for smaller education-aid increases. Even if the total of tax relief and school aid should equal the Island's traditional share overall, they point out, the tax relief goes directly to homeowners. It doesn't help school districts pay their bills. The Senate is also right to worry that, while some poor districts here will get the double-digit increases they need, most districts will see only 3 percent - well below the state average and local cost increases. Clearly, Long Island needs more than Spitzer proposed, even if this generally wealthy region can't expect as much extra as others."
Maryland Moves To Tie Teens' Truancy to Licenses
Date CapturedFriday March 16 2007, 8:57 AM
Washington Post reports, "Maryland lawmakers issued a tough warning to teenagers yesterday: no school, no car keys. The House of Delegates approved a bill that would deny driver's licenses to students with 10 or more unexcused absences in the previous calendar year. A similar measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee late yesterday, and it appears to have wide support in the full chamber."
GOP Bills Would Relax Test Requirements of 'No Child' Law
Date CapturedFriday March 16 2007, 8:51 AM
Washington Post reports, "White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said that Bush supports giving states and school systems more flexibility but that the bills introduced yesterday would go too far. 'We can't return to the time where there were no consequences for failing to educate children and accountability for federal education funding,' Stanzel said."
School finance reform plan gains support
Date CapturedFriday March 16 2007, 8:41 AM
Post-Standard reports, "[Assemblyman] Magnarelli also said the [Statewide School Finance] consortium's formula is fair and would drive more money into poor urban and rural districts. The consortium developed the formula a decade ago and has been advocating for it ever since. The organization, based in East Syracuse, has almost 300 members, including school districts throughout Onondaga, Cayuga, Madison and Oswego counties, Timbs said. Its formula would establish a per-pupil foundation aid, adjust it for regional cost differences, provide extra aid for high-need students who cost more to educate and include a "save harmless" provision so that no district would lose basic aid. Statewide, about 200 of the 700 or so districts would see no increase and the rest would see their aid go up, said Larry Cummings, executive director of the Central New York School Boards Association, which founded and coordinates the consortium. Most Central New York districts would see increases."
More learning takes more time
Date CapturedFriday March 16 2007, 8:27 AM
Times Herald-Record opines, "We should embrace the extra cost of a longer day and year if it returns a dividend. We should not avoid the investment for fear that it would be lost in poorly run schools. Therefore, we should make sure that the schools are managed better and invest accordingly."
Roosevelt schools will remain under state review
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 10:32 PM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "State education officials Thursday announced that they had rejected a request by Roosevelt school superintendent Ronald Ross to remove the district's high school from the "Schools Under Registration Review" list -- a designation reserved for the lowest-performing schools in the state. At the same time, the state added Wyandanch Memorial High School to the list, while removing Hempstead High School, where student achievement has improved in recent years."
Latinos Online: Hispanics with lower levels of education and English proficiency remain largely disconnected from the internet
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 6:28 PM
By Susannah Fox, Pew Internet & American Life Project and Gretchen Livingston, Pew Hispanic Center find, "Differences in levels of education and English proficiency explain much of the difference in internet usage between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Internet use is uniformly low for whites (32%), Hispanics (31%), and African Americans (25%) who have not completed high school. However, 41% of Latino adults have not finished high school, compared with about one in ten non-Hispanic whites and one in five African Americans. The same pattern is evident at the other end of the spectrum of educational attainment. College-educated adults all have equally high levels (about 90%) of internet use regardless of race or ethnicity, yet the college educated make up a smaller share of the Latino population when compared with non-Hispanics. Language is also a powerful factor, as internet use is much higher among Latinos who speak and read English fluently than among those who have limited English abilities or who only speak Spanish. Language is not an issue in the white and black populations as the shares of adults with limited English abilities is quite small. A statistical analysis of the survey results shows education and language are each highly significant factors when other differences in group characteristics are taken into account. When the different levels of language or education are controlled statistically, Hispanics and non-Hispanics show similar levels of internet use."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 6:00 PM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, March 15, 2007, Volume 7, Number 11
Utica schools cited for 129 fire code violations
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 9:18 AM
Observer Dispatch reports, "However, [Utica School District Superintendent] Skermont emphasized that several of the violations were due to new regulations and many of the hazards can easily be corrected. While Skermont stressed the violations were being taken seriously, she pointed out Education Department did not decide to close any schools due to the violations."
State Implementation of Supplemental Educational Services under the No Child Left Behind Act
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 8:48 AM
This CEP report was written by Angela Minnici, CEP senior research associate, and Alice P. Bartley, CEP research intern."Key Findings: Limited capacity to monitor -- Many states (38) are unable to monitor 'to a great extent' the quality and effectiveness of SES providers; only 10 states reported being able to do so. The greatest capacity challenges for states in meeting this federal SES monitoring requirement are insufficient numbers of staff and inadequate federal funding. Use of criteria in law -- Almost all (between 47 and 49) of the state education agencies we surveyed reported using the criteria required by NCLB law and federal guidance to review and approve applications from potential supplemental service providers. These criteria are intended to ensure that providers are financially sound, have a record of effectiveness, use research-based strategies, provide services consistent with district instruction, and adhere to health, safety, and civil rights laws. w Frequent updating. NCLB requires states to promote maximum participation of SES providers so that parents have as many choices as possible. Therefore, it is important for states to provide parents and school districts with a current and accurate list of SES providers that they can choose from. On our survey, 20 states said they review new SES provider applications more often than once a year (the minimum required by the NCLB law), and 22 states reported updating their SES provider lists more than once a year. Different reapplication policies -- The reapplication process varies widely by state. In 13 states, SES providers never have to formally reapply, and in 12 states, SES providers have to reapply every year." Nancy Kober, a CEP consultant, edited the report. Jack Jennings, CEP’s president and CEO, and Diane Stark Rentner, CEP’s director of national programs, provided advice and assistance.
States Lax in Overseeing NCLB Tutoring
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 8:37 AM
U.S.News & World Report Elizabeth Weiss Green reports, "Each SES provider uses the money differently, setting the hours it will serve each student according to the fees it will charge the district. So while one company might charge under $20 per student and provide 80 hours of service, another will charge nearly $80 and provide 21 hours. The Chicago study found that expensive and inexpensive tutoring companies generated about the same gains. Private companies draw different conclusions, boasting widespread satisfaction and report cards lifted whole letter grades higher. Education Station, a major private provider, says its pre- and post-tests show that just 30 hours of instruction during the 2003–2004 school year produced gains of 28 percent improvement in math and 13 percent in reading. But the law calls on states, not school districts and companies, to monitor the programs' effectiveness, and the state administrators charged with that task say they are ill-equipped to fulfill it. Few, if any, have conducted studies on the programs' performance effects, and few are likely to be able to do so in the future, the CEP study found. Reasons cited by school districts include insufficient staff and inadequate federal funding."
New Jersey Gov. Corzine visit draws protest over school-funding formula
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 8:31 AM
Asbury Park Press reports, "The parents held signs urging the state to reform its education funding policies, including eliminating the Abbott school district designation, which provides extra state aid to poor districts. Freehold is not an Abbott district and has been getting flat funding for years as have other districts throughout the state. Parents at the demonstration said the inequitable funding must stop and that their district desperately needs money."
Focus on school district access; Watchdog group reaches out to educate public on right to know
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 8:11 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "A fledgling education watchdog group has announced an outreach program to improve accountability in the Rochester School District. According to the Rochester Fund for Educational Accountability, its mission is to educate parents and taxpayers on their right to public information."
State owes $138M in refunds to schools
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 8:04 AM
Times Union reports, "After waiting in some cases as long as seven years, a chorus of school superintendents and BOCES officials on Wednesday demanded the state fork over more than $138 million it owes school districts throughout New York. Districts in the Capital Region are owed $11.7 million. The Education Department and state Division of the Budget appeared to point the blame at each other."
Walcott's cardinal sin
Date CapturedThursday March 15 2007, 7:54 AM
NY Daily News opines on school choice, "Rather than applauding the proven success of city Catholic schools, pointing out that the mayor is a huge proponent of school choice and perhaps alerting Egan that the city's graduation rate has risen to 58%, Walcott fell back on the canards of apologists for the status quo. Those boil down to arguing that Catholic schools aren't necessarily better schools, they just have better students. Which is fried and reheated baloney. Want proof? A study out of the University of Chicago found that inner-city blacks who attended Catholic schools are 248% more likely to graduate from college than those who went to public schools. That's proof."
California Education Reform Under Spotlight
Date CapturedWednesday March 14 2007, 3:46 PM
AP reports, "Overhauling California's schools will require tougher teacher standards and lots of money -- as much as a mind-boggling $1.5 trillion per year, according to studies being released Wednesday. The reports are intended to kick start a discussion of major reforms to the nation's largest public education system, but make no concrete recommendations."
CALIFORNIA -- Study calls for more targeted school funding
Date CapturedWednesday March 14 2007, 11:25 AM
San Francisco Chronicle reports, "A soon-to-be-released study of California's public education system says the state will have to stop pouring money blindly into schools -- and spend far more money specifically on kids with the highest needs -- if it wants every student to succeed."
VOTE HERE -- Should there be a tax break for Catholic and private school parents?
Date CapturedWednesday March 14 2007, 9:11 AM
NY1 POLL: Should there be a tax break for Catholic and private school parents? VOTE HERE!
'No Child' education act under review
Date CapturedWednesday March 14 2007, 8:58 AM
Washington Times reports, "Mr. Hoekstra and other Republicans plan to introduce a bill later this week that would free states and schools from some of the law's federal regulations. And the House Education and Labor Committee's top Republican, Howard P. 'Buck' McKeon of California, introduced a bill yesterday that would give parents money to place their child in a private school, if their public school is given a failing grade for five consecutive years. Mr. McKeon conceded it probably won't go anywhere because of strong opposition from Democrats and groups such as the NEA, but said he still intends to fight for it -- arguing that it is critical to improving education."
Egan's Eliot edict
Date CapturedWednesday March 14 2007, 8:29 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Despite Egan's support, Spitzer's tax credit plan is opposed by Assembly Democrats, who get campaign donations from teachers unions. The New York State United Teachers launched a $125,000 advertising campaign against the tax credits, saying the state must instead make public schools the priority. A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the Assembly will reject Spitzer's tax credit plan because 'we thought that all families with children deserve a break,' not just those who can afford to send their kids to tuition-charging schools. Silver wants to allow more families to benefit from the Empire State Child Tax Credit - a $330 annual tax credit for parents with children ages 4 to 17. Under Silver's plan, the credit would be expanded to parents with kids younger than 4. 'More children would be covered,' said Silver spokesman Charles Carrier. 'Our budget responds to the needs of all young families with children, which we think is important.'"
Putting schools in play
Date CapturedWednesday March 14 2007, 8:12 AM
NY Daily News Michael Goodwin writes, "While conceding he wasn't satisfied, [Chancellor] Klein said there was real progress in test scores and graduation rates, which he put at 58%, including students who get GEDs. The state puts the stripped-down figure at about 43%. The problem now, Klein said, is 'the enormous push back from the status quo people.' He cited teachers union opposition to more charter schools. Saying some had proven their worth in poor neighborhoods, he added, 'How could anyone in good conscience block them?'"
CARDINAL HITS TEACHERS FOR BLOCKING SCHOOL REBATE
Date CapturedWednesday March 14 2007, 7:47 AM
NY Post KENNETH LOVETT reports on the teachers union efforts to prevent a $1,000 tax deduction for families with children attending parochial schools , "'There's a good deal of power that doesn't want the people of this state to hear the truth,' Egan said during the state's Catholic Conference annual lobby day. 'Who's afraid of competition, who's afraid of comparison?' Egan asked. When asked to whom he was referring, Egan bluntly said, 'The teacher unions,' who he also accused of killing a private and parochial school tax credit proposed by then-Gov. George Pataki last year."
After-school programs seen at risk; Education Department only has $3 million for such activities, which proponents say cost $30 million
Date CapturedWednesday March 14 2007, 7:32 AM
Times Union reports, "Proponents like Scharff [executive director of Citizen Action and chairwoman of the Coalition for After School Funding] say they were notified earlier this year that the latest round of multiyear grants that pay for the programs wouldn't be renewed. The Education Department in January announced it wouldn't be taking bids for program funding until 2008, essentially meaning there is no money during the next school year."
Cardinal Egan calls Spitzer tuition aid just `a beginning'
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 7:03 PM
AP MICHAEL GORMLEY reports, "[Cardinal Egan] He said families that send children to private schools save taxpayers $7.5 billion a year because they reduce enrollment at public schools. He also said that while the state's four-year graduation rate for public high schools is 64 percent (44 percent in New York City), Catholic high schools in New York City have a "virtually 100 percent" graduation rate. He also said 98 percent of graduates in high-poverty, inner city Catholic high schools go to college. Egan singled out the public school teacher unions as the most powerful opponent of the measure."
SENATE BUDGET INCREASES SCHOOL AID BY $514 Million
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 6:55 PM
PRESS RELEASE: Senate Plan Ensures Fair School Aid Distribution; Greater Property Tax Relief; Increased Higher Education Assistance.
Budget dance gets dirty as Spitzer, Senate face off
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 6:35 PM
AP MICHAEL GORMLEY reports, "_The Senate's Republican majority would add more than $1 billion to Spitzer's budget. It would include restoring most of Spitzer's funding cuts to hospitals and nursing homes for a total addition of $544 million in health spending. They would also add $338 million to school spending. The proposal also would provide greater property tax relief than Spitzer's plan and include more than $1 billion for the rebate checks to taxpayers. The GOP senators don't include the rebate checks in their budget total, accounting for the difference between their total and the one Spitzer cites. "
Prepared Opening Statement for U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Before the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 9:57 AM
EXCERPT: Our budget provides 500 million dollars for school improvement such as hiring more teachers or if necessary, reinventing the school as a charter school. We've also included nearly 200 million dollars to attract our most effective teachers to work in high-need schools and reward them for results—an approach that's been shown to help students and schools improve. In addition, we offer immediate choices and options for families, including 250 million dollars in Promise Scholarships and 50 million dollars in Opportunity Scholarships for those who want to transfer to better-performing public or private schools, or receive free intensive tutoring.
Education: Voucher skirmish seeps into schools
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 8:53 AM
The Salt Lake Tribune reports, "School voucher supporters are questioning when and if Utahns determined to put the voucher question before voters can legally gather petition signatures at public schools. But voucher critics, who include many education and PTA officials, say they are operating within the law, and defend their petitioning of supporters during recent parent-teacher conferences. 'We legally can collect signatures at schools because we don't work for the schools,' said Utah PTA President Carmen Snow, whose group is among those behind the push to get the voucher question on a ballot. They have until early next month to get 92,000 signatures to qualify for a referendum that would put vouchers up for a vote on a date to be decided by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr."
ACLU weighs lawsuit against Palm Beach County schools over graduation rate
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 8:45 AM
Sun Sentinel reports, "If the ACLU files a lawsuit, the district could be a test case for the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which holds school systems accountable for graduation rates. The ACLU claims the Palm Beach County graduation rate is 46.6 percent, based on figures from the nonpartisan Urban Institute, while the district uses a state calculation of 69.3 percent."
NCES Website on State Education Reforms
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 8:09 AM
This site, which draws primarily on data collected by organizations other than NCES, compiles and disseminates data on state-level education reform efforts in four areas: Standards, Assessment, and Accountability; School Finance Reforms; Resources for Learning and State Support for School Choice Options.
Mount Saint Mary College makes math, science stand out with new $25M addition to campus
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 7:40 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "The nation's shortage of nurses, and math and science teachers is approaching crisis mode. And Mount Saint Mary College has a plan. The answer: a new facility, costing $25 million, that will cover 30,000 square feet and accommodate the school's 2,600 students. 'The Math, Science & Technology Center will serve the entire student body through math, science and information technology requirements in the core curriculum,' said Bryan M. Maloney, the vice president for college advancement. 'It will especially serve nursing, education and science majors in intermediate and advanced courses with labs associated with them.'"
$7B education increase must come with tough standards
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 7:34 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "Before the budget passes, the Legislature needs to review the plan to ensure that with this significant increase in funding comes meaningful measures to guarantee money is being used in the best way possible. Otherwise, all it will be is an expensive Band-Aid."
Process for firing teachers is sought
Date CapturedTuesday March 13 2007, 7:23 AM
AP MICHAEL GORMLEY reports, "Before a teacher is fired for incompetence or misconduct such as having sex with a student, local taxpayers will pay on average nearly $129,000 to prove it, including $60,160 to the accused. The state School Boards Association said on Monday that's too much in tax dollars and in damage done to kids with a bad teacher -- even though cases involve just hundreds from among 229,000 public school teachers statewide."
School Boards Seek Teacher Discipline Reforms
Date CapturedMonday March 12 2007, 2:58 PM
NYSSBA at a news conference proposed five reforms to the process aimed at reducing children’s exposure to individuals whose behavior makes them unsuitable for teaching or who simply are incompetent teachers. “These reforms still protect the rights of the accused but expedite the process for reaching a just resolution,” said Timothy G. Kremer, NYSSBA executive director. Changes to the part of the Education Law that governs discipline of tenured professionals, Section 3020-a, were last enacted in 1994.
ACCOUNTABILITY for ALL
Date CapturedMonday March 12 2007, 2:41 PM
5 Ways to Reform the Teacher Discipline Process, New York State School Boards Association (2007).
PRE-K COMPETITION GETS IN-TENTS
Date CapturedMonday March 12 2007, 7:58 AM
NY Post reports, "A group of Brooklyn parents camped out overnight in an elementary-school playground to snag places for their kids in a pre-K program. 'It's the Board of Ed that's causing this,' said angry mom Amy Giagrande, who was the first in line at PS 236 in Mill Basin. 'We pay enough in taxes. They need to spend it for our children.'"
Manhattan: Shortage of High School Seats
Date CapturedMonday March 12 2007, 7:39 AM
NY Times SEWELL CHAN reports, "The New York City Department of Education hopes to improve the high school graduation rate, but has not planned for enough seats to meet that goal, according to a report released yesterday by the city’s public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum."
Audit faults Buffalo school contracts
Date CapturedMonday March 12 2007, 7:26 AM
AP reports, "A state audit criticizes Buffalo Public Schools for spending 6-point-3 (m) million dollars for school reform and technology initiatives without contracts detailing the work that was supposed to be done or the ability to make sure the district was getting what it paid for. The 41-page report urges district officials to recover any money spent on services that were not provided while questioning oversight and management."
SILVER'S NEXT STRIKE, CHALLENGES GOV ON CHARTERS
Date CapturedMonday March 12 2007, 7:21 AM
NY Post Op-Ed contributor THOMAS W. CARROLL, president of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability writes, "Given the scale of educational failure in New York State - more than a half million students in failing schools - the speaker's unseemly effort to kill off charter schools speaks volumes about how far Gov. Spitzer still has to go before he truly changes the culture of Albany."
Funding school reforms may tax California governor
Date CapturedMonday March 12 2007, 6:56 AM
LA Times reports, "There'll be suggestions that more funds be spent on poor-performing and low-wealth schools. That financial incentives be available to recruit teachers for hard-to-fill positions, such as science instructor. That principals be given more free rein to fire bad teachers and pay the best ones better. That the maze of categorical programs be blown up and restructured. That the whole school system be more open to scrutiny — more transparent — and thus more accountable to the public. 'It will encourage all of us to think about education reform in a holistic way,' says Ted Mitchell, former president of Occidental College and currently chairman of the Governor's Committee on Education Excellence, one of the project's requesters."
LI eyes more school aid
Date CapturedSunday March 11 2007, 10:35 PM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "Nearly three-quarters of Long Island homeowners would get tax breaks under Gov. Eliot Spitzer's school-finance proposals, while wealthier residents and businesses would see rates go up, according to a new report from regional business and education groups. To further ease the Island's tax burden, report sponsors urge the governor to bring Long Island's share of state school aid, currently 12.5 percent, closer to its share of enrollment, now 16.8 percent."
Legislation would breathe new life into South Carolina's aging school bus fleet
Date CapturedSunday March 11 2007, 5:08 PM
AP reports, "For the second time in two years, a bill introduced in the Legislature would require the state Department of Education to create a system to replace South Carolina's aging school bus fleet. The buses that transport the state's public school children are among the oldest - and least safe - in the country, according to a study by The (Charleston) Post and Courier. Most of the buses lack safety features like antilock brakes and alarms that signal when the bus backs up, the paper reported. More than 2,000 buses also were without roof and window exits."
Las Vegas-area schools offer cash to students who test
Date CapturedSunday March 11 2007, 4:46 PM
AP reports, "Some Las Vegas-area high schools will be offering incentives, including cash awards, to students who show up for required standardized tests, school officials said. 'Money seems to motivate them,' Randi Friedman-Macosko, assistant principal of Basic High School, told the Las Vegas Sun in Saturday editions. Basic will have drawings for $10 bills for students who take the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam later this month."
Texas School District Asks Teachers to Return Pay
Date CapturedSunday March 11 2007, 7:59 AM
AP reports, "The school district that runs the nation’s largest merit pay program gave oversized bonuses to about 100 teachers and is now asking them to return the money. A total of about $75,000 was overpaid because a computer program mistakenly calculated the bonuses of part-time workers as if they were full-time employees, the Houston Independent School District said."
Schools rely on lottery money
Date CapturedSunday March 11 2007, 7:54 AM
Post-Standard reports, "While lottery aid to schools increased from $1.3 billion in 1999 to $2.2 billion in 2005, the percentage of aid compared to lottery revenues has decreased from 38 percent in 1999 to 32 percent in 2005, according to lottery figures."
Judge warns of child-abusing homeschoolers
Date CapturedSunday March 11 2007, 7:29 AM
Lil Ole Lady reports, "A Superior Court judge in New Jersey says homeschooling is just about the same as deliberate child abuse. In fact, he says, he just might name a school district in his state as a defendant in a current court dispute, citing the district’s 'shocking' failure to monitor and test all students – including homeschoolers."
Long View HS truancy cases piling up
Date CapturedSunday March 11 2007, 7:22 AM
The News-Journal (Texas) reports, "According to state law, a student is truant upon having 10 unexcused absences in a school year. Absences are considered excused when they are due of health reasons or school-related activities, according to Jennifer Scott, LISD assistant superintendent. Each unexcused absence equals about $12 in lost state funds to the school district, Scott said. Truancy cases thus far have amounted to more than $70,000 lost by the district, which has a total budget of more than $50 million."
Where have the students gone?
Date CapturedSaturday March 10 2007, 10:04 AM
The State Journal-Register (Illinois) reports, "The dwindling high school population isn't just a problem this year. From 2003 to 2006, Lanphier High School lost so many black students in one class that the federal No Child Left Behind Act didn't count the 42 remaining students as a subgroup in the recently released scores for last year's state tests. The NCLB measures the academic performance of subgroups, such as minorities, students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals and students who receive special-education services. But to be measured, a subgroup must take in at least 45 students. The disappearance of Lanphier's subgroup of black students led Springfield School Board member Judy Johnson to ask, 'Where are all the black students at Lanphier?' during a school board discussion Tuesday night."
School Safety in Urban Charter and Traditional Public Schools
Date CapturedSaturday March 10 2007, 8:49 AM
Jon Christensen authored this working paper. Christensen writes, "Charter schools covered by the survey served similar proportions of elementary versus older students, had higher proportions of minority students, slightly higher proportions of students qualifying for free/reduced-price lunch, and tended to be considerably smaller, serving an average of 560 students compared to 900 in traditional public schools. However, it is not possible to say from this analysis whether differences in safety are due to school size, the students enrolled, teacher and family attitudes, or some other factors."
University of Washington’s National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP)
Date CapturedSaturday March 10 2007, 8:39 AM
The March Is Not Over
Date CapturedSaturday March 10 2007, 8:29 AM
WSJ contributor VIRGINIA WALDEN-FORD, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice writes, "The journey for more than 2,200 children, parents and families who have received school vouchers is just beginning. But like the previous generation of civil-rights leaders, we have not achieved our goals. Under current law, the D.C. opportunity scholarship program is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2008, which is the middle of school year 2008-2009. Democratic activists and politicians have promised to kill this program and, ultimately, our hopes and opportunities. Black families have overcome educational segregation before. With the help of Republicans in 1957 and 2003, we broke through the doors. Will the Democrats who now control Congress end our journey by sending us back to failing schools?"
Texas dropout rate makes the case for school choice
Date CapturedSaturday March 10 2007, 8:22 AM
Chron.com contributor KEN HOAGLAND, communications director for Texans for School Choice writes, "Everywhere in the nation (and around the world) where school choice exists, public schools rapidly improve. In San Antonio, where a privately funded, $50 million, 10-year program has operated, school choice has helped drive down the public school dropout rate by 25 percent and saw nine-of-10 low-income, school-choice grads (often the first in their families to ever graduate high school) go onto college. School choice helps all, because the effect of parental judgment is positive and the effect of competition is healthy."
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Date CapturedSaturday March 10 2007, 8:10 AM
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York
Date CapturedSaturday March 10 2007, 8:00 AM
Established in 1999, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York is a statewide, bi-partisan, non-profit anti-crime organization of more than 300 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors. We are part of the more than 3,000 member national organization, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Saving kids
Date CapturedSaturday March 10 2007, 7:54 AM
Times Union opines, "Fight Crime: Invest in Kids has found four approaches to early intervention that work well. One is a nurse-family partnership that provides in-home parent coaching. The goal is to begin during pregnancy and continue until the child's second birthday. A study involving mothers who signed up for a partnership program had 61 percent fewer arrests than those who did not participate. There were 59 percent fewer arrests of children whose parents were enrolled in the program, compared with kids whose parents did not participate. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids' other goals include universal access to pre-kindergarten; access to after school youth development activities, and early intervention with troubled teens."
Inside Public Education 2007
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 10:56 AM
Inside Public Education reports the results of a survey conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion and funded by the Dyson Foundation. Residents of Dutchess and Ulster Counties in New York were interviewed about the public schools in their communities. They shared their opinions, experiences, and insights about what they consider to be the best and the worst of public education in the school district where they live.
Victory for School Choice! Arizona Court Dismisses Challenge to Corporate Tax Credit Program
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 9:43 AM
Phoenix—Just two days after hearing oral arguments, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge today threw out a legal challenge to Arizona’s new corporate tax credit program. The Institute for Justice and its Arizona Chapter defended the program on behalf of families of modest means who are eligible for private school scholarships thanks to the program.
ANTIOCH: STUDENTS CITED, TAKEN TO SCHOOL IN TRUANCY SWEEP
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 8:47 AM
cbs reports, "According to police, statistical data has shown that high rates of truancy are directly linked to daytime criminal behavior and that truant students are more prone to drop out of school."
California parents pay for pulling kids
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 8:33 AM
AP reports, "Frustrated by children missing class for long weekend ski trips and jaunts to Disneyland, the local school district is trying a novel approach to persuade parents to keep them in school. It's sending them bills – $36.13 per day."
E-mails, Web sites provide parents easier access to district information
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 8:18 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Shortly after he became superintendent of the Webutuck School District, Richard Johns started sending out e-mails called the 'Key Communicator.' Gian Stagnaro relies on the periodic messages from the district to keep him apprised of issues and events."
School voters want accountability, poll finds
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 8:10 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "School district voters in Ulster and Dutchess counties want more accountability from public school officials, and a majority of voters believe public schools should be funded by income taxes, not property taxes."
Marist poll finds little support for school property taxes
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 7:18 AM
Times Herald reports, "Other highlights of the findings, which were released today: 59 percent of Ulster residents rate local education as good or excellent, compared with 72 percent in Dutchess. 20 percent overall found the best thing about their district is the teachers. 12 percent find the size of schools the worst thing about their local system. One in 10 mentioned taxes. Only 41 percent think school districts negotiate contracts well. 55 percent believe their district is controlled by a small group of people with their own agenda. Many of those polled want more money for science labs, computers, the arts and libraries. Voters supported a school budget because they thought it was fiscally sound. Voters opposed a school budget because they thought it was wasteful and irresponsible. 54 percent of voters do not think increased funding means better schools; 46 percent think it does. 61 percent think any funding alternatives should not include vouchers for private or parochial schools."
School safety gets a tuneup
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 7:15 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "At its most basic, effective emergency response requires organization, effective direct communication by a trained school administrator, and a coordinated effort by police and in-school security personnel. In most cases, it's up to each school principal to set and enact policies on the use of police officers in schools. But, because some high school buildings — including Franklin and Edison — have been split into three or four schools, each with a principal, school officials could be unclear about the chain of command during emergencies unless they make plans ahead of time."
Caution urged on school makeover; Parents and community groups raise questions and seek input on Albany reorganization
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 7:09 AM
Times Union reports, "Sherita Traywick, a mentor to several students, told city school district officials earlier this week that the massive reorganization planned for the middle schools and Albany High is missing crucial input from parents and other community members. 'In order for this plan to work, you need us,' she told the school board and other officials, her voice rising. 'What you need to do is halt this plan and have a town hall meeting where community members can ask their questions."
Expert flunks school testing
Date CapturedFriday March 09 2007, 7:03 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "[Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability president] Carroll said New York needs to: Measure students' gains over a period of time, rather than just use a 'snapshot approach' of comparing students in a single grade each year. Use letter grades or a 0-100 grading system, rather than sorting performance into four levels, so the public can better understand results. Label school performance more accurately. Currently, a school with kindergarten through grade 8 with poor performance in just one or two areas will get the same classification — in need of improvement — as a school that fails in a multitude of areas. That 'simply makes no sense and substantially undermines the overall system's credibility,' Carroll said. Remove conflicts of interest by prohibiting teachers, schools and districts from scoring their own exams. Ensure that exam results are reported sooner. The state Education Department reported results of math and English/language arts exams last fall from the previous school year. The agency has promised to release this year's scores before the school year ends. Provide financial incentives for districts that do well, in addition to having serious consequences for those that do not. The recommendations are in a report the foundation is releasing this week."
The Education Gadfly
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 6:47 PM
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; March 8, 2007, Volume 7, Number 10
Why We Fight: How Public Schools Cause Social Conflict
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 2:48 PM
Neal McCluskey, policy analyst at the Center for Educational Freedom writes, "This paper reexamines the accepted story about public schooling’s role in creating unity and upholding democracy. First, it documents outbreaks over the past academic year of the most divisive kinds of public school conflicts— those pitting people’s deeply held values against each other—and makes clear that such combat is inevitable when everyone is required to pay for an official school system that only the most politically powerful control. Next, it examines the historical record of American education and finds that conflict and division have long been part of public schooling. Finally, the report identifies the true foundations of the nation’s unity and success, and explains why the only system of education that can effectively support a free society is one that is itself grounded in freedom."
Congressman to Introduce No Child Left Behind Alternative
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 2:39 PM
CNSNews.com news reports, "Under [Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)] his proposal to be introduced next week, the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act of 2007, states would no longer be required to follow regulations tied to federal funding, and it would allow them to 'assume full responsibility for the educational needs of its students.' But Andrew Rotherham, co-director of the education think tank Education Sector and a member of the Virginia State Board of Education, said, 'The reason we're in the jam we're in is in no small part because of the states.' Rotherham said the federal government has had to intervene to improve equity in America's school systems as well as the quality of education."
NCLB School Reform Deserves Renewal, and It's Not Enough
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 11:23 AM
Mort Kondracke, Executive Editor of Roll Call writes, "The state with the best academic achievement records of all -- Massachusetts -- could boast only that about half of its students scored proficiently on the National Assessment of Education Progress. At the bottom was Washington, D.C., with proficiency ratings barely above 10 percent. The chamber hopes to equip its state affiliates and member businesses to confront state legislatures, local school boards and teachers unions to demand reform. It's a worthy purpose. And it could use some help from a presidential candidate who'll call for a grand trade -- professional level pay for teachers in return for professional accountability, pay-for-performance and an end to rigid union work rules. Also, equalization of funding between rich and poor school districts, a longer school day and a longer school year and more investment in early childhood education. Republicans resist spending more. Democrats chronically do the bidding of the teachers unions. America's kids and the country's future need a president who'll break that rancid mold."
Pennsylvania calls for tougher tactics to tackle truancy
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 11:17 AM
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports, "From warning letters to parents to hauling kids before the local magistrate, school districts in Pennsylvania long have had ways to deal with students who habitually skip school. But state education officials now are asking school officials to dig a little deeper to get to the root of chronic truancy and devise a plan to fix the problem."
Breaking the Habit
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 11:12 AM
Washington Post opines on student attendance, "Children become truant for many reasons, from problems at home to performance trouble at school. The more tools the [Prince George's] county has to work with, the better the chance of something sticking."
Bilingual school embraces both its languages
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 10:44 AM
Post-Standard reports, "Seymour needs to prove itself with the state Education Department. In January 2006, the state put Seymour 'under registration review' because its scores were too low on the state fourth-grade English language arts test. The dual-language program should help those scores, and the state has agreed to the expansion of Seymour's program, Perkins said. The benefits of the dual-language program go beyond academics, Perkins said. 'We're seeing our students being able to integrate together, no separation of our racial or ethnic groups,' she said. Lowengard envisions the Seymour program to be a model."
Failure is not an option; State cannot throw in its fiscal towel and leave Roosevelt schools in lurch
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 10:36 AM
Newsday opines, "There's plenty of blame to go around, but the buck stops with the State Education Department and Commissioner Richard Mills. The state stepped in to run the district because the local school board and officials were doing such a poor job, both in terms of educating children and in running the district efficiently. If the state can't run the district, then nobody can. And that is unacceptable."
Elmira Schools chief rejects uniforms
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 10:30 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "Superintendent Raymond Bryant put the school uniform issue to rest Wednesday night, recommending that the Elmira City School District instead focus on strengthening its dress code. Bryant told the school board his decision to change direction was based on statements made by parents and students at last week's public hearing and by the results of the district's telephone survey of residents over the past several days. Uniforms had been a hot topic since the board took up the issue last spring."
All must see to it that schools succeed
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 9:58 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Guest Essayist Stephen Uebbing, professor in the University of Rochester's Warner School of Education writes, "Schools are reflections of the society they serve, and thus, real accountability must include the social systems surrounding the schoolhouse. Schools must embrace deep parent and community involvement if they hope to realize true reform, especially in high need areas. Fundamental systemic changes, such as the Rochester Children's Zone, offer real promise. In the end, society deserves accountability for its investment, and if the superintendent has to serve as the vanguard for such accountability, so be it. But let's also recognize that we are all accountable for our public schools, and only when we make the entire system accountable do we achieve 'true' reform."
Yates principal gets UAlbany award
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 9:51 AM
Times Union reports, "Valarie Scott, principal of Yates Arts-in-Education Magnet School, will be the 2007 recipient of the Bertha Brimmer Medal. The award, which was established in 1934, is given annually by the University at Albany to an alumnus for excellence in teaching and dedication to the profession."
Crowd fumes as chancellor bolts from forum; A PTA president calls the meeting 'a disgrace,' with only 90 minutes for audience remarks
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 9:44 AM
Staten Island Advance reports, "[New York City Schools Chancellor] Klein's appearance was part of a five-borough series addressing the next phase of Children First, a four-part agenda for school reform that will eliminate regional offices and institute a new student-based school funding formula, a more rigorous teacher tenure review, and greater school accountability measures."
Debunking a Special Education Myth
Date CapturedThursday March 08 2007, 8:38 AM
Jay P. Greene, professor of education reform, University of Arkansas, and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and Marcus A. Winters, senior research associate at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and doctoral fellow at the University of Arkansas write, " Can spiraling special education costs explain why educational achievement remained stagnant over the past three decades while real education spending more than doubled? Policy makers, education researchers, and school district officials often make this claim. Special education students—goes the argument—are draining resources away from regular education students."
New York City Schools Attendance Memo re: Law and Policy
Date CapturedWednesday March 07 2007, 1:21 PM
The New York City Department of Education is committed to the academic success and social development of all students. Our objective for the 2006 – 2007 school year is to ensure that all students are provided with the necessary intervention and supports that encourage regular school attendance. Regular attendance is critical to successful achievement in school. Conversely, poor attendance is one of the most significant indicators of potential risk. It is our goal to ensure that students are provided with every available resource to support and facilitate their successful completion of school. To this end, the accurate tracking of student attendance is fundamental to the implementation of effective educational services. The Department of Education has established a clearly defined system for recording, tracking and monitoring school attendance. This system is supported and implemented by a series of attendance guidelines and procedures set forth in Chancellor’s Regulations, State Education Laws, and descriptive memoranda distributed to school staff. This Memorandum provides information about attendance law and policy, attendance procedures for this school year, the implementation of attendance services, clearance of register procedures, revised procedures for addressing student absences, requirements for reporting educational neglect and child abuse, and discharge and transfer procedures including the process for conducting and tracking planning interviews on the ATS system. Additionally information about, “ILOG” the new student intervention screen on ATS, will be provided.
New York City Schools Truancy Letter
Date CapturedWednesday March 07 2007, 1:10 PM
As the 2006-2007 school year begins we would like to wish all of our students a successful and productive year. We would also like to take this opportunity to provide important information about our continuing truancy reduction effort, which begins on the end of September 2006. The truancy program, known as TRACK in Brooklyn and Staten Island and PACT in Queens and Manhattan, is a cooperative venture among the New York City District Attorneys’ Offices, the New York City Police Department, the New York City Department of Education and the Police Athletic League. The purpose of the program is to reduce truancy and to keep students safe and in school during regular school hours.
The Mexican American Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity in Mendez v. Westminster: Helping to Pave the Way for Brown v. Board of Education
Date CapturedWednesday March 07 2007, 11:46 AM
RICHARD R. VALENCIA, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the College of Education of the University of Texas at Austin writes, "Few people in the United States are aware of the central role that Mexican Americans have played in some of the most important legal struggles regarding school desegregation. The most significant such case is Mendez v. Westminster (1946), a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 5,000 Mexican American students in Orange County, California. The Mendez case became the first successful constitutional challenge to segregation. In fact, in Mendez the U.S. District Court judge ruled that the Mexican American students' rights were being violated under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Although the Mendez case was never appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, a number of legal scholars at that time hailed it as a case that could have accomplished what Brown eventually did eight years later: a reversal of the High Court's 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, which had sanctioned legal segregation for nearly 60 years." Teachers College Record Volume 107 Number 3, 2005, p. 389-423 http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 11792, Date Accessed: 3/7/2007 11:44:54 AM
Our View — Special ed needs more state funds
Date CapturedWednesday March 07 2007, 10:29 AM
Minnesota Mankato Free Press opines, "When the topic of special education funding surfaces, the fact the federal government severely underfunds special ed is a given. Although the federal government mandated special ed 30 years ago, it has never paid more than 17 percent of those costs even though it promised to pay 40 percent. School districts across the nation have decried that lack of funding for years on deaf ears. What fewer people probably know is that Minnesota mandated special ed services 20 years before the federal government did. And like the federal government, the state hasn’t fully supported its mandate."
Schools cut truancy by half
Date CapturedWednesday March 07 2007, 9:20 AM
Savannah Morning News reports, "In addition to showing up for the tests and performing well, a school's pass-fail rate can hinge on attendance, according to Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education. 'If students aren't in school, they probably are not keeping up with schoolwork and they are less likely to do well on curriculum exams,' Tofig said. 'Attendance can directly impact AYP, but it's also something school systems can focus on with a great deal of success.' Lockamy said he isn't just satisfied with simply ensuring students are in their desks each day. He wants to know why students stray from the classroom in the first place."
Rural Schools Affected By Battle over Bush Plan
Date CapturedWednesday March 07 2007, 8:53 AM
NPR reports, "All Things Considered, March 6, 2007 · Rural schools in California are facing a crisis because of a fight over President Bush's plan to sell $800 million worth of national forest. Many rural schools get a huge portion of their budget from the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which expired last year."
Charter schools a weakness in Spitzer's plan
Date CapturedWednesday March 07 2007, 8:32 AM
Times Union contributor Richard C. Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers opines, "The governor's proposal to expand the number of charter schools is inconsistent with the emphasis on accountability and reform that is central to his aid proposals."
SCHOOL SCI OF RELIEF; CITY WIDE LESSON PLAN
Date CapturedWednesday March 07 2007, 8:03 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports on new citywide science curriculum, "An expert applauded the plan, but cautioned that it won't cure all the city's ills. 'It's a good idea if it's well managed,' said New York University science education professor Pamela Fraser-Abder. 'What is even more critical than having an enforced curriculum is having elementary teachers trained to teach science.' 'Until we get to the stage where people really feel comfortable teaching science, regardless of what structures we put in place, it will not work as well as it could.'"
Roosevelt schools facing $12M deficit
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 7:54 PM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND reports, "The state's new comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, declared that the 2,800-student district is headed toward a fiscal crisis. The state [education department] took direct control of the troubled school system in 2002 -- the first and only time Albany has done this -- and state-appointed administrators have run the district ever since. 'Continuing on this path, the district will run out of cash and won't be able to pay its bills,' DiNapoli declared. 'These problems must be addressed now. It is essential that a realistic, long-term financial plan is developed to get the district on the right track.'"
Teachers union given `F' for truth in lobbying ads
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 7:47 PM
AP MICHAEL GORMLEY reports, "Spitzer also supports more charter schools _ because they are highly regulated and accountable public schools run by private enterprises. Charter schools must prove success every five years or be closed, which has happened to some already. Spitzer also proposes 'transition aid' to help traditional schools cope financially when they lose students to a charter school, taking their state aid with them. 'Some of the claims are misleading,' said Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson. Nonetheless, the administration will continue to work with NYSUT to advance Spitzer's budget proposal that also calls for a $1.4 billion increase in the fiscal year beginning April 1. 'I find it kind of astonishing, their lack of gratitude, the total piggyness that they want to have it all their own way,' said Tom Carroll of the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability, which supports charter schools."
Illinois Gov. Blagojevich to seek $1.5 billion increase in school funding
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 7:18 PM
AP reports, "The money would be boost basic spending for each student, funding for special-education teachers and the amount available for transportation and other special categories."
Wyoming seeks help on NCLB education law
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 10:42 AM
Star-Tribune reports, "The federal government should give Wyoming's department of education more money to help the state's school districts improve, be more flexible with rules about teacher certification, and judge school districts by whether students make personal progress, not by whether they meet arbitrary test scores, [state Superintendent of Public Instruction] McBride said in the letter and at a press conference Monday."
New York is useful model for school reform; Detroit could learn from switch to small, innovative high schools
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 10:25 AM
The Detroit News reports, "In New York City, for example, leaders replaced the lowest performing high schools with small schools. They allow for more personalized relationships between students and teachers, who can get to know their students' emotional, social and academic needs. Small specialty schools also use creative approaches to be both efficient and effective, such as team teaching and using trimesters. In the past, Detroit school system leaders have been unwilling to open themselves to such dramatic reforms and there have been no signals that they are now."
Fixing No Child Left Behind
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 8:11 AM
WSJ Review and Outlook, "President Bush's 2008 budget sets aside $250 million for 'promise scholarships' for low-income students in schools that have consistently underperformed for five years. The scholarships would average about $4,000 and "the money would follow the child to the public, charter or private school of his or her choice." Them's fightin' words for the Democrats who now control Congress. But Mr. Bush has the bully pulpit, as well as the moral authority from five years of evidence on failing schools. We hope his Administration uses them to explain why real school choice is essential to any reform in K-12 education."
Massachusetts Gov. Patrick wants to raise dropout age
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 8:02 AM
Massachusetts students should no longer be allowed to drop out of school at 16, Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday, endorsing a plan to raise the mandatory school attendance age to 18. Patrick, speaking at a summit in Worcester on high school graduation rates, said he would embrace legislation adopted in at least 15 other states and the District of Columbia that will force teenagers to stay in school longer. Other states -- including New Hampshire, New Mexico, Arizona, and South Dakota -- are also considering raising the age to 18, according to the Education Commission of the States.
Council Assails Mayor’s Plan to Give Principals More Autonomy
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 7:53 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, "At yesterday’s Council hearing, the Education Committee chairman, Councilman Robert Jackson, invoked the bus problems as part of his criticism of the department’s overall performance and as a reason for slowing down any additional widening of principals’ autonomy. 'I’m not confident in the D.O.E.’s ability to make such large-scale reform,' Mr. Jackson said. 'All we have to do is look back a month ago to the school bus fiasco.'”
Students who attend smaller schools usually do better
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 7:38 AM
Times Herald-Record contributor Stuart Wirth, TTA president and a math teacher at George F. Baker High School writes, "I am a math teacher at George F. Baker High School. I and my colleagues have devoted our professional careers to educating the children of our communities. Since I have spoken to the Greenwood Lake Board of Education at its last meeting, I have come across many articles about the advantages of attending a small school. One article in particular grabbed my attention, and I would like to share some of it with you."
Big brother is looming; $80M computer to track kids and educators in detail
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 7:18 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "The system will combine existing data on kids - from a child's gender and race to whether he or she needs special education services to the name of his or her third-grade teacher - with new data to be generated from annual state exams and interim tests given to kids every four to six weeks. The interim tests measure whether kids havemastered specific skills, such as multiplying fractions or distinguishing fact from opinion, at different times of the year. Teachers will be able to see an entire classroom of results at once. Principals will be able to see an entire school. Parents eventually will have access to their own kids' data plus summary facts about their child's school, the results of parent, student and teacher surveys and details about how their school scored on annual reviews."
Teacher union ads flunk
Date CapturedTuesday March 06 2007, 7:00 AM
NY Daily News Bill Hammond writes, "Here's the truth. Spitzer wants to boost annual state aid to public schools by $7 billion, or 40%, over the next four years. That's far more than the Court of Appeals required in its ruling on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. It's enough cash to finance things teachers have been talking about for decades, such as smaller class sizes. Most interest groups, if confronted by a windfall that huge, would break out the champagne. Not NYSUT. After praising the governor for providing 'increased funding,' they turn around and attack him for wanting to open more charter schools and offer a minuscule tax break to private-school parents."
New York City Department of Education Attendance Services
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 9:17 PM
The Office of Attendance is responsible for the oversight of attendance policies, procedures and programs for New York City public school students. This includes the development and implementation of attendance guidelines and procedures, provision of on-going technical assistance and support and collaboration with outside agencies and organizations on attendance-related issues. The office also serves as a resource to the community and the public-at-large. In addition, the office is responsible for: Employment Certification; Attendance Improvement and Dropout Prevention (AIDP) Programs; Truancy Prevention Programs (TRACK, PACT); and home schooling.
Education Update Online
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 7:18 PM
Principal Is Accused of Inflating Attendance to Aid Career
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 6:56 PM
By LYNETTE HOLLOWAY; Published: March 17, 2000 NY Times reports, "Although a state commission in December found attendance fraud throughout the system, Mr. Stancik's report yesterday provided a detailed case history of how it might have occurred at one school."
NYSSBA ready to deal with legislators
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 9:23 AM
The Record reports, "Funding, testing and teacher qualifications are issues that are taking center stage this week at the annual State Legislative Issues Conference of the New York State School Boards Association."
Massachusetts toughens rules about high school graduation rates
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 9:13 AM
Sentinel and Enterprise report, "High schools in Massachusetts must now graduate 55 percent of their students within four years in order to meet Adequate Yearly Progress, a standard that measures schools' success under the federal No Child Left Behind Act."
Long Island school officials decry state aid program
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 8:45 AM
Newsday Rick Brand reports, "The complaints center on Spitzer's new aid formula, which guarantees many local school districts a minimum 3 percent increase, but disqualifies them from other special aid categories that would help districts with high taxes, large enrollment growth, excessive special education costs and adjustments for the region's higher cost of living. The formulas, they added, will hurt more as time goes on."
Advocates say lack of funding for after-school programs could lead to ‘crisis’
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 8:41 AM
Legislative Gazette reports, "Currently, after-school programs in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Port Chester, Poughkeepsie, Elmira, Niagara Falls, Gowanda, Syracuse, Oswego, Utica, Jamestown, Rome, Yonkers and all five boroughs of New York City are funded through the federal 21st Century Community Learning Program. However, since the purse strings are held by the state Education Department, those programs are at the mercy of the state. Since the beginning of the month, state officials have begun informing the after-school programs that they would not be receiving the federal funding this year at all. The funding is expected to be cycled through other types of programs that qualify for the federal allocation."
Mike's leap of faith
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 8:31 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Last week, more than 1,000 parents and activists rallied against the Education Department's reorganization plans and complained their opinions are being ignored. Bloomberg told the congregations he plans to make the teacher tenure process "more accountable and more rigorous." He also said a new program will start in September to base school funding on the number of students enrolled. 'Some schools get more money than others - that's just wrong,' Bloomberg said."
NYSUT taking its campaign to public
Date CapturedMonday March 05 2007, 8:05 AM
Times Union reports, "New York State United Teachers, the state's major teachers union, is launching today a media offensive against a proposal for private school tuition tax credits and increasing the number of charter schools allowed in the state."
Some children left behind? National educational initiative encounters opposition
Date CapturedSunday March 04 2007, 10:26 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Corrective action under the law includes replacing school staff members who are relevant to the failure to make adequate yearly progress; instituting a new curriculum; or extending the school year or day. A NUMBER of schools in the Hudson Valley are continually affected by the No Child Left Behind Act."
BROOKLYN MOM'S A 'SCHOOL FOLKS' HERO
Date CapturedSunday March 04 2007, 10:12 AM
NY Post reports, "Guerrier said the first thing on her agenda are meetings with parents that have written to the chancellor about specific needs."
New York City Schools Chancellor: no letting up on school reform
Date CapturedSunday March 04 2007, 9:47 AM
NY Daily News interview with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.
School Separates Students by Race for Test Scores
Date CapturedSaturday March 03 2007, 6:10 PM
NPR reports, "When scores were released last week for academic achievement tests taken at a Northern California high school, the principal separated students into ethnic groups. Latinos, Asians, whites and blacks were each assembled together. The principal claimed this was to keep students from harassing each other about scoring gaps between different racial groups. The separation policy is stirring up heated debate on campus and in the community."
Site to reveal Florida teachers' discipline; The state wants parents to have easier access to records about professional wrongdoing
Date CapturedSaturday March 03 2007, 1:33 PM
Orlando Sentinel reports, "That information already is public and shared with Florida's 67 school districts. But it will be easier for parents to find once the new Web site, MyFloridaTeacher.com, is up and running. Using what has become one of the watchwords of Gov. Charlie Crist's administration, Blomberg said the Web site would make teacher discipline more 'transparent.' It also should help ensure that teachers who've lost their Florida licenses for misconduct in one district are not hired in another, she added."
Three Georgia schools getting 'character education' grants
Date CapturedSaturday March 03 2007, 1:23 PM
Accessnorthga.com reports, "Each school staff will receive training, coaching and high quality professional learning from national trainers and Pioneer RESA staff. "
Officials say schools hindered in rural, poor areas of Arizona
Date CapturedSaturday March 03 2007, 1:17 PM
East Valley Tribune reports, "Arizona continues to spend a smaller share of its education dollars on direct classroom instruction than the national average. New figures released Thursday by the state Auditor General’s Office show that in 2006 school districts spent an average of 58.3 cents of every dollar provided for education in the classroom. That includes teacher salaries, instructional supplies, textbooks, software and field trips. By comparison, the most recent national average is 61.5 cents."
Local Texas school chief earns national honor as 2007 ‘Tech-Savvy Superintendent’
Date CapturedSaturday March 03 2007, 10:26 AM
Star Community News reports, "Superintendent Annette Griffin of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD achieved national recognition Wednesday in the seventh annual 'Tech-Savvy Superintendents' award program presented by America’s leading ed-tech newspaper, eSchool News."
Cheerleading battle on hold
Date CapturedSaturday March 03 2007, 8:59 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "By the next school year, the district needs to provide the Office for Civil Rights with this information: •The process for application and selection for membership. •The purpose for the group's participation at athletic events. •The names of the groups' advisers. •Each group's budget for the next year. •Names of all members. •A list of events at which each group is scheduled to participate during the 2007-08 school year. •A description of how it was determined which group would participate at which events. By the end of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years, the district must provide the federal agency with the dates of events at which each support group participated during the year.z'
Utah voucher opponents want statewide vote
Date CapturedSaturday March 03 2007, 7:29 AM
AP reports, "The Utah program is the first universal voucher program in America, according to the Arizona-based Alliance for School Choice, which tracks the issue. Although the amount of aid is based on family income, the Utah program is open to all. In other states, voucher programs are targeted at low-income families or students attending low-performing schools."
President Bush Discusses No Child Left Behind Reauthorization
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 8:25 PM
Silver Street Elementary School, New Albany, Indiana. READ SPEECH HERE:
Concerns over funding formula dominate New York education hearing
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 8:09 PM
Legislative Gazette reports, "Concerns over funding for some districts under Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposed foundation aid formula dominated discussion at a joint budget public hearing on elementary and secondary education last week. Debate over foundation aid centered on the premise of the formula, which is designed to drive more funding into New York’s high need schools — should New York design a system that tries to address all students or fully fund a system that targets the state’s neediest students? Cases of similar districts receiving different increases in aid are popping up across the state and are raising questions over how the formula will affect those districts that are moderately wealthy."
Chancellor Klein's Testimony Before the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 12:53 PM
EXCERPT: There is a lot in the budget proposal that we in New York City are happy about. Highlights include: significant increases in overall educational funding that take a major step toward fulfilling the promise of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity; a foundation formula that factors in student need and provides more transparency and stability to school funding; enhanced accountability that ties new education dollars to student performance; the lifting of the charter school cap; and an expansion funding for pre-kindergarten programs. (READ FULL TEXT)
Selective School Choice
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 12:29 PM
Wall Street Journal contributor Clint Bolick, president and general counsel of the Alliance for School Choice and senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute writes, "Well, school choice works. Every study that compares children who applied for school choice scholarships and received them with those who applied but did not shows improved academic performance. More important, every study that has examined the effect of school choice competition has found significantly improved performance by public schools."
Some Arizona school districts shun intended raises, lawmakers say
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 10:22 AM
Tucson Citizen reports, "In a news release, the union said two districts planned to use the additional money to cover deficits while some other districts had pointed to discrepancies between the amounts they had received and what they thought they should have received. While the union didn't identify the school districts, including the two it said planned to cover deficits, it said similar situations were occurring around the state. John Hartsell, a spokesman for the union, said it was difficult to pinpoint districts that are failing to comply with the law's intent."
Ohio local district considers new book selection policy for teachers
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 10:03 AM
AP reports, "A school board is considering a new policy to guide teachers’ book selections that would require them to support their choices with professional reviews and provide as many as six titles for parents to choose instead. The book summaries would have to come from an outside organization with a scholarly view, such as the American Library Association, and include information about the age or grade level for which the text is appropriate, said Eric Gordon, executive director of secondary learning for Olentangy Local Schools in suburban Columbus. The proposed policy, presented to the board this week, was sparked by parents’ concerns over the content of books that the district had intended to use last year, Gordon said."
New Utah law may set off charter school boom
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 9:53 AM
The Salt Lake Tribune reports, "The new law funds 5,000 additional students in charter schools for the 2008-2009 school year, which would allow the system to expand by about seven to 10 schools, a 20 percent increase. More state charter school staff are funded through the bill to manage the booming schools, and administrative dollars per student sharply increase."
East Ramapo and Clarkstown districts honored for music education
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 9:33 AM
Journal News reports, "A survey by leading music and educational organizations places the Clarkstown and East Ramapo school districts among the nation's top 100 communities for music education."
Arts education program can serve as model for school districts
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 9:30 AM
Journal News reports, "In a time of one-size-fits-all testing, the arts have been wrongfully shoved aside as irrelevant "fluff." Your view that arts education is vital and your specific suggestions as to how the arts can be given the status they deserve validated all of our efforts: artists, teachers, administrators. Much of what the editorial suggests (referenced below) is already part of our district's unique story, Literacy through the Arts, one we wish to share with others."
Split over state aid to schools
Date CapturedFriday March 02 2007, 9:03 AM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "Under Spitzer's plan, New York City would get a 9.49 percent increase next year, or $637 million. In contrast, Long Island schools would get an average 5.2 percent increase, or $113 million - $29.4 million less than the increase they received this year. That would reduce the Island's share of statewide aid slightly, from 12.5 percent this year to 12.18 percent next year, according to the governor's budget office. Senate Republicans say the Island's share this year is actually slightly larger than that, and that any shrinkage would set a bad precedent."
Keeping New Teachers: A First Look at the Influences of Induction in the Chicago Public Schools
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 7:16 PM
1/2007. Kavita Kapadia and Vanessa Coca; with John Q. Easton. Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), "By itself, induction programming had no significant impact on teachers' satisfaction with their job. However, strong levels of mentoring and support for new teachers—regardless of whether it was part of a formal induction program—greatly improved teachers' experiences and intentions to continue teaching. This report also suggests that high quality induction be both intensive and contextual so that it takes into need the contextual factors that affect teachers' experiences and intentions."
2007 is 'a banner year for education'
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 12:33 PM
Deseret Morning News reports, "[Utah]Public education received record funding this year with lawmakers aiming at increasing teacher compensation to help recruit and retain quality educators."
Impact of Mississippi high school dropouts studied
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 12:24 PM
Mississippi Business Journal reports, "If high school dropouts who currently head households in Mississippi had instead earned diplomas, the state's economy would benefit from an additional $1.1 billion in wealth accumulated by families, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education in its new brief, 'Hidden Benefits: The Impact of High School Graduation on Household Wealth,' funded by the MetLife Foundation."
Cincinnati district withholding info out of privacy concerns
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 9:35 AM
AP reports, "Distributing a list of student names, addresses and phone numbers would make the information a public record open to anyone, district spokeswoman Janet Walsh said. Concerns about identity theft, sexual predators and custody issues are changing which information parents want released, Walsh said."
Experts: Expand teaching methods
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 9:19 AM
Courier News reports, "National education experts are urging school districts to drop what they call a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to teaching and replace it with a student-by-student plan developed by educators. 'We need a change in how we approach the governance of public education,' said Andrew Rotherham, former education adviser to President Bill Clinton."
Bridging Differences
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 8:23 AM
Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch have found themselves at odds on policy over the years, but they share a passion for improving schools. Bridging Differences will offer their insights on what matters most in education.
Hard recovery for failed US schools; The last phase of the reform timeline outlined by No Child Left Behind poses challenges for underperformers.
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 7:50 AM
Christian Science Monitor reports, "'What we're finding is that school districts that implement a variety of changes are more likely to improve their test scores than those that implement only one change, such as changing [a school's] staff,' says CEP's president and CEO Jack Jennings. It's good that NCLB is no longer allowing officials to turn a blind eye to low-performing schools, he says, but improving schools 'is a very challenging task ... and we should have a little bit of humility when it comes to telling schools how to bring about changes.'"
THE UFT'S ALBANY PUPPETS
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 7:19 AM
NY Post opines, "Education Committee Chairwoman Cathy Nolan and Assemblyman Ruben Diaz questioned Mayor Bloomberg's progress in improving the schools in the five years since he wrested control of them from folks like, well . . . Weingarten & Co. In so doing, they made their ultimate goal obvious: to kill off Chancellor Joel Klein's reorganization plan and then reclaim school governance for folks like (you guessed it) Weingarten & Co."
Elmira schools uniform debate heats up
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 7:15 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "About 150 to 200 residents of the Elmira City School District turned out Wednesday night for a sometimes heated public hearing on a proposal to require school uniforms for all students starting next fall."
MAYOR BLOOMBERG TAPS CRITIC FOR EDUCATION POST
Date CapturedThursday March 01 2007, 6:55 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Martine Guerrier, a Brooklyn mom and member of the Panel for Educational Policy, the successor to the Board of Education, will be paid $150,000 a year to manage parent-support functions as the CEO of family engagement for the Department of Education. The differences between the pair were evident immediately after the mayor announced her appointment at City Hall, when she disagreed with his assessment that "most parents really are pleased" with the school system."
U.S. details funds at risk if Virginia English learners aren't tested
Date CapturedWednesday February 28 2007, 2:34 PM
AP reports, "The U.S. Department of Education has detailed how much money Virginia school divisions could lose if they disobey a law that requires children who are trying to learn English to take the same reading tests as their native-speaking peers, state officials said Wednesday."
New York City schools Chancellor Klein's boasts fail to impress Albany skeptics
Date CapturedWednesday February 28 2007, 7:14 AM
NY Daily News Joe Mahoney reports, "In his two hours before a state legislative committee yesterday, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein tried to accentuate the positive - but the lawmakers weren't buying it. For every success story Klein spouted, legislators had a parallel horror story, questioning whether mayoral control of schools was working."
State education officials question funding distribution
Date CapturedWednesday February 28 2007, 7:08 AM
The Journal News reports, "Some lawmakers and educators said at a budget hearing on education that they worried the new distribution formula would shortchange the 303 districts that receive only 3 percent increases. Education budgets may rise by 7 percent a year, so four years at 3 percent annually would place a heavier burden on local taxpayers to fund education, said Senate Education Committee Chairman Stephen Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, who noted that most school systems in his district would get 3 percent increases. 'If we're talking about fairness, I think there has to be changes (in the formula),' he said."
Changes urged for school aid plan: Spitzer's proposed funding boost welcomed, but many advocates say more money will be needed
Date CapturedWednesday February 28 2007, 7:00 AM
Times Union reports, "There are other differences in how Spitzer is approaching education spending, most notably through his proposals that place strings on how the additional money is spent. A recent amendment to the governor's budget, for instance, helps ensure that struggling school systems won't simply use the extra money to lower taxes. Instead, districts that get significant increases must spend the money on measures like smaller class sizes and full day pre-K programs. Spitzer also has proposed that school superintendents could be fired if their district turns in four years of poor performance. School board members could be removed after six years."
Educators, Youth Workers Tackle Student Issues
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 5:29 PM
Tennessee Department of Education announces, "Two outstanding lottery for education after-school programs (LEAPs) will present at the conference: TOPS and New Directions Academy. These lottery-funded after-school programs provide students enrichment activities to reinforce the academic goals for all Tennessee students."
San Francisco Unified School District focuses on the arts
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 9:56 AM
The Examiner reports, "While schools throughout California struggle to maintain arts education programs, the San Francisco Unified School District is beginning to see the effects of a massive plan to beef up its arts curricula across The City. District educators are in the first year of implementing the Arts Education Master Plan, an ambitious road map to give arts education to each student at every school."
Later class start rejected for HS
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 9:50 AM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "After surveying students, teachers and parents, the Oceanside School District has scrapped a proposal to start high school classes 40 minutes later each morning to give teens more sleep."
New Jersey school chief told: Cut waste
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 9:46 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "The audits found unchecked spending and lax internal controls that resulted in millions in 'questionable expenses,' including $13 million in Camden."
In New Jersey, Districts Find Aid Increases Insufficient
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 9:13 AM
NY Times Winnie Hu reports, "Nearly half of the increased state aid that Gov. Jon S. Corzine promised for schools in his budget proposal last week will be eaten up by teachers’ benefits and school construction, and much of the remaining $300 million is earmarked for literacy and early childhood programs, education officials in New Jersey said yesterday."
KIDS' 'AFTER'MATH
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 9:09 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "After-school programs that let roughly 34,000 children across the state - including 20,000 in the city - get tutored, play sports and participate in a host of other activities could be lost to a federal-funding shortfall, state education officials and youth advocates warn. Directors of programs at 207 schools were stunned to learn this month in a letter from the state Education Department that they would have to find new funding for the next school year because the federal government didn't pony up $11 million to keep the programs running past June."
Money would be better spent on ‘new schools'
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 8:50 AM
Ithaca Journal contributor Stephen Paul Lucente writes, "The new schools would form the basis of a new decentralized district that would be run by a new class of teacher/administrator who would take on the job of running these smaller enterprises in return for the opportunity to shape their own destiny and share in the rewards. This teacher/administrator position would provide a new career path option for teachers, providing hands-on leadership and the long needed return to teacher control."
School sex abuse: State report troubling
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 8:44 AM
Ithaca Journal opines, "Children deserve to attend schools that are safe and allow them to grow as students. They shouldn't be subjected to improper advances from the very people who are supposed to be educators and role models."
Tracking bad behavior will help students' parents: Misconduct data will show school trends
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 8:34 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "One of the lingering problems with education is that the public has little sense of continuity, the way that a strong pre-kindergarten program, for example, leads in a quantifiable way to better scores in second, third and fourth grade. Or, on the negative side, how intermittent stories of teacher misbehavior reveal not isolated events but an increasing problem."
No Child Left Behind? Well, Maybe Just a Few
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 8:22 AM
Bloomberg.com columnist Andrew Ferguson writes, "Already proposals are being made to rope 12th-graders into the No Child law's elaborate system of federally mandated tests, which means that high schools would finally be held accountable for graduating poorly educated seniors. The most recent of these proposals, by the Aspen Institute, received a favorable response from reformers, including within the administration. Indeed, the administration has tried before to extend the No Child law to upper grades, with no luck. Stopping it was the usual anti-reform stonewall of teachers' unions and congressional Democrats, along with an astonishingly powerful vocational-school lobby."
No Child Left Behind is working because it provides accountability
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 8:04 AM
Cincinnati Inquirer contributor Kristine Cohn, secretary of education's regional representative for the U.S. Department of Education, Region V (Chicago) writes, "In 1965, President Johnson signed into law the first federal aid program for high-poverty school districts. It lacked one core ingredient, however: accountability. A year later, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy asked, "What happened to the children? Do you mean you spent a billion dollars and you don't know whether they can read or not?" The No Child Left Behind Act is America's answer to that question. In five years, it has committed unprecedented new resources to public education in exchange for true accountability for results. It has given schools a reliable yardstick to measure students' progress in learning fundamental reading and math skills so that they can succeed in school and in life."
Catholics fight for their schools
Date CapturedTuesday February 27 2007, 7:54 AM
Chicago Tribune reports, "With Catholic school enrollment continuing to plummet in Illinois, Cardinal Francis George and other church leaders met Monday to discuss everything from improved marketing to additional state aid to rejuvenate a once-thriving parochial education system. The summit, involving about 300 Catholic school administrators as well as bishops and priests from across the state, was the first of its kind. And although trends continue to look gloomy--enrollment statewide has dropped to 170,000 from about 215,000 a decade ago--leaders kept the mood upbeat."
EdTrust Releases Funding Gaps 2006: How the Federal Government Makes Rich
Date CapturedMonday February 26 2007, 9:34 AM
"University of Washington Research Assistant Professor Marguerite Roza shows that, despite district bookkeeping practices that make funding across schools within the same district appear relatively comparable, substantially less money is spent in high-poverty and high-minority schools. Teacher salaries are the clearest example. Roza looks at salary expenditures in a variety of districts and finds troubling inequities in the allocation of this key resource among schools in the same district. For example in Austin, a city with one of the largest salary gaps, the gap in average teacher salaries between the highest and lowest poverty schools within the district amounted to $3,837. In a school of 25 teachers that gap amounts to $95,925 less per year for a low-income school; in a school with 100 teachers, the gap increases to $383,700 per year."
Massachusetts leading national effort for longer school days
Date CapturedMonday February 26 2007, 9:16 AM
AP reports, "While Massachusetts is leading in implementing the longer-day model, lawmakers in Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and Washington, D.C., also have been debating whether to lengthen the school day or year. In addition, individual districts such as Miami-Dade are experimenting with added hours in some schools."
School bond projects pose a moral and financial choice
Date CapturedMonday February 26 2007, 8:04 AM
Times Herald contributor Roger Ramjug, Newburgh resident and director of facilities for the Marlboro School District opines, "First and foremost, however, is the responsibility to provide a safe environment for children to learn. Both teachers and principals alike will attest to the most disruptive element as being inadequate facilities. It is extremely difficult to keep children focused on academics amidst leaking roofs and pipes, crumbling walls, insufficient heating and ventilation, not to mention inadequate lighting."
Property tax exemption deadline Thursday across Central New York
Date CapturedMonday February 26 2007, 7:50 AM
Post-Standard reports, "Basic STAR exemption: A school tax-related exemption on a primary residence. Apply once. Enhanced STAR exemption: A school tax-related exemption for senior citizens. Apply yearly."
New York City Education Department To Restore 17 School Bus Routes
Date CapturedSunday February 25 2007, 7:57 PM
NY1 reports, "Starting Monday, the Department of Education will bring back 17 of the bus routes it cut last month."
This Is Not Your 1983 Governor’s School Aid Plan
Date CapturedSunday February 25 2007, 10:02 AM
NY Times reports, "Under the governor’s plan, there would be a $1.4 billion increase in state aid, to $19.2 billion this year. An additional $1.5 billion would go to expanding the STAR tax rebate program next year, with the projection that it would grow to $6 billion in three years. The State Court of Appeals, ruling in a 13-year-old education financing case last year, said more had to be spent in New York City and other needier districts. Every district would get at least a 3 percent increase in the basic aid program this year, and some would get much larger jumps. Depending on some smaller, targeted aid programs, a handful of districts would lose money compared with 2006-7. Over all, Long Island’s state aid would increase by 5.2 percent. In comparison, aid for New York City would increase by 9.5 percent, for Brentwood by 12.3 percent and for Hempstead by 9.6 percent."
Choice would take the fighting out of schooling our kids
Date CapturedSunday February 25 2007, 9:45 AM
Arizona Republic contributor Neal McCluskey , education policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom writes, "Readers of The Arizona Republic this year have witnessed writers, including Arizona's superintendent of public instruction, lobbing charges of racism at each other in an education battle royale. Many have no doubt found the fight troubling and will likely find it even more upsetting to learn that these conflicts are inevitable in any school system for which many must pay, but only a few can control. Thankfully, though elusive, peace can be attained."
Georgia parents of absent students face jail time
Date CapturedSunday February 25 2007, 9:35 AM
Savannah Morning News reports, "The Georgia Compulsory School Attendance Law prohibits students from having five or more unexcused absences or tardies - a requirement that is putting some parents in front of a judge."
Massachusetts students achieve despite hardship
Date CapturedSunday February 25 2007, 9:26 AM
The Enterprise reports, "[Principal]Henderson attributed the improvement in attendance to a special program that the school has in place. “We run an attendance incentive program daily, and each month we have a theme,” Henderson said. For example, January was 'Winter Wonderland,' where the kids built snow men from 15 different parts on their bulletin boards. Each time a class had perfect attendance, they received a part of the snowman. Of 15 classes, five different classes with the most parts won that month's incentive."
SCHOOLS MAY GET MORE TIME ON THEIR SIDE: No Child Left Behind law could lead to longer days for students
Date CapturedSunday February 25 2007, 8:52 AM
AP reports, "Although Massachusetts is leading in putting in place the longer-day model, lawmakers in Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and Washington also have debated whether to lengthen the school day or year. In addition, individual districts such as Miami-Dade in Florida are experimenting with added hours in some schools."
Democrats Pledge: No Vouchers in NCLB
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 3:17 PM
Heartland Institute School Reform News Dan Lips writes, "On January 23, Bush announced plans to include expanded school choice options in NCLB, including: requiring underperforming schools to offer scholarships to low-income students, to allow them to transfer to the private or out-of-district public schools of their choice; providing federal funds for school boards to expand local school choice options for low-income families; and using federal funds to make sure schools inform parents about choice options in their communities in a timely manner."
New York City principals powerless to quell violence - Public advocate charges DOE is not helping administrators get a handle on woes
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 2:25 PM
Brooklyn Heights Courier reports, "Some Brooklyn parents suggest that the DOE implement intervention services to prevent disagreements between students from escalating into all-out brawls that put school administrators and staffers in danger. They’ve called for the creation of school-based health centers in more local schools, as the facilities provide medical and psychological care to youths."
Buffalo Superintendent Williams announces 2009 opening for entrepreneurial high school
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 9:51 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Buffalo will open an entrepreneurial high school in 2009 to train students to start their own businesses or be better prepared to work at existing companies, School Superintendent James A. Williams told business leaders Friday. Williams also set ambitious goals for boosting student performance on state assessment tests, and said a new report card is being developed that will end widespread grade inflation."
The dropout dilemma
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 9:20 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Advocates at the Baruch College event suggested that increasing the state's compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18 would encourage more students to stay in school, said Cary Goodman, executive director of Directions for Our Youth. Other ideas included additional professional development for teachers who may have difficulty relating to the problems facing city teens."
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania school district gets new feedback on privatization
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 9:00 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "The Accountability Review Council, an independent body monitoring school improvement in Philadelphia, yesterday agreed there was 'little evidence' that the academic gains made by the six companies running 41 city schools warranted the continuation of additional funding being paid to the managers. The companies, including the for-profit Edison Schools Inc., have gotten $90 million over the last five years."
Dunce cap on school reform
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 8:48 AM
TU publishes LA Times story, "Although the reports came out five years after passage of President Bush's signature education reform initiative, No Child Left Behind, Hall and others said it would be unfair to blame that program for the students' poor showing. They were already in high school when No Child Left Behind was enacted, and it is primarily aimed at elementary and middle schools." (Read report at www.educationnewyork.com/policy filed under Achievement Gap)
Kentucky court sides with legislature in school funding case
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 8:40 AM
Lebanan Enterprise reports, "Judge Thomas Wingate wrote in his Feb. 13 decision that more funding for education is a good idea and that funding education should be the legislature's first priority. However, he did not feel it was the court's role to weigh in on how the legislature determines that funding."
House OKs adjustment to Utah voucher law
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 8:35 AM
Deseret Morning News reports, "HB174 would give the State Office of Education an additional $100,000 to run the voucher program, require teachers at schools where voucher students are enrolled to have background checks and require the state perform an audit of the program in five years."
Could School Vouchers Reduce H.S. Dropout Rate?
Date CapturedSaturday February 24 2007, 8:01 AM
KXAN.com reports, "One group says Texas is in an education crisis. According to School Choice, high school dropouts cost taxpayers $377 million a year."
Some districts to lose aid under Spitzer’s education formula, superintendents say
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 7:59 PM
Legislative Gazette reports, "The New York State Council of School Superintendents said Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s new “foundation aid formula,” which is targeted at putting more funding in high-need schools, has the potential to give different aid increases to similar school districts."
Majority of Linn County, Missouri superintendents believe state education funding inadequate -- hinders academic performance
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 7:48 PM
Linn County Leader reports, "When the litigation was initiated on the premise Missouri's new school funding formula is 'inadequate,' the plaintiffs painted with a broad brush, citing the lack of educational programs, facilities, and qualified educators as resources that needed to be propped up with additional state dollars. But Stanford University Economist Eric Hanushek testified on behalf of the state this week that 'any measure that looks only at inputs-i.e., where the dollars go-without also tracking outputs-how students perform-is fundamentally flawed.'"
Local Indianapolis, Indiana school joins international program
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 7:42 PM
Eyewitness News reports, "Students and teachers of the IPS Center for Inquiry have plenty to applaud. Their elementary school is the first in Indiana and one of just 140 in the nation admitted to the prestigious International Baccalaureate program."
Spotlight on Tennessee School Attendance
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 7:19 PM
Newschannel9.com reports, "Principals say they are under an enormous amount of pressure to meet the attendance goals, especially during test time when a certain percentage must be in school to meet the No Child Left Behind standards. But kids can't learn the material if they're not in school. When attendance goes down, tests scores likely follow creating a whole another set of problems for educators."
Grades Rise, but Reading Skills Do Not
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 9:55 AM
NY Times DIANA JEAN SCHEMO writes, "High school students nationwide are taking seemingly tougher courses and earning better grades, but their reading skills are not improving through the effort, according to two federal reports released here Thursday that cite grade inflation as a possible explanation."
Florida Gov. Crist boosts education
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 9:08 AM
News-Press.com reports, "• Reading coaches: Crist’s proposal would put a reading coach in every public school, costing about $26 million. About 2,100 of Florida’s 2,500 schools employ reading coaches, who assist teachers in creating and identifying strategies to improve student reading. • Virtual tutors: Crist supports spending $10 million to create an Internet-based program that lets parents and teachers track a child’s academic progress online while pinpointing areas where they need help. • Teacher bonuses: Crist wants to modify the state’s new teacher performance pay plan — a $295 million component that lets principals dole out bonuses as high as 10 percent to each school’s top educators. "
Statement by Secretary Spellings on 12th-Grade Achievement Reports Released by the Nation's Report Card
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 9:03 AM
Secretary Spellings, "The consensus for strengthening our high schools has never been stronger. It is unacceptable that only half of our African American and Hispanic students graduate from high school on time when nearly 90 percent of our nation's fastest-growing jobs require post-secondary education or training. The President's new proposals include: a $1.2 billion increase in Title I funds for high schools; an additional $1 billion over five years for Academic Competitiveness Grants for low-income students who take on a rigorous high school course load; and $365 million for the American Competitiveness Initiative to strengthen math and science instruction."
America’s High School Graduates: Results from the 2005 NAEP High School Transcript Study
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 8:54 AM
NCES: Among those who took higher level mathematics and science courses, male graduates had higher NAEP scores than female graduates. Increased percentages of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander graduates completed at least a midlevel curriculum in 2005 compared with 1990. The GPAs of all four racial/ethnic groups also increased during this time. In 2005, both Black and Hispanic graduates were less likely than White graduates to have completed calculus or advanced science courses and to have higher GPAs.
National Assessment of Educational Progress -- The Nation's Report Card: 12th-Grade Reading and Mathematics 2005; America's High School Graduates: Results from the 2005 NAEP High School Transcript Study
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 8:42 AM
Mark Schneider, Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics.
Breakthrough in School Choice
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 8:20 AM
Adam Schaeffer, policy analyst for the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute writes, "Utah has just approved the nation's first universal school choice program, and in New York, Eliot Spitzer has become the first Democratic governor to propose a private school choice program in his state budget. These two firsts are a major shot in the arm for education reform, and they offer a glimpse of the possibilities to come."
Move to limit New Hampshire dropouts returns: It draws opposition from home-schoolers
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 7:58 AM
Concord Monitor reports, "After failing to pass the House last year, a proposal to raise the high school attendance age to 18 has returned, along with opponents. A series of state officials and prominent Democratic lawmakers - including Gov. John Lynch, who has made the proposal one of his priorities - made the case for the measure yesterday. 'Instead of throwing up our hands and saying we can't meet their needs, we finally acknowledge that not only can we do it, we must do it,' said Sen. Iris Estabrook, the bill's sponsor and a Durham Democrat. 'If we don't, we can keep on building prisons, keep on growing the substance abuse problem and keep on lamenting the cycle of poverty.'"
Feds will withhold funds if Virginia English learners aren't tested
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 7:33 AM
AP reports, "A top U.S. Department of Education official said Thursday that Virginia school divisions will lose federal funding if they do not comply with a federal law that requires children struggling to learn English take the same reading tests as their native-speaking peers.'
School Finance Reform: Back to Where We Started
Date CapturedFriday February 23 2007, 7:18 AM
New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies studies finds, "The objectives intended by the court were to equalize opportunity to obtain adequate education (“pupil equity”) and to equalize the tax burden associated with providing it (“tax equity”). However, it now appears that the laws and programs to reform school finance, enacted beginning in 1999 to comply with the Claremont II decision, have had no effect on pupil equity, as measured by per pupil spending. Among the highest spending districts, spending is now actually a little higher relative to the median than it was in 1999. Also, while the new laws enacted in 1999 initially did affect taxpayer equity and resulted in somewhat more equal tax rates for schools among towns, much of that change has been eroded away in the past six years. If current trends continue, the variation in tax rates will be just as great in two years as it was in 1998. In essence, measured against the two goals of the Claremont II decision, the state’s school finance reform has had little impact, and we are back to where we started in 1999."
Math Lessons: How to Make New Funds Count for New York City Public Schools
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 5:40 PM
2/28/2007 8:30 am; The Century Foundation, 41 East 70th Street, Manhattan.
InSight on Education
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 4:24 PM
InSight on Education's Marianne Potter hosts a roundtable discussion with guests Maria DeWald, President of the New York State PTA; Dick Iannuzzi, President of New York State United Teachers; Rick Karlin of the Times Union's Capitol Bureau; and Lori McKenna, Director of Federal and State Programs for the Schenectady School District. Airdate: Thursday, February 22, 2006 at 7:30pm Repeat: Sunday, February 24, 2006 at 12:00am
Local Pennsylvania school board debating truancy
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 10:56 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "School districts across the state have been mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to come up with policies dealing with chronic truancy and tardiness. The new mandates address the Federal No Child Left Behind outcomes, which include attendance records as well as measures for math and reading."
Teach character to cut racial gap in school results
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 10:47 AM
Star-Tribune Katherine Kersten writes, "Here in Minneapolis, the time is right for significant school reform. The district's new superintendent and school board are flexible and open to new ideas. District authorities are engaged in what they call 'a good, constructive dialogue' with KIPP representatives."
Reading First and the Breaking of Federal Law
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 10:29 AM
School Matter blog, "As a result of a nice piece of reporting from Kathleen Manzo at Ed Week, we now can see deeper into the inner workings of the Reading First corruption scandal that is still waiting for Congress to care enough to do something about it. In the meantime, of course, an entire generation of children are learning codebreaking rather than thinking as a result stormtrooper tactics by these dangerous crackpots with links all the way into the White House."
Missouri budget official says school funding meets requirement
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 10:24 AM
AP reports, "A key defense of the state is that the only specific constitutional requirement regarding an adequate funding level is that the state spend one-fourth of its revenue on education."
Large Online Oregon Charter School Hits Hurdle
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 9:34 AM
AP reports, "A bill to get rid of the residency requirement is due Tuesday for its first public hearing."
Arizona State University charter school's opening delayed
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 9:28 AM
The Arizona Republic reports, "Q: What will be unique about the schools? A: Staff, teachers and leaders will be trained in the process of innovations of teaching and curriculum. They could look into achievement in math, for example, so students are ready to take algebra in eighth grade, so they may need to look at curriculum. That could be a change. You see an improvement in this area and it could be presented to other Arizona schools, and it's proven in a real-life setting."
Arkansas Gov. Beebe Proposes Higher Per-Student Funding
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 9:17 AM
AP reports, "The governor says he wants to go beyond court-ordered adequacy and strive for excellence in the public schools."
Business tax credit for private school donations faces Arizona court challenge
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 8:57 AM
The Business Journal of Phoenix reports, "Teachers unions and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit challenging Arizona's tax breaks for businesses that donate to private schools. The state approved a tax credit program last year that allows businesses to write off donations to private school scholarship funds. A limited private school voucher program for disabled children also was approved."
The virtue of school choice
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 8:44 AM
The Daily Texan reports, "On the national level, we spend twice as much per student as we did 30 years ago, adjusted for inflation, and schools have only gotten worse. At the same time, private and charter schools spend less per student and squeeze out better student performance than public schools. But there is one reform that is slowly gaining momentum: school choice. School choice advocates argue it isn't money or broken homes that explain the decline. Schools have turned into government monopolies that are unresponsive to parents' needs and have little motivation to improve educational quality. More money and government regulations only create larger bureaucracies, and choke the life out of learning."
Killing 68M art plan paints bleak picture for schools - critics
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 7:37 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The funding change follows recent school reforms intended to give principals more flexibility in how they spend money while also holding them to higher standards."
Between Policy and Reality: School Administrators Critical of Department of Education School Safety Policy
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 7:26 AM
A REPORT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE BETSY GOTBAUM, FEBRUARY 2007. "The Public Advocate makes these recommendation: The Public Advocate made these recommendations: • The DOE must solicit the input of teachers, students, principals, parents, community-based organizations, and other stakeholders in the development of school safety policies that are conducive to teaching and learning. • The DOE, in conjunction with the Office of Management and Budget, should list all school safety budget allocations as line items in the city budget, including items such as Safe Schools Against Violence in Education Act (SAVE) provisions. • The DOE must ensure that all schools have “time-out” or SAVE rooms on-site for disruptive students, as required by state law. • The DOE must substantially enhance the role of conflict education and resolution programming in schools and make training for teachers and administrators mandatory. 'The DOE must provide the resources needed to ensure a safe environment for students and school staff,” Gotbaum said. “School safety must be a top priority. ”
SCHOOL SAFETY GETS AN INCOMPLETE
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 7:21 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Charges that the DOE underreports school violence data are not new. The state Education Department last year questioned the accuracy of the city's figures, which are maintained by the NYPD, and said it would review the city's method for collecting school safety data."
New Jersey Schools Told to Protect Gay Students
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 7:13 AM
NY Times reports, "Students who are bullied by other students because of their sexual orientation are protected by New Jersey’s antidiscrimination law, and school districts must take reasonable steps to stop such harassment, the state’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled yesterday."
Admissions Jockeying Starts Earlier in New York
Date CapturedThursday February 22 2007, 7:08 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN writes, "But some educators say greater school choice primarily benefits students with savvy, motivated parents who are able to spend time figuring out the best schools to list on applications, and puts at a further disadvantage the children with little support at home. 'I think it may in the long run offer more opportunity for better education for kids who aren’t getting it,” said Norm Fruchter of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. “But any choice program or effort gets initially monopolized by people who have the advantages of access and information and the ability to move on what their kids need.'”
US Sen. Ted Kennedy visit focuses on 'No Child' program
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 8:38 PM
Cape Cod Times reports, "In addition to addressing the No Child Left Behind reauthorization, he spoke with Times editors about the proposed Head Start for School Readiness Act. According to Kennedy, fewer than 50 percent of children eligible for Head Start participate because their families do not have access to Head Start programs. The legislation would raise Head Start funding from $6.9 billion to $7.3 billion in the next fiscal year, to $7.5 billion in fiscal year 2009 and $7.9 billion in 2010."
Arkansas educators take time with senator
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 8:31 PM
Jonesboro Sun reports, "Some 50 higher education and K-12 [Arkansas] educators skipped school Monday to converse with U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln about education, in particular the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001."
School Choice and Racial Diversity
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 5:33 PM
The National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education (NCSPE) at Teachers College, Columbia University and The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. "On May 22, 2000, The Civil Rights Project co-sponsored a roundtable discussion on school racial diversity. A major concern surrounding school choice policies is that they will lead to greater racial and socioeconomic isolation. The conference addressed the question: Under what conditions do school choice policies increase or decrease racial diversity?"
Local North Carolina educators to U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville: revamp No Child Left Behind
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 4:25 PM
Citizen-Times reports, "The lesson from the school superintendents Tuesday morning was simple: we need Congress to rework the No Child Left Behind legislation. And U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, heard the message loud and clear. Shuler met with superintendents from 19 Western North Carolina school systems, as well as special education teachers and administrators, Tuesday morning at the A-B Tech’s Enka campus."
Poll: Better New York City schools biggest need
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 4:03 PM
Newsday HERBERT LOWE reports, "New Yorkers are more widely concerned about the city's high school dropout rate than increasing funds to protect the city from terrorism, according to a survey of low-income residents released yesterday. Three out of four New Yorkers favor raising the age when teenagers may drop out of school from 16 to 17 or 18, reports the survey released by the Community Service Society of New York."
The Pending Reauthorization of NCLB: An Opportunity to Rethink the Basic Strategy
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 10:12 AM
By Daniel Koretz, Harvard Graduate School of Education. "This paper argues that debating possible modifications of many NCLB provisions obscures more important problems that the civil rights community cannot afford to ignore. These problems include the lack of knowledge about how to hold schools accountable, key aspects of NCLB that are inconsistent with the current accountability evidence, and the illusion of progress generated by NCLB through its reliance on state assessments."
Domesticating a Revolution: No Child Left Behind Reforms and State Administrative Response
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 9:58 AM
Sunderman, G. L., & Orfield, G. (2006). Domesticating a revolution: No Child Left Behind reforms and state administrative response. Cambridge, MA: The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. "This report shows striking good faith at the state administrative level to implement the NCLB requirements but also a striking lack of resources and knowledge to accomplish the extraordinary goals of NCLB. States focused on some of the requirements—data, assessments, and the procedural parts of the law—because these were areas where they had expertise and could actually control. For the most ambitious goals of improving school performance, the law provided few resources, and the previous experience of the states in dealing with much smaller numbers of schools and districts did not prepare them for the size and scope needed under NCLB. When NCLB comes up for re-authorization, the findings from this report would suggest that Congress needs to design a policy that recognizes both the realities of policy possibilities as known by educational professionals and the necessity in a federal system of leading by persuasion and incentives more often than by threats and negative sanctions."
The Segregation of American Teachers
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 9:44 AM
By Erica Frankenberg, M.Ed., is a Research Assistant at The Civil Rights Project and Professor Gary Orfield, Professor of Education and Social Policy and Director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. "This report shows that in an increasingly segregated national system of schools, faculty segregation tends to add to — rather than counteract — the separation of students. We see that the white teachers, who continue to dominate the teaching profession, tend to grow up with little racial/ethnic diversity in their own education or experience. Not only did white teachers, on average, attend schools when they were elementary school students that were over 90% white, they are currently teaching in schools where almost 90% of their faculty colleagues are white and over 70% of students are white."
Sen. Clinton on NCLB in Liberty City, FL
Date CapturedWednesday February 21 2007, 7:57 AM
AP reports, "On education, the New York senator and former first lady said more needs to be done to prepare children for school and to get parents involved with their children's' learning."
Wisconsin teachers push for changes to No Child Left Behind
Date CapturedTuesday February 20 2007, 6:09 PM
"[Wausau School District curriculum director ]Rindo said he would like to use other assessments rather than a single test to measure students' success and have students evaluated based on the progress they make. 'Is it realistic to have all kids make the same amount of progress each year?' he said. Last week, the Aspen Institute released a report on needed changes for the law. Former Gov. Tommy Thompson co-chaired the study. To access the study, visit http://www.aspeninstitute.org."
Eden Prairie, Minnesota district may redraw map to balance ethnicity
Date CapturedTuesday February 20 2007, 5:52 PM
Star Tribune reports, "Superintendent Melissa Krull said in a letter sent to parents earlier this month that the state will soon move to name Forest Hills Elementary School -- the district's most diverse school with nearly 40 percent students of color -- as a 'racially identifiable' school." ....."District Communications Director Camie Melton Hanily said the state's formula for racially identifiable schools is based on enrollment figures for students of color; if a school's nonwhite enrollment is more than 20 percentage points higher than that of surrounding schools, both inside and outside the district, it is considered racially identifiable. Hanily said the state has not contacted the district about Forest Hills' diversity numbers yet."
School Violence -- What Can Be Done to Make Schools Safer?
Date CapturedTuesday February 20 2007, 9:55 AM
Date of Debate: 1/22/2007. Justice Talking debate, " The school shooting in an Amish community near Lancaster, Pennsylvania points out that school violence can occur anywhere in the nation, from inner city neighborhoods to suburban or rural schools. But will lock-downs, random searches and metal detectors make students safer? And do programs to reduce bullying really work? "
Virginia high-immigrant schools decry NCLB rule for English learners
Date CapturedTuesday February 20 2007, 8:44 AM
AP reports, "Officials in high-immigrant school districts are taking issue with the U.S. Department of Education's requirement that children still trying to learn English take the same reading tests given to their native-speaking classmates."
Sharing Information: A Guide to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and Participation in Juvenile Justice Programs
Date CapturedSunday February 18 2007, 9:00 PM
1997.Figures, charts, forms, and tables are not included in this ASCII plain-text file. U.S. Department of Education. Family Policy Compliance Office, Shay Bilchik, Administrator. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention The principal authors of this document are: Michael L. Medaris, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; Ellen Campbell, Family Policy Compliance Office; Professor Bernard James, J.D., Pepperdine, University School of Law.
Students' View of Intelligence Can Help Grades
Date CapturedThursday February 15 2007, 9:28 AM
NPR reports, "A new study in the scientific journal Child Development shows that if you teach students that their intelligence can grow and increase, they do better in school. All children develop a belief about their own intelligence, according to research psychologist Carol Dweck from Stanford University."
Success at fighting truancy to cost local Illinois county
Date CapturedSunday February 04 2007, 1:11 PM
Daily Chronicle reports, "Every three years the regional superintendent's office applies for a grant to the Illinois State Board of Education to fund its DeKalb County Truancy Intervention Program. This year's budget was $119,000, which provides funding for three outreach workers. Beckwith said she expects the grant next year will be 10 percent less. A child is considered a chronic truant if he has missed 18 days in 180 school days."
The Children Neglected by No Child Left Behind
Date CapturedThursday February 01 2007, 9:06 AM
Duke News reports, "As the language of the law suggests, NCLB focuses on the education and support of all children. However, the law has been misinterpreted by many states and school systems in a manner that has been both detrimental and exclusionary to gifted and talented students. No child, regardless of ability, should be left behind."
Mandatory Testing and News in the Schools:Implications for Civic Education
Date CapturedMonday January 29 2007, 1:06 PM
A Report from the Carnegie-Knight Task Force on the Future of Journalism Education, January 2007. Prepared by Thomas E. Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
School denial angers activist
Date CapturedTuesday January 16 2007, 9:51 AM
Post-Tribune reports, "A Charter School Academy of Trade and Technology pitched by a local education [Indiana] activist has failed to gain approval to open despite parent and business backing."
Proposal Unsettles D.C. Charter Schools
Date CapturedTuesday January 16 2007, 9:48 AM
Washington Post reports, "Officials at some charter schools say Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's education proposal could cause them to lose touch with the public because it would place them under an appointed board."
Study raises doubts on K-8
Date CapturedTuesday January 16 2007, 9:17 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "Johns Hopkins University researchers have concluded that expanding elementary schools to sixth, seventh and eighth grades does not help adolescents do better academically - a finding that raises questions about changes in Baltimore and other urban districts."
Empower, support Rochester city teachers to give students their best effort
Date CapturedTuesday January 16 2007, 6:26 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributor Adam Urbanski, president, Rochester Teachers Association opines, "What is to be done? Here are some suggestions based on the collective wisdom of city teachers: Improve school safety and student discipline. There can be no effective teaching or learning in an atmosphere of fear, disorder and chaos. The perception of city schools as unsafe and disorderly is the major reason why families and 'highly qualified' teachers avoid them. Stop ignoring the needs of city kids. Too many city kids do not get the services they so desperately need. There are not enough alternative programs for students who cannot function effectively in the regular settings. Treat teachers as professionals. Growing numbers of city teachers complain that their administrators treat them with disrespect and disregard. The most important dynamic in education is what occurs between teacher and student. All else, and everyone else, must serve to support this. So, if the administrators' role is to serve and support teaching and learning, teachers should have a yearly opportunity to affirm their administrator's leadership or to fail to affirm it. And logical consequences should ensue. Let teachers teach. City teachers are saddled with prepackaged instructional programs that micro-manage teaching and rob teachers of much of their professional prerogative. 'Highly qualified' teachers do not want to be educational sales clerks who are not trusted to make instructional decisions for their own students."
White Plains program offers immigrants help with children's education
Date CapturedTuesday January 16 2007, 5:49 AM
The Journal News reports, "A new family dinner-workshop run by the White Plains Youth Bureau aims to integrate immigrant parents into their children's schooling and the community. The 12-week Family Excel, or 'Avance Familiar' in Spanish, usually meets Wednesday nights at the White Plains Middle School's Highland campus to answer parents' questions about homework, education and other city services."
Pusillanimous Pace
Date CapturedTuesday January 16 2007, 5:44 AM
NY Post opines, "In any event, if the school were truly committed to freedom of expression, the only 'dialogue' needed would be to convey one simple message: Anyone thinking of disrupting the film or committing violence will face severe repercussions. End of discussion. Officials could have used the occasion to make it absolutely clear that no one at Pace can be barred from showing a film - even if it's not a left-wing film. But that wasn't the goal. (Again, Pace is not unique in this regard. Consider how Columbia University responded to violence there last October that kept the founder of the Minutemen Project - a group favoring tough control of U.S. borders - from speaking. New York is still waiting for meaningful action.)"
Shortchanged
Date CapturedTuesday January 16 2007, 5:38 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA reports, "City middle schools are caught in a "pattern of neglect" that is magnified in the poorest neighborhoods, a study to be released today charges. The study, by the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, an organization of parent advocacy groups, found middle schools are plagued by substandard teachers and an unequal distribution of resources and course offerings."
New York City Education Department Becomes an Open Book
Date CapturedTuesday January 16 2007, 5:37 AM
NY Post David Andreatta writes, "After four years of landmark changes to the school system, the Department of Education is preparing to turn over mounds of data related to its most radical reforms to independent researchers, The Post has learned. A list of top priorities for the new Research Partnership for New York City Schools includes examining the controversial academy for training principals, empowerment schools, and changes to the high-school admissions process."
Role of Rhode Island school nurse-teachers evolves
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 9:35 AM
Newport Daily News reports, "School nursing has changed dramatically over the years, both Bryon and Watkinson [school nurses] agreed, in part because of advancements in neonatal health care. Premature or seriously ill infants who may not have survived a decade or two ago now grow up and go to school, where some continue to suffer from developmental, physical or behavioral problems. In addition, there are more children with asthma, ulcers and diabetes than when she started out as a school nurse-teacher, Byron said."
Photos chronicle decrepit schools
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 9:29 AM
The Post and Courier reports, "If a picture says a thousand words, then a photography exhibit on display this week should enlighten Charlestonians to the plight facing students and teachers in rural schools across the state. 'But What About Us?' features 60 photographs taken by students in seven of South Carolina's most rural school districts. The pictures depict unsafe and unsanitary school conditions, from broken playground equipment to leaky roofs to clogged sinks to rotting floors. The exhibit will be on display all week at the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, and the documentary film 'Corridor of Shame: The Neglect of South Carolina's Rural Schools' will be screened on Wednesday night."
New Jersey bill removes all mercury products from facilities
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 9:19 AM
Gloucester County Times reports, "Six months before the Kiddie Kollege day care center in Franklin Township was shut down due to mercury contamination, a county environmental group proposed legislation that would have reduced and possibly eliminated mercury in educational facilities statewide."
She works to ease transition of Hispanic students
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 9:11 AM
Journal & Courier reports, "Mida Grover knows what it's like to start school in a different country with a different culture and with a completely different system. She came to the United States from Venezuela when she was a senior in high school. "It was a total traumatic experience," she said. Now Grover, as the Hispanic/Latino advocate/liaison for the Lafayette School Corp., works to help students and their parents get acclimated into Indiana culture and the Lafayette schools."
'It's gotten better, but it's bad'
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 9:01 AM
Chicago Sun-Times reports, "In schools with high concentrations of Hispanic students, it has long been common to see empty seats in class the week or two before and after Christmas, when immigrant families take their kids to visit relatives back home. But parent outreach efforts at the Chicago Public Schools, turmoil in Mexico and Latin America, and increased border security have meant fewer kids are missing days this school year, say teachers and administrators."
Foundation money may aid Pittsburgh city high school makeover
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 8:54 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "Around the country, however, high-school improvements have emerged as communitywide responsibilities. Philanthropies might provide the bulk of funding, but districts still have to find local partners to provide additional cash or other kinds of assistance."
SUNY committee predicts more charter schools
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 7:32 AM
Legislative Gazette reports, "The State University of New York Board of Trustees Committee on Charter Schools said last Wednesday they had little doubt the cap on charter schools will be raised by Gov. Eliot Spitzer. The New York State Charter Schools Act includes a statutory cap of 100 charter schools statewide. "
Data show where Ithaca City School District (ICSD) has progressed
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 7:08 AM
Ithaca Journal contributor Michael Pliss, Ithaca City School District's Director of Information and Instructional Technology writes, "The Equity Strategic Plan calls for us to set local benchmarks for progress toward equity. The experience of identifying and collecting the diverse array of data for the First Annual Equity Report Card makes plain the need for flexible student information systems and for staff training in data stewardship and data governance. Collecting and analyzing data for equity is not an end in itself. But we believe our ability to make real progress in eliminating race, class and disability in student success and participation is critically supported by our efforts in data analysis. Knowing where we are is a crucial first step in getting to where we need to be, a place where all students are achieving their dreams."
Ed Dept. gets F on class size
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 4:30 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Class-size data for high schools turned over to the City Council last week were flawed, overcounting more than a dozen classes in four schools by as many as 19 students. That was after the Council granted school officials a three-month extension to turn over the numbers."
Emotions high at hearing over schools' axing
Date CapturedMonday January 15 2007, 3:52 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Each of the targeted schools had a graduation rate below 45% - a statistic that Region 6 Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard called 'unacceptable.' Creating small schools 'is the best way to change the tide and to change it quickly,' he said. Some in the audience agreed, but opposed the decision-making process."
Should schools be allowed to consider race when assigning students to its schools? No
Date CapturedSunday January 14 2007, 3:37 PM
Seattle Times editorial columnist Bruce Ramsey opines, "Racial balancing has done little to close the achievement gap between the races. School districts managed by race because it looked good — and school officials, especially white officials, desperately need to look good. They also used race because it was easy, but it didn't accomplish much. The things that would actually increase student achievement are a more demanding curriculum, more professionalism by principals and teachers, more involvement by parents and, most of all, a more serious attitude among students. None of these is as easy as racial gerrymandering, but they work. They are what that taxi driver would want for his kids, and what would work for kids of all races."
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) launches survey because “School Libraries Count!”
Date CapturedSunday January 14 2007, 3:21 PM
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is launching a longitudinal survey of school library media programs at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. The “School Libraries Count!” survey will open on January 18, 2007, and will gather data on changes in the field to gain understanding of the state of school library media programs nationally. “The survey is one of the special projects AASL is undertaking as a result of its new strategic plan,” said AASL President Cyndi Phillip. “In 2006, the AASL Board of Directors approved a proposal that AASL conduct its own annual national sample survey of school library media programs to gain a better understanding of the field and trends for the future. We are asking for support from the AASL Board, committees, AASL affiliates and members to spread the word and get extensive and varied data for the survey.”
A promising education
Date CapturedSunday January 14 2007, 9:03 AM
Times Union contributor Frederick J. Frelow, director of the Early College Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, N.J. writes, "The next chapter on civil rights in New York will begin in the state's public schools. Indeed, the future of an entire generation of Americans is in the hands of our state leaders right now. They can create national models for education finance, leading the way for 49 other states to meet King's challenges and make good on the Founders' promise. This investment will not only yield a better prepared work force, but make New York's young people ready for true citizenship."
State aid fuels school construction projects
Date CapturedSunday January 14 2007, 8:28 AM
Post-Standard reports, "Each district was allocated a share of EXCEL aid in the state budget, based on enrollment and its financial need.However, districts must submit project applications that meet state criteria in order to collect. The project must involve school expansion or renovation, health and safety, accessibility, energy conservation and education technology. More than a dozen districts in Central New York have passed or are putting expansion and renovation projects before voters in coming months. And other districts are beginning to explore their needs to take advantage of the state's largesse. "
Put brakes on charter schools
Date CapturedSunday January 14 2007, 7:59 AM
Times Union Fred LeBrun writes, "The tension is between just raising the cap, and raising the cap with extra aid to affected districts and a measure of local control. For those of us leery of charters, the path is obvious: Let's put the brakes on charters and give the taxpayer a break in the process. "
A test for public schools: As Tech Valley High recruits students for the fall, some districts may opt not to participate
Date CapturedSunday January 14 2007, 7:46 AM
Times Union opines, "As for district administrators and schools boards, they will have a harder time complaining about charter schools if they view Tech Valley High through a narrow dollars-and-cents lens. Public schools lose a student's per pupil state aid every time a student enrolls in a charter school, and there is no chance for reimbursement. By contrast, Tech Valley High represents a chance for public schools to prove they can be innovative and successful on their own. By any measure, that's an investment worth making."
School to Offer Classical Education Program to Girls
Date CapturedSunday January 14 2007, 7:25 AM
NY Times reports, "The Montfort Academy, a Catholic high school for boys in Katonah, opened in 2002 with the goal of offering what it calls a classical education and, as it says on its Web site, 'Forming Men for All Seasons.' But in September, the school — which last year graduated its first full class of boys — will start a similar, but separate, program for girls. The girls’ program will start the way the boys’ did, with a ninth-grade class and adding a ninth grade each year as the other classes move up."
New policy on NCLB testing is flawed
Date CapturedSunday January 14 2007, 7:12 AM
Uticaod.com opines, "It's not wrong to expect the best of every student. But applying a blanket standard to school districts, especially those whose English-speaking and special education populations vary significantly, is like producing a universal windshield and then wondering why it doesn't fit every car."
Phoenix, Arizona district backs aid for kids of migrants
Date CapturedSaturday January 13 2007, 3:58 PM
The Arizona Republic reports, "Immigrant children brought to this country illegally by their parents should have the same shot at going to college and qualifying for financial aid as other students, the new Phoenix Union High School District board decided Thursday night. The board voted unanimously in favor of a resolution in support of a federal bill that would allow undocumented immigrant students to legalize their residency status."
Retention key to student, college success
Date CapturedSaturday January 13 2007, 12:41 PM
Benton County Daily Record reports, "Northwest Arkansas Community College worked with several other colleges statewide to learn how to improve its retention rates during an all-day seminar held Thursday at the college’s Shewmaker Center for Workforce Technologies. The keynote speaker, Vincent Tinto, is a nationally known distinguished professor in the School of Education at Syracuse University in New York. He is an expert on student retention issues. Tinto told the gathered crowd of people from about 10 colleges in the state that colleges need to focus more on what students are learning than on what is being taught. He shared the various conditions that promote student success and what steps community colleges are already taking to promote success. 'Focus on the classroom,' he said. 'The classroom becomes the centerpiece for the learning environment. '”
No tuition break for Utah migrants, most say
Date CapturedSaturday January 13 2007, 10:11 AM
The Salt Lake Tribune reports, "Sizer, the chairman of Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement (UFIRE), is strongly supporting a bill in this year's Legislature that would repeal a state law allowing undocumented students who graduate from a Utah high school to pay in-state tuition at the state's nine institutions of higher education."
Connecticut School Bus Safety Reform
Date CapturedSaturday January 13 2007, 9:59 AM
The Hartford Courant reports, "[Connecticut] School bus drivers will now be subject to the same screening standards as teachers and coaches, Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Robert M. Ward announced Friday. 'If you're not allowed in the classroom, if you're not allowed to coach children, you should also not be able to drive them to school,' said Ward."
Brazil President To Expand Benefits Tied To School Attendance
Date CapturedSaturday January 13 2007, 9:51 AM
AP reports, "Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wants to include more Brazilian teenagers in the program Bolsa Familia, or Family Allowance, that provides monthly subsidies to poor families who keep their children in school and meet other requirements. Launched in 2003, Lula's first year in office, the popular program pays monthly stipends of 15 to 95 reals (between $7 and $44) to 11.1 million poor families with children up to 15 years old. Children over 15 don't qualify."
No Child law a tough act
Date CapturedSaturday January 13 2007, 9:10 AM
Jacksonville.com reports, "[Nassau County, Florida school]Officials said No Child Left Behind, which President Bush signed into law Jan. 8, 2002, has had a definite impact on school districts across the country, not just locally. It makes every school district accountable for students' annual progress, measures all students' progress in reading and mathematics, and requires students to be tested annually as a way of ensuring they are proficient in academic subjects when they graduate. But it also requires school districts to dissect teacher certifications annually for the subjects they teach, provide teacher training, and provide supplementary tutoring for students needing more help. Districts must take money out of their federal fund allocation to do it, shifting resources they count on to serve the vast majority of students."
District to ask voters for fix-up funding
Date CapturedSaturday January 13 2007, 7:07 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Courts have ruled that the state must increase spending in New York City schools to ensure that all pupils receive a 'sound and basic education.' The state Legislature plans to increase funding to all New York schools and has set up the EXCEL fund to provide $1.8 billion to New York City districts for capital renovation projects and $800 million to schools in the rest of the state. Under the formula, which considers enrollment and student needs, East Irondequoit is eligible for $1.1 million. The state already reimburses the East Irondequoit School District 73.4 percent of the cost of renovation projects. The district says EXCEL funding, plus interest earned by investing project money until needed, could eliminate the local share for the $5.1 million worth of improvements. No tax increase is on the table. The district plans to use the money for projects including roof repair at four schools, safety upgrades at Eastridge High School and electrical work. "
Inner-city Buffalo students 'nudged' toward college
Date CapturedFriday January 12 2007, 11:23 AM
Buffalo News reports, "African-American high school students in Buffalo are getting a nudge toward higher education under a new initiative at Hilbert College. The small liberal arts college in Hamburg is partnering with two Buffalo churches to bring high school juniors to the Hamburg school. The students will stay for three weeks during the summer, get a dose of campus life and receive tutoring to sharpen the academic skills they will need for college."
Bus magic
Date CapturedFriday January 12 2007, 6:58 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin writes, "Instead of discarding old school buses that are still in working order they are giving them new life as snowplows, sanders and even workshops on wheels."
Schools need real support, not politics
Date CapturedFriday January 12 2007, 6:02 AM
Times Herald-Record opines, "Also on the Spitzer agenda are a longer school day, a longer school year, more after-school programs and a commission on public higher education. That's an ambitious list in any year. In one with intense pressure to reduce property taxes and tame the Albany monster, it could stand as not only the biggest test the new governor will have to face but also the most important."
Spitzer's Deal
Date CapturedFriday January 12 2007, 5:06 AM
NY Post columnist Ryan Sager writes, "GOV. Spitzer wants to be the 'reform' governor, taking on Albany's entrenched power brokers on behalf of the people of New York. To do so, he's going to have to stand up to the most cancerous special-interest in all of Democratic politics: the teachers unions. To Spitzer's credit, it looks like he's stepping off on the right foot - by getting ready to push for a deal to expand the number of innovative (and typically non-union) charter schools allowed in the state. But he still risks stepping right in it - by conceding too much to the unions and crushing a promising experiment by over-regulating it."
Bush-Democrat alliance on education law feared
Date CapturedFriday January 12 2007, 3:43 AM
Washington Times reports, "Mr. Bush is urging Congress this year to renew one of his biggest domestic accomplishments, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law of 2002, which aims to increase student achievement through more testing and by tracking results of schools and holding them accountable. Democrats, who now control the House and Senate, are demanding some changes to the law, most notably a significant boost in funding levels. The option of adding high school reform to this year's 'to-do' list hasn't been publicly discussed lately, but Mr. Bush included the makings of such a plan in his budget proposal last year. The NCLB law focuses on grade school and requires testing just once in reading and math from grades 10 to 12. His plan from last year would have expanded high school testing to all three years."
SUNY board approves no smoking policy for dorms
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 5:25 PM
AP reports, "The State University of New York's trustees on Thursday adopted a policy to ban smoking from all dormitories as of July 1. The policy will affect the remaining 9 percent of SUNY residence hall beds where smoking is currently permitted, primarily at Stony Brook, Morrisville and Buffalo State, according to a statement issued by the university board."
Reforming New York’s Property Tax System: A Report on the January 10 Conference sponsored by the Center for Governmental Research, the Fiscal Policy Institute and the Empire Center of NYS Policy
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 8:58 AM
Empirepage editor Peter G. Pollak suggests as a step in the right direction, "Reform the Star Program to impose a cap on school district spending increases with provisions for enrollment increases and capital spent on new buildings."
Property taxes linked to job growth
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 8:52 AM
Times Union reports, "New York's governments and school districts have been hiring people at a rapid clip in recent years, far outpacing population and school enrollment, according to a speaker [Robert Ward, research director at the Public Policy Institute, which is affiliated with the state Business Council] Wednesday at a symposium on property taxes."
Maine school consolidation proposal raises eyebrows
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 8:45 AM
Maine Coast Now reports, "[Maine]Governor John Baldacci’s proposal to consolidate 152 school districts into 26 played to mixed reviews in Waldo County. The reaction from school superintendents in School Administrative Districts 3, 34 and 56 in Waldo County ranged from skeptical to cautious. The governor said his plan wouldn’t close any schools, but would reduce the number of superintendents. With the savings from consolidating 290 central office administrations, Baldacci would put more dollars into the classrooms, benefiting teachers and students, he said."
THE STATE BUDGET: CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S PROPOSAL K-12 EDUCATION
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 8:23 AM
San Francisco Chronicle reports, "The governor wants to spend $36.8 billion from the general fund for K-12 education, up from $36.6 billion. For classroom spending, that translates to $8,569 per pupil, up from $8,293. The state would save $283.6 million under the proposal because enrollment in the 5.9 million-pupil system is expected to drop slightly, by about 23,000 students. The total includes $1.9 billion (a 4 percent increase) that districts can use to cover the higher costs of running schools."
In Education Debate, Congress Must Talk Money
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 7:16 AM
NPR: One of the issues the new Congress will deal with is the renewal of the No Child Left Behind Act. Commentator Andrew Rotherham says that any reconsideration of education legislation will need to consider changes in the way it is funded. Rotherham is co-founder and co-director of Education Sector, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. He serves on the Virginia Board of Education and writes the blog Eduwonk.com.
Leaving Schools Behind
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 5:25 AM
Post-Standard opines, "[Immigrant] Children struggling to fit in to a strange new environment will have their spirits badly shaken, and their failure on the tests will keep the school on the state's list of deficient schools. A better way to help H.W. Smith [Syracuse elementary school] and other schools that are doing remarkable things with newly arrived immigrant children would be to provide them with realistic goals and the expert outside help and funding to achieve them."
Panel says property taxes key
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 5:19 AM
Newsday reports, "Most residents who testified at three commission hearings last year declared support for introducing an income tax, as a more equitable way to fund schools and relieve the burden on homeowners. One concern: East End towns now depend on summer resort properties for tax revenue, yet many Hamptons homeowners have primary residences in New York City, excusing them from a Suffolk income tax. 'The loss of real-estate tax revenue from second homes without a corresponding income would devastate many of our school districts that are located in resort areas,' the 17-member panel says in its report. Another concern, the commission said, is that the local economy might suffer if wealthy residents move out of Suffolk, taking with them their 'purchasing power' and lowering sales tax revenue. It may also discourage people from moving to Suffolk."
Albany Capital Region's schools want to leave this list behind
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 4:54 AM
Times Union reports, "Because it is so easy to get on the list, school officials have complained that it unfairly tars them. For example, schools can generally be listed if 95 percent of their 'subgroups' aren't tested. But that can be hard for small schools with just a handful of minority students or those with disabilities; one or two absences on test day can skew the results. 'God forbid there is an outbreak of the flu ... and they don't make their 95 percent participation rate they can be put on the list,' said Maria Neira, vice president of the New York State United Teachers, the state's major teachers union, which has long criticized NCLB on several fronts. Additionally, Neira said, the requirement that test scores rise year after year -- even for schools that are already doing well -- seems to set up a lot schools for failure."
Schools in Flunk Funk
Date CapturedThursday January 11 2007, 4:51 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Until last year, the city had enjoyed incremental decreases in the number of failing schools since hitting a peak of 497 in 2003. Officials had hailed the declines as evidence that the Bloomberg administration's education reforms were working. City and state education officials yesterday took pains to point out that the latest results were based largely on scores from new statewide tests introduced in grades 3 through 8 last school year. Previously, schools were judged only on the performance of their fourth- and eighth-graders."
New Jersey Education board 'plain language' bill is sent to gov
Date CapturedWednesday January 10 2007, 9:23 PM
The Jersey Journal reports, "Under the bill, each local school board would be required to fill out a form provided by the state that spells out budget and salary information in plain language." Additionally, "The law would mandate the details of administrators' pay packages be spelled out in plain language, and would require school boards to hold public hearings before amending the contract of an administrator."
506 TITLE I SCHOOLS AND 56 DISTRICTS STATEWIDE ARE “IN NEED OF IMPROVEMENT” UNDER NCLB; 193 SCHOOLS ALSO IDENTIFIED UNDER SEPARATE STATE RULES
Date CapturedWednesday January 10 2007, 6:11 PM
NYSED PRESS RELEASE: A total of 506 schools and 56 districts have been identified by the State Education Department as “In Need of Improvement” under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Of these, 73 schools and 14 districts were newly identified this school year. In addition, 52 schools and 8 districts have been removed from the Title I improvement list because they have made Adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years in all areas for which they were identified. Forty-five of the newly identified schools and 27 of the newly removed schools were in New York City. All of these 506 schools and 56 districts receive Title I funds and must take a variety of actions under federal law. A total of 193 schools have also been identified as “Schools Requiring Academic Progress” (SRAP). These schools did not receive Title I funds for the number of years required to be identified as schools “In Need of Improvement” under federal NCLB rules. Of these, 17 schools—6 in New York City—are newly identified. These schools are required to develop a plan for improvement in the area(s) for which they are identified. Thirty-three schools—12 in New York City—in SRAP status in 2005-06 made sufficient progress to be placed in good standing.
Complaining all the way to education successes in the nation's schools
Date CapturedWednesday January 10 2007, 8:44 AM
Journal News opines, "A critical review of NCLB is overdue. Nationwide and locally, some schools and districts are still making sense of the accountability game (see staff writer Leah Rae's Sunday article about "erasure analysis" - a necessary tool for uncovering teachers and schools that, unfortunately, look for the easy way out on standardized tests; to whit, they cheat). And we'll have more to say later on about what specifically is right and wrong about NCLB. But we think there is more than anecdotal evidence to suggest that Congress should get behind NCLB, preferably one that is improved, better funded and up to the very hard challenges that remain."
Adding up teachers
Date CapturedWednesday January 10 2007, 6:24 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "The state's teacher data give high marks to most local suburban districts and a lower grade to the City School District. Rochester officials said Tuesday the information is flawed and that the district has more "highly qualified'' teachers than they're getting credit for. For example, the numbers show 44 percent of the city's reading teachers are below the standard. The city says they're all highly qualified. Let's get the numbers right, but with the knowledge that, even when they are right, they don't tell the whole story. Only a good teacher-child-parent relationship can fill in the gaps."
Mike's ed shakeup
Date CapturedWednesday January 10 2007, 4:35 AM
NY Daily News Juan Gonzalez: reports, "According to education sources who have been informed about portions of the plan, the mayor will propose: Doubling the number of schools in Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's experimental "Empowerment Zone" from the current 300 to more than 600 - nearly half of all schools in the system. Hiring private education companies as consultants or managers to oversee smaller networks of schools within the Empowerment Zone. They also would run some support services for the entire system. Further reducing the 10 existing regional school districts into five superdistricts - one for each borough."
Principals say adding character education has positive impact
Date CapturedTuesday January 09 2007, 7:50 PM
Telegram Staff Writer repotts, "Several innovative efforts to curb behavioral and disciplinary problems at Remington and Barringer Road elementary schools have proven to be highly successful, the principals of both schools told school board members during last night's meeting. Both schools have made a big push in recent years to incorporate character education into the curriculum. The schools have a 'word of the month' that is ingrained into the students for the entire month through assemblies and also working its way into classroom instruction. Students are also rewarded for acts of kindness shown toward their fellow students or staff during the school day."
A Principal's View of 'No Child Left Behind'
Date CapturedTuesday January 09 2007, 11:14 AM
NPR Steve Inskeep reports, "What sort of impact has the No Child Left Behind Act had on one high school in Baltimore? Tajah Gross, principal of Northwestern High, talks with Steve Inskeep."
Frozen Assets: Rethinking Teacher Contracts Could Free Billions for School Reform
Date CapturedTuesday January 09 2007, 6:57 AM
Education Sector report written by Marguerite Rosa . Many common provisions of teacher contracts require school districts to spend substantial sums to implement policies which research has shown have a weak or inconsistent relationship with student learning. This report examines eight such provisions: Increases in teacher salaries based on years of experience; Increases in teacher salaries based on educational credentials and experiences; Professional development days; Number of paid sick and personal days; Class-size limitations; Use of teachers’ aides; Generous health and insurance benefits; and Generous retirement benefits.
Go beyond the New York charter school cap
Date CapturedTuesday January 09 2007, 6:31 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "The answer is to create a separate funding stream so charters are supported adequately but not as offshoots of the district. That mingling has created problems that need not persist. And if the funding tension goes away, so might district antipathy to charters. [Gov] Spitzer should also endorse tougher state oversight of charters."
Teacher quality issues remain
Date CapturedTuesday January 09 2007, 6:26 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "School districts across the state are increasing the percentages of highly qualified teachers. However, a study by the state Education Department released Monday shows that in most core subjects, Rochester has the lowest percentage of 'highly qualified' teachers of large urban districts in the state. Overall, 89 percent of core courses in the Rochester School District in the 2005-06 school year were taught by 'highly qualified' teachers — meaning they have mastered the subjects they teach — according to the Education Department. "
New York Risks Losing Fed Bucks for Education
Date CapturedTuesday January 09 2007, 4:56 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "More New York state public-school teachers than ever are "highly qualified" - but the state could lose millions in federal education aid unless all of its teachers meet the standard by July. State Education Commissioner Richard Mills acknowledged that the deadline, set by the No Child Left Behind law, would be tough to meet, in spite of significant progress over the last year."
Kennedy to promote extended school days
Date CapturedMonday January 08 2007, 7:04 PM
Boston Globe reports, "Massachusetts is the first to undertake a state-sponsored initiative to lengthen time spent in some schools beyond the traditional six-hours-a-day, 180-day school year, according to Kennedy's office. Advocates say increasing classroom time should boost student achievement, especially in urban districts where parents tend to be less involved in their children's schooling. But advocates say districts cannot simply add hours. The quality of those additional hours must be strong, and educational programs might have to be rethought, they say."
NEW DATA SHOW: NEW YORK STATE RAISES PERCENT OF HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS IN EVERY SUBJECT EXCEPT ARTS
Date CapturedMonday January 08 2007, 3:30 PM
NYSED PRESS RELEASE: The gap narrowed especially at the elementary school level, from a 16 percent gap in 2004-05 to a 7 percent gap in 2005-06. In middle and high school, the gap narrowed by 1.7 percent, to a 15.5 percent gap. New York City especially improved, with more highly qualified teachers in every subject. Despite the improvement, several of the Big 5 Cities still have relatively high percentages of teachers in some subjects who are not considered highly qualified under the federal rules of the No Child Left Behind Act
Race and Public School Assignments
Date CapturedMonday January 08 2007, 9:15 AM
Justice Talking presents, "Can race be a factor in deciding which public schools students will attend? That’s the main issue in two cases from Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky being heard in the U.S. Supreme Court this term. Although the programs differ, each school board is accused of discrimination for setting numerical targets for minority enrollment in order to maintain racial diversity in their schools. Join us for this edition of Justice Talking as we take a detailed look at how school districts assign students to schools."
From the Desk of Jean C. Stevens, Interim Deputy Commissioner
Date CapturedMonday January 08 2007, 9:07 AM
New York State Education Department (NYSED) Public Announcement of District/School Data: During the week of January 8, the Department will release to the media and the public a list of public schools and districts in improvement status for the 2006-07 school year and the percentage of core courses taught by teachers who were highly qualified in 2005-06 in each public school district and charter school. Providers of NCLB Supplemental Educational Services: The next application period to become a New York State-approved supplemental educational services provider begins January 19, 2007. On behalf of the Board of Regents, the Department notifies districts of location, public schools, and nonpublic schools in the same geographic area of any actions that the Board of Regents has taken related to charter schools as well as the receipt of any new proposed charter applications, proposed renewal applications, or proposed revisions. The notified districts of location, public schools, and nonpublic schools are encouraged to comment on the proposed action and solicit comments from the community through a public hearing on the proposed action. (Read more announcements here)
Bassett to open health centers at three schools
Date CapturedMonday January 08 2007, 6:30 AM
The Daily Star reports, "Soon it will be possible for children in three more local school districts to see a medical provider without having to leave school. Bassett Healthcare is opening centers this month in the Cooperstown, Worcester and Middleburgh central schools. Several centers are already open in other schools."
Lift SUNY onto honor roll of American universities
Date CapturedMonday January 08 2007, 6:29 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributor Ed O'Shea, English professor at SUNY Oswego writes, "During his campaign, Gov. Eliot Spitzer expressed two goals for public higher education in New York: Employ more of the state's college graduates in the state. Enhance the quality and reputation of the State University of New York among other large state systems. I believe the two objectives are closely related. While some of the causes of SUNY's comparative malaise are structural and systemic and not easily addressed, others will respond to intelligent public policy initiatives. Here are my suggestions, gleaned from almost 30 years teaching in SUNY:" READ MORE
BOCES to offer college credit business course in September
Date CapturedMonday January 08 2007, 6:22 AM
Journal News reports, "The Rockland Board of Cooperative Educational Services is planning a merger. It is melding its role as the educator of nontraditional students with the desire of many traditional students to get an edge in the college selection process. Beginning in September, BOCES is planning to offer a college-credit business course in conjunction with Iona College. New Visions Business will be open to about two dozen high school seniors interested in economics, finance, marketing, management, international business and strategic planning. New Visions Business is similar to BOCES New Visions health program, a high school elective that allows 16 students interested in medicine to get a hands-on, college-credit course through BOCES."
Roosevelt school is late, $10M over cost
Date CapturedMonday January 08 2007, 5:04 AM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND writes, "Construction of a Roosevelt middle school is running $10 million over budget and more than a year behind schedule, according to state officials who blame overruns on the costs of cleaning up toxic pesticides on the site. State authorities add that delays in the middle-school project also will push back planned renovations of Roosevelt High School by a year, and that extra costs for the middle school could force cuts in the amount of work done at the high school."
Mayors Seek to Take Charge of Schools
Date CapturedSunday January 07 2007, 10:21 PM
AP reports, "The California Legislature gave the Los Angeles' mayor partial control over schools. But a judge last month struck down that law, saying it violated that state's constitution. The mayor is appealing. Mayoral control of schools is being debated in Albuquerque, N.M., and Seattle too. City leaders and their allies make the case that better schools help make cities prosper. Mayors say they are better equipped to take on the infighting, inertia and high turnover rates associated with school boards and the superintendents who report to them. New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, put it this way when Fenty and members of the District of Columbia City Council visited recently: "There's an old story that a camel is a racehorse designed by a committee and there's a lot more truth to that than not," Bloomberg said. "You don't run things by committee. You don't try to come to consensus when it's our children's future." Such statements have earned Bloomberg criticism from people who say he has failed to seek community input and operate in a transparent way, said David Bloomfield, who heads a program at Brooklyn College that trains school administrators."
Missouri study bolsters schools’ shift to three tiers
Date CapturedSunday January 07 2007, 2:27 PM
Columbia Daily Tribune reports, "Thompson said district officials were looking for a way to transition sixth- and seventh-grade students out of the self-contained classroom setting and introduce them to more rigorous coursework. Adding ninth grade to the existing high schools wasn’t feasible without building additions or another major high school, he said. The community at the time favored the four-tiered plan, Thompson said, which made the best use of district resources. Columbia’s decision to add middle school predated Alspaugh’s research linking transitions to academic losses. Alspaugh [emeritus professor of education] said he supports the district’s plan to return to the three-tiered system. 'Clearly, it’s a step in the right direction.'"
Grading Spitzer's new school ideas
Date CapturedSunday January 07 2007, 7:47 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "It's time for a new start for schools and students, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said last week. The changes include: More money — but more accountability and better results come with the bucks. Proven programs — smaller class sizes, a longer school day and longer school year, more after-school programs and improved teacher quality, especially in the neediest schools. Pre-kindergarten programs for all 4-year-olds in the state. More charter schools. A Commission on Public Higher Education to recommend improvements in the higher ed system. Here is some reaction:"
Put down the pitchforks and hear Badillo out
Date CapturedSunday January 07 2007, 7:31 AM
NY Daily News ANDREA BATISTA SCHLESINGER writes, "If we're ever going to have systemic change, we need all parents, no matter their race or background, to be involved in the school system - and not just ankle deep. It's not enough to check homework each night. So how do we do it? First of all, the school system makes it far harder than it needs to be for Hispanic parents. It took years to get the Department of Education to agree to provide translation services to parents."
Mississippi education issues lost in funding battles
Date CapturedSunday January 07 2007, 7:25 AM
Clarion-Ledger reports, "The biggest untouchable issue is school consolidation. Mississippi clearly doesn't need 151 school districts. But consolidation steps on school administrators' turf. It makes communities confront issues of community and racial groupings. It could even, oh horror, affect a basketball or football team. Lawmakers won't touch it."
Education reform law -- No Child Left Behind (NCLB) up for fixes
Date CapturedSunday January 07 2007, 7:20 AM
CONTRA COSTA TIMES reports, "Bush has invited Miller, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to meet in the Oval Office on Monday, the law's fifth anniversary, to talk about potential changes, said Danny Weiss, Miller's chief of staff. The meeting resembles a 2001 gathering at which members of Congress and the then-new president unveiled a draft of the education initiative Bush signed into law the following year."
NYCLU Urges Spitzer to Implement School-Based Reform, End School Segregation
Date CapturedSaturday January 06 2007, 11:04 PM
ACLU press release: "The recommendation that the state work to decrease racial inequality in the education system arises from Racial Transformation and the Changing Nature of Segregation, a recent study of racial segregation in public schools, prepared by Gary Orfield and Chungmei Lee for the Harvard Civil Rights Project, which showed that '[t]he highest levels of black segregation [are] found in New York, Illinois, California and Michigan. In these states, the average black student attended schools with less than one-quarter white students in 2003.' The NYCLU urged the governor to adopt a vigorous program to combat school segregation, including introducing effective magnet schools and adopting transfer programs that foster integration."
Expert panel to help chart course of Louisiana state's education
Date CapturedSaturday January 06 2007, 10:56 PM
The Town Talk reports, "A panel of higher education experts has begun an 18-month look at what's right and wrong with Louisiana's colleges and universities with an eye toward making them better."
Missouri school funding trial focuses on property assessments
Date CapturedSaturday January 06 2007, 3:36 PM
AP reports, "A trial on how the state funds public schools focused Thursday on suburban districts' concerns that some areas are undervaluing property, a key factor in the state method of doling out education dollars. Early witnesses and evidence narrowed in on property assessment practices around the state, a particular concern to 26 largely suburban plaintiff school districts in the Coalition to Fund Excellent Schools."
New Jersey Abbott districts plan focuses on personal attention
Date CapturedSaturday January 06 2007, 3:30 PM
The Jersey Journal reports, "State [New Jersey] and local school officials are rewriting the lesson plan for secondary education. The new plan - to be in place in middle and high schools in the state's poorest school districts by September 2008 - calls for small learning communities, more rigorous course work, and personalized mentoring during the high school years."
Admissions Form Stirs Debate at U. of Chicago
Date CapturedSaturday January 06 2007, 3:24 PM
NPR reports, "University of Chicago students are proud of the quirky questions on their school's application. Many are wary of the university's plans to also use an online form accepted by more than 300 schools."
No Child Left Behind Act flawed but likely to stay
Date CapturedSaturday January 06 2007, 2:31 PM
sbsun.com reports, "Before he was a teacher in Inglewood, Sanders was a black kid growing up in Birmingham, Ala., in the era of Jim Crow laws. His mom had a seventh-grade education, and his dad was illiterate. But his family valued education, and he worked hard in school. Sanders says No Child Left Behind unfairly blames schools and teachers for poor student performance. He says the law should do more to address societal issues affecting children in urban areas, including poverty and what he describes as a lack of parental interest in education."
Charter school idea gains traction in New York
Date CapturedSaturday January 06 2007, 2:19 PM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Gov. Eliot Spitzer may have cleared the way for approval of more charter schools by proposing to compensate school districts for potential financial losses, lawmakers said Friday. The Democrat said he wants to increase the number of publicly financed but privately run charter schools. But he said the state should cover school districts that lose students to charters so they don't lose the state aid that goes with them."
Mixed reaction from educators on Spitzer’s school reforms
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 11:46 PM
Legislative Gazette reports, "The plan to reform education in New York outlined by Gov. Eliot Spitzer during his State of the State address Wednesday afternoon was received by parents and educators as a step in the right direction, but many disapprove of his plans to increase the number of charter schools. "
Lottery: More than $300 million raised for New Mexico education
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 11:41 PM
AP reports, "The New Mexico Lottery has raised more than 300 (M) million dollars for public education since tickets went on sale in April 1996. Most of that money went into the Lottery Success Scholarship."
OEA (Ohio Education Association): It's Time to Keep the Promise of No Child Left Behind
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 8:34 PM
PR Newswire reports, "The OEA strongly supports the stated goals of NCLB: improving student achievement and closing student achievement gaps that persist among rich and poor, ethnic and minority groups and among school districts that have huge variations in resources. The OEA is a strong advocate of the National Education Association's Positive Agenda for improving the NCLB Act and addressing its flaws."
NY Gov. Spitzer backs off $8.5B school aid
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 2:53 PM
Newday JOHN HILDEBRAND reports, "Gov. Eliot Spitzer has backed off supporting the addition of up to $8.5 billion in statewide school aid that he had endorsed during his campaign, a key aide said yesterday."
Washington state groups call for changes in school financing
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 1:50 PM
AP reports, "Officials with the education groups said yesterday the state [Washington] is not living up to its constitutional obligation to fully finance basic public education. The state's expected $1.9 billion surplus and prosperous economy present a 'historic opportunity' to ease the current crisis and develop a long-term plan based on student needs, said Charles Hasse, president of the Washington Education Association. Washington is currently near the bottom in the nation in contributions made by the state government per student, Hasse said."
Chicago Mayor Daley issues challenge on school funding
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 10:16 AM
"Mayor Richard Daley challenged state lawmakers Thursday to reform Illinois' education funding system to take the burden off property taxpayers and reduce inequities between rich and poor districts."
Cheerleaders at Monroe County school girls' games: Hurrah
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 6:32 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributor Lynda McGarry writes, "The promotion and publicity issue addresses inequities found in the treatment of girls' teams by booster clubs. The decision doesn't affect cheerleaders at football games, which the Office of Civil Rights recognized was a unique sport with no counterpart for girls. It is a shame that it has taken 20 years for schools to figure out that they were not in compliance with this aspect of Title IX."
Community input can help schools
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 5:26 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal opines, "Gov. Eliot Spitzer has pledged to provide greater state funding for education and deliver property tax relief. But any changes will take time to be implemented. Meanwhile, the Rhinebeck citizens group could play an important role in helping to inform the public about them, Phelan noted. But forcing residents to absorb tax increases year after year cannot continue."
Troy school aims to boost learning curve
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 5:03 AM
Times Union reports, "The school has developed what it calls a team to encourage positive behavior, and it has trained some students with help from BOCES. 'We thought it was important for the kids to learn about the program to try to develop strong leaders,' she said. The district is awaiting word from the state as to whether its students met the standards last school year. In its restructuring outline, the district also calls for lowering the number of absent students and reducing teacher absence, as well."
Public Schools Get 0 for Conduct
Date CapturedFriday January 05 2007, 4:27 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Condon (Special Investigator) noted that his independent office investigates only serious misconduct by school employees. Complaints regarding corporal punishment and wrongdoing by students are referred to the chancellor's office. He said 259 cases of wrongdoing were confirmed last year - the highest ever."
TERRORIZED TEACHERS ARE BEING DRIVEN OUT
Date CapturedThursday January 04 2007, 8:40 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Many teachers cite fear for their safety as the reason for fleeing their middle-school jobs. Violent and disruptive incidents spike in middle schools, occurring at more than twice the rate as in elementary schools, even though middle schools account for about half as many students. The pattern mirrors a nationwide trend."
News from The School Administrators Association of New York State: State of State Offers Educational Opportunities
Date CapturedThursday January 04 2007, 7:36 AM
The School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS) applauds Governor Elliot Spitzer's commitment to increase funding and opportunities for all of New York's schools as outlined in today's State of the State message. SAANYS supports the governor's efforts to provide universal pre-kindergarten, smaller class sizes, after school programs, and increases in school funding. SAANYS also supports Spitzer's recognition for strong school accountability measures. SAANYS does not support raising the charter school cap, as the charter school experiment has yet to produce the positive results necessary to validate such an expansion. SAANYS is encouraged by the recognition of the need for transitional aid for districts of existing charter schools.
The state of public education: a state-by-state comparison
Date CapturedThursday January 04 2007, 5:56 AM
The Journal News reports on survey produced by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center and The Pew Center on the States, "New York does better than the national average in terms of elementary and middle school test scores, but has a lower percentage of students who graduate from high school. And while underperforming some states, New York does better than the average on the success index. The state scores higher than the national average on 9 of the 13 success indicators, including family income, percentage of children who have a parent with a college degree, preschool enrollment and college enrollment."
Online database opens a window for parents to compare schools
Date CapturedThursday January 04 2007, 5:53 AM
USA TODAY Greg Toppo reports, "A website by the National Council on Teacher Quality (www.nctq.org/cb), scheduled to launch today, promises to shine a light on teachers' working conditions. It gathers the minutiae of union collective-bargaining agreements and state policies for the nation's 50 largest school districts into a consumer-friendly database that allows anyone to compare districts. Together, the 50 districts educate 8 million children — about one in six public school children in the USA — and employ nearly half a million teachers."
LI kids need a diversity lesson
Date CapturedThursday January 04 2007, 5:20 AM
Newsday contributor Marc Bernstein, superintendent of the Valley Stream Central High School District writes, "The message of recent business association studies is clear: Unless students learn to work together, they will be ill-prepared to enter the competitive global economy, where, with the majority of the economically expanding world being non-Caucasian, students will have to relate to people from different backgrounds. The studies show that 21st-century skills must include communication and collaboration, in addition to abstract reasoning and problem solving. Time's Dec. 18 cover story said, 'A yawning chasm separates the world inside the schoolhouse from the world outside.' It recommended 'teaching kids to collaborate and solve problems in small groups.'"
4 Keys to Real School Reform
Date CapturedThursday January 04 2007, 4:40 AM
NY Post contributor Thomas W. Carroll, president of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability and founder and chairman of the two Brighter Choice Charter Schools in Albany writes, "Spitzer's State of the State message underscored his commitment to 'a vibrant education system that demands accountability and rewards excellence.' He promised more funding, too, so that 'the debate will no longer be about money, but about performance.'" Excellent rhetoric, but the rubber meets the road in his first executive budget, due Feb. 1. Spitzer and his new budget director, Paul Francis, should consider some crucial reforms:"
Gov: Spitzer: Our Kids Deserve More
Date CapturedThursday January 04 2007, 4:30 AM
NY Post FREDRIC U. DICKER writes, "City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said Spitzer's suggestions about a longer school day and year shouldn't be applied across-the-board. 'This has got to be targeted based on need,' Klein said. "Some kids need extended day, extended year. Other kids obviously are achieving well. I think you need to have differentiation," he added. City teachers union President Randi Weingarten said she wouldn't comment until she sees further details. In the city, the school year is currently 185 days and the length of the day ranges from 6 hours and 20 minutes to 6 hours and 57 minutes. The governor and state lawmakers have authority over the number of days in the school year, as well as the length of the day, the city Department of Education said."
Spitzer promises no taxes, more ‘investment’
Date CapturedWednesday January 03 2007, 2:55 PM
AP reports, "Most of Spitzer's address underscored his campaign promises, including a $6 billion property tax cut over three years and billions of dollars more for schools. Wednesday's proposals include: --Longer school days and school years, after-school programs and better teachers as well as greater accountability for school spending. 'There will be no more excuses for failure,' Spitzer said. 'The debate will no longer be about money, but about performance; the goal will no longer be adequacy, but excellence; the timetable will no longer be tomorrow, but today.'"
Study puts New Jersey education system 4th in nation
Date CapturedWednesday January 03 2007, 2:18 PM
AP reports, "While New Jersey has extremes of wealth and poverty, it has the highest median household income. And its adults, on average, are well educated. More than half the state's children have at least one parent with a college degree and three-fourths of children have at least one parent working a full-time, year-round job. Those factors all give children a better chance of succeeding in college or the work force, the study said. Also, the state did well in the assessment because it has a number of policies to line up preschool and elementary school standards and help students pursue trade industry licenses while still in high school. New Jersey ranked only 45th, though, in a measure of statewide policies dealing with academic standards, testing policies and how schools are held accountable for their performances."
Spitzer promises aid boost to upstate
Date CapturedWednesday January 03 2007, 9:14 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Distressed upstate cities, towns and school districts will receive additional 'significant' aid increases in Gov. Eliot Spitzer's first state budget in an effort to help turn around the moribund upstate economy."
Baltimore, Maryland classroom aides on move
Date CapturedWednesday January 03 2007, 8:02 AM
Sun Reporter reports, "As the Baltimore school system scrambles to meet a provision of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, it is transferring more than 150 classroom assistants to different schools next week. Assistants considered qualified under the law are being moved to high-poverty schools, while those considered not qualified are moving to schools serving wealthier children. The transfers are prompting outrage among many of the assistants and the teachers and others who work with them. They say the system didn't plan adequately and now is disrupting the lives of the assistants and the relationships they have built with children."
AG says Arkansas measures address school funding adequacy
Date CapturedWednesday January 03 2007, 7:27 AM
Arkansas News reports, "Conducting a comprehensive school finance study and adding nearly $200 million in academic and facilities aid this year fulfilled the state's commitment to adequately funding public schools, the attorney general's office said in state Supreme Court filings Tuesday. Attorney General Mike Beebe's office responded to a Nov. 30 high court order giving the state 30 days to provide information regarding state compliance with the court's December 2005 decision that declared Arkansas' school funding system unconstitutional."
Teahers Taking Wrong 'Train'
Date CapturedWednesday January 03 2007, 5:33 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "According to the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, a coalition of educators aiming to improve middle schools, 43 states offer some sort of middle-school teacher training but only 21 of them require these instructors to have that credential. New York, for instance, began offering a grades 5-9 teaching license in 2000. But it still offers overlapping licenses of grades K-6 and 7-12 and allows teachers with them to teach in middle schools. The result of the overlapping licenses, observers say, are teachers less in tune with the needs of middle-grade students because their formal training leaned to elementary or high school. In New York, the overlap is necessary in part to maintain enough certified teachers to meet state and federal requirements. But the state has begun placing much more emphasis on teacher training across all grades. Requiring teachers to have at least six credit hours of literacy training, introducing training in specific subject areas and tracking the success of teachers as they enter the workforce are just a few changes imposed in recent years."
Union-Endicott school district to show school targeted for work
Date CapturedWednesday January 03 2007, 4:24 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "'It's important for the public to get a firsthand look at the school so they can get a feeling of the condition that it's currently in,' said Matt Schroedel, the father of an eighth-grade student at Jennie F. Snapp who chairs the district's facilities committee."
6,000 in Maryland Suburbs Barred From Class
Date CapturedWednesday January 03 2007, 4:01 AM
Washington Post reports, "Students in grades 6 through 9 who had not provided a record of chickenpox and hepatitis B vaccinations -- or, in the case of chickenpox, month-and-year documentation of when they had the disease -- were told they could not return until they had the necessary paperwork in hand. The only exceptions were to be those who arrived with proof that they have appointments to get the shots by Jan. 22. Some students were held for the day in special rooms or centers in their schools. Others were sent home."
People reconsider posting personal details on public Web sites
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 11:30 PM
AP reports, "The walls of an auditorium were covered with thousands of sheets of paper — printouts from MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and other online sites that were filled with back-stabbing gossip, unflattering images, and details about partying and dating exploits. Each posting was easily accessed online, no password needed. But seeing them on paper — and in some cases, being asked to read them aloud — grabbed the attention of members of the North American Federation of Temple Youth, who gathered earlier this year at a camp outside New York City. That each of the members' pages mentioned their organization in some way only made it that much more embarrassing."
Leaders Brace for Adverse School Ruling
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 11:14 PM
NNPA reports, "Although the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of affirmative action in the University of Michigan Law School case three years ago and Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Black leaders say affirmative action and school desegregation are among the most important issues facing Black America in 2007 – both being at risk. 'The Supreme Court is likely to issue a devastating opinion in the Seattle cases [this] year and it will possibly set back the premise of Brown v. Board of Education to provide quality education for all children,' says Harvard University law professor Charles Ogletree."
Missouri school districts going to court for more state money
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 9:35 AM
POST-DISPATCH reports, "But defenders of Missouri's school funding system believe the state has done everything right in the past few years to fend off an expensive court ruling. They point to the adoption in 2005 of a new school spending plan that attempts to mimic the philosophy favored by many courts nationwide. The plan calls for the state to spend upwards of $800 million more on schools over a seven-year span. More than $120 million has already gone to the new formula."
The 65% solution -- a closer look in Vermont
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 9:03 AM
Burlington Free Press opined, "The 65 percent solution would require that schools spend a minimum of '65 percent of their funds directly on classroom instruction.' The National Center for Educational Statistics' (NCES) definition of 'classroom instruction' would serve as the basis for determining what constitutes 'in the classroom' activities. Briefly, it would includes teacher and para-educator salaries, instructional materials, extracurricular activities including athletics, arts and music, and tuition paid to out-of-district and private educational providers. The remaining 35 percent of school spending would be divided between all other expenditures, including transportation, professional development for educators, administrative costs, guidance counseling, libraries, heat, lights and food services."
Test scores for Pennsylvania special education students on rise
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 8:18 AM
Herald-Standard reports, "Test scores for special education students in the state's 501 school districts are reportedly on the rise with local educators lauding the efforts of inclusion implemented in January under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The law was revised to include a special emphasis on the achievement gap for all states that accept Title 1 federal grants that provide funding for remedial education programs for poor and disadvantaged children in public schools and in some private programs. A class action lawsuit filed against the Pennsylvania Department of Education also determined that starting last January special education students be integrated into the regular education classroom for instruction where the special education teacher and regular education teacher co-teach."
Report Card on American Education: A State by State Analysis: 1983-1984 to 2003-2004
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 7:33 AM
This American Legislative Exchange Council study ranks the educational performance of the school systems in the states, and the District of Columbia according to several criteria including National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), SAT, and ACT scores. Author Andrew T. LeFevre concludes, "As more and more parents see that they can—and should— have a choice in their child’s education, it causes more and more leaks in the dam that has been holding back real educational reform. And soon, the educational establishment will run out of fi ngers to plug those leaks and then the fl ood of educational reform and school choice will finally be free to flow all across this great nation—bringing liberation to many that have struggled far too long to escape from an educational system that has failed them all too often."
Plattsburgh fears for funding
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 6:24 AM
Press Republican reports, "Wachtmeister [Plattsburgh City School Board member] stressed that he is not saying New York City schoolchildren don't need more money, but "the bottom line is New York City is fabulously wealthy." Yet, he said, the people who dominate the power elite are not going to want to pay the taxes. 'Rich people in New York City send their kids to private schools, and that is one of the major reasons New York City doesn't spend as much as it ought to on its own students, because there is no interest in doing so. But they can afford to, given the income and property wealth in New York City.'"
Few solutions, plenty of ideas in Suffolk County
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 5:27 AM
Newsday reports, "The Commission to Evaluate School District Expenses and Efficiency has held four public hearings since September - and 50 speakers offered their recipes for reducing the cost of public education. Now comes the sifting. The alternatives will be considered by the 12-member panel and evaluated in a report due in March. The suggestions include: consolidating school districts so there's only one per town; increasing class sizes beyond the third grade; funding sports programs through user fees, and pooling among the districts the costs for school-bus transportation, security and building maintenance."
Discord at Suffolk County, New York funding hearing
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 5:21 AM
Newsday reports, "The grand jury, she [McCormick, Suffolk district attorney's office] said, called for contracts to be posted on school district Web sites in advance of board votes 'to make the information more easily accessible to the public - not to force them to go through a FOI request when to just get through your day, you might not have the time. '"
Little 'Middle' Left in Apple Schools: ED. DEPT. MOVING TOWARD K-8 FORMAT
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 5:04 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Perhaps not by coincidence, city officials say, middle-graders in K-8 schools are consistently scoring higher on reading and math tests than those in middle schools. 'There is less violence in these schools, the achievement is somewhat better and the attendance is higher. That's the bottom line,' said Kathleen Cashin, superintendent of Region 5, which covers some of the poorest neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. She added that the configuration was in high demand by parents looking for stability for their children and to keep older and younger siblings together longer. "
Money myth in education
Date CapturedTuesday January 02 2007, 3:23 AM
Washington Times contributor Matt Warner, education task director for the American Legislative Exchange Council writes, "This month, the American Legislative Exchange Council -- the largest U.S. nonpartisan group of state legislators -- released the 2006 Report Card on American Education concluding that 'despite substantial increases in resources being spent on primary and secondary education over the past two decades -- per pupil expenditures have increased by 77.4 percent (after adjusting for inflation) -- student performance has improved only slightly.' CFE argues that Americans need to shell out billions more -- on top of the nearly $500 billion they spend now -- to reduce class sizes, spend more per pupil and raise teacher salaries. If these "reforms" were the answer, no doubt most Americans would pay the price. But in fact America's classrooms have already been shrinking over the last two decades. Today's class sizes are nearly 11 percent smaller than in 1983 -- the year the Reagan administration issued its education report titled 'A Nation at Risk,' a clarion call for serious reform in education."
Long Island, NY reader writes....
Date CapturedMonday January 01 2007, 11:15 AM
Long Island reader writes, "I run my business by acting within the scope of my duties with customer service as priority number ONE. If school districts made their number one priority as customer service (the taxpayer and the educational investment of their MONEY), all else would take care of itself." READ MORE
Florida justice's class plan: Law lessons for all kids in public schools
Date CapturedMonday January 01 2007, 10:13 AM
Sun-Sentinel reports, "Florida's top judge wants children in every public school to learn about the American justice system, not just from teachers, but from attorneys and judges who volunteer to talk about the law, our courts and our Constitution. Justice Teaching aims to pair an attorney, judge or other legal professional with every elementary, middle and high school in Florida."
Hawaii middle school to pilot elite curriculum
Date CapturedMonday January 01 2007, 9:47 AM
Honolulu Advertiser reports, "By this fall, Mew expects Niu Valley Middle to become the first Hawai'i public school to pilot the International Baccalaureate program, an elite curriculum that's gaining momentum on the Mainland as public schools seek to ramp up the rigor of their offerings to meet No Child Left Behind goals."
Iowa school turn to parents
Date CapturedMonday January 01 2007, 9:25 AM
The Quad-City Times reports, "The Davenport district has started in the past year to use Epstein’s model of parental involvement, called “Building Successful Partnerships,” to strengthen ties with parents. That comes after parents told district officials two years ago they wanted more ways to communicate with schools and be involved in the education of their children, said Karen Farley, a spokeswoman for the district."
A New Year for School Reform
Date CapturedSunday December 31 2006, 9:46 AM
NY Times opined, "With the easy achievement gains already behind us, the next level of progress will require rigorous systemic change. The states, for example, will need to adopt rigorous examinations that track the federal test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, more closely. They will have to crack down on state teachers colleges that turn out poor graduates, and devise ways — including differential pay — to persuade highly qualified teachers to work in failing schools that they have historically avoided. To move forward, the country must also find new ways to support and transform failing schools, beyond labeling them failures and presuming that the stigma will inspire better performance."
Florida Palm Beach County teacher’s union, FEA oppose pay for performance plan
Date CapturedSunday December 31 2006, 9:04 AM
Boca Raton News reports, "School districts will be granted funding to award the top 25 percent of teachers in the district a minimum reward of 5 percent of the annual salary. School districts are not required by law to participate in STAR, although they are required to have performance pay plans in place, so the $147.5 million allocation will be divided among those districts that have approved plans. If a school district opts not to participate with STAR, the district must fund the plan."
Low driving age puts teens' school performance on the skids
Date CapturedSunday December 31 2006, 8:53 AM
Oregonian contributor and teacher Matt Love writes, "So here's one proposal to improve student achievement and lower the dropout rate, and it doesn't cost taxpayers a cent: Raise the driving age to 17. Just one year and no big deal except to low-wage service-sector employers who schedule teenagers to work on school nights. Set up a hardship program for emancipated minors or students in remote rural areas. Grandfather the change in over several years, and today's 12-year-olds wouldn't know the difference. Legislators, it's a 100-word bill you could draft on a napkin."
New York schools wait for aid
Date CapturedSunday December 31 2006, 8:20 AM
Newsday reports, "During his campaign, Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer held out the promise of as much as $8.5 billion annually in new school assistance statewide, to be phased in during four or five years. It would include about $4.7 billion for New York City, along with substantial increases for other needy school systems. Details of his plan are scheduled for release Feb. 1, as part of his first budget message. In the interim, school advocates from Long Island and New York City are putting forth potentially rival claims for large shares of the money."
The smaller the better?
Date CapturedSunday December 31 2006, 8:07 AM
Daily Southtown (Illinois) reports, "A 2006 study from the Consortium on Chicago School Research shows that the creation of small schools has lowered the dropout rate and raised attendance, but it has not improved test scores."
Many Nebraska lawmakers uncertain how to tackle education issues
Date CapturedSaturday December 30 2006, 9:42 AM
AP reports, "A survey of 49 state senators by The Associated Press revealed significant uncertainty about whether to reorganize elementary-only, known as Class I, school districts that were forced to merge with larger districts. Lawmakers seem uncertain about repealing a law that calls for dividing Omaha Public Schools into three districts, a move that has attracted lawsuits from some who argue it would further segregate whites and minorities in the city."
South Dakota lawmakers ponder introducing school-consolidation measure
Date CapturedSaturday December 30 2006, 9:24 AM
AP reports, "A group of lawmakers who served on a state task force will propose a measure that would require many school districts with fewer than 200 students to consolidate by July 2009, Senate Republican Leader Dave Knudson of Sioux Falls said. The state would put together a merger plan for any of those schools that do not consolidate by that deadline, he said Friday. The consolidation plan would not apply to sparsely populated school districts, mostly in western South Dakota, that cannot consolidate because distances between schools are too great, Knudson said."
Data could help both sides in Missouri school funding case
Date CapturedSaturday December 30 2006, 8:35 AM
AP reports, "The lawsuit challenging Missouri's school funding method as inadequate and unfair was filed Jan. 6, 2004, in Cole County Circuit Court. With the litigation pending, lawmakers in 2005 revamped the way the state distributes money to public schools. The old system depended largely on the property tax base, and as property values rose, the state was unable to keep up with the higher payments districts were due. The new formula instead sets a target of what it takes to provide a sound education to each student, derived from spending levels by districts that score highest on a state report. Extra funds are provided for disproportionate numbers of 'at-risk' students. The formula determines what each district should get and provides state money for what is not raised locally."
Yonkers school officials promise new testing safeguards
Date CapturedSaturday December 30 2006, 8:04 AM
THE JOURNAL NEWS reports, "School officials are promising new testing safeguards after determining that staff members in four elementary schools erased and fixed multiple-choice answers on last year's state English exams. A six-month district investigation looked at answer sheets from more than 4,500 students in 29 elementary schools. Last week the district concluded that cheating took place at the Cedar Place School and School 21, along with two schools initially cited by the state Education Department for suspicious 'erasures.'"
Title IX watch over at Portsmouth Rhode Island school
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 11:28 PM
Newport Daily News reports, "Portsmouth High School's new gym and renovated locker rooms provide equal facilities for girls and boys, according to a recent letter from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights that ends a three-year dispute over gender equity at the school."
Safety personnel to work after school and Saturdays at Minnesota school
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 11:24 PM
Winona Post reports, "Citing heavy use after school hours, the District 861 School Board approved the addition of safety specialists to the middle and high schools to supervise building activity on weekends and evenings. According to Community Education Director Margaret Schild, until now buildings have had no formal supervision, with most issues defaulting to the maintenance worker on duty in the building. But particularly at the high school, many students remain in the building after the end of the school day for one activity or another, or sometimes just to hang out in a safe and familiar place with friends, Schild said. At the middle school, heavy use by groups for Saturday functions or after-school activities create the need for building supervision there."
Kentucky Braces for Potential Bill for School Finance Lawsuit
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 11:21 PM
AP reports, "Attorneys for a group of Kansas school districts that successfully sued the state over education funding are still looking to get paid."
Private aid for New Jersey public schools stirs controversy
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 11:11 PM
NorthJersey.com reports, "With state aid remaining level at best, school districts around New Jersey are finding corporations that are willing to pitch in. In North Jersey, the practice hasn't taken hold, but some school districts are looking at the possibilities. The practice is not without controversy. While some businesses ask for nothing in return, others display their brand names for all the students to see. Here is a look at the arguments for and against private funding in education."
Audit: Room for change
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 9:17 AM
Newsday reports, "The audits, 30 of which were of Long Island school districts, examined all areas of financial oversight and made recommendations to district officials. The summary report found common themes, including: superintendents paid more than their contracts allowed; improper division of oversight duties; inadequate controls over computer access and equipment inventory. Auditors also found that many school boards had already arranged for new training for their members and reformed their policies and oversight, as mandated by the new law. Most established audit committees and set rigorous standards for their own outside audits."
A CORE CURRICULUM
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 9:09 AM
The Oregonian writes, "Portland Public Schools administrators are in the process of pushing through a core curriculum aimed at offering the same courses at all district secondary schools. Among the primary rationales for this experiment are concerns about student mobility and the belief that common course sequences, common textbooks and common assessment procedures will assure a comparable education wherever PPS students attend school."
Secretarial devotion
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 8:59 AM
The Herald Journal (Utah) reports, "Imagine you’re 13 years old and walking into a new school for the first time in the middle of the year. You’ve just left your friends, your school and your comfort zone. You’re scared. If you’re walking into Mount Logan Middle School, word is the fear won’t last long. That’s because the first person you’ll see and talk with is Brenda Barkle, the school’s registrar."
The next cops
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 6:26 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "The Police Department is working with the City School District to create a program that would bring police officers into city classrooms to teach students criminal justice. Upon graduation, the students would get credits that could be used toward a criminal justice degree at Monroe Community College."
Glut of e-mails, documents muddy efforts to review Lansing construction plan
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 5:47 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "In July, David Dubin made his first request using the state Freedom of Information Law for information on the Lansing Central School's construction plans. By year's end, he has filed a third request, an exercise in citizen persistence that can be required when using the state's records access law. So far Dubin has received 120 e-mails, 50 attachments on the school district's project, but after five months, he still hasn't received the information he believes belongs to the public and is necessary to determining the future of the Lansing Central School District facilities."
School tax relief is good, but rest of record is sketchy
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 4:56 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal contributor Edward McCormick, member of the Arlington school board, chairman of the New York State Educational Conference Board and a member of the Dutchess County BOCES board writes, "The enactment of the School Tax Relief (STAR) program was the governor’s most creative and largest statewide accomplishment that affects public schools. STAR now exceeds $3 billion in school tax relief. While not intended to increase school funding, STAR contributed to a period (1998-2001) of unprecedented success for school budget passage at the polls. Three years of record school aid increases, a booming economy, plummeting pension costs and initiation of the statewide voting day helped also. While advantageous to the passage of schools budgets, STAR missed an opportunity for education policy reform."
Scanners may check school students', visitors' IDs
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 4:52 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "They've added security cameras. They've given students identification cards. Wappingers, Dutchess County's largest school district, now is considering heightened security for visitors who come into John Jay and Roy C. Ketcham high schools."
Sticking taxpayers with the check: School officials need to curb their appetites when billing the public for their meals
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 4:49 AM
Times Herald-Record opines, "Because when it comes to eating off the taxpayers' dollar, a little belt-tightening shouldn't hurt anyone."
Face the music
Date CapturedFriday December 29 2006, 4:20 AM
Daily News columnist Errol Louis writes, "Right now, there's no guarantee that a nickel of the new billions from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity will go to putting arts back in New York City schools. Whatever else they do, Bloomberg and Spitzer must not blow this historic opportunity to revive art in the souls of our city's children."
Strides And Setbacks In School Funding Effort
Date CapturedThursday December 28 2006, 10:25 PM
Queens Chronicle reports, "Said Geri Palast, executive director of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, in a statement, 'Spitzer’s commitment to educational excellence, not mere competence and sufficiency, is critical to the future of New York’s schoolchildren, our most valuable human resource.'”
Merging schools, violence?
Date CapturedThursday December 28 2006, 12:23 PM
THE DECATUR DAILY reports, "Increased violence is the No. 1 concern of Lawrence County [Alabama] students who were surveyed about the possible consolidation of high schools. The school board recently agreed to pursue a school realignment plan. The board has not approved a specific plan, but most board members said they are open to consolidating the seven county high schools into one, two or three schools. All plans would include the construction of a new high school."
Mount Vernon school board considering uniforms for students
Date CapturedThursday December 28 2006, 6:00 AM
The Journal News reports, "The proposed policy is the latest in a series of changes by the new principal, Stephen Jackson, in an effort to turn around the troubled high school. The school has a new computerized security system that requires students to swipe identification cards to enter the building or the school cafeteria. Jackson has also implemented tougher penalties for breaking school rules and has overseen the creation of a ninth-grade academy for incoming students. Jackson said the uniform policy would reduce discipline problems and make it easier for school staff to spot intruders."
Culture groups, schools studied
Date CapturedThursday December 28 2006, 5:32 AM
Post-Standard reports, "Officials with Partners for Arts Education, a nonprofit that awards grants across Central New York, said this month they plan to embark on a yearlong research project to assess the relationships between local schools and cultural organizations. Among the six schools selected for the study are Hamilton and Madison Central high schools and Madison Central elementary school."
School principals keep an eye on teacher absences
Date CapturedThursday December 28 2006, 5:23 AM
Post-Standard reports, "The absenteeism committee was created in the wake of a districtwide staff development day last March for which 20 percent of all teachers called in sick, Alicea [Syracuse school district's deputy superintendent] said. It was a beautiful, spring day, and about 700 teachers failed to report for the mandatory workshop, he said."
Citizen group to aid budget process
Date CapturedThursday December 28 2006, 4:55 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The Rhinebeck town board is crafting and approving a charter for the citizens group. One of the group's roles will be to observe school officials as they craft the budget each year and provide input."
New York Senate Republicans want to boost property tax rebate program
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 7:26 PM
AP reports, "This year, the state sent about $875 million in property tax relief checks to homeowners. Another $200 million went to income tax credits for New York City residents. Another part of the plan would allow voters to petition for ballot propositions limiting tax hikes for both local property taxes and school property taxes. If approved, those limits would last for three years. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said he also wants to create a panel to study ways local governments and school districts could cut costs and help reduce property taxes."
Cyber schools: High costs, low scores
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 2:09 PM
The York Dispatch reports, "Hoover [PA Distance Learning Charter School CEO] said that in addition to students who are looking to escape from violence at school, cybers offer a refuge to students who are pregnant, those who need to work full-time jobs and need flexibility, and those who are bullied or have learning problems. Hoover said the cyber school administrators are able to monitor the number of hours students are logging. Parents log the hours their child spends working in a textbook in order to make sure the child meets the state's criterion to be educated 180 days per school year. He said the Department of Education closely monitors the cyber schools. 'We are probably held to a higher standard than even the public schools,' he said."
MAEP: Law dictates divvying of funds
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 10:58 AM
Daily Journal reports, "When people refer to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding formula, words like complex or complicated are almost always used to describe it. But at the heart of MAEP is a simple concept: Determine the amount of money needed to provide each student an adequate education and the state's share of those funds."
Truancy can spell trouble for Colorado parents
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 10:52 AM
Cortez Journal reports, "'Parents may be surprised to hear that if they do not support their children in their education and their children account for too many unverified absences, the parents could face hefty fines and could go to jail. 'Truant' is defined by Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary as 'one who avoids doing work or fulfilling a duty, especially one who is absent from school without permission.' Under this definition and the No Child Left Behind Act signed by President Bush in 2002, which calls for every child not only to be enrolled in school but also to pass achievement tests, truant would include not only students who do not attend school, but also those who don't complete their schoolwork and receive below-average grades."
Boston school partnerships need a push
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 9:35 AM
Boston Globe opines, "On Jan. 4, the leaders of 10 struggling schools are scheduled to meet with university experts in the areas of public health, after-school programming, curriculum support, family engagement, and pedagogy. The plan, according to Deputy Superintendent Chris Coxson, is for the universities to step up in their individual fields of expertise and provide help across the board to the following schools: English High School; the Lewenberg and Curley middle schools; and the Agassiz, Winthrop, Chittick, Marshall, Russell, Elihu Greenwood, and Trotter elementary schools. The advantages of pairing private universities with individual public schools should not be overlooked in this effort to create a wide network of support services."
A Vast E-Wasteland: Are Your Digital Secrets for Sale Overseas?
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 9:15 AM
Red-Orbit reports, "Computer files on these American high school students are private and revealing. Some of the students have learning disabilities. Many scored low on tests. One suffered a brain injury as a child, and another ran with gangs, according to California school records that include names, birth dates and family details. More computer files, these from an elementary school in Virginia, contain what a security expert called 'the Holy Grail' for identity thieves seeking to score: teachers' Social Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers. All of this sensitive information was discovered in an unlikely place: on discarded computers for sale in Nigeria, a cyber-crime capital of the world."
South Carolina statewide charter school board gets slow start
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 8:36 AM
AP reports, "Lawmakers created the board earlier this year in hopes it would make it easier to start charter schools. Charter schools also can be approved by local school boards, but some say that's harder because board members might think charter schools are in competition with traditional public schools for students and money."
Change in the air for California schools
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 8:27 AM
AP reports, "Scott [Sen. Jack Scott, chairman of the Senate Education Committee] said the state's first priority in considering changes should be teacher quality. It should ensure that all students have access to the best teachers, rather than having them concentrated in wealthier schools that already have high achievement rates, as they are now. 'I'm working very hard on this matter because it may be the key civil rights issue of the 21st century: What are we doing to address the unequal quality of teaching?" he said. "Here we have the students in the low-performing schools, many of them are English-language learners, they come from poverty homes, and yet we haven't distributed our teachers in such a way that the best teachers are teaching in those schools.'"
Hudson Valley Community College plans course at apartments
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 5:08 AM
Times Union reports, "The course will explore human development from conception through the school years. All aspects of a child's growth and development are discussed in a practical fashion. The needs of infants and children at each age and stage are related to their day-to-day care and educational programs."
Bumping in Schools
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 3:41 AM
NY Times opines, "The United States has a long and shameful history of dumping its least effective, least qualified teachers into the schools that serve the neediest children. The No Child Left Behind Act requires the states to end this practice. But the states are unlikely to truly improve teacher quality — or spread qualified teachers more equitably throughout the schools — until they pay more attention to how teachers are trained, hired, evaluated and assigned. To get control of the assignment process, districts will need to abandon union rules that basically guarantee senior teachers the right to change schools whenever they want — even if the principal of the receiving school does not want them — by bumping a less senior teacher out of his or her job."
Immigrant Children Shielded From State Tests, but for Whose Protection?
Date CapturedWednesday December 27 2006, 3:37 AM
NY Times reports, "Like Mr. Noguera [professor of sociology at Steinhardt School of Education at New York University], Diane Ravitch, the education historian, says she thinks testing students after one year may not be a bad idea, but is concerned about how the scores are used. Comparing this year’s Port Chester fourth graders with last year’s based on the upcoming test will put this year’s students and the schools needlessly to shame because last year’s classes did not have many immigrant children tested. But comparing how well students do this school year with how those same students do a year later, Ms. Ravitch said, would provide a telling reflection of the school’s progress. The federal government has started a pilot program in such so-called “growth model” comparisons in Tennessee and North Carolina. What many experts seem to agree on is that No Child Left Behind testing policy lacks a fine enough filter for the nuances of immigrant education."
Bad Guess on U.S. Future
Date CapturedTuesday December 26 2006, 1:52 PM
Washington Post Jay Mathews writes, "If the report's authors' fears prove true, and American living standards begin to decline because of competition abroad and poor schooling, the U.S. education system will change very quickly. But we education reporters learned long ago that most national commissions are wrong. It is better to wait and let actual events, rather than well-staffed guesses, determine our next move."
Los Angeles Mayor appeals decision on control of school district
Date CapturedTuesday December 26 2006, 1:49 PM
AP reports, "Lawyers for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa filed an appeal in his court battle to take control of the Los Angeles Unified School District. A judge struck down a law granting Villaraigosa partial control of the nation's second-largest school district, ruling Thursday it violated the state constitution and the city charter."
Education: For rich towns, breaking up's the thing to do
Date CapturedTuesday December 26 2006, 11:07 AM
AP reports, "This month Barnstead asked the state Board of Education for permission to withdraw from its shared school administrative unit with Pittsfield, citing money as the reason. Because multi-town SAUs pay for education with a formula that counts the number of pupils in each town and the town's assessed property valuation, Barnstead -- with fewer students and more property wealth -- is paying a larger share of the SAU's $419,613 annual operating costs. 'There's a perceived inequity,' said Keith Couch, chairman of the Barnstead School Board. 'The perception is we've got less kids, so how could we be paying more?'"
Colleges may have something to prove
Date CapturedTuesday December 26 2006, 8:51 AM
Express-News reports, "Gov. Rick Perry [Texas] has said he wants more scrutiny of university budgets and has floated the idea of an exit test for college students, and possibly tying funding incentives to the test and other performance measures. That kind of talk has some educators fearing that a kind of No Child Left Behind, President Bush's sweeping public school overhaul that stresses standardized testing, will be imposed on colleges. It's an approach critics say could end up rewarding universities for pushing out students, many of them low-income, who don't perform as well on standardized tests as more affluent students do."
Los Angeles school district focuses on middle school students
Date CapturedTuesday December 26 2006, 8:35 AM
AP reports, "Aiming to curb high drop out rates in Los Angeles public high schools, district officials are beginning to focus more on middle school students."
"Alternative" Charter School Authorizers: Playing a Vital Role in the Charter Movement
Date CapturedTuesday December 26 2006, 8:06 AM
This Progressive Policy Institute paper by Louann Bierlein Palmer assesses the quality of alternative charter authorizers including independent state-level charter boards, higher education institutions, municipal offices and nonprofit groups. Palmer determines that the best authorizers share three traits: 1. They desire their jobs as authorizers; 2. They are relatively insulated from politics; and 3. They have the ability to create the adequate infrastructure necessary to achieve high quality outcomes.
Program would encourage students to become cops
Date CapturedTuesday December 26 2006, 5:54 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The City School District and Rochester Police Department are planning a program that could offer high school kids an accelerated career path while increasing the number of black and Hispanic police officers in Rochester. 'We're calling it the College to Careers Transitions Initiative,' Police Chief David T. Moore said. 'It gives officers an opportunity to teach different classes so we can prepare our young people to go into college and graduate MCC (Monroe Community College) ... hopefully with an associate's (degree).'"
Rome schools facing changes
Date CapturedTuesday December 26 2006, 3:54 AM
UticaOD.com reports, "Major changes could be in store for Rome's schools, including consolidation or reorganization within the eight elementary schools, school officials said. The district is preparing a long-range plan, in part to deal with declining enrollment. A proposal may be presented to voters in May."
North Carolina Education Lottery sales fall short of predictions
Date CapturedMonday December 25 2006, 7:19 PM
Herald Sun reports, "The lottery's executive director says the lottery will generate at least $75 million less for education than projected in the current state budget because sales of scratch-and-win tickets have fallen since July."
Stage set for Tennessee school funding feud
Date CapturedMonday December 25 2006, 5:38 PM
The Tennessean reports, "One of the biggest battles during the upcoming legislative session — slated to begin Jan. 9 — is shaping up to be a tussle between urban and rural school districts over funding. The Basic Education Program funding formula for K-12 schools is being challenged by urban school systems, who say that their portion of state tax dollars is falling while their costs are growing."
Draft audit questions grant spending by Valhalla schools
Date CapturedMonday December 25 2006, 6:06 AM
The Journal News reports, "A $6.5 million grant program between the town and the Valhalla schools - funded by the WestHELP homeless complex - violates state law because towns can't give gifts to districts for activities that serve students in only part of the town, a draft report from the state Comptroller's Office says. In addition, the report questions a $50,000 payment to Kensico School Principal Sal Miele, who was to devote the majority of his time to administering the grant under the program agreement."
County's 450G tax lesson
Date CapturedMonday December 25 2006, 4:34 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The Bethpage school district stands to reap a $450,000 windfall as the result of a recent legal ruling that could drain Nassau County's coffers of millions of dollars. The decision by the state Appellate Division upheld a lower court's ruling that settled a dispute over who should foot the bill for tax credits owed to companies - the county or local school districts?"
New York City Makes Charters '2nd Class' Citizens
Date CapturedMonday December 25 2006, 4:19 AM
NY Post David Andreatta writes, "Since the mayoral takeover of the school system, the department has had multimillion-dollar agreements with courier services to shuttle interoffice mail and deliveries between its schools to keep them from having to dip into their administrative budgets for postage. But the destinations never included the growing number of charter schools - publicly funded but independently operated schools that the department champions and lobbies hard to support."
Bill defines 'cherishing' New Hampshire education
Date CapturedSunday December 24 2006, 6:23 PM
Portsmouth Herald reports, "The amendment would state, in part, that the state would 'cherish public schools by targeting education funding aid in support of an opportunity for a quality public education.'"
Famous truants to be featured at Ohio reform school museum
Date CapturedSunday December 24 2006, 9:30 AM
AP reports, "The tens of thousands of boys who spent time at the Boys Industrial School were deemed incorrigible, truant, thieves or burglars by juvenile courts, but a few of them went on to fame and success."
Perils of online grading
Date CapturedSunday December 24 2006, 9:19 AM
Boston Globe contributor Ron Fletcher, English teacher at Boston College High talks about online use and education, "The school has been pushing teachers to do more online through our website such as taking attendance, posting assignments and syllabi, and issuing progress reports and report cards, which students and parents can access."
Big ideas for schools
Date CapturedSaturday December 23 2006, 9:53 AM
Dallas Morning News opines on "Tough Choices, Tough Times", " For instance, the suggestion to start children in school at age 3 could help big-city teachers, such as those in Dallas, get students learning at grade level by early elementary years. It's also worth discussing the proposal to create personal savings accounts modeled on the GI bill. The feds would kick in $500 when a child is born and lesser amounts until a child reaches 16. Individuals and employers alike could contribute so workers could use the accounts to get the continual training they will need to stay abreast of a fast-changing economy. The costs need fleshing out, but Congress should hear more about this proposal."
Teachers knock Florida bonus mandate
Date CapturedSaturday December 23 2006, 9:47 AM
Florida Times Union reports, "The Special Teachers Are Rewarded program, passed by the Florida Legislature this year, is the state-suggested method for doing that. STAR not only includes standards for measuring teacher performance, it also provides the money to pay that top 25 percent a bonus of 5 percent of their salary. School districts, however, can create their own pay-for-performance plan and not use STAR, but if they do, the districts must pay the performance bonuses themselves."
Arkansas districts want to reduce number of school switches
Date CapturedSaturday December 23 2006, 8:59 AM
The Morning News reports, "Officials in Rogers and Bentonville school districts want to reduce the number of times students switch schools as they go from elementary school to high school."
Charter schools also closing achievement gap
Date CapturedSaturday December 23 2006, 8:39 AM
B. JASON BROOKS, Senior Research Associate , Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability, in a letter to the Times Union writes, "Unfortunately, it is the traditional education establishment that more often than not stands in the way of expanding and replicating such successful schools. Just look at the effort put forth this very week by the state teachers' union as a last-ditch attempt to prevent new, successful charter schools from opening anywhere in the state. While people make excuses for why an achievement gap persists and continue to stand in the way of expanding successful schools, the demand for high-quality charter school options -- schools that are closing that gap right now -- continues to grow."
Inside Albany (IA)
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 9:10 PM
This weekend on IA: Janitors go green-State agencies and schools switch to environmentally-friendly cleaning products. Check schedule.
L.A. mayor's school-control law blocked
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 9:15 AM
AP reports, "A state law granting Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa partial control of the nation's second-largest school district was struck down Thursday by a judge who ruled it unconstitutional. The mayor, elected after promising to reform the city's troubled schools, vowed an immediate appeal and said he would ask the state Supreme Court to consider the matter directly."
A Baltimore School Seeks to Avoid Failure
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 9:02 AM
NPR Larry Abramsom reports, "Thousands of schools around the country are labeled as 'needing improvement' under the terms of the No Child Left Behind Act. One Baltimore school is struggling against poverty, absenteeism, and years of academic decay to try and turn itself around."
The Best and Worst in Education, 2006
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 8:12 AM
Richard D. Kahlenberg, Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation concludes, "In 2006, momentum appeared to build to take action on the fundamental economic divide that continues to riddle K-12 and higher education—the very institutions that, in America, are supposed to be the 'great equalizers.'”
Educators want to reopen 'Brown v. Board' school
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 7:12 AM
USA TODAY reports, ""Brown's old neighborhood school, Sumner Elementary, has been shuttered for years. Two black Kansas educators want to turn it into a charter school for at-risk students, most of whom, they say, will be black or Hispanic. Their bid, which goes before the Topeka school board next month, has a certain symbolic importance: Not only would it reopen the landmark building, potentially to children of all races — it illustrates how far the discussion on race and schooling has moved since Brown."
Study prods U-E, M-E to opt against consolidation
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 5:46 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The Maine-Endwell and Union-Endicott school districts have decided not to consolidate transportation facilities and bus maintenance services because the move would increase -- not decrease -- costs to taxpayers, according to a study."
Some kids who 'failed' skip ahead
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 4:36 AM
NY Daily News reports, "More than half of the 1,400 city kids who were wrongly held back because of changes in statewide exams decided to advance a grade in the middle of the school year, officials said yesterday. The kids and their parents made that choice against the advice of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who said they would be better served by a second year in the third or fifth grades."
Cheating Scandal
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 3:32 AM
NY Times reports, "At least a dozen city educators were involved in an effort to help students at a Flatbush high school cheat by giving them answers to questions on science laboratory reports, city investigators said yesterday."
School Entrepreneur Named to Be a Deputy Chancellor
Date CapturedFriday December 22 2006, 3:28 AM
NY Times reports, "Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein yesterday appointed the former president of Edison Schools Inc., the world’s largest for-profit operator of public schools, as a deputy chancellor, perhaps the boldest move yet in the Bloomberg administration’s effort to increase the role of the private sector in managing city public schools. The former Edison president, Chris Cerf, is a longtime friend of Mr. Klein and has been a consultant to the city’s Education Department since early this year, paid with private donations."
Several Massachusetts schools' dropout rates fall
Date CapturedThursday December 21 2006, 9:40 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Principals and superintendents throughout the area credit dropout prevention efforts -- such as offering night school and alternative schools; matching vulnerable ninth-graders with successful upperclassmen; rewarding students for good attendance; and allowing them to make up courses online -- for their reduced dropout rates."
Speaking Truth to Power on School Desegregation. Is Power Listening?
Date CapturedThursday December 21 2006, 8:24 AM
TC contributor Amy Stuart Wells, professor of sociology and education and the deputy director for research at the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City writes, "The Supreme Court will have until the end of June to rule in these cases. At the end of the day, these nine justices will have to decide whether the means used by these two school districts justified their goal of racially balanced schools. No one knows what role the social science research will ultimate play. If the court, especially Justice Kennedy, is bent on ending attempts by school districts or other government entities to acknowledge our country's history of racial inequality and segregation and create race-conscious programs to address that legacy, then they (and he) will do so, regardless of the evidence that this will result in far fewer educational opportunities for poor students of color."
Parents up-in-arms after school tests positive for lead
Date CapturedThursday December 21 2006, 7:35 AM
News 10 reports, "School and health officials[in Marathon, NY] say the levels aren't high enough to cause health problems. But, some samples had high enough levels that Appleby had to take action. All drinking fountains have been replaced with water coolers and taps are being flushed on a daily basis. After learning school officials have known about the problem for years, parents are upset they weren't told earlier."
Ithaca Central School District report shows shortfalls in minority staff, AP participation
Date CapturedThursday December 21 2006, 7:26 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "Diversity among faculty continues to be a struggle for the district. Of the 18 confidential or managerial positions, none are held by minorities. In 2005, only six percent of the district's teachers were minority, while 28 percent of the students the district educated were African-American, Latino, Native American or Asian. District Superintendent Judith Pastel said the district will be trying new ways to let a more diverse pool of people know openings exist in the area. 'For the first time we are going to use radio to advertise open positions,' she said. Beginning next year, the district will advertise on Power 106.9-FM, an urban radio station in Syracuse. The report card will be released every fall, the officials said."
Rating 'No Child Left Behind' a failure
Date CapturedThursday December 21 2006, 6:23 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributor Howard Maffucci, superintendent, East Rochester School District opines, "Actually, we've been down this road before. In 1983, when the report A Nation at Risk was published, public schools were blamed for every social, economic and military ill that faced our nation. Thirty years later, America is the world's only leading military power and our economy is second to none. That report was a fraud then, as No Child Left Behind is a fraud now. The No Child Left Behind law doesn't need to be reformed. It needs to be abolished."
Passing Rate for High School Equivalency Test Climbs in U.S.
Date CapturedThursday December 21 2006, 5:51 AM
Bloomberg.com reports, "The number of people passing the General Educational Development Tests increased to 423,714, the GED Testing Service said today. The number taking the full set of exams climbed 3.1 percent to 587,689. The passing rate compares with about 71 percent in 2002, when the current series of tests began. The GED exams measure the academic skills and knowledge expected of secondary school graduates in the United States and Canada, and students who don't complete high school often take them to get better jobs or to enter college. In 2005, 1 in 100 adults in the U.S. without a high school diploma passed the GED tests and earned their diploma, the testing service said."
Report Says Poor Students Shortchanged
Date CapturedThursday December 21 2006, 3:45 AM
AP reports, "'We cannot close the education achievement gap in this country without addressing the funding gap which keeps our low-income and minority children at a disadvantage,'' Kennedy [Sen. Ted Kennedy] said in a statement Wednesday. 'States must take responsibility for ensuring access to resources for all our children, but the federal government has to do its part as well.'' Like the government, states also are failing to allocate their own school dollars in a way that targets the neediest students, the report says."
EdTrust Releases Funding Gaps 2006
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 5:47 PM
On average, states and localities spend $908 less per student in districts educating the most students of color, and $825 less per student in districts educating the most low-income students as compared to what is spent in the wealthiest and whitest districts. After a 40 percent adjustment – the same adjustment used in the Title I formula to analyze state funding policies to low-income students – six states have funding gaps between the lowest and highest poverty districts that exceed $1,000 per child: Illinois, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Facing $3M in penalties, New Jersey schools send student data
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 5:27 PM
Independent Press reports, "The student information, which is required from all school districts, will allow the state to assign each student an identification number to track the academic performance of individual students as they progress through the public school system. In the past, the state could track only the performance of groups of children, and could compare only how different classes of children performed as they took the same standardized tests at each grade level. The data required by the state ranges from routine directory information, such as a student's name, gender, grade level and school assignment, to more sensitive information such as ethnicity, place of birth, special education requirements and any disciplinary history. Additional information requested on a voluntary basis includes each student's insurance provider and date of last medical exam."
Charter schools 'not a panacea,' report says
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 10:26 AM
Miami Herald reports, "Charter schools are filling a unique niche in the state's public school system, but their academic results don't differ much from those of traditional public schools, says a report issued Tuesday by the Florida Department of Education."
Minnesota educators renew push for longer school year
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 9:46 AM
Pioneer Press reports, "Proponents of year-round education argue students retain more of what they learn with a shortened summer vacation, allowing teachers to spend less time reteaching material in the fall. But others contend many families like longer summer vacations, while summer courses could deprive children of other life experiences such as camps, sports or summer jobs. Lobbyists for the state tourism industry and Minnesota State Fair representatives have opposed past attempts to lengthen the school year that would take away summertime student workers — and business."
University at Buffalo taking more active role in Buffalo schools
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 9:26 AM
Buffalo News reports, "'You might see early childhood experts sharing the latest insights on cognitive development, addiction researchers working to break generational cycles of dependence and laboratory scientists demonstrating novel techniques and exciting discoveries,' Simpson [UB President} said. Williams {Buffalo schools superintendent] for instance, has mentioned that UB could help provide mentoring opportunities for students and teachers, or expertise in developing an Entrepreneurship High School that would prepare students to become business owners."
Education Study: Remake the Public Schools
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 8:26 AM
NPR interview, "New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce recommends a major overhaul of U.S. public schools. Commission member Harry Spence, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, and Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, discuss the report."
Scarsdale school calls in experts to battle head lice
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 6:10 AM
The Journal News reports, "The team yesterday found lice on the heads of 10 middle-schoolers. They were then referred for treatment either in their homes or at Licenders Headlites Hair Care Salon at 315 Fifth Ave. Getting rid of the insects involves treating the head with a nontoxic shampoo, then picking out the nits by hand. That costs $250 for up to two hours in a home visit and $180 for a two-hour minimum at the salon, said Debra Rosen, Licenders' director of sales."
Getting Schooled
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 5:28 AM
Post-Standard writes, "The needs of children must be first and foremost, which means the adults must be flexible. The Syracuse Choice program also has that flexibility. It serves a small group of at-risk middle school students, most of whom were failing and had behavior issues. It employs youth advocates who act as coaches, cheerleaders and counselors to interact with students in school and at home - even on weekends. They monitor student attendance, behavior and academics. They act as liaisons with the teachers and parents. The intense attention seems to have paid off."
Breath tests for students becoming more common
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 5:17 AM
Newsday reports, "In New Hampshire, a school board recently approved allowing breath tests on school grounds of students suspected of drinking. Closer to home, school districts in Hewlett-Woodmere, Rockville Centre and West Islip have passed similar policies."
Mike Bloomberg is blind to promise of school choice
Date CapturedWednesday December 20 2006, 4:25 AM
Daily News contributor Andrew J. Coulson, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom writes, "Instead of trying to simulate market incentives, why not actually create a free education marketplace? With a simple program of need-based financial assistance - such as the education tax credits supported by both New York's outgoing governor and its governor-elect - families could all be assured access to the schools of their choice. It's time school reformers - and big-city mayors like Bloomberg - stopped ignoring the best hope of preserving America's competitiveness in the global economy."
Test results show some New Jersey students' scores fall in middle school
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 7:25 PM
AP reports, "Department officials also said the performance gap between students in the 31 poor, mostly urban schools districts known as the 'Abbott districts' and the other schools has been closing. In 1999, for instance, less than one-third of the students tested in the Abbott districts, which have been designated for increased financial aid from the state, passed the math test while about two-thirds of students in other schools passed. In tests this year, the scores of both groups improved, but the gap between the poorest students and the others decreased markedly. About 65 percent of Abbott students passed, compared with 86 percent in other schools."
Washington state Gov. Gregoire's $30 billion budget invests heavily in education
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 4:48 PM
AP reports, "The $29.94 billion two-year spending plan dips liberally into the state's $1.9 billion budget reserve to spend on public schools and colleges, health care, Puget Sound cleanup, economic development, prisons, parks, pensions, salary increases and other programs. Free full-day kindergarten is proposed for 10 percent of the schools and early learning proposals would be expanded, at a cost of $42 million. A dropout academy is created. "
Ohio bill would give more kids option of vouchers
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 12:21 PM
Columbus Dispatch reports, "Although the number of available voucher slots are expected to remain at 14,000 next school year, Republican lawmakers are loosening the restrictions on what type of building qualifies for the program, which provides $4,250 for students up to the eighth grade and $5,900 for high-school students to attend private school. Currently, students attending buildings that have been in 'academic watch' or 'academic emergency,' the equivalent of a D or an F, for three straight years are eligible. The bill, which passed a joint conference committee late yesterday on a partyline vote, changes that standard to two of the past three years."
Helping Rochester Student Athletes Stay in School and Sports
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 11:46 AM
13WHAM-TV reports, "Under current policy, a student who gets an 'F' can be kicked off a team, even with an 'A' in every other class. Athletes on probation are sent to study halls. Under the new plan, athletes on probation would instead receive specific tutoring on the subject they're struggling with. Their teachers and coaches would put together a progress report every week. Instead of getting kicked off the team, poor performers would be removed for one week at a time." The entire school board will be given the chance to debate and vote on the issue.
Bill to aid immigrant students could pass in new Congress
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 11:42 AM
Cox News Services reports, "Legislation that would let thousands of illegal-immigrant high school students attend college or serve in the military has a good chance of passing in a Congress controlled by Democrats, immigration experts say."
School chief's raise is tied to budget approval
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 10:06 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Thomas' new contract, signed by the board president earlier this month, is believed to be the first in the region to offer a school superintendent [Orchard Park] a financial reward if residents approve the district's budget."
New Jersey school funding formula stirs criticism before it's even public
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 8:54 AM
The Star-Ledger reports, "The biggest money would be to districts bordering the Abbott cities, many of which face the same is sues of poverty as their urban neighbors but have not seen any additional aid for the last several years."
There's another path to achieve school integration
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 6:15 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle columnist Mark Hare writes, "Breaking the cycle of poverty is the way to bring the poor into the mainstream and help them build productive lives. I don't see an easy way to get there. But Richard Kahlenberg, of the New York City-based Century Foundation and a leading researcher on integrating the poor into middle class schools, writes that economic integration faces a much easier court test than racial integration and it typically achieves noticeable improvement — though not miracles — in minority performance. I know, I know. You've heard this from me before. But there is growing awareness that the key to breaking generations of urban poverty is to end the isolation of the poor. I support all the voluntary efforts to do this — all the churches and business providing tutors and mentors, shelters for teen mothers and battered spouses where routine and stability are cultivated as the building blocks of middle-class families. "
Audit: Long Island residents not told of total tax hike
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 5:19 AM
Newsday reports, "Auditors found that the district had all the information to calculate an estimated tax increase but chose not to. It found that the district provided this information in all previous years examined by auditors - 2001-2002 through 2004-2005 - even though it had faced similar uncertainties. The district [Center Moriches], in a prepared statement, said that while it disputed the report's contention that it deliberately misled voters, it accepted its conclusions."
Advocates See Hope for More Charter Schools Next Year
Date CapturedTuesday December 19 2006, 4:58 AM
XXXI Karen DeWitt reports, "Peter Murphy, with the New York Charter Schools Association, says he's disappointed that Pataki's plan was not approved, but he has hopes for the future. 'We're going to keep fighting,' he said. Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer supports expanding charter schools, and Murphy says he hopes something will be worked out. Assembly Speaker Silver agrees there will likely be some kind of charter school expansion in the New Year, with the new governor."
Jeb Bush leaving a tumultuous mark on Florida's schools
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 6:35 PM
"AP reports, "Others now are measuring the governor's education performance as he prepares to leave Tallahassee. There's little consensus but even his critics concede Bush put a laser focus on education in Florida like never before. 'I really believe he has a sincere desire to help kids who are in schools that are not performing at the level they should be,'' said Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association. `'You've got to give the guy credit for that. He did something that we've neglected in this state for far too long.' The union leader, though, faulted the governor for expanding private school vouchers instead of adopting proven solutions and for fighting against class-size reduction by claiming it was too expensive while still cutting taxes. The governor also missed opportunities to improve schools because he refused to include the union in policy decisions, Ford said."
Lots of buzz over student drug testing
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 10:41 AM
The Monitor reports, "Districts and government advocates argue that drug testing provides them with a relatively easy and inexpensive way to identity students who need help. They cite studies showing that drug use hurts academic achievement and mental health. But as they craft their testing programs, schools tread a fine line, subject to legal challenges from students, parents and civil rights organizations who maintain that drug testing constitutes an invasion of privacy. The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that schools may test students involved in competitive extracurricular activities, but it is less clear whether other kinds of testing, such as that of students who drive to school, is constitutional."
Report on the Cost of Education
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 10:05 AM
The primary purpose of this report is to calculate the costs New Jersey school districts face in meeting state performance and accountability standards. Costs addressed include: 1. A per-student “base” cost (which reflects only the cost of serving students with no special needs); and 2. Adjustments to the base cost that reflect the added cost of serving special need students (including special education students, at-risk students and English language learners). To identify these costs, the report used two nationally recognized study approaches. The Department weighed the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and then selected one – the Professional Judgment Panel (PJP) approach – whose results form the basis of the report’s findings.
Ithaca Central School District offers varied support services for students
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 9:23 AM
Ithaca Journal contributors Sheila McEnery, director of Special Education and Lisa Harris, director of Academic Intervention Services for the Ithaca City School District write, "One of the elements of the action plan is targeted academic support. The goal relating to this area reads: Assure that every child has the specific academic support necessary to be successful in school. This may include a variety of academic intervention services and strategies in foundational areas (e.g., literacy, mathematics) or broader skill sets necessary for academic success (e.g., study skills, time management, computer skills, library use)."
Idaho schools adopt 4-day week
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 9:08 AM
AP reports, "As their enrollment numbers continue to trickle away, many of Idaho's rural school districts are switching to a four-day school week to save money — and are seeing some extra benefits. At Marsh Valley High School, one of the latest school districts to make the switch as an experiment this year, teachers say attendance has gone up. At Bear Lake High, where they're in their second year of a four-day week, teachers say students show up fresher and ready to learn."
Vermont group says too much money spent on unnecessary school jobs
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 9:01 AM
Burlington Free Press reports, "In Vermont, the percentage of education funding that goes directly to classroom instruction is declining and hit about 61 percent in 2005, according to Wendy Wilton, a Republican state senator from Rutland County and co-chairwoman of First Class Education for Vermont. Vermont spends more than $1 billion a year on public schools, and school property taxes are increasing well above the rate of inflation, according to the Vermont Tax Department. More of the money should go straight to the classroom and to teachers, Wilton said. 'We want the best and brightest people teaching our children. That's why the focus should be there.'"
Autism fuels call for Texas school vouchers
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 8:25 AM
Houston Chronicle reports, "School voucher plans repeatedly have died in the Texas Legislature, but the Senate Education Committee chairwoman is eying a whittled-down school-choice option that might be harder for lawmakers to resist. Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, plans to push legislation that would allow parents of autistic children to choose the best schools for their children. 'They have a very difficult time in a regular setting in a classroom,' said Shapiro, who long has supported vouchers. 'I would like to see a choice program. ... It's what I think we should do for children with autism.' The number of Texas children diagnosed with various degrees of autism has nearly doubled over the past five years, increasing from 8,972 students to 17,282 in the 2005-06 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency. Autism is a complex developmental disability"
California schools add third week to winter break
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 8:09 AM
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER reports, "Simultaneously, the district hopes to curb high absentee rates – and the subsequent loss of state funding – that occur around the holiday season when parents pull their children out of school to go on long trips. The break runs from today through Jan. 8. Santa Ana, where 92 percent of students are Latino, is the only district in Orange County giving students and teachers three weeks for winter break. Only a handful of districts across the state offer the extended vacation."
Champaign, Illinois schools must improve attendance — but how?
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 7:46 AM
The News-Gazette reports, "While the district works with students of all races who are missing school, the consent decree mandates it reduce the gap between black and white students in attendance. Stephanie Record said she deals disproportionately with black students. Earlier this month, almost all of the top 30 truants at Central were black. At Centennial, the list was almost evenly split between white and minority students. Officials hope the involvement of black churches will help boost the attendance of black students. But, as one principal noted at the Ministerial Alliance breakfast, those students involved with a church are not usually the ones missing school. The issue is not unique to Champaign, but 'We're under the gun here because everybody is watching,' Stephanie Record said. The school district is trying a number of other things to keep kids in school. Currently, it is holding a contest between Central and Centennial high schools. Whichever school improves its attendance the most by the winter break will win a live radio remote from WCZQ 105.5-FM."
More higher ed 'accountability' could mean more Perry vetoes
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 7:32 AM
San Antonio Express reports, "Perry [Texas Gov.] spokesman Robert Black said the governor will offer a number of other higher education initiatives, maybe even 'incentive funding' for universities or an 'exit test' for some university graduates as a means of measuring the quality of their educations. Details will come later, he said. Black said Perry also will support efforts to repeal or restrict the top 10 percent law, which guarantees the highest-ranked high school graduates admission to the state university of their choice but is excluding thousands of other qualified students from the University of Texas at Austin."
Education quality as well as costs should guide Hawaii school mergers
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 7:28 AM
Honolulu Star-Bulletin writes, "The board is likely contemplating how a new formula to divvy up funding based on students' educational needs will work if there are fewer schools in competition. When the Weighted Student Formula was first worked out, smaller schools were faced with devastating cuts. A revised formula resulted in larger schools losing what they felt was an unfair share. The conflict finally sent the board and the Department of Education back to the drawing board. Consolidation might be playing a role in a final resolution."
Citizens can help decide who'll lead Rochester City School District
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 6:15 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributors Malik Evans, school board vice president and search committee chairman and Brennan and Elliott, school board and search committee members invite Rochester residents to respond to survey about a new schools superintendent, "We plan to use a written survey, community forums and personal contact to ensure that all who want a voice in this process are heard. Close to 20,000 paper surveys will be distributed this month through the mail and by hand delivery to public libraries, community and recreation centers, public service agencies and the faith community. In addition, the survey will also be available by going to www.rcsdk12.org and following the link there."
Can-do in Kalamazoo
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 5:21 AM
LA Times writes, "A year ago, the Michigan town's schools were like those in many other Rust Belt cities, with declining enrollment, low test scores and a high dropout rate. Then anonymous donors announced the Kalamazoo Promise: a four-year scholarship to any of Michigan's public universities or colleges for local public school graduates. The amount of the scholarship is prorated depending on how long the student has lived in the district, but it amounts to at least 65% of tuition."
Not Enough Time for Phys Ed, Schools Plead
Date CapturedMonday December 18 2006, 4:54 AM
Post-Standard reports, "The education department's deputy commissioner also reminded all superintendents throughout the state of the physical education requirements and urged them to review their programs to ensure they are in compliance. The reminder was sent in the School Executive's Bulletin. The department sent the letters and reminders after reading an article in The Post-Standard last month that found only one of the school districts in Central New York in compliance with the physical education regulations. 'We learned of the allegation of noncompliance as a result of your reporting,' said Jonathan Burman, of the state Education Department."
Some teen dropouts fell through the cracks
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 4:46 PM
Bonita Daily News reports, "The state and the district both closely track high school students, and the proportions in which they graduate. And that's just it. No one, it seems, is looking for dropouts in the middle schools. During the last academic year, four seventh-graders and 18 eighth-graders in Lee County [Florida] left school at age 16, intending never to come back and finish their education. Two more gave up on going to traditional high school and went to GED classes instead."
Despite ban, 3 Rhode Island charter schools proposed
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 4:33 PM
AP reports, "Three more public charter schools, including an Internet-based elementary school, have been proposed for Rhode Island, despite a moratorium on opening any such schools for another two years, education officials said."
Illinois school district may hire residency investigator
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 10:26 AM
Herald News reports, "By having a district employee dedicated to investigating claims, the district would not only save money but maintain tighter control over the hours the investigator works and records kept. The district has not kept a coordinated record of past residency investigations, and officials could not say how many out-of-district students have been discovered."
Discussion of New Jersey education cost report set tomorrow
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 8:50 AM
The hearings will be webcast throughout the day and can be viewed online at www.njedge.net/ doelive.
Exam has changed how Florida teachers teach
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 8:37 AM
Miami Herald reports, "The [Gov. Bush] governor gives a one-word response to account for the improvements: `'scrutiny.'' Except in one place: Private schools that take tax money to educate public school students. The voucher schools get the public money but face no punishments for FCAT scores, an exemption born of Bush's free-market privatizing philosophy as well as political necessity."
Gangs a presence in Utica, but severity of problem unclear
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 8:29 AM
Utica Observer-Dispatch reports, "According to the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office gang-related database, dozens of gang members are among the more than 4,000 inmates that are brought annually to the jail. In 2003, the Oneida County jail took in 79 confirmed gang members, followed by 64 in 2004 and 30 in 2005. Utica Mayor Tim Julian said city police have closely monitored gang activity since 2004, and he is concerned."
A cheap, effective way to curb injuries on school buses
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 8:18 AM
The Journal News reports, "State law mandates all front-seat passengers to wear seat belts, and it requires children under the age of 16 to wear them even in the back seat. Children under the age of 4 must ride in child safety seats and, since March 2005, those up to the age of 7 must ride in booster seats. The penalty for a seat-belt or car-seat violation is a fine of up $50. This is one safety measure that wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. Lap seat belts already exist on any bus manufactured since 1987. All the state has to do is require students to buckle them."
On the Job, Learning Disabilities Can Often Hide in Plain Sight
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 7:48 AM
NY Times reports, "When Donna Flagg was growing up in suburban New Jersey, she struggled through reading and math in school and had trouble following directions. It was not until she took a college course from an instructor who was dyslexic — and who sensed that Ms. Flagg might also have a learning disability — that she discovered she had a form of dyslexia. The disability affects her brain’s ability to process what her eyes see.'
Fighting the ‘Prep School’ Scandal
Date CapturedSunday December 17 2006, 7:22 AM
NY Times opines, "But the N.C.A.A. will need to wade much deeper into the problem if it hopes to break this scheme. For starters, it needs to make clear not just what courses high school athletes need to take to become eligible for college sports, but when they should take them. Until that happens, those who exploit young athletes will always be tempted to counterfeit the academic record at the last possible moment."
Schools deserve much more
Date CapturedSaturday December 16 2006, 10:04 AM
San Jose Mercury News writes, "No Child Left Behind's testing requirements are concentrated in elementary and middle school. With the law already under siege, it's unlikely that Congress will expand testing in high schools. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings acknowledged that during a meeting with the San Jose Mercury News editorial board this week. However, there is more that the federal government could do to promote fundamental changes in high schools. It could create incentives for teachers willing to work in the toughest schools and fully fund extended days and Saturday schools in low-income areas. It could fund programs to entice engineers to teach math and science part time to ease the impending teacher shortage."
Lawsuit challenges LA mayor's school takeover
Date CapturedSaturday December 16 2006, 9:21 AM
AP reports, "A state law that gave Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa partial control of the nation's second-largest school district is unconstitutional, opponents argued in the first court hearing on the controversial reform measure."
New Florida task force will tackle rise in high-school-dropout rate
Date CapturedSaturday December 16 2006, 9:16 AM
Orlando Sentinel reports, "Chairing the panel will be the Rev. Ken Scrubbs of First Baptist Church in Leesburg, who has extensive experience working with low-income and troubled youths. 'I think our schools are going to have to be more inviting across the board to all students, so they can be reached at all levels,' Winn said. 'We know that failure in school leads to dropping out.' The task force will meet in North, Central and South Florida during the next three months and then report to the state Legislature. Lawmakers already have moved to make high school more interesting and challenging to teens; they approved a requirement that students choose a major field of study, much as college students do."
Four New States Chosen for State Scholars Initiative
Date CapturedSaturday December 16 2006, 9:12 AM
Under the State Scholars Initiative, each state [Missouri, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Wyoming] will receive up to $300,000 during a two-year period to implement scholars programs in at least four school districts. Local business-education partnerships will work with students in those districts, encouraging them to take a rigorous course of study—one that will give them a boost no matter whether they go to college or straight to work.
Schools in hands of private business?
Date CapturedSaturday December 16 2006, 8:59 AM
The Saratogian reports, "The 170-page commission report calls for paying teachers about $100,000 a year. Saratoga Springs City School District Superintendent John E. MacFadden, who had read the report, saw some validity in that. 'I think the operative thing there is 'year-round,' ' MacFadden said. 'If the theme here is that we are falling behind in a competitive race educationally, than we need to have a longer school year and I do think they're on to something. Achievements increase over a longer period of time. A two-month shut down (in school) is like a two-month shutdown mentally. It's not good preparation for the working world and colleges are guilty of this as well,' he said."
Negotiations Are Signaled on Phone Ban in City Schools
Date CapturedSaturday December 16 2006, 8:41 AM
NY Times ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS reports, "David Cantor, a spokesman for Chancellor Joel I. Klein, said yesterday that the school system stood by the cellphone ban. But the Department of Education said earlier this week that it was considering whether to hire a private vendor to store students’ cellphones in small lockers outside schools for a fee of 25 to 50 cents a day."
Bias inquiry favors school employees
Date CapturedFriday December 15 2006, 10:14 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "In what is being called a 'win-win' by stakeholders, city school Superintendent Manuel Rivera and members of the Clergy Review Board said nine current or former African-American school employees would be reinstated or otherwise compensated after a review of school hiring practices."
New Jersey legislative tax reform effort fizzles
Date CapturedFriday December 15 2006, 9:37 AM
Star-Ledger reports, "Falling far short of their promise to deliver comprehensive property tax reform by year's end, state lawmakers yesterday shied away from voting on controversial bills to spur mergers of towns and school districts and trim public officials' pensions."
Connecticut lawmakers want to investigate licensing policy of school bus drivers
Date CapturedFriday December 15 2006, 9:30 AM
AP reports, "On Thursday, The Hartford Courant reported that about 100 convicted felons are licensed to drive school buses and 900 more have motor vehicle violations."
Board to consider policy for student sex offenders
Date CapturedFriday December 15 2006, 9:24 AM
Leavenworth Times (Kansas) reports, "The superintendent said he believes board members will look at a separate policy that addresses the student issue after they’re done with the piece dealing with adult registered sex offenders. Aytes confirmed there is one student attending Leavenworth High School who appears on a state registry of sexual offenders. For now, this student is able to attend classes. Aytes said the student is prohibited from participating and attending other school activities."
From the Desk of Jean C. Stevens, Interim Deputy Commissioner
Date CapturedFriday December 15 2006, 8:46 AM
Physical Education Requirements: The Department has received allegations that certain school districts may not be providing physical education programs to students in full compliance with Section 135.4 of the Commissioner's Regulations. School districts are encouraged to review the regulations to ensure that they are in compliance with the number of days per week and total minutes per week that are required for physical education at each grade level.
Time to ante up for schools
Date CapturedFriday December 15 2006, 7:53 AM
Daily Herald reports, "[Utah] Gov. Huntsman's $10.7 billion budget proposal offers public education a generous -- and much needed -- Christmas present. The governor wants to put $3.4 billion -- nearly a third of the state budget -- into public education. He would increase the weighted pupil unit (the formula for school funding) by a record 7 percent. He would allocate $28.7 million for additional teachers to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through third grade. And he would throw in another $22 million to attract and retain qualified teachers."
Expert Panel Proposes Far-Reaching Redesign of the American Education System
Date CapturedFriday December 15 2006, 3:30 AM
NY Times David M. HERSZENHORN reports, "The commission’s work was quickly hailed by some as a potentially groundbreaking document. 'This report has the potential to change the debate on education at the national level,' said Jack Jennings, the president of the Center on Education Policy, who is a Democrat and prominent expert on the federal education law. The national teachers’ unions were apprehensive. Antonia Cortese, executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the proposals included 'some seriously flawed ideas with faddish allure that won’t produce better academic results.' Reg Weaver, the president of the National Education Association, urged 'caution in calling for drastic changes.'”
Lesson Plan for Education Reform
Date CapturedThursday December 14 2006, 12:49 PM
Business Week reports, "If implemented, the commission's recommendations—signed by 26 members from all corners of the corporate, nonprofit, education, and political worlds—would revolutionize the way children are educated in this country. Among the ideas: a set of Board Examinations allowing all 10th graders to place into college; improved compensation and incentives to attract better quality teachers; an overhaul of the American testing industry; contract-run schools instead of schools run by school boards; improved education for all three- and four-year-olds; standards for state-run funding instead of local funding; legislation for continued education for adults; a new GI Bill; and regionally focused job training."
Tough Choice, Tough Times
Date CapturedThursday December 14 2006, 12:40 PM
National Center on Education and the Economy Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce Executive Summary: READ HERE
Panel: Cut years in high school
Date CapturedThursday December 14 2006, 10:20 AM
Chicago Tribune reports, "The report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce touches on all aspects of education but some of its most unusual proposals would end America's nostalgic attachment to the four-year high school. Instead, the report calls for a rigorous 10th-grade test that would allow those who pass to leave high school after two years and go on to technical or vocational training or academic work in preparation for a four-year institution."
Ideas to aid black youths
Date CapturedThursday December 14 2006, 8:33 AM
Baltimore Sun Reporter writes, "To push more black male students toward success, Maryland should turn to academic solutions such as single-sex classrooms and street-level fixes such as pairing ex-convicts with young men in the neighborhood, a panel of education experts told the state school board yesterday. A task force of 45 educators, business leaders and union officials met for two years to prepare a report intended to address a persistent problem in academic achievement for black males in the state."
Disabled students: We'll sue college
Date CapturedThursday December 14 2006, 8:04 AM
NY Daily News reports, "In their complaint, the students claim that the school denies access to disabled entrances by locking elevators and lifts; does not offer disabled rest rooms in some buildings, and fails to put up proper signage for disabled access. Brooklyn College officials disagreed with the claims."
New York City Weighs Slight Amendment To School Cell Phone Ban
Date CapturedThursday December 14 2006, 7:57 AM
NY1 reports, "The city said Wednesday that it is considering plans to allow students to bring their cell phones to school as long as they lock them up in coin-operated lockers for a charge of between 25 and 50 cents."
What do you think of New York City Department of Education's school cell phone plan?
Date CapturedThursday December 14 2006, 7:54 AM
NY1 Snap Poll: What do you think of the Department of Education's school cell phone plan? VOTE HERE!
Pittsburgh, public schools seek to make college more affordable
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 1:48 PM
Pittsburgh Business Times reports, "The Pittsburgh Promise, as the plan is called, would make funds available to Pittsburgh Public School graduates for tuition at an accredited higher education institution in Pennsylvania."
Spitzer’s school plan will benefit all
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 10:15 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal contributor Billy Easton, executive director of Alliance for Quality Education writes, "Throughout his campaign, Spitzer consistently articulated an education plan based on proven strategies. The elements of his plan will get many more children prepared to succeed as adults. He starts with pre-kindergarten, which increases graduation rates and employment success and reduces crime. He supports smaller classes, which show long-term increases in test scores, graduation rates and college preparedness. Training and recruiting skilled teachers is another Spitzer education priority that is backed by extensive research. He supports producing strong principals to lead our schools. And he advocates helping kids who are falling through the cracks by partnering with community-based organizations (such as after-school programs), expanding literacy programs and improving vocational education. This is a refreshing vision designed to actually address the needs of every child. It is not difficult to imagine it cannot all be done on the cheap. What is the price tag Spitzer has identified to pay for all of this? $8.5 billion. This is for a multiyear statewide solution, not a New York City focused plan."
Everyone happy with their STAR rebate? No
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 9:56 AM
Times Union reports, "But perhaps the biggest problem with the much-ballyhooed election-year rebate program, some lawmakers admit, was that many taxpayers derided it as a cynical ploy by politicians to make it look like they were doing something for residents of the nation's highest-taxed state."
School district rallies for change
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 9:53 AM
Times Union reports, "Officials from the [Albany] City School District, its PTA and teachers union rallied at the state Capitol Tuesday to urge state lawmakers to set a moratorium on new charter schools in the district."
Massachusetts education group fields concerns
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 9:43 AM
The Republican reports, "Calls for a statewide prekindergarten program, to eliminate spending caps for charter schools, increase support of private-public education collaboratives and reinstate education budget cuts were among suggestions raised at a [Massachusetts] gubernatorial transition team meeting yesterday."
Ohio State Education Board wants say in school-funding reform
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 9:25 AM
Plain Dealer reports, "The report calls for school-based budgeting to ensure that money gets to the buildings that need it most. It also says the state should align financial decisions with 'best practices' - educational initiatives that have proved effective. The report also calls for the state to more aggressively 'weight' funding so the children who are hardest to educate get the most money."
New Jersey state report lays foundation for new school funding formula
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 9:17 AM
NewJersey.com reports, "Using data from 2004-05, the report set a total base per-pupil amount of $7,367 for K-8 districts and $8,496 in K-12 districts. It then added thousands more for children with disabilities, from impoverished homes, and with limited English skills. For instance, a child with severe disabilities would cost up to seven times above the base, or nearly $60,000 in a K-12 district. Children of poverty cost about 50 percent more, or almost $13,000."
Pennsylvania school-cost study will help improve funding, group says
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 9:03 AM
AP reports, "The legislation ordering the study calls for an examination of school districts that achieve high standardized test scores with low spending, the effect of enrollment fluctuations on education costs, and whether factors such as poverty levels, population density, and the number of disabled students should warrant more money for a school district. The state's public schools are funded largely through a combination of local property-tax revenue and state subsidies, with poorer school districts receiving a larger share of state aid. But critics have long complained that poorer schools still do not receive enough to compensate for local revenue shortfalls, and that the state lacks a consistent funding formula."
Alabama student drivers to be drug tested
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 8:53 AM
Cullman Times reports, "According to the policy, any 'activity student,' which is any student of any middle school or high school who participates in school-sponsored extracurricular activities or who drives to school, may be tested for drugs."
Baltimore school board approves creation of 6 charter schools
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 8:28 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "The new charters will be preparing to open amid an environment of uncertainty about how they will be funded. The city school board is appealing a ruling by the state Court of Appeals that school systems must give their charter schools the same funding as other schools. The city spends the equivalent of about $11,000 per child in its regular public schools. Charter schools receive $5,859 per child in cash and the rest in services that the school system provides, such as special education and food. Many of the schools want the $11,000 in cash."
Gates Beats Bush as Most Influential in Education, Survey Says
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 6:28 AM
Bloomberg.com reports, "Gates, whose $32 billion foundation has contributed more than $1.2 billion to education since its founding in 2000, outpolled second-ranked Bush, who pushed for the No Child Left Behind Act. Former President Bill Clinton took sixth place and is credited with overseeing the reauthorization of the federal law that is the predecessor to No Child Left Behind, the report said."
Saugerties school board deals with attendance, communications
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 5:54 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Failing students due to poor attendance is 'an empty exercise,' [high school prinicipal]Price said. Dropping the minimum attendance requirement and implementing a phone system that automatically calls each student's home every time they are absent has helped Saugerties crack down on attendance problems, Price said."
Newburgh shuns $99.5M school bond
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 5:37 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "The big daddy of them all was the Newburgh School District's proposed $99.5 million bond, which it put to the mercy of voters yesterday. The turnout was good: 2,731 voters. But 1,411 voted no. 'We lost by 91 votes,' said District Spokesman Tom Fitzgerald. 'I can't believe it. We had everything going for us.' To Orange County's largest district, 'everything' included an 86 percent reimbursement rate from the state on all aidable building projects, a strong public-relations campaign and a winning record."
School bus losses feared
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 5:00 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The plans, which would eliminate 250 student bus routes throughout the five boroughs, would hit Queens particularly hard because thousands of immigrant and low-income families there rely on the free transportation, state Sen. John Sabini said."
Adjusting a Formula Devised for Diversity
Date CapturedWednesday December 13 2006, 3:41 AM
NY Times reports, "After a federal appeals court barred Texas from explicitly counting race in admissions to its colleges, the state struggled to find another way to diversify the student body. Nine years ago, it came up with an elegantly simple formula: all students whose grades ranked them in the top 10 percent of their high school classes would automatically be admitted to any campus, including the flagship here."
Georgia bill would pay for disabled students' private school
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 1:34 PM
AP reports, "The top Republican in the [Georgia] state Senate on Monday introduced a bill that would require the state to pay for disabled students to attend any public or private school they choose."
Crime, Violence, Discipline and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2003-04
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 11:20 AM
This NCES report provides a first look at select findings from the 2003–04 SSOCS data. Focusing on the three themes emphasized in the survey, descriptive statistics are provided on: the frequency of criminal incidents at school, the use of disciplinary actions, and the efforts to prevent and reduce crime at school. Guerino, P., Hurwitz, M.D., Noonan, M.E., and Kaffenberger, S.M. (2006). Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2003-04 (NCES 2007-302). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
UCLA Probes Computer Security Breach
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 11:01 AM
AP reports, "The University of California, Los Angeles alerted about 800,000 current and former students, faculty and staff on Tuesday that their names and certain personal information were exposed after a hacker broke into a campus computer system. It was one of the largest such breaches involving a U.S. higher education institution."
Florida state OKs majors for high school students
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 10:15 AM
AP reports, "Florida high school students will be able to choose from 440 approved majors ranging from assistant landscape technician to global leadership under a new law designed to improve the state's dismal graduation rate, education officials announced Monday. The idea, based on college majors, is to discourage students from dropping out by making high school more interesting. The major requirement does that by engaging and challenging students and getting them to set goals, said Education Commissioner John Winn."
New U.S. Department of Education Guide Showcases Charter High Schools Closing Achievement Gaps
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 9:29 AM
The U.S. Department of Education has released a new publication that highlights eight charter high schools that are using innovative methods to help close the achievement gap between low-income, minority, and special need students and their peers.
Charter High Schools Closing the Achievement Gap
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 9:01 AM
Prepared by WestEd for the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement. Study concludes, "Closing the achievement gaps that separate the academic performance of various subgroups of students is a central goal of current education reform efforts nationwide. Hard-earned progress has been made at the elementary school level, but high school students are not progressing nearly as well. Indeed, it is at this level that performance gains in general have been most elusive and chronic student achievement disparities among significant subgroups seem most intransigent. Yet success is not beyond reach. This guide profiles eight charter secondary schools that are making headway in meeting the achievement challenge. They are introduced here so their practices can inspire and inform other school communities striving to ensure that all of their students, regardless of their race, ZIP code, learning differences, or home language, are successful learners capable of meeting high academic standards." U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Charter High Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap, Washington, D.C., 2006.
New report estimates higher number of school bus injuries
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 5:58 AM
The Journal News reports, "The study recommends that better supervision on the bus may reduce school-bus related injuries. That means hiring a bus monitor to ride on the bus, which would allow the bus driver to focus on driving and let the monitor concentrate on keeping order on the bus. Districts in the Lower Hudson Valley have varying policies. In Yonkers, for example, about 85 percent of the buses have monitors. In Rockland's Pearl River district, monitors are only used on buses that transport children with special needs. The study was inconclusive over whether the use of seat belts on school buses would make a difference in reducing school-bus related injuries. In New York, school buses built since 1987 are required to have lap belts. School districts can mandate buckling, but only a handful statewide have done so, said state Director of Pupil Transportation Marion Edick."
School fights pornographic Web site
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 5:47 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "Central Square school officials are trying to shut down a pornographic Web site that uses the district's name."
Sucker Punch
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 5:11 AM
NY Post Op-Ed contributor Peter Murphy, director of policy for the New York Charter Schools Association writes, "Why is NYSUT so eager to squash the expansion of charters, even to the point of embarrassing itself with this political 'hit' masquerading as a study? Because it can't abide more competition from successful, accountable charter schools that work with less money but are free from union mandates like tenure and dictionary-length labor contracts. Thus the union has used all its political muscle to stack the deck against reform, ever since public charter schools were first proposed in New York in the mid '90s. It's shameful to see this powerful statewide organization denigrate the achievements of so many children, teachers and administrators in New York's charter schools. State legislators, who often portray themselves as standing up for the proverbial 'little guy,' should see NYSUT's bullying tactics for what they are - and do the right thing this week by allowing for more public charter schools."
5 Schools are Being Phased Out
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 5:07 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "As the multiple grades at these schools are phased out, they will be replaced by single grades of new theme schools. Officials said the number of small schools and their specialties are still being determined, although sources indicated Lafayette may play host to schools catering to immigrant students with limited English and students interested in pharmacology. The restructuring comes at a sensitive time for all of the schools, but especially for Lafayette, whose growing pains under a new principal has been the focus of several news articles."
Class dismissed
Date CapturedTuesday December 12 2006, 4:25 AM
NY Daily News reports on NYC schools closings, "'It is no secret that there have been problems at Lafayette, so its closing is not surprising,' said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. 'As to Lafayette, we are working with the DOE to create a redesigned school - and potentially two new schools - that parents will want to send their children to and where educators will want to teach,' she said."
University of the State of New York, P-16 Education: A Plan For Action
Date CapturedMonday December 11 2006, 1:53 PM
We will confront the data, share it broadly, and use it to define as precisely as possible where resources and energy should be applied. We will recognize the achievements and also declare the problems as clearly as we can. We will engage everyone by listening to the people the education system is supposed to serve, to parents, to educators at every level, to the employers, and to the elected officials who must weigh enormous competing demands for scarce resources. In particular, we will engage students and their parents, and the wider community because educational institutions do not belong to the educators but to the people. We will create a communications plan to listen to, inform, and involve people statewide. We will define measurable objectives so that others can hold us accountable, and we can hold education leaders accountable for improving results. We will study the practices of high performing education systems, states and nations, and adapt the best to New York’s situation. We will examine what actions are most effective, and invite others to learn with us. We will take action focused on systematic change to effect sustained improvement. We know, for example, that closing the achievement gap for students requires correcting the unequal distribution of teaching talent. And we know that in demanding change in educational institutions to achieve better results, we must also build capacity in our own State Education Department to take on its part of this improvement strategy. We will continually renew the alignment of our actions to ensure coherence and effectiveness. For example, academic standards, curriculum, assessment, and instructional practice have to be aligned to be effective. When one element changes, all other elements must be examined to ensure that the system remains effective. We will strengthen USNY, because it has great potential to build more effective transitions for students from one level of the system to the next. We will advocate for State and federal financial resources and legislative actions that will help achieve better educational outcomes. And we will be accountable for the effective use of those resources.
Most Expensive Private High Schools
Date CapturedMonday December 11 2006, 10:39 AM
Forbes.com reports, "But despite the escalating costs, more elite schools are increasing efforts to diversify their student bodies. Financial aid budgets are on the rise, with help now extended to at least one in four students at most elite schools, allowing for a broader ethnic and socioeconomic mix than in years past. Over 21% of prep students are minorities, according to the NAIS, up from 16% ten years ago."
Massachusetts schools target dropout rates
Date CapturedMonday December 11 2006, 9:29 AM
Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports, "Mrs. Haskins said that at Southbridge High School, a 'crisis team' — including the district psychologist, social worker, school resource officer, guidance personnel and the school nurse — meets to discuss students who are believed to be at risk of dropping out. The reasons vary with each student, Mrs. Haskins said. An 18-year-old who is still a freshman may consider dropping out because of his age, or family and economic issues can come into play, she said. The intervention begins at home. 'Parents are called every single day a student is absent,' Mrs. Haskins said."
Schools' new worry: filling void at the top
Date CapturedMonday December 11 2006, 9:21 AM
San Jose Mercury News reports, "School districts across California are bracing for a wave of retirements from principals, superintendents and other key players -- raising questions about who will make up the state's next generation of education leaders."
Additional data helps student tracking system
Date CapturedMonday December 11 2006, 8:58 AM
Gloucester County Times (New Jersey) reports, "The purpose of the information, [Education Commissioner] Davy stated in the letter, is to create a unique student identification number that will be used for tracking progress of students. H. Mark Stanwood, Gloucester County superintendent of schools, said the tracking of students will benefit all districts, particularly ones with high student mobility. 'The primary benefit is so we can track student performance even as they change school districts,' Stanwood said. 'Right now we don't have an effective or efficient way to do that.'" 'Some parents feel uneasy giving all that information to the school district,' Borelli said."
Property tax reformers just 'nibbling around edges'
Date CapturedMonday December 11 2006, 8:50 AM
NewJersey.com reports, "Another example is the cap on school budgets. Legislators provided an exemption to the 4 percent limit by allowing districts to ask voters for permission to spend more each year. Public education costs accounts for two-thirds of property tax bills that average $6,000 a year and grow nearly 7 percent annually. But many suburban residents are loath to cut spending on public school programs, and residents in more affluent communities are willing to spend whatever is necessary to maintain school programs. Many Bergen County families move in and pay $300,000 more for a house so they can send their children to a better school district, said Erik Endress, a trustee on the Ramsey Board of Education and a member of the Bergen County-based Dollars and Sense advocacy group."
Schools bag purses in class
Date CapturedMonday December 11 2006, 5:35 AM
USA Today reports, "Some high school administrators charged with keeping their students safe are zeroing in on a potential vulnerability: the purses many teenage girls say they can't live without."
Vermont State Board of Education will lobby for school choice
Date CapturedSunday December 10 2006, 10:17 AM
AP reports, "Education Commissioner Richard Cate says the plan will call for expanding the existing system in which the choices are available only to high school students."
A high school student's best kept secret
Date CapturedSunday December 10 2006, 9:37 AM
Douglas Daily Dispatch contributor Mike Rohrbach, chairman of Cochise County Learning Advisory Council [CCLAC] writes, "Most parents, and therefore most students do not realize that while they are in High School, they can take these [Career Technical Education] CTE classes at a Cochise College campus. Yes, high school students are eligible to take college CTE classes while they are still in high school. Not only that. By taking these classes through what is known as the COMPACT program, they can earn high school credits while also building college or certificate credits. As if that were not exciting enough, the College subsidizes 50% of the tuition for these vocational courses."
How Do You Spend $1.93 Billion?
Date CapturedSunday December 10 2006, 8:42 AM
NY Times Op-Ed contributor Harold O. Levy, New York City schools chancellor from 2000 until 2002 opines, "Having been a witness for the plaintiffs in the case, I can now say that however much money we ultimately get, the critical question is how we spend it."
Babies get moved into tough apartments
Date CapturedSunday December 10 2006, 8:33 AM
NY Daily News reports, "But Hale House officials defended their decision to move the children out of the charity's brownstone. They said they wanted to keep the children closer to the new Mother Clara Hale Learning Center, a state-of-the-art preschool in the basement of one of the buildings where four of them go to school."
Bank to fund mentoring efforts
Date CapturedSunday December 10 2006, 8:05 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Referring to a recent study by Big Brothers, Big Sisters, First Niagara said students who meet regularly with a mentor are: 52 percent less likely than their peers to skip a day of school. 37 percent less likely to skip a class. 46 percent less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs. 27 percent less likely to start drinking."
Clarity needed on race in schools
Date CapturedSaturday December 09 2006, 6:47 PM
Cincinnati Enquirer reports, "U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday plunged back into the divisive issue of reverse discrimination by hearing Louisville and Seattle school cases over assigning students on the basis of their skin color. The original lawsuits were brought by white parents denied their first choice of schools. The court's decision could affect hundreds of districts, including those in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, where many public school districts are even more racially imbalanced than in Louisville and Seattle."
Deficit is closed in Philadelphia school budget
Date CapturedSaturday December 09 2006, 6:38 PM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "The Philadelphia School Reform Commission yesterday closed the $73.3 million deficit in the school district's $2.04 billion budget, accepting some of chief executive Paul Vallas' recommendations for cuts and setting others aside." Imput from four separate public meetings had an impact on the commission's decision according to commission chairman, Nevels.
Tests cast doubts on Pappas schools: Schools for homeless at center of education debate
Date CapturedSaturday December 09 2006, 9:09 AM
The Arizona Republic reports, "[Maricopa County, Arizona]County Superintendent of Schools Sandra Dowling built her reputation and a small political empire on the idea that putting homeless students together in one school would help their academic and social development.'
No Child Left Behind applied behind bars
Date CapturedSaturday December 09 2006, 8:59 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "The Eager Street Academy is a Baltimore public school behind bars, with the most troubled student body in the city. Nonetheless, its staff has the impossible job of complying with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Located in the Baltimore City Detention Center, the school's approximately 130 students - ages 14 to 17 - are charged as adults in some of the city's most notorious killings and other crimes. Many of them had dropped out of school before landing in prison, and about a quarter come in reading at a second-grade level."
New York Teachers Union down on charter schools
Date CapturedSaturday December 09 2006, 7:43 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Peter Murphy of the New York Charter Schools Association called the report bogus and an attempt to sabotage expansion of charters. 'They are acting like a schoolyard bully to this fledgling reform movement that's showing real success for children by coming out with an 11th-hour hit-job, pretending to be a study, that's unworthy of a high-school research class,' he said."
Input sought for new Rochester schools chief
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 6:47 PM
Rochester Business Journal reports, "The board will hold public forums at 6 p.m. Jan. 3 and 11 in different areas of the city. Locations are not final. Meanwhile, roughly 20,000 copies of a two-page survey will be sent to parents, community members and school district employees. The survey asks respondents to rate the importance of several characteristics. It will also be available online at the board’s Web site, www.rcsdk12.org/BOE/index.htm, and copies will be distributed to public libraries, community centers, recreation centers, public service agencies and churches. The survey will be available in English and Spanish."
Maine Maritime Academy Begins Community Policing
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 6:42 PM
Wcsh6.com reports, "Hundreds of campuses across the country use community policing and officials say it has helped to decrease assualt, thefts and drunk driving."
Broken promise: How the charter school experiment is falling short, December 2006.
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 4:09 PM
NYSUT study concludes, "This study of charter school performance shows charter schools have fallen short of the promise and purposes described in the legislation creating charter schools. The experiment is not working and should not be expanded by increasing the cap. Changes in the law should be made to take the financial burden off school districts where charters are located by enacting transition aid; and stronger accountability measures should be put in place to make charter schools more accountable to local communities and the state. Before any increase in the number of charter schools is even considered, a limit must be placed on the percentage of public school students enrolled in charter schools in an individual school district, as well as the percentage of public school budgets diverted to charter schools. This would help ameliorate the damaging effects of over-saturation of experimental charter schools in any one district."
New York state's charter schools breaking their promise
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 4:07 PM
NYSUT Media Release:Most charter schools are underperforming the traditional public schools in their districts, according to a report released today by New York State United Teachers. The report found that only 13 percent of charter schools had shown higher academic achievement than their public school counterparts.
Connecticut Parochial Schools Asking For Textbooks
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 8:38 AM
Hartford Courant reports, "In Connecticut, tax dollars are not used to provide tuition assistance for parochial schools, but local boards of education are required by state law to supply nurses and provide bus services to select nonpublic schools. The textbook loan program is discretionary, but John L. Cattelan, the director of the Connecticut Federation of Catholic School Parents, is among those who believe that communities would be wise to take advantage of it."
Kids riding the bus should look out for each other
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 6:45 AM
Denise-Marie Santiago opines, "Bystanders can make the difference, too. Students on the bus can be encouraged to sit and befriend others who sit alone or are isolated, which reduces the likelihood that bullies will bully. Fair to say children learn all kinds of lessons on the school bus. Watching out for one another is better than most."
BB gun fired on school bus
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 6:14 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin report, "After arriving at the scene, police took students off the bus. They then searched the bus and found and confiscated a BB gun, Deinhardt said. After the search, the bus continued on its run to the high school."
Albany schools find aid online
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 5:04 AM
Times Union reports, "DonorsChoose screens teacher applications to ensure none are discriminatory or overtly political. The program buys supplies sought by each project, so no teacher receives cash, he said. Because of the reach of the project, school districts can attract donations from far-off benefactors. A donor in Virginia has donated toward one Albany proposal."
Rapid-reading students book principal roof perch
Date CapturedFriday December 08 2006, 4:42 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The head of the Harrington Park School in Harrington Park, N.J., promised kids they could choose his punishment if they met his reading challenge. Last night, they banished him to the roof - even as temperatures plummeted into the low 20s and stinging snow flurries swirled around him."
Dropout Rates in the United States: 2004
Date CapturedThursday December 07 2006, 10:17 AM
This report builds upon a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988. It presents estimates of rates for 2004, and provides data about trends in dropout and completion rates over the last three decades (1972–2004), including characteristics of dropouts and completers in these years. Among other findings, the report shows that in students living in low-income families were approximately four times more likely to drop out of high school between 2003 and 2004 than were their peers from high-income families. Focusing on indicators of on-time graduation from public high schools, the averaged freshman graduation rate for the 3 most recent years for which data are available shows an increase from 72.6 percent for 2001–02 to 73.9 percent for 2002–03 to 74.3 percent for 2003–04. Laird, J., DeBell, M., and Chapman, C. (2006). Dropout Rates in the United States: 2004 (NCES 2007-024). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 7, 2006 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
Teachers are truant, too, Philadelphia reform commissioner says
Date CapturedThursday December 07 2006, 8:13 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "With 10 percent of students absent on any given day, and the mayor and a school chief pledging to hire 400 new truancy officers, there's plenty of attention on a student attendance problem in the Philadelphia School District. But at yesterday's School Reform Commission meeting, Commissioner Daniel Whelan suggested that teacher attendance deserves some of the spotlight, too."
Statement by Secretary Spellings on the Release of Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2006
Date CapturedThursday December 07 2006, 7:57 AM
The federal government supports local efforts to improve school safety by providing assistance and lending expertise, along with $535 million this year to fund programs directly related to school safety. Other funding measures include: More than $1 billion through the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant program since the grant was first awarded in 1999. $115 million over the past four years through the Department of Education's Emergency Response & Crisis Management grant program to improve and expand upon school crisis response plans, including $26 million this year for the School Emergency Preparedness Initiative to help elementary and secondary schools plan and prepare for threats, including shootings and gang-related activity. Through a partnership with the Secret Service, funding to train 74,000 local education and law enforcement personnel in threat assessment. Under Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence), $24 million since 2001 for schools impacted by violence to restore their learning environment.
High court takes a different look at school desegregation
Date CapturedThursday December 07 2006, 6:26 AM
The Journal News opines, "Hundreds of classroom integration programs across the nation, including one in the Lower Hudson Valley, could be in jeopardy if the U.S. Supreme Court's initial take on two test cases this week is an indication. The cases, out of Seattle and Louisville, were brought by white parents whose children did not get the schools of their choice due to racial considerations in forming the student bodies."
Nassau Community College to pay for credit monitoring
Date CapturedThursday December 07 2006, 4:59 AM
Newsday reports, "The trustees' action comes after the personal information of all of the college's 21,000-plus students, contained in a bound computer printout, was reported missing from a worker's desk Nov. 28. Nassau County police are investigating. Third Squad detectives 'have begun interviewing' college employees, said Det. Lt. Raymond Cote."
After Council Balks, Bronx Schools Project Is Withdrawn
Date CapturedThursday December 07 2006, 3:22 AM
NY Times reports, "The small schools have been widely criticized for taking fewer special education students and children with limited English proficiency than other schools. The city’s admissions rules allow officials in the small schools to control admission to their freshman class, giving preference to students who express interest by attending open houses or information fairs. Any remaining slots are distributed to applicants randomly by a computer system. "
The Charter State Option: Charting a Course Toward Federalism in Education
Date CapturedWednesday December 06 2006, 5:40 PM
Dan Lips, Education Analyst, Evan Feinberg, Research Assistant in Domestic Policy Studies, and Jennifer A. Marshall, Director of Domestic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation conclude, "Beginning in 2007, policymakers should steer a course toward restoring state control of education by enacting a charter state option. Congress should allow all states to enter into an alternative contrac­tual arrangement with the federal government in which they would be freed from federal program mandates while taking responsibility for results. Such federalism would create an environment in which promising state and local education strate­gies can flourish."
Connecticut Report: Add new preschool seats, bolster teaching skills
Date CapturedWednesday December 06 2006, 4:42 PM
AP reports, "The report advises better outreach to poor families without access to good early childhood education programs, and to others that might not understand the value of preschool. It also calls for more equitable funding for programs that currently receive state reimbursement, more support for school readiness councils in local communities, and better tracking of how children perform during and after preschool to ensure that programs are effective."
Attendance at school starts at home
Date CapturedWednesday December 06 2006, 8:29 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Annette John-Hall writes, "You can't treat a kid who ditches class like an overdue library book - if you return, your check-out privileges get reinstated. It's a complicated human problem that requires consistent parental involvement - not three years before graduation, when it's too late."
Immigrant teens pose challenge for schools
Date CapturedWednesday December 06 2006, 8:10 AM
NorthJersey.com reports, "Young immigrant students in North Jersey and elsewhere are catching up with their English-speaking peers within a few years. But those who arrive here during their middle- and high-school years are failing at alarming rates, educators and state officials say. The performance gap -- in part a result of a dearth of programs and qualified teachers for adolescents -- could carry consequences for the region, experts say."
Ohio charter schools must follow attendance rules
Date CapturedWednesday December 06 2006, 7:57 AM
Tribune Chronicle reports, "Ohio Department of Education officials have instructed administrators at 11 charter schools that they need to do a more honest job of reporting attendance. Public schools are required to do that, through a complex formula intended to ensure that the numbers they report are meaningful."
Rochester school integration effort at stake
Date CapturedWednesday December 06 2006, 6:33 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "A Supreme Court ruling striking down voluntary integration programs by school districts across the country could end the decades-old Urban-Suburban Interdistrict Transfer Program as Rochester-area residents know it."
Bad apples and public schools
Date CapturedWednesday December 06 2006, 4:12 AM
Washington Times Terence P. Jeffrey writes, "Increasing per pupil spending by another 111 percent -- whether it is done by compassionate conservatives in Washington, D.C., or plain old liberals in your home state -- will not fix public schools. It's time to give all American parents vouchers equal to the per-pupil spending in local government schools. Then parents can decide whether the government schools deserve their children -- or whether they will try the apples elsewhere, thank you."
Florida Gov. Bush vows national school reform
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 11:20 AM
"Miami Herald reports, "Flanked by Bloomberg, New York City schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and Florida Education Commissioner John Winn, Bush said the 5-year-old federal law created by his big brother, President George W. Bush, needs to take after his A-Plus plan. The law is up for renewal by Congress next year."
College offers a $pecial present
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 10:04 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Want an idea for an unusual Christmas gift? Community College of Philadelphia has one. It's selling gift certificates that can be used to help pay tuition and fees at the school. The amount of the certificate is chosen by the purchaser."
Truant officer gets more kids to school
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 8:30 AM
North Platte Bulletin (Nebraska) reports, "Vargas [truant officer] is working more aggressively to stop truants this year than last. The county attorney can prosecute students who are absent more than five days during one quarter of the school year. She said she is more apt to turn students over to the county attorney this year than last."
Systems Struggling to Address Student Health
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 8:26 AM
Washington Post reports, "Leonard Turkel couldn't believe his ears when he learned what happened to the results of eye screenings of thousands of Miami-Dade County public school students. Although the tests are mandated by the state, the businessman-turned-philanthropist discovered that nobody was actually using the scores to ensure that kids could see the blackboard in class."
School safety: ICSD security upgrades necessary
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 7:49 AM
Ithaca Journal opines, "The ICSD Board of Education is currently weighing whether to invest $500,000 in a new security system that incorporates a key card access system and cameras. The money would come in the bond referendum the BOE is deciding to bring before voters early next year. It is still too early to tell whether each component on the district's wish list is worth the money needed to pay for a new security system. But the events of Nov. 13 should give everyone in the district something to think about when deciding what should and should not be approved. Perhaps our old system of locking doors just isn't working."
Early action on early education
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 6:46 AM
Boston Globe opines, "Menino [Boston mayor] has a big vision: not just a program or two, but a citywide culture of excellence, an early-education artery that runs through maternity wards, pediatricians' offices, grocery stores, and neighborhoods. Narrowing the achievement gap that leaves many poor and minority students struggling to keep up is one goal. But Menino wants to go farther, to meet the needs of the whole family. So, for example, just as parents live in a given school district, very new parents might live in a certain early-education district, and that could mean access to any number of services, from home visits to parenting classes. Medical, dental, and mental-health care would be readily available. Prevention would be key, especially of well-known problems such as maternal isolation and depression."
Bullies aboard
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 6:21 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opines, "For too many area students, the ride from home to school, and back again, aboard a crowded bus can be a daily exercise in humiliation and physical threat."
Roosevelt scrutiny intensifies
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 5:45 AM
Newsday John Hildebrand writes, "In addition to outdated textbooks, state officials report that some students at Roosevelt High weren't assigned to the correct classes or lacked proper class schedules as recently as the fourth week of October. Those officials add that the problem seemed to stem from glitches in a new computer system, and that it was corrected after parents alerted them to it. Academics and finances also continue to pose problems. The district continues to show a budget deficit for the 2005-06 school year, though state monitors recently lowered estimates of the amount from $4.3 million to $3.4 million. The district's total budget this year is $61 million. And while Roosevelt's test scores are strong on the elementary level, they lag in the middle grades."
Mayor urging more charters
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 5:14 AM
NY Daily News Joe Mahoney writes, "With state lawmakers slated to meet only once more this year, Mayor Bloomberg is pressing hard for an additional 50 charter schools."
Regents poised to adopt strict rules on for-profit schools
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 4:48 AM
AP reports, "The Regents plan will require a transition period before the schools are granted final authority to award degrees. The state will make sure the programs are rigorous enough. Remedial classes will be clearly differentiated from credit-bearing courses and stronger admissions policies will make sure students have accurate information about each school, the job market and their job placement programs, according to Johanna Duncan-Poitier of the state Education Department."
Court Reviews Race as Factor in School Plans
Date CapturedTuesday December 05 2006, 3:20 AM
NY Times reports, "By the time the Supreme Court finished hearing arguments on Monday on the student-assignment plans that two urban school systems use to maintain racial integration, the only question was how far the court would go in ruling such plans unconstitutional. There seemed little prospect that either the Louisville, Ky., or Seattle plans would survive the hostile scrutiny of the court’s new majority. In each system, students are offered a choice of schools but can be denied admission based on their race if enrolling at a particular school would upset the racial balance."
Court justices wrestle with desegregation arguments
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 2:40 PM
USA TODAY reports, "The Supreme Court today stepped into the debate over voluntary public school integration plans, with justices questioning whether programs in two districts are an acceptable move toward student diversity or another name for illegal racial quotas. In separate arguments involving school districts in Seattle and Louisville, justices referred repeatedly to a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that permitted the limited consideration of race to attain a diverse student body on the college level."
THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE NEW YORK
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 2:18 PM
Robert G. Bentley, Executive Director of Professional Licensing and Teacher Certification, in a memo writes, "I am writing to let you know of a vacancy on the New York State Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching in the following category: School Administrator: A building-level or district-level school leader in a New York State school."
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2006
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 2:12 PM
A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school. It provides the most current detailed statistical information to inform the Nation on the nature of crime in schools. This report presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population from an array of sources--the National Crime Victimization Survey, the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the School Survey on Crime and Safety and the School and Staffing Survey. Data on crime away from school are also presented to place school crime in the context of crime in the larger society. Dinkes, R., Cataldi, E.F., Kena, G., and Baum, K. (2006). Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2006 (NCES 2007–003/NCJ 214262). U.S. Departments of Education and Justice. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Education New York Reader Writes....
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 1:00 PM
"I truly thought that an act about the school system was a great idea. I thought it was time to change the system. However the child that I was tutoring has started to fall through the cracks. Is this not what this act was in place for! I didn't think that it was when a child couldn't pass our tests that we would send them else where...? This is a frustrating process, that I really believe is not working. There should be more done for the children who work more with their right brain."
How the No Child Left Behind Act Punishes Schools with Disadvantaged Students
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 11:14 AM
This column asks whether NCLB accomplishes its objective, based on a recent study of Kansas and Missouri by William Duncombe, Anna Lukemeyer, and John Yinger, "As discussed in my previous column, a state can lower the share of its schools that are subject to federal sanctions by lowering its student performance targets. This strategy will not, however, save schools with high concentrations of disadvantaged students, which are, for reasons outside their control, the schools most likely to be sanctioned. However, a state could help to resolve the unfair treatment of schools with concentrated disadvantage by altering its own aid formulas. Existing state aid formulas do not adequately recognize the higher cost of education in these schools, but they could easily be adjusted to do so. The federal government could also encourage this type of response by revising NCLB to reward the states that do the best job of focusing their aid on the neediest school districts. Another possible reform to NCLB would be to increase both the amount of federal funds and the extent to which these funds are focused on the schools with the highest concentration of disadvantaged students."
Small Schools Exclude Many Immigrants
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 8:37 AM
Gotham Gazette reports, "It is the policy of the New York City Department of Education to allow a small school to exclude English-language learners (and special education students) during its first two years of operation. This is permitted, according to the department, so that the schools can build up the necessary infrastructure to provide the instructional services these students require. But, as it turns out, many of the older small schools still do not offer programs for these students, according to a new report issued by The New York Immigration Coalition (the organization for which we work), Advocates for Children, and seven immigrant community-based organizations."
Migrants learn to help their kids
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 8:15 AM
Arizona Republic reports, "Parent Institute for Quality Education, or PIQE, is a nine-week course that teaches mostly Spanish-speaking immigrant parents how the state's public school system works and how to advocate for their child's education. The California-based program claims success with hundreds of thousands of parents and their children."
High Court Will Hear School-Integration Arguments
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 8:07 AM
NPR reports, "The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday that challenge voluntary school-integration programs in the Seattle and Louisville, Ky., school districts. Courts have played a pivotal role in desegregating the public schools since the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling."
An Assault on Local School Control
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 6:54 AM
NY Times opines, "It is startling to see the Justice Department, which was such a strong advocate for integration in the civil rights era, urging the court to strike down the plans. Its position is at odds with so much the Bush administration claims to believe. The federal government is asking federal courts to use the Constitution to overturn educational decisions made by localities. Conservative activists should be crying 'judicial activism,' but they do not seem to mind this activism with an anti-integration agenda. If these plans are struck down, many other cities’ plans will most likely also have to be dismantled. In Brown, a unanimous court declared education critical for a child to 'succeed in life' and held that equal protection does not permit it to be provided on a segregated basis. It would be tragic if the court changed directions now and began using equal protection to re-segregate the schools."
Tests & Pests
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 5:29 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA and HEIDI SINGER write, "Parents of a child found carrying a bedbug are notified. But the decision to issue a letter to the school community is made on a case-by-case basis by the Office of School Health."
Windfall fades
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 4:29 AM
NY Daily News ERIN EINHORN writes, "City schools are in line for an extra $1.9 billion a year, thanks to a long-fought lawsuit - but nearly a third of the windfall could end up paying for a pricey new teachers contract. The contract, which will push top teacher salaries into the six-figure range for the first time, will cost the city an extra $89 million next year and creep up to an additional $684 million a year by 2010. That's about a third of the additional aid that the state's highest court has ruled Albany will owe the city annually by then."
Bucking Tide of School Reform, a Leader Gets Results
Date CapturedMonday December 04 2006, 3:32 AM
NY Times reports, "'These are the children that are traumatized, that are hungry, that are fatigued, that are stressed,' she [Kathleen M. Cashin] told the audience. 'We decided the goal was not to try to take the fewest numbers, but to have T-shirts for them, and book bags and intervention services, to welcome them, be nurturing to them, because these are the children who have been most hurt.'”
Putting schools and heads together
Date CapturedSunday December 03 2006, 2:38 PM
Buffalo News reports, "Over the next three weeks, city residents are being given the opportunity to look at proposals the Niagara Falls School Board is considering to consolidate schools. While they learn about the plans, they also will be asked to share ideas that might improve upon them."
FREE US ALL FROM UNFAIR AND CORRUPT ED. SYSTEM
Date CapturedSunday December 03 2006, 8:57 AM
NY Post Ryan Sager writes, "When companies have to compete, consumers win. Yet when it comes to one of the most important products any of us will ever purchase - a child's education - we treat parents (at least the nonrich) as prisoners instead of as consumers. The reason? Because a corrupt education monopoly - consisting of the teachers' unions, the principals' unions, and public-school administrators - doesn't want to have to compete."
Rural schools reach out for students and survival
Date CapturedSunday December 03 2006, 8:50 AM
Times Union reports, "At Keene, the per-student cost runs about $20,000 per year, even more if one counts the debt service, Johnston said. The state average is $13,826 per student as of the 2003-04 year, the latest for which full statewide figures were available."
Tracking Teachers
Date CapturedSunday December 03 2006, 8:08 AM
NY Times op-ed contributor RICHARD DE LISI, dean of the graduate school of education at Rutgers University writes, "What New Jersey needs next is research to determine what aspects of teacher preparation are most important and whether one approach is more effective than another at promoting student achievement. Unfortunately, a key tool that would make this research possible is missing here: a database that tracks both student and teacher information from prekindergarten to 12th grade. Several states have developed strong database systems. But here, concerns about cost and privacy have kept us from creating one. These concerns are serious. But other states, sometimes through trial and error, have overcome them, and we can learn and benefit from their experiences."
Historic case in the balance
Date CapturedSunday December 03 2006, 6:54 AM
Newsday TOM BRUNE writes, "At the heart of the battle over the school integration case being heard by the Supreme Court is the legacy of the 1954 landmark decision in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. For the Seattle and Louisville, Ky., school districts, which are being sued, that question becomes whether their goal of racial and ethnic diversity is valid, and whether it justifies using a student's race to create integrated schools."
Idaho Supreme Court is giving Legislature time to come up with funding structure
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 9:14 AM
Idaho Statesman reports, "Idaho is the only state in the nation that requires a two-thirds supermajority to borrow money to build or improve a school and doesn't offer state cash to help pay for the bricks and mortar."
NEA stands against real reform to help students
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 9:04 AM
Chicago Sun-Times contributor David White, adjunct scholar at the Lexington Institute, a public policy research organization based in Arlington, Va. writes, "The number of high school dropouts is reaching crisis proportions. Today, nearly half of all blacks and Latinos fail to graduate. Dropouts earn about $260,000 less over the course of their lives. They're 72 percent more likely to be unemployed. Among prisoners, 80 percent don't have a high school degree. The National Education Association just issued a much-ballyhooed 12-point plan to eradicate this problem. But don't hold your breath. The misguided plan is more about shifting resources to the NEA's power base than doing what it takes to ensure that more students will finish school."
Broward school contracts threatening student expulsion under investigation
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 8:54 AM
The Sun-Sentinel reports, "An investigation has been launched into how many public schools in Broward County have made low-performing students and their parents sign contracts that threaten to expel the children if they do not improve their grades and attendance. District leaders say they were not aware of -- and never authorized -- such contracts."
Houston charter school's figures probed
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 8:48 AM
Houston Chronicle reports, "The Houston Independent School District and state officials are investigating allegations that a for-profit company that runs an HISD charter school has been inflating attendance numbers to garner extra money, officials said Thursday."
The Benefits of Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Elementary and Secondary Education
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 7:50 AM
The Benefits of Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Elementary and Secondary Education: A Briefing Before The United States Commission on Civil Rights Held in Washington, D.C., July 28, 2006 Briefing Report, "Based on the record, the Commission issued a number of findings, including: • There is little evidence that racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary schools results in significant improvements in academic performance; • Studies on the effect of school racial composition on academic achievement often suggest modest and inconsistent benefits; • Studies of whether racial and ethnic diversity result in significant social and noneducational benefits report varied results; • Much of the early research indicating educational benefits resulting from racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary schools suffered from serious methodological weaknesses; • A preliminary review of data on the overall relationship between school racial composition and student achievement as measured by the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores does not indicate a consistent strong relationship between the two after controlling for socioeconomic status; • While there are many research studies indicating that desegregated schooling is associated with higher educational and occupational aspirations , and to a modest degree, attainment for African-American students, methodological weaknesses in these studies make it difficult to isolate school racial composition as the cause of these aspirations and attainments; • While recent studies examining the relationship between desegregation and future wages found a small positive relationship after controlling for self-selection bias, research evidence on the relationship of school racial composition and actual wages is less definitive; • More recent surveys have indicated generally positive reactions to school desegregation, such as cross-racial friendships and greater understanding of racial and cultural differences, but some of these surveys do not definitively identify a causal relationship between the two."
Government Commission Questions School Desegregation Programs
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 7:29 AM
The New Standard reports, "A new government report that questions the merits of active school desegregation has met with harsh criticism from civil-rights groups. The report, released this week by the US Commission on Civil Rights, argues that racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary schools does not significantly contribute to academic improvement. The Commission is an 'independent,' bipartisan agency established by Congress in 1957. It is charged with monitoring federal civil-rights enforcement."
Michael McGill Chosen NY School Superintendent Of The Year
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 7:26 AM
Westchester.com reports, "The New York State Council of School Superintendents today announced that Scarsdale's Michael McGill has been chosen as the 2007 New York State School Superintendent of the Year. Dr. McGill was chosen for demonstrating outstanding all-around leadership."
Middletown School District set for vote on $33M plan
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 7:20 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "The first proposition focuses on roof replacement, building upgrades and improving athletic facilities throughout schools in the district. The bulk of the cost will be covered by state aid. The district's federal reserve fund balance will cover the rest of the cost of proposition one. Repairs made under proposition one will not cost local taxpayers, Superintendent Kenneth Eastwood said. 'We are worried that down the road something may happen to the state aid,' Eastwood said. 'We are very concerned that if we don't take the opportunity that sits in front of us, we may lose it.'"
Bus cuts pass test
Date CapturedSaturday December 02 2006, 7:11 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The controversial overhaul of city school bus routes got a green light yesterday. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich rejected a request from bus companies to stop the reorganization, which could slash about 250 bus routes."
Schools do the math
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 3:55 PM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND reports, "In response to complaints, the State Education Department today is informing local school officials that they, and not students or parents, are responsible for purchasing hand-held calculators whenever those devices are required in classrooms. The ruling potentially affects more than 100,000 students on Long Island alone, officials said. The state's rationale: Calculators are considered teaching materials, like textbooks. In this sense, the state regards the devices as different from 'supplies,' such as pencils and paper, that are relatively inexpensive and that students can be required to buy."
Audit: Few California Teachers Take Training Program
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 1:58 PM
AP reports, "Fewer than 7,300 of the state's 252,000 public school math and reading instructors have completed a voluntary training program that state lawmakers approved in hopes of introducing more rigorous academic content to California classrooms, a state audit found."
Niagara Falls school enrollment continues to decline
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 9:28 AM
Buffalo News reports, "The fall in student population using current and projected figures for the year had nothing to do with the charter school, Ingrasci said, because the charter school pupils had already been taken out of the equation when the enrollment estimates were made. Ingrasci [District Business Administrator] said a district study also shows that the school district population will dip by another 254 students next year, about 48 of them being lost when the charter school adds a fifth grade in September 2007."
Arkansas Supreme Court reappoints masters to review public schools
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 9:12 AM
AP reports, "Arkansas' long-lived school-funding case got another lease on life Thursday, for at least six months, with officials now under an order to prove they have complied with the state Supreme Court's requirement to deal with shortcomings that justices criticized a year ago. The high court reappointed two special masters who had previously served in the case, to conduct another review of the adequacy and fairness of the state's public school system. In a 5-2 ruling, the court said it was not sure that reforms passed by legislators in April were enough to meet the court's standards."
Study says localities curb ed reform
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 8:52 AM
The Boston Globe reports, "Under the No Child Left Behind law, schools that fail to meet minimum testing standards for two consecutive years must let students transfer to a different school in the district, then pay for tutoring in the third year. Schools eventually could face the removal of their leaders. Several of the studies mentioned the low rate of parents accepting the transfers or tutoring, in part because many schools don't tally their test results until the subsequent school year."
Roane County Tennessee: Board considers amending attendance policy
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 8:48 AM
Roane County News reports, "If a student accumulates 10 unexcused absences over two consecutive semesters, the school system will file a petition against them in juvenile court. Another change in the policy allows one unexcused absence when a student's parent is deployed for military service or returns from a tour of duty."
Toss single-sex classrooms in the dustbin of history
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 8:36 AM
Star-Telegram Bob Ray Sanders writes, "The relaxing of federal Title IX rules, which require equal education for boys and girls, will permit districts to develop more single-sex programs. What seems inherent in all of them is smaller schools and classes where more individual attention is given to students' needs."
California poll finds support for posting public schools' data on the Web
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 8:26 AM
LA Times reports, "[Gov.]Schwarzenegger wants large amounts of data — from enrollment numbers and school test scores to reports on the quality of textbooks and individual school budgets — to be posted online in a user-friendly way."
Philadelphia parents get mass truancy warning
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 8:17 AM
Philadelphia Daily News reports, "Letters telling parents it is their duty to make their children attend school - and warning that failure to do so could result in fines or jail time - went to thousands of homes of children ages 12 to 14. Some protested, saying they couldn't make their kids go to school. Others complained that they had sent letters giving legitimate reasons for absences and been summoned unfairly." Children and parents were asked to sign a "Family School Attendance Agreement."
Tennessee Gov. Bredesen focuses on education for legacy
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 8:02 AM
The City Paper reports, "While additional funding for urban school systems has been discussed for years, Bredesen is backing two new education initiatives to help high school students graduate. The governor wants to add truancy officers in all of the state’s 400 public high schools to improve attendance and, hopefully, result in more high school students graduating." Gov. Bredesen may devote about $25 million more to continue to expand pre-K in the state’s next budget.
Teaching - the solution is as simple as that
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 7:53 AM
Community Press contributor and testing coordinator in the Princeton City School District writes, "The good news - we have control over teaching quality as opposed to controlling poverty, ethnicity, culture or environment. At Princeton, more time and effort has gone into hiring top notch teachers than ever before. They are interviewed extensively and complete a battery of screening tests. We screen for people with demonstrated competency in working with groups from very diverse backgrounds that can be flexible in meeting the needs of our students. More time and money has been spent on training and retraining than ever before. Why all the extra effort with hiring, training and teacher collaboration? Because we believe those efforts are critical to our ability to provide the very best teachers for our students. The very best teachers are those who understand the need to continue their professional learning, and who are willing to implement research-based practices to do whatever it takes to help their students be successful."
Manual Rivera: 'We can't give up on kids'
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 7:29 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Rivera, whose presence in education has spanned three decades, also discussed the trends of middle school students who are several years behind in reading, the district's high school dropouts and the rising culture of violence in schools. 'We can't give up on kids, so if teachers are telling me they're not sure if a second- or third-grader has any potential, then maybe it's the teacher that needs to go,' said Rivera, who recently became co-chair of an education task force for Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer."
Schools consider same sex classrooms
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 7:22 AM
Capital News 9 reports, "Brighter Choice Charter School is unique, in that it's one of the few public schools in Albany that offer single sex classroom settings. And now all public schools have the option to do the same. Brighter Choice Principal Melissa Jarvis-Cedno said, 'Its essential that parents have options that have not been traditionally afforded to them. If you look in the Capital Region, we have so many single sex schools, but they're for people who can afford that. So its crucial that public education allows parents to have equal opportunities for the children to enjoy single sex education.'"
Utah School board seeks 'a carrot'
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 7:16 AM
Deseret Morning News reports, "The board is seeking a $50 million bill to create a 'Utah Educator Quality' plan that would offer differential teacher pay, require school bosses to stay up to date, and encourage people to become teachers and keep them in the profession."
SAFE COURSE: SCHOOLS TO MAP KIDS' TRAVEL ROUTES
Date CapturedFriday December 01 2006, 6:57 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Students at nearly 1,500 public and parochial elementary and middle schools will soon get maps detailing the safest way for them to get to school, under a much-delayed city project unveiled yesterday. In addition to the maps, city officials announced that construction on long-term improvements around 32 of 135 schools prone to traffic hazards would begin late next year."
Wyoming School District Raises Facilities, Test Scores
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 8:57 PM
NPR reports, "Thanks to swollen state coffers, Wyoming is now spending more on its schools than most other states. One rural district, Pinedale, is especially benefiting. That district is in a building frenzy. And it has some of the highest scores on the state's assessment test."
Secret Program Target Of Suit
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 1:42 PM
The Hartford Courant reports, "Students at Yale Law School are suing the federal government to learn more about Operation Front Line, a secretive program that is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security and gathers information on immigrants."
Parents claim Newark district violates federal school law
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 1:05 PM
AP Jeffrey Gold reports, "Parents of Newark public school students are asking a federal judge to force New Jersey's largest school district to comply with a law aimed at offering children educational help, including the chance to switch schools. Under the No Child Left Behind law, children in failing schools are entitled to free tutoring and the right to transfer to other schools, but Newark has denied those rights, the parents charged in a lawsuit announced Thursday. The lawsuit asserted that more than 30,000 of the district's 43,000 students are in failing schools."
Yale prof honored for work in education
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 1:01 PM
The Courier-Journal reports, "In the era of the federal No Child Left Behind law -- and its mandate to boost student achievement -- raising test scores has become the focus in public schools. But that is a mistake, according to leading child psychiatrist James P. Comer, who says schools need to take a more 'whole child' approach, focusing on helping children develop socially, emotionally and intellectually."
Buffalo school district acted to save teachers' jobs
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 9:41 AM
Buffalo News contributor James A. Williams, superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools writes, "The hard work of our teachers is showing results, as evidenced by the success of our summer school program and the Commencement Academy. The determination of teachers who want to make a difference has allowed us to open the Math Science Technology School at Seneca, Academy School @ 44 and to bring Advanced Placement classes into every high school."
New rules for Massachusetts school contracts
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 9:31 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Under a law passed in 2004, school building committees will be required beginning next year to hire independent project managers approved by the authority to oversee construction projects costing more than $1.5 million, a step Craven [executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority] said she expects will significantly improve accountability and quality. A second step scheduled to take effect in June aims to weed out bad architects, whom contractors have sometimes blamed for construction problems. A new state review board will scrutinize bidders on each school design contract and provide a short list of reputable candidates to local school building committees."
Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2005
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 8:55 AM
"This [NCES] report presents 11 years of data from 1994 to 2005 (no survey was conducted in 2004) on Internet access in U.S. public schools by school characteristics. It provides trend analysis on the percent of public schools and instructional rooms with Internet access and on the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access. The report contains data on the types of Internet connections, technologies and procedures used to prevent student access to inappropriate material on the Internet, and the availability of hand-held and laptop computers to students and teachers. It also provides information on teacher professional development on how to integrate the use of the Internet into the curriculum, and the use of the Internet to provide opportunities and information for teaching and learning." Wells, J., and Lewis, L. (2006). Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994–2005 (NCES 2007-020). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
A New Way on School Integration
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 8:08 AM
This term, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering challenges in two school districts to the constitutionality of voluntary racial school integration plans in elementary and secondary education. In the latest issue brief from the Century Foundation, Richard D. Kahlenberg discusses the possible effects of the court's decision.
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 7:59 AM
Columbia Teachers College Bruce Baker, associate professor in educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Kansas and Michael A. Rebell, executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity and a professor of law and educational practice at Teachers College, Columbia University write, "Having both worked diligently for years to rectify inequities in education finance systems, we are concerned that the particular silver bullet emphasized in the Fordham report- 'an approach known as "weighted student funding"- 'would, if enacted as proposed, be more harmful than helpful to children's interests."
High schoolers get education on new gun law with prison time
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 7:54 AM
AP reports, "Officials warned an audience of [Westchester]high schoolers Wednesday to resist the temptation to carry a gun - or even hold one for a friend - because getting caught now means a minimum sentence of 3.5 years in prison."
The Weighted Student Formula Determines School Funding in Hawaii
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 7:47 AM
KHNL reports, "Each student enrolled is allocated a certain amount of money. If a student has special needs such as a disability or speaks English as a second language, they are assigned more money. In theory, the formula is designed make sure each school receives enough money to provide for every student's needs. In practice, it has run into some challenges."
Comptroller Says District on Long Island Is Slow to Enact Safeguards
Date CapturedThursday November 30 2006, 7:25 AM
NY Times reports, "In the scandal’s aftermath, there was renewed scrutiny on school spending throughout the state, reinvigorating audits of districts statewide, touching off the rejection of school budgets by angry voters and delaying such things like union contract negotiations and changes in bus routes."
Phys Ed Blues
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 9:57 AM
Post-Standard writes, "The survey done by The Post-Standard is another wakeup call to officials at all levels to make physical education more of a priority. School officials say they don't have enough time or staffing to offer what the state mandates. And they do have many demands on their limited time, including what clearly appears to be the state's No. 1 priority improving test scores. As a result, some schools have not only failed to meet the physical education requirements but have reduced gym time further over the past three years."
Saugerties school voters OK added funding
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 9:39 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "EXCEL aid, which stands for Expanding Our Children's Education and Learning, will fund $1,081,000 of the proposed project; the remaining $1,674,000 will come from regular state building aid, according to district Business Administrator Joseph Dziadik."
Montana school officials defend new student ID numbers
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 9:22 AM
Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports, "Every [Montana] student will get a unique nine-digit number, so that their achievement on statewide reading and math tests can be tracked, and those results can be broken down by gender, race or ethnicity, and whether the student is low-income and qualifies for free and reduced-cost lunches. Special education, limited English and migrant status will also be recorded. That should make it easier for OPI to report on students' progress, information sought both by the Montana Legislature and by the federal government, under the No Child Left Behind Act. Quinlan said it should help schools figure out, for example, if a new reading program is working, how well low-income American Indian fourth-graders are performing, and better track graduation and dropout rates. School officials are still subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects the privacy of student records, Quinlan said."
As it collects student data, New Jersey wades past resistance
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 9:13 AM
Star-Ledger reports, "The new system would mesh information from individual districts into a central clearinghouse so officials can follow students across school and district lines. That would mean better information on developments like dropout rates and more insight into which school programs are working."
Education Leaders Speak on Schools
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 8:32 AM
Columbia Spectator reports, "Klein [New York City schools chancellor] focused on charter schools that have been successful in bringing students who were behind up to grade level, describing as politically driven the state-wide charter school cap that prevents New York City from opening any more charter schools. 'I'm a big fan of charter schools,' he said. "They are built on accountability." He also stressed the importance of good teachers over small class size, citing his own experience at Columbia as an example. 'There were people here at Columbia who were wasting my time,' he said. 'One of the reasons those classes were so small is because everyone else had realized that those teachers were a waste of time.'"
A Slide Toward Segregation
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 8:14 AM
Washington Post Ruth Marcus writes, "A half-century after Brown v. Board of Education, it's come, amazingly, to this: The Supreme Court, in the name of preventing race discrimination, is being asked to stop local schools from voluntarily adopting plans to promote integration."
Catholic schools fight for survival under rising costs
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 8:00 AM
The Corning Leader reports, "It's no secret the cost of primary and secondary education is rising. Unlike public school districts, however, Catholic schools can't rely on state aid or property taxes to cover the increases."
Bond vote will determine Newburgh schools' future
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 7:41 AM
Times Herald-Record opines, "The current configuration clearly does not benefit all students. Freshmen are forced to go to school with much younger children at the district's junior highs, and, if they fail a class, there's no option but to repeat an entire year at their school instead of moving on to NFA. Under the new plan, NFA wouldn't be expanded, but North Junior High would be transformed into a fourth 'house' (the school currently has three, much in the way universities have different colleges within their systems), thereby spreading students out over two buildings. Middle school-age students would have options, too: to either go to one of the district's junior highs or the building currently under renovation on West Street. Or students could attend one of the newly expanded K-8 schools."
So Many Schools, So Few Options:How Mayor Bloomberg’s Small High School Reforms Deny Full Access to English Language Learners
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 7:08 AM
Key findings: ELLs Are Not Given Full and Equitable Access to All Small High Schools, Parents of ELLs and Students Reported Barriers in the High School Admissions and Enrollment Process, The Small School Policy for ELLs Appears to be Forcing ELLs to Remain in Large High Schools that Do Not Have Services to Meet Their Needs , Small Schools are Not Being Created in Queens, in which the Largest Number of ELLs Reside. A joint report by: The New York Immigration Coalition & Advocates for Children of New York In collaboration with: Chhaya Community Development Corporation Chinese Progressive Association Chinese-American Planning Council Council of Peoples Organization Haitian Americans United for Progress Make the Road by Walking Metropolitan Russian American Parents Association November 2006.
New York City Schools hit on immigration bar
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 7:01 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "The report charges the vast majority of small schools either don't have services for so-called 'English language learners' (ELLs), who comprise almost 12% of the high school population, or exclude them altogether. It also says that immigrant families have less access to information about options for their kids. The city Education Department allows new schools to exclude both ELLs and special-ed students in their first two years because the schools are too new to properly serve those kids. It's a policy being reviewed by the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, which launched a probe after a complaint from a citywide group of high school parents. "
KIDS HIT LANGUAGE BARRIER
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 6:56 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Researchers could not say how many of the 184 new small schools created under Bloomberg exercise the two-year exclusion policy. But they found that 41 percent of 126 small schools surveyed do not offer any English-as-a-Second Language or bilingual services - apparently in violation of city, state and federal laws. 'The problem isn't just access,' said Chung-Wha Hong, director of the New York Immigration Coalition. 'Sometimes they can get in the door but they then face a long-term problem because there are no services for them.' The city Department of Education insisted that only a handful of small schools did not have a single ESL student enrolled."
D.C. Superintendent Janey Seeks Time to Turn Around Schools
Date CapturedWednesday November 29 2006, 6:45 AM
Washington Post reports, "Janey called for laying 'a new foundation' for schools that includes higher academic standards, more rigorous student assessment and modernized facilities. It was his first-ever 'State of the Schools' speech, as well as his first formal public statement since his future came into question when Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty said in September that he might seek to take over the schools."
Schools, teachers fight No Child Left Behind in court
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 4:24 PM
CNN reports, "School districts in three states and the nation's largest teachers union asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to revive a lawsuit challenging the way government-mandated programs are funded. The National Education Association and districts in Michigan, Vermont and Texas had sued to block the No Child Left Behind law, President Bush's signature education policy. They argued that schools should not have to comply with requirements that aren't paid for by the federal government."
No Need To 'Charter' A New Course
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 10:33 AM
The Evening News (Pennsylvania) contributor Dr. Tim Daniels, executive director of the PA Coalition of Charter Schools, lifetime educator and former head of the Office of Educational Initiatives for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania writes, "The American Federation of Teachers called for a "moratorium" on the opening of additional Philadelphia charter public schools. This is the same interest group that opposed charter school legislation back in 1997 when Act 22 of 1997 was passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Implying there are enough charter schools now, the AFT says the district's charters already offer 'a tremendous amount of choice for the citizens of Philadelphia.' What about the 20,000 students on waiting lists?"
Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993 to 2003
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 10:27 AM
"This NCES report uses data from the National Household Surveys Program (NHES) to present trends that focus on the use of and users of public schools (assigned and chosen), private schools (church- and non church-related), and homeschoolers between 1993 and 2003. The percentage of students enrolled in their assigned public school decreased from 80 percent to 74 percent between 1993 and 2003, while this decrease was nearly offset by an increase in chosen public school enrollment from 11 to 15 percent between 1993 and 2003. During this same time period, enrollment in church-related private schools remained stable at 8 percent and enrollment in non church-related private schools increased from 1.6 to 2.4 percent. This report also presents data on parental perceptions of public school choice availability and associations between the public and private school types children were enrolled in and parental satisfaction with and involvement in the schools. About one-half of all students have parents who reported that public school choice was available in their community, with one-quarter of students attending assigned public schools having parents who considered enrolling them in a school other than the one they were currently attending, while 17 percent of all students and 27 percent of Black students attended a school other than their parent’s first-choice school. Generally, there were no parental involvement differences detected between students enrolled in assigned and chosen public schools. Parents of students in private schools reported more direct involvement in their children’s schools than parents of students enrolled in other types of schools."
Indiana's high school graduation rate plummets under new formula
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 10:12 AM
The Times (Indiana) reports, "A 2003 law allowed the state to assign a tracking number to every student that entered high school in 2002. Having tracked that class, the education department now reports that the statewide graduation rate -- estimated at 89.8 percent last year -- is actually 73.7 percent." Previously, students who dropped out over the summer simply vanished from the equation using the older state formula.
Race-Based Review
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 9:58 AM
National Review Online contributor Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, which joined the amicus briefs filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation in the Seattle and Louisville cases writes, "On December 4 the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases — one from Louisville and one from Seattle — that challenge the constitutionality of race-based student assignments in K-12 public schools. Since it is uncontested that the two school systems are engaging in racial discrimination, the legal issue is whether the use of race is “narrowly tailored” to a “compelling” interest. The Court should rule that there is no such compelling justification for the school systems’ racial balancing, for three reasons."
School reform: Haven't we been here before?
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 9:07 AM
Washington Times reports, " Schools cannot improve academic performance alone. They do not, and cannot, operate in a vacuum. But we expect educators to address all manner of social ills and economic impediments plaguing students who are not ready or too stressed to learn when they reach the schoolhouse doors. Then we place the additional pressure on overwhelmed teachers of teaching to a standardized test, as if that is the Holy Grail of measuring individual improvement."
SIUC Student Code under fire after incident
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 8:39 AM
The Southern (Illinois) reports, "The SIUC Student Code was based on a national model published in the 'Journal of College and University Law,' Dietz said. It was most recently reviewed top to bottom in 2003 by a committee dedicated to the purpose. Specific sections of the code are open to review when a formal request is made by an organization formally recognized by the university. The code as it stands now addresses two issues of student misbehavior - 'academic dishonesty' and 'social misconduct.' It is the latter part that seems to have attracted the most negative attention. The issue is due process. Dietz said two philosophies are at work in the student conduct code. One favors student development and uses education to change behavior. The idea is for the student to learn from the error."
4 failing Massachusetts schools may become pilots to fix themselves
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 8:27 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Dan French, executive director of the Boston-based Center for Collaborative Education, said that Boston's pilot schools generally perform better than regular schools on several measures, including daily attendance, college-going rates, and MCAS scores. But the 20 pilot schools have also been a source of contention with the teachers union, which blocked expanding the schools for months over issues such as overtime pay."
Gender-split classes draw raves at area middle school
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 8:23 AM
Journal Gazette reports, "Students in gender-divided classes at Riverview Middle School are more disciplined, have better attendance and are getting better grades, according to the teachers leading those classes."
Fighting gangs from inside, out
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 8:03 AM
Newsday Mitchell Freedman reports, "Riverhead thus became the first community in New York State to team a jail-based program with a school-based one, also run by the council, a national not-for-profit group. And, the Riverhead Police Department is working to develop a companion anti-gang program with the council. The program is designed to show gang members who are inmates that there is an alternative to street violence, and that gang membership often leads to long jail time, with former gang members sharing their own experiences. It offers job training and remedial education, and it strives to give those who enroll a sense of belonging to a different kind of family."
N.Y. Schools Get Passing Grade
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 7:43 AM
The Post-Journal reports, "According to a study by the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a conservative think tank, when it came to student achievement in the state’s schools, the education system received a D grade. Educational reform efforts graded slightly better, earning a C+. States nationwide received grades based on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress in reading, mathematics and science for minority students, with graduation rates factored into the average. Not all states provided information for the study."
Red Hook school district officials look to cut down on frequent flyers sent home
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 7:38 AM
The Daily Freeman reports, "School officials are seeking to slow the flow of flyers that businesses and groups would like to have sent home with students."
Group challenges No Child Left Behind
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 7:33 AM
The Journal News reports, "No Child Left Behind is up for reauthorization in the coming year. The collaborative's report devotes more than six pages to recommendations on how to improve the law. Chief among them is funding changes: the group is calling on the federal government to fully fund NCLB mandates, to earmark funds for after-school programs for low-performing schools, and to reimburse school districts for the costs of scoring exams. The collaborative also advocates changes to the testing regimen, recommending that tests be conducted on alternate years instead of each year, and for additional measures - such as portfolio assessments and classroom participation - to be used in measuring whether a student has met state and national standards. The report said, on the local level, government officials and residents can also play a role in improving student performance. Affordable housing, early childhood education programs, adult literacy programs and child-health programs could all contribute to the success of children in public schools, the report said."
NY Watchdog: `Serious problems' at state-run Gossett youth center
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 7:26 AM
AP reports, "'This report raises larger societal issues about why we are seeing an increase of serious mental illness among these disadvantaged and troubled teens, and what we should be doing to address this,' said state Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, an Ithaca Democrat, who called for the investigation. Gossett is one of the state's 10 limited- or medium-security youth centers. It serves up to 150 teenagers with 130 workers. The state owned and operated center was named for the actor who has been an advocate for troubled youths."
New Project to Send Musicians Into Schools
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 7:14 AM
NY Times reports, "Two pillars of the classical musical establishment, Carnegie Hall and the Juilliard School, have joined forces to give birth to a music academy whose fellows will go forth and propagate musicianship in New York public schools. The city’s Education Department is opening its arms to the new program, seeing an inexpensive but valuable source of teaching for a system deprived of comprehensive music training. And the leaders of Carnegie and Juilliard see an opportunity to promote their conviction that a musician in 21st-century America should be more than just a person who plays the notes."
Donors and Princeton clash over donation
Date CapturedTuesday November 28 2006, 7:01 AM
AP reports, "Relatives of Charles S. and Marie Robertson said the couple wanted their gift to be spent solely to educate graduate students for careers in government, especially as diplomats for the United States. But the family now says the university has not churned out many diplomats and large portions of the gift -- now worth more than $750 million -- have been used for other purposes. The family wants to take the money back so it can give it to a school that will carry out its mission."
Court Rejects Maine School Vouchers Case
Date CapturedMonday November 27 2006, 2:13 PM
AP reports, "In Maine, school districts in 145 small towns with no high schools offer tuition for 17,000 students to attend high schools of their choice, public or private, in-state or out-of-state. But religious schools are no longer on the list. Asking the court to take the case, a conservative group, the Institute for Justice, is representing eight Maine families who would receive public tuition funds but for the fact that their children attend religious schools. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and President Bush's homestate of Texas weighed in, saying in filings to the Supreme Court that the state of Maine is unconstitutionally discriminating against religion."
Pennsylvania urging districts to get tough on school-skippers
Date CapturedMonday November 27 2006, 7:53 AM
Post Gazette reports, "The state said the recommendations came from a Statewide Task Force on School Attendance and Truancy Reduction. Because federal and state performance standards require growing percentages of students to post gains on math and reading tests, the state considers truancy a growing concern. Dr. Cupples said the Pittsburgh district will send parents a letter to explain the policy changes, remind them of their obligations under the state's compulsory attendance law and outline the penalties violators face. For repeated violations, parents face $300 fines, jail sentences, parenting classes and even the possibility of having their children placed in foster care. But the state says it wants to deal with truancy in the school whenever possible."
‘Value added’ assesses Pennsylvania students, schools
Date CapturedMonday November 27 2006, 7:46 AM
Times Leader reports, "Under the federal 'No Child Left Behind,' law, all schools must have 100 percent of their tested students scoring proficient or better by 2014. Under this system, whether or not a school makes 'progress' is measured by how all students are doing collectively on the test. Value added assessment opts, instead, to look at how much each student improves, regardless of whether he is 'proficient.”'
Gov. cheers, CFE jeers court ruling
Date CapturedMonday November 27 2006, 5:44 AM
Legislative Gazette reports, "After 13 years and three appeals, what might be the final ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case was issued last week with New York’s highest court ordering the state to budget at least $1.93 billion more for New York City’s public schools."
Elementary school report card: Too many teachers, too few jobs
Date CapturedMonday November 27 2006, 5:14 AM
Post-Standard reports, "A report done this year by the state Education Department shows there is a surplus of elementary and early childhood teachers in the state outside of New York City. The report shows severe shortages in career and technical education, math and physical education teachers in New York City, and in reading and literacy teachers elsewhere in the state. There are so many elementary teachers that local school districts are overflowing with applications for few open jobs."
School aid may ease taxpayer burden
Date CapturedMonday November 27 2006, 4:33 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "EXCEL, which stands for Expanding our Children's Education and Learning, is a one-time state allocation to help districts fund building projects. Some $400 million is being allocated to 209 so-called high-need districts, including Binghamton and Johnson City."
Telling Tales Out of School, on YouTube
Date CapturedMonday November 27 2006, 3:36 AM
NY Times reports, "In the good old days, students simply used technology like cellphones to cheat on tests. Now, they’re posting what happens in their classrooms on YouTube. "
Schools need choice, not vouchers
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 6:30 PM
News-Leader.com reports, "Those who believe the public schools aren't doing their job suggest vouchers will be the ultimate accountability tool. Parents who are dissatisfied can take their money and go elsewhere. The problem is, vouchers provide no accountability at all."
School aid vows fail arithmetic
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 6:24 PM
Columnist Jay Gallagher writes on CFE and school funding, "Shazam! Add money to New York City schools, but don't subtract any from anywhere else. What could be better? That sounds like a good math problem for the next Regents' math exam, which some New York students have so much trouble mastering. The problem goes something like this: take a pot of money. Divide it up into sections. Then take the same pot of money, and make some of the sections bigger, but don't reduce any of the others."
Taxes key to state schools' decline
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 1:56 PM
Contra Costa Times reports, "California spent $7,860 on each student in its public education system while states across the nation spent an average $8,807 per pupil in the 2003-2004 academic year, according to Ed-Data, published by the state Department of Education. By comparison, New York spent $12,408 per pupil that year. The consequences of this spending shortfall are crowded classrooms with high student-to-teacher ratios, older textbooks and facilities. California's student-to-teacher ratio is 20.6-to-1, while the U.S. average is 15.8-to-1, according to Ed-Data."
school's comeback formula: Expel cynicism, stress reform
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 1:28 PM
Boston Globe reports, "Randolph Community is one of 57 Massachusetts schools now in "restructuring" under the state's school accountability system, and its attempts to improve student performance underscore the urgency, and the difficulty, involved as low-performing schools demand previously unattainable results . The school's reform campaign, though unusual in its scope, illustrates how the pressure to raise test scores is forcing many schools to adopt new strategies to get students up to speed. In Randolph, school officials blamed a culture of low expectations and mediocrity for students' weak performance, and set out to destroy it. By making students feel more connected to the school, educators hope to instill a sense of purpose and responsibility that will improve focus and behavior."
New Jersey school funding reform panel to discuss proposals
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 1:18 PM
AP TOM HESTER Jr. reports, "While the school funding formula hasn't been announced, education department officials presented a plan under which experts determine how much it costs to educate New Jersey children. That cost - about $8,500 for K-12 schools - would be used as the basis for state aid allocations to schools. Funding for special education, children with language problems and transportation would be added as needed. - The number of senior citizens in a community would be considered when state aid for schools is decided."
Pima Community College creates "traffic school" for plagiarists
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 1:03 PM
KVOA.com reports, "The five-step program requires students to read articles about plagiarism and write a paper explaining why they stole someone else's work. They must then meet with a writing tutor to learn about proper citation, and sit down with a faculty committee to talk about the process."
Rockland to weigh scary scenario: school terrorism
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 9:37 AM
THE JOURNAL NEWS reports, "More than 400 education and law enforcement professionals from Rockland, Orange and Sullivan counties are scheduled to attend a two-day terrorism seminar this week at Rockland Community College. The seminar is based on the 2004 siege of a school in Beslan, Russia."
State to monitor school districts
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 9:33 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "This year, the department developed a 'physical education profile' for schools to use to assess student achievement in meeting the state's physical education standards, Dunn said. The profile intends to provide an outline to use in teaching physical education."
Binghamton program to blend vocational, academic education: Only 2 other high schools in the world use baccalaureate group's model
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 8:29 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Binghamton High School plans to start a career-related certificate program that would blend vocational education with the school's academically oriented International Baccalaureate program. In doing so, Binghamton would become the third high school in the world to pilot the model under the oversight of the International Baccalaureate Organization, which offers academic courses tied to international standards. The other two pilot schools are in Oulu, Finland, and Quebec, Canada. Unlike the traditional IB program, the certificate program would be geared toward students not planning to attend a four-year college, Superin- tendent Peggy J. Wozniak said. It would be designed to prepare students for careers in a global society, she said."
Schools spending more on security: Utica, Rome respond to recent shootings
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 8:23 AM
Observer-Dispatch reports, "Woodward [ director of training and technical assistance at the Center for Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado] suggests school districts do a comprehensive review of their individual needs before spending. For example, districts should annually survey parents, students and teachers to identify possible dangers. Then administrators should target money to areas which present the greatest threat."
Day one, item one
Date CapturedSunday November 26 2006, 8:08 AM
Newsday opined, "First, Spitzer must propose a dollar amount for helping not just the city but also poor suburban and upstate districts - without cutting existing funds for any community. Then he has to craft a new formula, based on need and not political clout, for distributing all school aid. Then there's the issue of accountability. Although the court said the state doesn't need a new system of oversight, Spitzer must make sure both the education department and school districts have the resources to ensure that aid money is well spent. How much more should be spent? Based on authoritative studies, public and private, it's clear the court's $1.9-billion minimum for the city is too little. A more reasonable sum is $6 billion - with most going to the city - on top of the $15 billion-plus the state now spends annually. Who should come up with the money? Primarily the state, which has failed to give the city a fair share. But it would be fair if city taxpayers - who also have a history of shortchanging schools - ponied up as much as one-third of the new funds. How should aid be distributed? Most should go to the districts with the neediest students, who tend to be the most expensive to teach."
Fewer kids, fewer California schools
Date CapturedSaturday November 25 2006, 8:33 AM
Sacremento Bee reports, "The California Legislative Analyst's Office reports that K-12 public school enrollment -- or average daily attendance -- will drop next year by 6,000 students from a total of more than 6 million pupils statewide. Though seemingly modest, the drop signals considerable challenges for schools as statewide enrollment is expected to continue falling through 2010 as the children of the post World War II baby boom generation move beyond school age."
Schools debate inequity
Date CapturedSaturday November 25 2006, 8:22 AM
Post-Standard reports, "A recent federal ruling dealing with promotion and publicity for girls and boys high school sports teams may be troublesome for some Central New York schools. Most school officials interviewed for this story said they treat boys and girls teams equally in all areas but one cheerleading. They do not have cheerleaders cheer at equal numbers of boys and girls games. The sport most often affected by this is girls basketball."
No Choice for You
Date CapturedSaturday November 25 2006, 7:55 AM
CATO Institute Adam B. Schaeffer writes, "This is the first time that the education establishment has dared to turn its fire on school choice programs that help disabled and foster-care children. That they have chosen to unleash the hounds on the most sympathetic beneficiaries of school choice is a sign of panic. School choice opponents have kept their hands off similar programs in the past, fearing backlash for throwing disabled children out of their schools. But although the sympathy factor seems to have made the difference in some past battles, such as the Ohio Supreme court decision upholding vouchers in 1999, both lawsuits will turn on the same few fine points of law."
List for Schools Seems to Grow More Wishful
Date CapturedSaturday November 25 2006, 7:44 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, "The sum at issue is substantial: $2 billion a year translates to roughly $1,887 per student, or about $943,500 annually in a school with 500 students. While the amount ordered by the court is still huge, a leading critic of school financing lawsuits that have been filed across the country said the focus on the money had distracted from the work of actually fixing the city schools. 'For five years, people have looked to the courts and argued about the money without thinking seriously about what to do,' said the critic, Eric A. Hanushek, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution."
Massachusetts home-school policy adopted: Students can take extracurricular sports, activities
Date CapturedFriday November 24 2006, 5:23 PM
Norton Mirror reports, "Home-schooled students wishing to participate in teams or co-curricular activities must give 90 days prior notice to the school systems and obtain signed permission from their parent or guardian, building principal and the director of the team or club they are interested in. Home-schooled students participating in team sports must abide by the guidelines of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and provide proper physician notes and proof of insurance. They are subject to the disciplinary rules and regulations set forth by the MIAA, as well as the newly instituted Norton athletic user fees. School Committee Vice Chairman Kevin O'Neil suggested home-schooled students be issued a student identification card once all requirements have been completed. The School Committee agreed."
Institute trains parents to be school advocates
Date CapturedFriday November 24 2006, 9:33 AM
HERALD-LEADER reports, "CIPL was established in 1997 to cultivate parent leaders. Participants are encouraged to become involved in school district politics in the form of school decision-making councils, district PTAs and the county school board. The program has been particularly successful in Fayette County, with 60 percent of the school board having completed the course. 'The final biggest step of parent leadership is to serve our families and communities on the school board,' said Alice Nelson, former manager of the program."
Iowa Grade: Incomplete
Date CapturedFriday November 24 2006, 9:22 AM
The Quad-City Times reports, "Hoover said Iowa’s charter law makes it more difficult to monitor the schools because it does not require them to set annual goals. Also, a majority of the state’s charter schools submitted applications with vague goals. For example, every school said it would increase student achievement on state reading, math and science tests. But only a handful specified by how much. The wide range of types of charter schools also makes it difficult to set up a common way to measure their progress because their goals vary."
Count truants or lose Ohio state aid, 11 charters told
Date CapturedFriday November 24 2006, 9:16 AM
Columbus Dispatch reports, "The department [Ohio Department of Education] is requiring 11 charter schools in that situation to change the way they take attendance. Nine of the 11 are Internet schools, including the state’s largest, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow."
Educating boys, girls separately can benefit them, whole society
Date CapturedFriday November 24 2006, 6:14 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributor Sister Ann Collins, president, Nazareth Schools — The Hall and The Academy writes, "Title IX regulations have always permitted school districts that receive public funds to provide public single-sex elementary and secondary schools under certain circumstances. The new regulations make it easier to offer single-sex classes, activities or schools while ensuring that students of both sexes are treated in a manner that will satisfy Title IX's nondiscrimination requirements. As an educator, I believe single-gender education has its place among the learning options we must offer all families in our community. Although the Title IX changes go into effect today, local public schools reportedly have no plans to make this option available any time soon. For now, students in the Rochester area who wish to choose single-gender education must continue to look to private schools."
Cell phone letters fall on deaf ears
Date CapturedFriday November 24 2006, 5:39 AM
The Queens Courier reports, "Although the situations of angry parents and students who sent complaints about the City's cell phone ban in schools were varied, their messages were similar: 'Our children have the right to have immediate access to their parents,' one parent wrote."
Academies proposed at Poughkeepise city school
Date CapturedFriday November 24 2006, 4:40 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Wilson [superintendent] said his experience with small learning communities shows they lead to better attendance, improved grades and higher graduation rates. The academies would likely be open to students in grades 10 through 12. Freshmen entering the high school could be in their own academy, with the focus on preparing them for the rest of their academic career by emphasizing study skills, improving motivation and exposing them to school resources."
New York City Schools Figure 'Wrong'
Date CapturedFriday November 24 2006, 4:00 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "In a recent letter to the schools chancellor, Comptroller William Thompson Jr. noted that the steady climb began following a change in the way the city Department of Education defined discharged students in its annual reports beginning in 2002. The change involved omitting a disclaimer that said a student could be considered discharged only after the student was confirmed to have been admitted to a new school outside the city public school system."
Students are benefiting from single-sex classes
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 3:49 PM
Buffalo News contributor B. Jason Brooks , Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability writes, "Thanks to the revised federal regulations, districts now have the green light to embrace this innovative public school reform, which holds great promise."
Arizona charter school's big gift puts focus on teacher quality
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 10:54 AM
The Arizona Republic reports, "A charter school in Scottsdale will soon benefit from a nearly half-million dollar windfall, one that aims to boost the schools' teacher salaries to $100,000 to help retain highly skilled teachers. The private donation for the BASIS Scottsdale school is raising eyebrows among educators in the Valley, where starting teacher salaries hover at about $31,000 and administrators bemoan the ongoing struggle of attracting and holding on to top-notch teachers to bolster student achievement. Such donations are especially critical in a state that consistently ranks near the bottom in education funding when compared to other states, education advocates say."
Florida city-run charter school joins preschool program
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 10:48 AM
The News-Press reports, "Cape Coral's [Florida] city-run charter school system is entering the preschool business. City council granted approval Monday for the Charter School Authority to host the state-run Voluntary Prekindergarten program at Christa McAuliffe Charter Elementary."
Landmark NYC school aid ruling comes up about $3 billion short of lower courts' recommendations
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 8:47 AM
Inside Albany reports, "Surprisingly, the decision’s author was Eugene Pigott, Pataki’s final appointee to the court. Pigott was sworn in a couple of hours before the CFE arguments. Pigott wrote that the trial court had erred in having the panel of retired judges conduct a new review of how much a sound basic education cost. His opinion focused on the separation of the branches of government. 'The role of the courts is not, as Supreme Court assumed, to determine the best way to calculate the cost of a sound basic education in New York City schools, but to determine whether the state’s proposed calculation of that cost is rational.'”
Inside Albany (IA)
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 8:44 AM
This week on Inside Albany: Less than expected-Landmark NYC school aid ruling comes up about $3 billion short of lower courts' recommendations. CHECK SCHEDULE
Schools push radioactive safety
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 7:43 AM
AP reports, "School labs have used low-level radioactive materials safely for decades; experts say they're critical in teaching physics and chemistry. Sealed samples -- often leftovers from past experiments -- frequently are saved in closets and storerooms. But as teachers retire and containers get shoved aside to make way for new samples, it's easy for schools to lose track of what they've got, or to store them incorrectly, said Dr. Sandra West, an associate biology professor at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos."
State high court finally discovers its limitations
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 7:28 AM
NY Daily News Bill Hammond writes, "He [Eliot Spitzer] campaigned on promises to spend as much as $8.5 billion settling the CFE case and to support legalization of gay marriage. He won with 70% of the vote. Now he has the right to be wrong, and this Court of Appeals won't stand in his way."
NYC Students Can Get Cellphone Waiver
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 6:39 AM
The Queens Gazette reports, "A prior medical exemption provision allowed students to bring cell phones to school, but prohibited them from using or carrying the phones from class to class. Under the revised provision, students must have a doctor fill out a form describing their condition and explaining why they need to carry a cellphone during school hours. It is then up to the school principal to approve the student's request to carry the cellphone."
Queens Feels Squeeze Of Overcrowded Classes
Date CapturedThursday November 23 2006, 6:35 AM
Queens Chronicle reports, "Education reform advocates were quick to capitalize on the findings as evidence that the mayor’s plan to alleviate school crowding and reduce class size was falling behind. 'If we want our kids to succeed at every level, there is simply no way we can continue having classes this large,' said Leonie Haimson, of Class Size Matters, a Manhattan based advocacy group dedicated to lowering class sizes. 'It’s not good for kids, and it’s not saving money.' But education officials countered that the figures showed steady progress in the mayor’s plan to reduce class sizes, pointing to marginal declines in class enrollment from year to year at each grade level. Agency officials also noted that the recent class size averages are well below the limits established under the city’s teachers union contract, which recommends a threshold of 25 kids in kindergarten and 32 students in grades one through six."
In their court
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 10:00 AM
Times Union opined, "An epic court battle is over, then, but with a workable solution for neglect of school children, of all people, not yet in sight. Mr. Spitzer and the Legislature must provide them with the resources they've long been denied. While they're at it, they might fix the formulas for education funding statewide. Otherwise, they might find themselves right back in court, bracing for a ruling that's even more damning."
New Jersey Senate panel pushes gang prevention education
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 8:16 AM
Bridgeton News reports, "Proposed laws designed to crack down on criminal gangs that have spread throughout New Jersey and prevent them from enlisting youngsters were released by a Senate committee on Monday. Under one bill, all schools would be required to educate elementary students on preventing gang violence."
Pol slams 'outrageous' school consulting deals
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 7:45 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "School officials last year awarded a record-breaking $121million worth of contracts without the public review required of most city agencies, a Daily News analysis found. One of the largest and most controversial contracts put the city-based Alvarez & Marsal in charge of school finances for 17-1/2 months to find ways to cut bureaucracy. The contract - which was initially posted publicly for $17 million but later modified to $15.8million - includes 19 consultants billing at rates ranging from $275 to $450 an hour, including seven whose total bills will top $1 million."
Recommendations for Berlin Central School District discussed
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 7:13 AM
Troy Record reports, ""The charge to the committee, a 25-member group of parents, teachers, staffers and other stakeholders, was to explore long and short term solutions to the table for the board to consider. With the help of Questar III, the committee explored a number of options and outlined the pros and cons of each option. Now the board will have to determine which options to take."
For school buses, how safe is safe enough?
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 6:44 AM
The Christian Science Monitor writes, "Advocates of safety belts on the ubiquitous yellow buses say this accident is proof that the nation is failing to properly protect its children by not requiring buses to have seat belts (something required of the family car). Opponents say that the buses' current design - with high, padded seat backs and emergency exits - are safe enough, and that certain types of seat belts, like a simple lap belt, could even be harmful. Nonetheless, even before the crash, the NTSB had put school-bus safety on its list of most-wanted safety improvements."
No spare time for lost school bus: Call in, ask for help
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 6:23 AM
The Journal News opined, "Buses will be delayed by traffic conditions or road detours at times. Substitute drivers are sometimes needed. Yet, we believe this incident was all the more upsetting because a health department worker first appeared to downplay the situation, and the parents believed they were given little information not only during, but after the event. Really, what matters here is common sense and clear procedures. If a bus is more than 10 minutes behind schedule, an aide or driver should have an easy and efficient way to communicate with a supervisor or dispatcher, which, in turn, should alert parents. If a driver is unsure about a route, early contact within minutes is needed. The communication technology is available. It should be used. There should never be a question about the location of a school bus."
'School Squeeze' Protest
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 6:06 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "At a meeting with Department of Education officials following the protest, parents voiced concerns about safety, overcrowding and the agency's refusal to commit to its own projected timetable to move the Columbia school to a new location in two to three years. "
A big lesson in unfair lawsuit
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 4:40 AM
NY Daily News Michael Goodwin writes, "The lawsuit demanded Free Money. It argued that the court should ignore years of budgets negotiated by the Legislature and the governor and substitute a funding scheme that liberal advocates and one judge favored. Never mind that those budgets reflected not only the needs of schools, but also of hospitals, police, highways, parks and thousands of other things that government does. Breaking schools out and funding them in a vacuum is not fair nor does it make any sense. And government must do everything with a fixed amount of money. The pie is divided - maybe not always equally or fairly, but we elect our representatives to make those decisions. We can unelect them if we don't like their choices. The school funding lawsuit was an end-run around those democratic processes."
NTSB Urges Cell Phone Ban for Bus Drivers
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 3:49 AM
The Washington Post reports, "The National Transportation Safety Board today urged the federal and state governments to forbid motor coach and school bus drivers from using cell phones while driving, except in emergencies."
Critics Question the Effectiveness of New Jersey’s High School Drug Tests
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 3:40 AM
NY Times reports, "The program, adopted in June by the state’s Interscholastic Athletic Association, made New Jersey the first state to require such tests. Only public and private school athletes competing in state playoffs, including players in this fall’s football playoffs, are subject to the tests. During this school year, about 500, or .002 percent, of the state’s 240,000 high school athletes are expected to be tested. Critics say that is too small a number to create a deterrent, and some suggest that the money spent on the program could be better used to educate more students about drugs and their risks."
A Minimum for City Schools
Date CapturedWednesday November 22 2006, 3:36 AM
NY Times opined, "Mr. Spitzer wants the city to contribute more, perhaps as much as $1 billion extra, but he might have a hard time getting Mayor Michael Bloomberg to go along."
Overview of Public Elementary and Secondary Students, Staff, Schools, School Districts, Revenues, and Expenditures: School Year 2004-05 and Fiscal Year 2004
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 2:21 PM
This NCES report contains information from the 5 Common Core of Data (CCD) surveys: the 2004-05 state, local education agency, and school nonfiscal surveys for 2004-05 and the state and local education agency school finance surveys for fiscal year 2004. The report presents data about the students enrolled in public education, including the number of students by grade and the number receiving special education, migrant, or English language learner services. Some tables disaggregate the student data by racial/ethnic group or community characteristics such as rural - urban. The numbers and types of teachers, other education staff, schools, and local education agencies are also reported. Finance data include revenues by source (local, state, and federal) and total and per-pupil expenditures by function. Sable, J., and Hill, J. (2006). Overview of Public Elementary and Secondary Students, Staff, Schools, School Districts, Revenues, and Expenditures: School Year 2004–05 and Fiscal Year 2004 (NCES 2007-309). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Enhance school safety
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 10:36 AM
Buffalo News writes, "Superintendent James A. Williams has made ending school violence one of his top priorities by launching his own version of a zero-tolerance approach. Academy@44, an alternative school for troubled students, opened this fall after the district went without an alternative school for several years. That school deserves solid district support as it establishes itself."
Brentwood's budgetary woes linger
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 10:28 AM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND reports, "In Brentwood, as in New York City, four students out of every five are poor enough to qualify for discount school lunches. But unlike New York City, Brentwood was awarded no extra money for its schools more than a decade ago, when it sued the state. The court defeat left bitter feelings in this blue-collar district -- Long Island's largest, with 16,600 students -- where per-pupil spending is little more than half what is spent in Gold Coast communities."
Preschool Is School, Sometimes: Making early childhood education matter
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 9:45 AM
Education Next contributor Robert C. Pianta, professor of education at the Curry School of Education and director of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, the University of Virginia writes, "Recent work suggests that direct training methods, such as mentoring and coaching and constructive feedback based on observation of teachers, can improve early education practice and children’s performance."
Court ends battle for school funds
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 9:27 AM
Buffalo News writes, "While about 150 school districts have been defined as having 'high needs,' it is widely assumed that the Big Five city school districts will benefit the most by the court case and its spin-offs. For example, the Cheektowaga-Sloan School District, while deemed a high-needs school system, expects little financial benefit."
School bus driver even at end kept his riders safe
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 6:45 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Frank Ponticello, in a tribute to Carl Desens writes, "I'm not surprised that Carl pulled the school bus off the road, out of harm's way, before he passed out."
SCHOOL SANITY: COURT OPTS FOR RESTRAINT
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 6:44 AM
NY Post contributor E.J. McMahon, director of the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center for New York State Policy writes, "It will take a determined governor to prevent legislators and the usual special-interest groups from using CFE as an excuse to promote Albany's traditional education 'solution' - lots more money, no reform. But thanks to the Court of Appeals, these issues at least will be contested in the right forum. In one of his more beneficial legacies, Pataki stocked New York's highest court with judges who were unwilling to micromanage policy. They've now kicked the ball back to the Legislature, once and for all. CFE and its allies must turn their attention to direct lobbying of the people's elected representatives - which is just the way it should be."
Mount Vernon officials secure grant to help police keep kids in school
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 6:26 AM
The Journal News reports, "Under the grant, eight police officers will be assigned to to locating and returning students to their schools. Capt. Robert Kelly will lead the unit. The $143,000 grant is from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. When children are returned to the school, their parents will be contacted and will have to come in the next day for a conference with the teacher, Smith said. Other measures include attendance, teachers visiting the homes, and counseling for the students."
NYSUT blasts court decision on CFE; looks to Spitzer to do the 'right thing'
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 6:13 AM
NYSUT PRESS RELEASE: "For more than a decade, the court has repeatedly supported the premise of the CFE case: Every child must receive a sound basic education," Iannuzzi [New York State United Teachers President ]said. "Now, in addition to stripping away accountability measures, the court has basically said to every student in New York, 'Let them eat cake.'"
TOP NEW YORK COURT SUBTRACTS $3.7B FROM SCHOOLS
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 5:57 AM
NY Post Kenneth Lovett and David Andreatta report, "The school-funding ruling yesterday by the state Court of Appeals: * Requires state to increase operating aid to city schools by a minimum $1.93 billion annually. * Leaves final decision on spending above $1.93 billion with governor and Legislature, not courts. * Rejected state argument for a new office to monitor spending. * Tossed a lower court's order requiring $9.2 billion in additional school capital spending."
COURT BITES JUDGE
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 5:52 AM
NY Post opined on New York school funding lawsuit, "Gov. Pataki deserves two measures of credit for yesterday's ruling: * For having fought this case for so long - his entire 12-year tenure - in a state practically run by school unions and other special interests. Practically everyone agreed (wrongly) that the city needs billions more for schools. Even though it already spends far more per student than most other cities. And even though there is no credible evidence that extra money can guarantee students learn more. * And for assembling a high court - he appointed five of its members - that doesn't confuse itself with the Legislature."
State ruling could boost school aid
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 5:32 AM
Times Herald-Record reports on CFE court decision, "Middletown, Newburgh and Kingston school officials will be watching with interest. The three are among 19 small- city school districts that filed suit against the state in March 2005. They used the CFE case as a model, alleging their students, too are disadvantaged for lack of state aid. The small cities' lawsuit continues, said Robert Biggerstaff, executive director of the Association of Small City School Districts."
Extra school money is cut in CFE school funding court case
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 5:10 AM
Times Union Rick Karlin reports, "The court's majority also found that Pataki's method of calculating education costs -- which led to the $1.93 billion figure -- was valid. CFE had used a different method that resulted in a higher price tag. The governor's method included a "filter" that excluded some of the highest-spending districts for comparison purposes."
Breathing Room for Spitzer in Decision on New York City Schools
Date CapturedTuesday November 21 2006, 3:19 AM
NY Times reports, "Certainly, the political tug of war over the issue will provide early tests of Mr. Spitzer’s relationships with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the leaders of the State Legislature. Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Bloomberg have already publicly skirmished over how to divide up the bill for new financing of city schools between the state and city governments. In Albany, the Democratic Assembly will probably want to go well above the court’s $1.9 billion floor, while the Republican Senate, led by upstaters, will most likely rebuff such spending."
Courtroom Alchemy: Adequacy advocates turn guesstimates into gold
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 8:07 PM
James W. Guthrie, professor of public policy and education, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University and Matthew G. Springer, research assistant professor of public policy and education, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University write In Education Next, "The principled cause of adequacy is legitimate. America’s public schools surely would be enhanced if assured the optimal mix of resources, incentives, practices, and structures. Consequently, we set forth three recommendations by which adequacy-driven reform and cost modeling strategies can become more effective." Authors recommendations include investing in research, raising the standards and changing the venue from the courthouse to the statehouse.
"Photo Finish: Which Teachers Are Better? Certification Status Isn't Going to Tell Us
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 7:47 PM
Economists Thomas J. Kane of Harvard University, Jonah E. Rockoff of Columbia Business School, and Douglas O. Staiger of Dartmouth College, in Education Next, 2007 No. 1 answer the question of whether certification ensures highly effective teachers in the classroom. Researchers write, "The results of our study of New York City public school teachers confirm a simple truth: some teachers are considerably better than others at helping students learn. For example, elementary-school students who have a teacher who performs in the top quartile of all elementary-school teachers learn 33 percent of a standard deviation more (substantially more) in math in a year than students who have a teacher who performs in the bottom quartile. Yet as we embrace this piece of conventional wisdom, we must discard another: the widespread sentiment that there are large differences in effectiveness between traditionally certified teachers and uncertified or alternatively certified teachers. The greatest potential for school districts to improve student achievement seems to rest not in regulating minimum qualifications for new teachers but in selectively retaining those teachers who are most effective during their first years of teaching. "
The No Child Left Behind Act: Have Federal Funds Been Left Behind?
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 1:57 PM
"The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) imposes new requirements on state education systems and provides additional education funding. This paper estimates education cost functions, predicts the spending required to support NCLB standards, and compares this spending with the funding available through NCLB. This analysis is conducted for Kansas and Missouri, which have similar education environments but very different standards. We find that new federal funding is sufficient to support very low standards for student performance, but cannot come close to funding high standards without implausibly large increases in schooldistrict efficiency. Because of the limited federal funding and the severe penalties in NCLB when a school does not meet its state’s standards, states have a strong incentive to keep their standards low. NCLB needs to be reformed so that it will encourage high standards." *The authors are Professor of Public Administration, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University; Associate Professor of Public Administration, University of Nevada at Los Vegas; and Professor of Public Administration and Economics, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University, respectively. We are grateful to David Sjoquist for helpful comments. 1 1. Introduction The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) both imposes mandates on states and gives them more federal education funding. The authors are William Duncombe, Anna Lukemeyer and John Yinger, Professor of Public Administration, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University; Associate Professor of Public Administration, University of Nevada at Los Vegas; and Professor of Public Administration and Economics, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University, respectively.
Schools Struggle for Middle Ground on Safety
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 1:28 PM
NPR reports, "In the weeks since the school shootings in Lancaster, Pa., school districts around the country have been re-examining their security practices to make sure they're prepared for the worst."
New York Must Pay Schools $1.93B More a Year
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 10:39 AM
AP reports, "The state Court of Appeals, in a 4-2 decision, set the minimum to be spent, but said the Legislature should be allowed to determine the final total. The Pataki administration had argued that decisions on how to spend public money are the responsibility of the executive and legislative branches, not the courts. 'In fashioning specific remedies for constitutional violations, we must avoid intrusion on the primary domain of another branch of government,' Justice Eugene Pigott wrote for the majority."
Keep kids safe: Violence and drugs are hurting students' ability to learn
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 7:27 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle writes on City Schools Superintendent Manuel Rivera, "As the force behind the Rochester Children's Zone, Rivera is a good choice for Spitzer's transition team. This effort, modeled after the successful Harlem Children's Zone, aims to coordinate community resources to attack the societal ills that make kids want to carry guns, for example. The Children's Zone has received enthusiastic words of support from community leaders who know that cleaning up drugs, violence and family problems in Rochester will make it easier for children to succeed in school. Coming up with concrete resources has been a struggle. Rivera should impress upon Spitzer the importance of state support for programs that are successfully helping young people resist drug traffic, for example, and the associated weapons problems. Too often, programs that deal with students' lives outside the classroom fall victim to budget cuts."
Beacon board set to take back old school
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 6:49 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Beacon's Board of Education on Monday is expected to act upon a resolution that expresses support for transferring the title of the former Beacon High School from a nonprofit organization back to the Beacon City School District. The Beacon Cultural Foundation, which develops and promotes artistic and cultural community programs and activities, purchased the 121,000-square-foot Fishkill Avenue property from the district in 2003 for $4.25 million."
Plattsburgh State to increase dorm security
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 6:20 AM
The Press Republican reports, "Replacing the Cardinal Cards students now use for identification, meal plans and debit purposes, the new ones will include proximity-card readers, which allow touchless entry to buildings. The project will also include the installation of security cameras at all doors with electronic access, as well as in elevators and laundry rooms. The cameras will record but will not be constantly monitored. University Police Chief Arlene Sabo said all the security measures are things students have requested."
View from school bus: Be patient
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 5:36 AM
The Post-Standard JIM McKEEVER writes, "Last week's item in this space about [Syracuse] school buses forcing drivers to wait up to five minutes for a child to come out to the bus generated some confusion. And some bad feelings."
Second thoughts
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 5:20 AM
Times Union opined on charter schools, "A more rigid process for approval of charter schools would keep the failure rate lower, though, and spare families the firsthand experiences of such schools. The state Legislature -- yes, the same one that approved charter schools eight years ago, as a condition for a pay raise, of all things -- should keep that in mind before it buckles to pressure again and raises the limit of 100 charter schools allowable in New York."
Diversity urged for top University at Albany post
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 5:18 AM
Times Union Rick Karlin reports, "Emboldened by the victory of Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer and upset at what it terms a 'casual comfort with insider decision making,' the Legislature's Conference of Black Senators is urging the University at Albany to consider minorities for the school's next president."
Rethinking Newburgh schools
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 5:01 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Ideas on how to relocate the freshmen have been batted around for decades, but studies now indicate that cutting out the middleman — junior highs and middle schools — and returning to K-8 and 9-12 grade structures, could be better for all students. That's the route the Newburgh School District would like to pursue, and officials say they have a master plan that would work, but only if voters pass next month's $99.5 million bond. Rearranging students in the county's largest district is like tearing apart a 13,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, then putting it back together again, but with 14,000 pieces. That's how many students a live-birth analysis shows Newburgh schools enrolling by the year 2014."
New York schools' building bonanza
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 5:00 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "A one-time dose of state money injected into local school districts has fueled a frenzy of expansion and construction proposals. Eight districts have either gone to voters recently or plan to do so next month. The state Department of Education expects to see an increase in proposals as well. The state sweetened the pot this year with aid dubbed "Excel," or Expand Our Childrens' Education and Learning aid. Every district in the state can get the money if they have a project that fits: expansion or renovations, technology, health and safety, or access for the disabled. The money is a one-time shot. Districts can wait, but no one knows how much money future Legislatures and governors will set aside for the program."
An Education Gov?
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 4:45 AM
NY Post contributor Thomas W. Carroll, president of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability and chairman of the Brighter Choice Charter School for Girls and the Brighter Choice Charter School for Boys, the top elementary public schools in Albany writes, "To start with, we need to get over the artificial distinction between public and private schools. As Rev. Floyd Flake is fond of saying, we should focus on educating the public, not public education. With literally hundreds of thousands of students now attending schools that the state Education Department designates as failing, the territorial and exclusive focus of some on public district schools is misguided. Our focus should be creating more good schools and fewer bad schools, regardless of whether these happen to be organized as private, religious, public charter or standard district schools."
Bronx high school in cheat probe
Date CapturedMonday November 20 2006, 4:32 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Authorities are investigating whether teachers at a Bronx high school cheated on crucial state exams by coaching students during the test and then inflating their scores, the Daily News has learned."
Less costly options needed for Rochester special events, schools
Date CapturedSunday November 19 2006, 7:17 PM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle writes, "Too many well-paid, high-ranking police officers are upping their pension benefits using the city's liberal overtime policies. And they're doing it by providing such off-duty services as crosswalk escorting at busy downtown intersections during events at the Blue Cross Arena. Officers, on regular duty, are also being assigned to city schools to help maintain order and prevent violence. But it's arguable whether such assignments are the best use of trained law enforcement personnel."
Tax credits for private school tuition? No
Date CapturedSunday November 19 2006, 7:10 PM
NY Daily News contributor Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers writes, "Our children need and deserve smaller classes where teachers can give them more individual attention. They need and deserve schools that are safe, and they need and deserve teachers who are highly qualified. But we must not forget that our obligation is to help all children - not just a few."
Tax credits for private school tuition? Yes
Date CapturedSunday November 19 2006, 7:04 PM
NY Daily News contributor CATHERINE HICKEY, superintendent of Catholic schools of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York writes, "For hundreds of thousands of poor and working-class parents, public school is the only economic option. A real tax credit is a reasonable way to ensure that each and every child can obtain a good education in the school of his or her parents' choice."
New Jersey property tax reform, anti-gang ideas top agenda
Date CapturedSunday November 19 2006, 6:43 PM
AP TOM HESTER Jr. reports, "The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee will consider several bills aimed at combating gangs and youth violence. The bills passed the Assembly last spring, but haven't received the required Senate consideration. They would: _Require school boards to offer elementary school students instruction in gang violence prevention. _Require the state attorney general to provide annual gang education seminars for school administrators. _Upgrades recruiting a minor to be in a criminal street gang to a second degree crime."
Hunger in East Tennessee - fallacies and facts
Date CapturedSunday November 19 2006, 3:54 AM
Knoxville News reports, "Food for Kids and Kids Cafe -- Youth programs serve more than 3,000 kids monthly in nearly 100 locations. These kids show increased attendance, improved learning, better overall health and healthier social behavior. Several corporations have donated $2,500 each to adopt and fund a neighborhood elementary school for a year."
Funding is key to education reform
Date CapturedSunday November 19 2006, 3:35 AM
The Seattle Times reports, "Here is what lies in the future for our schools and our children if we enact even a portion of the panel's ideas: • State funding for all-day kindergarten, thus eliminating tuition-based classes and the piecemeal offerings that vary from school to school. • Expanded professional development and a pay scale based on merit. • More-rigorous high-school course requirements targeting the gaping weaknesses in math and science curricula. • A 10-year plan for expected increases in enrollment at colleges and universities. And those very things are what our schools and children won't receive if a long-term, stable source of funding isn't developed."
SUNY chief cites plans to improve
Date CapturedSaturday November 18 2006, 3:37 PM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Ryan plans to hire more full-time faculty, instead of relying so heavily on part-time and adjunct instructors. In the 2005-06 school year, 62.2 percent of SUNY faculty were full time. Keeping schools affordable and accessible is key, he said. Ryan wants to establish a 'rational tuition' policy, something where tuition prices could be increased gradually, but rates locked in over students' four years of college."
Ruling: Texas classes divided by race
Date CapturedSaturday November 18 2006, 7:05 AM
Dallas Morning News reports, "For years, it was an open secret at North Dallas' Preston Hollow Elementary School: Even though the school was overwhelmingly Hispanic and black, white parents could get their children into all-white classes. And once placed, the students would have little interaction with the rest of the students. The result, a federal judge has ruled, was that principal Teresa Parker was,' in effect, operating, at taxpayer's expense, a private school for Anglo children within a public school that was predominantly minority.'"
After 4 Years of Roosevelt School Takeover, Debate on Its Effect Still Rages
Date CapturedSaturday November 18 2006, 6:49 AM
NY Times reports, "The state’s [New York] ultimate success or failure in turning around the district will have implications far beyond this small suburb on Long Island, since troubled districts throughout New York State and beyond face the prospect of takeovers prescribed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act."
Court Orders Education Dept. Not to Cut 250 Bus Routes Yet
Date CapturedSaturday November 18 2006, 6:44 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, " State Supreme Court justice yesterday blocked the New York City Education Department from eliminating 250 school bus routes to help save up to $20 million a year. The court order came at the request of school bus companies, which argued that the city’s plan violated their contract. Skip to next paragraph Blogs The Empire Zone Coverage of politics in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The justice, Shirley Werner Kornreich, said she would hear arguments in the case on Dec. 1."
Use of Technology in Education
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 5:46 PM
The Board of Regents created a statewide Technology Policy and Practices Council to study the use of technology in education. As part of this effort, the Metiri Group will be conducting random surveys of school districts and other members of the University of the State of New York. Commissioner Mills urges all selected to participate in the survey process; a letter from him with additional information is available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/metirisurvey.htm.
Vouchers supporter expects to prevail
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 3:59 PM
Arizona Daily Star reports, "Tim Keller, executive director of the Arizona chapter of the Institute for Justice, acknowledged that the state constitution bars the use of public funds 'in aid of … any private or sectarian school.' And a separate section specifically says 'no public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction.' But Keller said these vouchers — called grants and scholarships by the Legislature — don't run afoul of the provisions."
Statement by Secretary Spellings on the 2005 NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment on Science
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 3:19 PM
Excerpt: While urban school districts are making good progress, much work remains before all students perform at grade level. The results point to the need for states to add science assessments into accountability for NCLB for the 2007-08 school year.
Cops, dogs case Newburgh's South Junior High in lockdown drill
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 7:07 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Lots of districts conduct lockdown drills and surprise searches, but helping police train is a new idea in Newburgh. Of course, if the K-9 teams find contraband that hasn't been planted for the drill, they'll proceed accordingly. In a similar exercise at the district's high school Wednesday, K-9 units from local agencies sniffed out a dime bag of marijuana in an 11th-grade girl's locker. The student was issued an appearance ticket for possession of marijuana and suspended, pending a superintendent's hearing."
New York State Assembly looks to improve education
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 6:59 AM
Capital News 9 reports, "Mills [Commissioner] said the most recent data shows achievement in public schools is improving, but there's still work to be done, especially because one third of students don't graduate high school on time. He also said learning at the middle school level is lagging, which indicates why half of 8th graders don't meet reading and writing standards."
Bear Stearns is Bulli$h on New York City Schools
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 5:18 AM
NY Post reports, "Bear Stearns is underwriting $650 million worth of bonds that will help pay for new city schools, officials announced yesterday."
Homework not fonework, sez Mike
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 5:11 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Parents and students have argued that cell phones are useful in emergencies. But Bloomberg has repeatedly said cell phones disrupt classes. And despite growing calls for him to lift the ban on the phones, iPods and other gadgets, the mayor says he's not budging."
Firms sue to put brakes on New York City school bus cuts
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 5:11 AM
NY Daily News reports, "A coalition of school bus companies sued the city Education Department yesterday in a last-ditch bid to stop the planned elimination of 250 routes. The 10 bus companies claim in the suit that the Education Department's Dec. 4 reorganization will cause chaos among students. The companies also argued that the cuts violate their contract with City Hall."
Schools too good, Mike says
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 5:08 AM
NY Daily News ERIN EINHORN reports, "One of the reasons city schools are overcrowded is because they're getting better, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. While announcing the first of a series of bond deals to finance his five-year, $4.7 billion school construction plan, the mayor said his efforts to give kids more space is 'being exacerbated by the fact that our schools are getting better and parents are more inclined to stay in the city as their children get older.'"
Syracuse coaches top salary list, make more than $1 million
Date CapturedFriday November 17 2006, 4:47 AM
AP reports, "Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim and his gridiron counterpart Greg Robinson each made more than $1 million last year in total compensation, according to university tax records. Both men earned more than Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor - who actually was the school's fourth-highest paid official."
School settles lawsuit alleging racism in sports
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 6:19 PM
AP reports, "A federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that the breakup of a suburban Chicago high school athletic league resulted in racial segregation has been settled, an attorney said Wednesday. The agreement averts a trial that would have pitted predominantly black schools in the former South Inter-Conference Association against schools with mostly white students."
Police use stun gun on student who wouldn't show ID at UCLA library, refused to leave
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 6:06 PM
AP reports, "Police say the student refused to show I-D and wouldn't leave when told to. They say he invited others at the library to join in his resistance, and when a crowd gathered, the officer used a stun gun on him."
Bush Official Rules Out National Standard for School Testing
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 5:59 PM
Bloomberg News reports, "The Bush administration has no intention of backing a single nationwide testing standard when it works with Congress to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law, a top Education Department official said today. David Dunn, the department's chief of staff and acting undersecretary, ruled out the idea one day after it was endorsed by the Council of the Great City Schools, representing 66 of the nation's largest urban school districts."
Hyde Park school district vows state will pay
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 6:55 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Hyde Park schools have qualified for $1,479,243 in state funding for building improvements through the Expanding our Children's Education and Learning program. These funds can also be used to secure another $1.79 million in state aid. This will provide the district with $3,265,000 for its various building upgrades and repairs. The district, however, must receive voter approval to receive any of the funds because the money is initially borrowed by the district and later reimbursed by the state. The district plans to borrow the money over a 16-year period. Board members say the state takes into account the interest costs for borrowing."
Yonkers school board approves ethics code
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 6:20 AM
The Journal News reports, "Under the new code, employees are banned from hiring, supervising, evaluating, promoting or disciplining a family member. They can't accept gifts valued at $75 or more and must keep confidential any information disclosed in executive sessions on a wide range of subjects, including proposed, pending or current litigation or discussions involving collective bargaining. In addition, former employees are banned from appearing before the school board on any action in which they participated in as employees."
Rome schools may get security system, including video surveillance
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 5:51 AM
Observer-Dispatch reports, "The plan calls for 86 surveillance cameras to be installed at Rome's eight elementary schools. The funding will be covered through federal grants and state aid, said Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Simons. Along with the new cameras, most building access will be limited to the main doorways at the schools, making it safer for both students and staff, he said."
Hands off our school!
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 4:55 AM
NY Daily News reports on plans to tear down an upper East Side [New York City], "Supporters say the building, once known as Julia Rikers for its dangerous reputation, has reinvented itself as a home for six notable schools, including a performing arts high school, a school for autistic children and a school created to serve children of people who work in the area. Their objections were highlighted yesterday by Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez.."
Big classroom squeeze in New York City
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 4:23 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "The average class-size details for kindergarten to eighth grade were released for the first time yesterday under City Council legislation requiring the Department of Education to turn over the data twice a year. High school classroom sizes will be released at a later date, officials said."
Program aims to reduce dropouts
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 4:08 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Starting next fall, close to four dozen Rochester School District dropouts will enter Monroe Community College as college students. The college and school district will spend nearly $4 million over the next three years replicating a program started in Portland, Ore., to get dropouts back into the educational system and earning their high school diplomas, as well as college credits."
$3 million drive targets truancy: Philadelphia schools would add 400 parent officers to tackle 18% absenteeism.
Date CapturedThursday November 16 2006, 3:52 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Among the other efforts in the truancy blitz: more sweeps to round up students, an expansion of after-school programs to serve 27,000 additional children, the tripling of the number of children and families served by counselors, and the tripling of parent-education classes for parents of truants. District officials estimate that 32,000, or 18 percent, of the city's 180,000 public schoolchildren, are illegally absent on any given day. Last school year, 80,000 missed eight or more days."
NYC schools chancellor urges 'radical change'
Date CapturedWednesday November 15 2006, 2:29 PM
Daily Princetonian reports, "This 'culture of performance,' Klein said, depends in large part on school officials' willingness to be innovative and depart from existing systems of public educations. 'Talent matters," he said. A central topic in the discussion was the "Autonomy Zone" that Klein and other education officials implemented in 2004 to allow schools to develop independently. Twenty-six NYC public schools comprised the initial Autonomy Zone population, with the principals of each school signing what Nadelstern called 'performance agreements.' These agreements allowed principals to commit voluntarily to high levels of accomplishment within their schools."
Enriching Education Throughout Childhood Pays Big Dividends
Date CapturedWednesday November 15 2006, 5:31 AM
Newswise reports, "Researchers have previously noted that many of the advantages children receive from preschool experiences begin to wane as they continue through school. A study by James Heckman, a Nobel-Prize winning economist shows for the first time that systematic interventions throughout childhood and adolescence could sustain the early gains and build on them."
New York City parents peeved over cell phone ban
Date CapturedWednesday November 15 2006, 4:59 AM
amNewYork City Michael Clancy reports, "The public school system has prohibited cell phones in school buildings for years, but the policy was generally not enforced at most schools. Last spring, the issue exploded when school officials started performing random searches for weapons systemwide and guards seized hundreds of cell phones. Critics of the ban also say students who attend schools with permanent metal detectors suffer more than children at schools without the detectors because students at those schools are allowed to bend the rules."
New York City parents angry over nixed school meeting
Date CapturedWednesday November 15 2006, 4:55 AM
NY Daily News reports, "They [parents] are concerned the addition of middle-school students will disrupt the character of PS 36, which enrolls children in prekindergarten through second grade, and decried a lack of parent input in the Education Department's decision."
Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) school funds case Mike's No. 1 goal
Date CapturedWednesday November 15 2006, 4:52 AM
NY Daily News Joe Mahoney reports, "But Sanders [former Assembly Education Chairman, now a lobbyist] and Senate Education Committee Chairman Steve Saland (R-Poughkeepsie) said the key to making progress will be whether the city becomes more generous with its own classrooms. 'The city has been folding its arms and maintained consistently they don't want to provide a dime,' Saland said."
NCLB Achieves Its Top Goal—Accountability
Date CapturedWednesday November 15 2006, 4:52 AM
This op-ed excerpt by Secretary Spellings appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal on November 14, 2006, "Accountability is NCLB's first pillar of reform. The law represents the latest renewal of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was intended to ensure a quality education for all in exchange for increased federal funding. For 40 years, however, few paid much attention. There was no accountability for student achievement and virtually no consequences for not following the law. Today, thanks to NCLB, Wisconsin and 49 other states have accountability plans in place, holding schools responsible for improved student achievement. Every state measures student performance annually in grades 3-8 and once more in high school. And every state separates student information by student group so parents and teachers can learn who is falling behind and needs extra help. This is especially critical when it comes to reading. Reading is the key that unlocks every other subject."
Dozens of NYC parents e-mail City Hall over cell phone ban
Date CapturedWednesday November 15 2006, 4:12 AM
AP reports, "Gotbaum [public advocate] and some other lawmakers say principals should set their own policies. They site safety as the No. 1 concern. In the e-mails, some parents pointed to the Sept. 11 disaster and the daily threat of terrorism as the primary reasons why their children need phones. "The reality is that the NYC subway system is vulnerable to terrorist attack," said the parent of a ninth grader. 'When we have so little control over these horrific incidents, and must continue to live our lives (as Mayor Bloomberg suggests we do), something as simple and basic as cell phone contact with our children should not be up for negotiation.' Another wrote: 'She and I both feel a little less crazy knowing that if something major happens - an accident, a crisis - that she can be in touch with me. If your child went to school blocks from ground zero, you'd know what I'm talking about.'"
Justices to weigh school diversity
Date CapturedTuesday November 14 2006, 7:25 AM
USA TODAY reports, "The school districts in Louisville and Seattle are at the heart of a pair of legal disputes, now before the U.S. Supreme Court, that test whether public schools can use race as a factor in determining where students go to school. The cases, to be heard by the court Dec. 4, have drawn national attention because they could affect policies in districts across the country. The key legal question in the Louisville and Seattle lawsuits — which were filed by parents of white students who weren't allowed to attend the schools of their choice — is whether school-assignment plans that use students' race as a factor violate the Constitution's guarantee of equality."
Bus stop issues are unresolved
Date CapturedTuesday November 14 2006, 7:04 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "More than 10 weeks into the school year, parents in Dutchess County's largest school district are still battling to have their children's bus stops changed."
Charter school losing support
Date CapturedTuesday November 14 2006, 4:53 AM
Times Union reports, "New Covenant's [Albany charter school]situation is not unique. Two other charter schools are shrinking their enrollments this year, prompting some observers to speculate the declines could be a factor in legislative debates next year about raising the current cap of 100 charters. Such schools are publicly funded but free of many rules and regulations that apply to traditional public schools. A number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the cap should be increased; however, the majority of Assembly Democrats opposed that move in the past."
Maritime school's Gov. Island getaway
Date CapturedTuesday November 14 2006, 4:52 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The Department of Education {New York City] and the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp. are in talks to move the 400-student school from Brooklyn to the 172-acre island off Manhattan's southern tip, officials said."
Education stats show New York City of wise guys, gals
Date CapturedTuesday November 14 2006, 4:39 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The city Education Department attributed rising graduation and lower dropout rates to an increase in programs devoted to keeping kids in school longer, including the Young Adult Borough Centers, targeting high school students who might be considering dropping out."
Just Whose Idea Was All This Testing?
Date CapturedTuesday November 14 2006, 3:36 AM
The Washington Post reports, "In 1988, Congress created the National Assessment Governing Board. It established new standards for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test that has been given to a sampling of students since 1970. In 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind law. For the first time, it required annual testing of all public school children in certain grades and required states to use results to help rate schools. The National Education Association and other teacher organizations argue that it is unfair to rate schools through such tests when teachers lack adequate training and pay. In a 2004 essay for the Hoover Digest, Ravitch wrote that the advocates of inputs and the champions of outputs 'are in constant tension, with first one and then the other gaining brief advantage.' 'How this conflict is resolved,' she wrote, 'will determine the future of American education.'"
Buffalo schools weather test of new, speedy phone system
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 11:29 AM
Buffalo News reports, "In Buffalo, school officials can specify who will receive the calls - for example, all parents and staff, students at one particular school or in a single class, all sixth-graders in the district, or a handful of students scheduled to be honored at a Board of Education meeting."
Plan separates boys and girls
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 9:20 AM
Herald Tribune reports, "Until recently, federal Title IX regulations were unclear on whether public schools could legally separate the sexes. In 1995, just three U.S. public schools had single-sex classrooms, according to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. But in the past few years, the federal government has been moving to clarify the rules and is actually now calling for schools to research the effects of single-sex classrooms. Today, there are about 250 public schools with single-sex classrooms -- including seven in Florida."
For kids' sake, bill deserves a chance
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 9:07 AM
The Times reports, "A bill called the Urban Schools Scholarship Act has been languishing in the Legislature. It would create a five-year pilot project in Trenton, Newark, Orange, Camden and Elizabeth modeled after a successful program in Pennsylvania that serves some 25,000 students. Scholarships would be awarded to 4,000 low-income children in the first year and 20,000 by the fifth year. (Advocates no longer call the grants 'vouchers,' a term they be lieve has become politically loaded.) Each family would receive up to $6,000 per child for elemen tary-school tuition or $9,000 for high school, which the admitting school would have to accept as full payment. The cost -- capped at $24 million in the first year, $120 million in the fifth -- would be covered by contributions from corporations in return for a dollar-for-dol lar tax credit from the state."
Schools to lobby against English testing change
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 5:55 AM
The Journal News reports, "Before this school year, students who spoke little English had up to three years to work on their proficiency before taking the standard reading and writing test that others take in grades 3 to 8. Now, students have just one year's exemption. That will hurt the children and their schools, critics say."
To boost students and teachers, steer clear of merit pay on the road to reform
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 5:25 AM
Christian Science Monitor contributor Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association writes, "The key question for any teacher compensation system is whether it is designed to improve student learning or to advance short-term political goals. These efforts linking teacher pay to test scores are not part of any integrated strategy to raise student achievement. Instead they represent an oversimplified approach masquerading as school improvement."
Class Drug Swabs
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 4:51 AM
NY Post HEIDI SINGER and DAVID ANDREATTA report, "In a matter of minutes, officials can determine what kind of illegal narcotics are in their school, where drug dealers might be lurking and how young the users are. Newark school officials want to use the information to fine-tune their anti-drug message, adjusting it to the reality of what drugs kids are actually using, said Willie Freeman, security director for the Newark School District. But officials won't be using the test to bust individual kids, he said."
Weighing in on Ballroom Dancing
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 4:40 AM
NY Post CARL CAMPANILE and MARK BULLIET report, "Research involving public-school students as "guinea pigs" can be seriously worrisome - but also downright silly, critics charge. One example: A study of whether ballroom dancing helps kids beat weight woes and bolsters healthy behavior by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical Center."
New York City Ed Dept. tells school bigs: Clear all talks first
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 4:37 AM
NY Daily News ERIN EINHORN reports, "The Department of Education has ordered school bigwigs to powwow with a new external-communications team before accepting or declining invitations to speak with community groups or public officials. The new public-appearance protocol is pitched as a way to ensure that DOE reps are fully prepared, according to a memo obtained by the Daily News. 'And it will help them think strategically about how the DOE is publicly presenting itself,' the memo states."
A Decline in Foreign Students Is Reversed
Date CapturedMonday November 13 2006, 3:23 AM
NY Times KAREN W. ARENSON reports, "The number of new foreign students coming to the United States grew this school year, after several years of weakness that followed the terrorist attacks of 2001, according to a survey to be released today by the Institute of International Education."
Next stop, privatization?
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 4:37 PM
Great Falls Tribune reports, "Some fear that a pro-business Bush administration is intent on privatizing public education. One way of doing that is through vouchers that allow parents to send their kids to private schools on the taxpayers' dime."
POLL FINDS SUPPORT FOR DRUG TESTS
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 4:31 PM
Courier News reports, "In the weeks ahead, Central Jersey's high-school athletes will face a new challenge that has nothing to do with X's and O's or executing plays. They'll be subject to new, random testing for performance-enhancing drugs. An exclusive Courier News poll of 100 playoff-bound athletes shows widespread belief that the testing will level the playing field and create more of a dialogue about performance- enhancing drugs, but also some concerns about the program's fairness."
New Jersey tax relief: Who gets what? When?
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 4:04 PM
NorthJersey.com reports, "Paying for public education now accounts for about one third of the total state [New Jersey] budget and two-thirds of every property tax bill. Legislators have promised a new method for distributing those tax dollars to public schools. The current formula centers on factors such as enrollment and socioeconomic makeup of the community; legislators promise a new method that tailors the aid to students' needs and other factors."
Massachusetts high school experimenting with lures to boost attendance
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 9:38 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Students and parents unfamiliar with the nuances of the school calendar year is just one of the many challenges facing urban school districts like Chelsea as they try to improve their attendance rates -- as mandated by federal education laws, Orlov [high school principal] said."
Study to analyze Utah charter schools
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 9:25 AM
The Salt Lake Tribune reports, "The Utah Education Policy Center plans to pursue a study on the effectiveness of the state's charter schools, examining whom they benefit and what their impact is on traditional public school districts. The work will follow the policy center's report released Thursday on the state's charter schools. That report, gathered for the Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee, did not examine school quality so much as the schools' purpose and governance."
Spitzer gears up for changes in office
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 9:09 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Governor-elect [New York] Eliot Spitzer pledges to cut property taxes by expanding the 1997 STAR program, which exempts part of a home's assessed value from school taxes. He suggested a three-tier system that cuts more for homes with lower incomes. (The current program - a 'basic' exemption and an 'enhanced' one for seniors - doesn't consider income.)"
Parents want Nobel Prize winner's novel pulled from school
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 8:50 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "'According to (a school district) policy ... set in place in 1985, if a parent has a problem with one of the books that's being read, they submit a petition to the board, and that gets the process going,' Callejo [school board member] said. Callejo said the committee being assembled to consider the book's suitability for students will include a school district administrator, a teacher, a parent, a psychologist and a community member."
Johnny got a raw deal
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 8:23 AM
NY Daily News contributor Joe Williams writes on the New York City teachers contract deal, "By cutting such a deal so early rather than keeping pressure on, Bloomberg has made a statement loud and clear: Only contract nips and tucks are needed from here on out. Major new work-rule changes are unnecessary."
BAT BAN OFF BASE: SCHOOLS
Date CapturedSunday November 12 2006, 7:37 AM
NY Post reports, "The Catholic High Schools' Athletic Association sent a letter to all 51 council members urging them not to vote for the measure, which would require all high schools in the city to use wooden bats for safety reasons."
Bilingual education reforms urged
Date CapturedSaturday November 11 2006, 6:13 PM
Buffalo News reports, "The director of multilingual education would oversee programs to serve children whose predominant language is something other than English. While Buffalo students speak more than 40 languages, most bilingual students are Spanish-speakers."
Alternative education: Northern Arizona University (NAU) program's flexibility lets many get degree
Date CapturedSaturday November 11 2006, 2:15 PM
The Republic reports, "This year, 7,100 students are enrolled in NAU's Distance Learning Program, a 12 percent increase from last year, Hurst said. More than 3,100 are taking classes in the Phoenix area. The program offers 63 degree and certificate programs including teacher certification, school and professional counseling programs and business programs."
Purple Heart Hall of Honor is dedicated in Vails Gate, New York
Date CapturedSaturday November 11 2006, 10:17 AM
Mid-Hudson News reports, "The $6 million facility [Purple Heart Hall of Honor] will recognize the brave men and women who have served their country with dignity and distinction. Their stories will be preserved and shared through a series of exhibits, live and videotaped interviews with veterans themselves, and the Roll of Honor, an interactive computer program detailing the stories of each individual."
Massachusetts preschool initiative smart business move
Date CapturedSaturday November 11 2006, 8:09 AM
The Republican opined, "Nobel laureate James J. Heckman argues that early intervention for disadvantaged children promotes staying in school, raises the quality of the workforce, enhances the productivity of schools and has the effect of reducing crime, teen pregnancy and dependence on welfare. And a Chicago study concluded that every dollar spent on early childhood education yields a return of $7 in higher taxes on earnings and lower expenditures on welfare, prisons, crime and special education."
Elmira College offers new master's program
Date CapturedSaturday November 11 2006, 7:56 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "Elmira College will offer a new master's degree program in January that school officials hope will prepare the local work force for the future. Four areas of concentration -- in general management, information technology management, health services management and emergency-disaster preparedness management -- will be offered during the winter term that starts Jan. 8."
Review of school job complaints expands
Date CapturedSaturday November 11 2006, 7:47 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "An effort to review discrimination complaints by former City [Rochester] School District employees is poised to gain in size and expand in focus. The Clergy Review Board, a 12-member group formed to help the school district identify and rectify discrimination complaints from African-American employees, will launch 'Phase II' of its plan during a meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Peace Baptist Church, 6 Oregon St."
Provision of Special Education Services to Parentally Placed Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary School Students with Disabilities
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 8:28 AM
Provision of Special Education Services for the 2007-08 school year: The public school district where the nonpublic school is located must begin to develop procedures for the evaluation and provision of special education services to students with disabilities enrolled in nonpublic schools located in their district for the 2007-08 school year in accordance with the new federal regulations. In this process, the school district must consult with nonpublic school representatives and representatives of parents of parentally placed private school students with disabilities for nonpublic schools located within the boundaries of the school district. Additional guidance will be issued upon further changes to State law.
2006 Essential Elements: Schools-To-Watch
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 8:23 AM
Models of Academic Excellence, Social Equity, Developmental Responsiveness, Organization and Structure. For more information about NY State's Schools to Watch program please visit the New York State Middle School Association Website at http://www.nysmsa.org/.
Asbestos in Schools
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 8:20 AM
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Reminder of Annual AHERA Notifications to Employees and Parents
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 8:16 AM
Public and nonpublic schools must also provide a written notification to all parent, teacher, and employee organizations of the availability of the school’s asbestos management plan for public inspection. A description of the steps to notify these organizations, as well as a dated copy of the notification, is to be maintained in the asbestos plan. The asbestos management plans are to be made available for inspection to representatives of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the State, the public, including parents, teachers, and other school personnel within five working days after receiving a request for its inspection.
From the Desk of Jean C. Stevens, Interim Deputy Commissioner, New York State Education Department
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 8:08 AM
ELA and Mathematics Results on the New York State Testing and Accountability Reporting Tool (nySTART): Beginning November 14, authorized users in schools and districts will be able to access parent reports for the grades 3-8 State assessments in mathematics using nySTART. Beginning November 13, files containing the mathematics parent reports will be distributed to Regional Information Centers and the Big 5 school districts. If your district has contracted with a Regional Information Center or BOCES to print the reports, please contact them for information about the printing and distribution schedule. Information about interpreting student scores, particularly the standard performance indices, is available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/irts/nystart/2006/InterpretingStudentScores_files/frame.htm. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Accountability Verification: On November 14, school districts and charter schools will have access to two sets of reports allowing them to verify student data that will be used to determine each district’s and school’s accountability status at the elementary and middle levels for the 2006-07 school year. Each school superintendent, school principal, and staff member with account administrator privileges can access these reports through nySTART, using their personal UserIDs and passwords. The deadline for submitting data changes to your district’s Regional Information Center or Level 1 Repository operator is November 20. More information about the verification process is available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/irts/nystart/. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Essential Elements Schools to Watch: New York State is one of 14 states that has joined Schools to Watch, a national recognition program developed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. In New York, seven schools were selected for the 2006 group of Schools to Watch by distinguishing themselves in academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and organization and structure. A list of the schools is available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/mle/news/schools2watch.htm. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reminder of Annual AHERA Notifications to Employees and Parents: The federal Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) requires all schools to provide public notification regarding inspections and other activities related to asbestos. Schools must also make its asbestos management plan available for public inspection. For more information, go to http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/facplan/AHERA/aheranotifyreminder.htm. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VESID Update: National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) and National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC): Guidance regarding NIMAS and NIMAC, as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, is now available at http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/persprep/nimas.htm. NIMAC is designed to streamline access to instructional materials that meet the NIMAS standard for students who are blind or have other print disabilities. Please review and share as appropriate; a response is needed no later than November 30, 2006. Provision of Special Education Services to Parentally Placed Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary School Students with Disabilities: This memorandum, available at http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/policy/ nonpublic.htm, informs school districts of their responsibilities to provide special education services to parentally placed nonpublic school students with disabilities for the 2006-07 school year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous News and Notes: 10/27/06 10/20/06 10/6/06 11/09/2006
Vote next month on Newburgh school bond
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 6:31 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "But the bulk of the bond [$99.5 million], about 50 percent, would go toward turning some elementary schools into K-eight facilities. The district wants to build a 600-student complex on its 8-acre Chestnut Street site and add seventh and eighth grades to the Meadow Hill and Temple Hill schools."
Mahopac schools save money in renegotiated teachers' contract
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 6:19 AM
The Journal News reports, "In addition, the contract will provide an evening school where high-schoolers can receive academic intervention services. Also, the agreement calls for expanding professional-development opportunities for teachers by establishing the Mahopac Academy for Learning. 'Professional development is the key to continuous improvement,' Reidy said in a press release. 'The Academy will also help us meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind. More importantly, the Academy will help us move toward our goal of becoming better every day.'"
Klein's Principal Focus
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 5:00 AM
NY Post opined, "Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's laser-like focus on the Council of Supervisers and Administrators - the union that represents both school principals and their administrative underlings - continues. As it should."
New York City teachers deal not so sweet
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 4:38 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Klein [New York City schools chancellor] has been critical of provisions in the teachers contract that he says protect incompetent teachers. He has called for the ability to alter the length of the school day and for the ability to pay some teachers more than others. He even boasted at a recent event that he was creating a 'new labor-management paradigm' in the school system. But the 24-month contract that teachers seem likely to approve in a formal ratification vote next month - the last teachers contract over which Klein is likely to have any influence - contained virtually none of reforms he has advocated."
New York City schools shakeup fury
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 4:35 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, ""Every single year that I've been involved in the school issue, it's been a fight from one borough to another and from one district to another over a totally insufficient pie,' said Leonie Haimson of the advocacy group Class Size Matters. Officials have proposed cutting seven schools from its five-year construction plan because of increased costs." Hearings on the construction plans will be held.
OSHA Investigating Dispute Over Asbestos Removal at New York City School
Date CapturedFriday November 10 2006, 3:16 AM
NY Times reports, "Last week, the New York State Labor Department, contacted by a lawyer for the custodian, cited the city Department of Education for violating laws on the safe removal of asbestos. It said the Education Department’s asbestos-handling license had expired before some of the tiles were replaced and that the supervisor was not certified to perform the work."
First We Take Your Money, Then We Take Your Schools
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 8:31 AM
Neal McCluskey, policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom writes, "Regrettably, the reality is that George Bush has not been a good Federalist. When it comes to education, he has repeatedly flouted the Constitution and expanded the scope of federal power. If he continues to do so for the next two years, his legacy will not be what he had hoped."
Rochester teachers speak
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 8:24 AM
Campus Times, the student newspaper of the University of Rochester writes, "The main focus of the lecture was the Jumpstart Program, an innovative 10-day program that helps students who recently entered the country learn 'survival skills' for the upcoming school year. The student may have just arrived from a dangerous situation in a third-world country and they are not prepared to function in an American school setting. As Ehtesham put it, after going through this program, a student who arrived in the country a week ago has the experience of a student who attended the school the year before."
School sports equality: Ed. Dept. ruling shows progress
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 8:08 AM
The Ithaca Journal opined, "While we can debate at length about what subjects should be taught in our schools, one thing is clear: Teaching our students at an early age about equality is an important lesson that will only help them accomplish great things in life. Ensuring that lesson is communicated on our athletic fields is a solid step for everyone."
LIVE VIDEO WEBCAST --SCHOOL SAFETY
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 8:07 AM
LIVE VIDEO WEBCAST: Wednesday, November 15, 2006. Live broadcast from 1:00-2:00pm EASTERN TIME.School Safety In the wake of recent school shootings and the subsequent White House Conference on School Safety, the U.S. Department of Education will present a one-hour Web cast to provide parents, educators, school administrators and local safety personnel with an opportunity to review their emergency management plans. The Department's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools will share successful strategies so that all who share the responsibility of protecting our children can learn more about how schools can help mitigate, prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from a crisis. Join the broadcast to learn how to take positive steps to prevent school violence and respond quickly and effectively if an incident does occur. The Web cast will offer many opportunities for viewers to ask questions via email and get answers from the presenters.
Staten Island High School Athletic Fields In Dangerous State Of Disrepair
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 6:56 AM
NY1 reports, "Years of neglect have left a Staten Island high school athletic field in a dangerous state of disrepair, and some parents and administrators are asking for help, before a student is hurt."
State's top officials talk tax reform as deadline looms
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 6:50 AM
AP Tom Hester Jr. reports, "The pleas came during a Statehouse news conference about a week after advocates for suburban schools beseeched lawmakers to implement a new funding plan that would likely take money from city schools and redistribute it. The state is required under Supreme Court order to provide heavy financial help to 31 city schools. Those districts get 55 percent of all state school aid, while most of the other 585 districts haven't seen any increase in financial aid in five years, forcing them to rely more on property taxes that are twice the national average in New Jersey. Lesley Hirsch, of the Education Law Center, which has advocated for poor children, said the state funding for poor schools has improved education for young children. 'Any new school funding law must strengthen, not diminish, this effort while giving disadvantaged students across the state the same educational opportunities,' Hirsch said."
New Life gets new students from Trinity
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 6:34 AM
Times Record reports, "Although New Life is located in Pennsylvania's fastest-growing county, students come from throughout the tri-state area, Whitley said. Many students live in the Port Jervis, Eldred and Minisink school districts in New York and the Montague, N.J., school district."
SCHENECTADY schools look for repairs
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 5:27 AM
Times Union reports, "Funding for the project would come partially from the 'EXpanding our Children's Education and Learning,' or EXCEL, program, which addresses school facility needs in New York. School officials say they have been earmarked for $7.6 million in EXCEL money. Additionally, the district also enjoys a generous reimbursement rate from the state for facility upgrades, Janiszewski said."
New York City School-bus info hotline
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 4:41 AM
NY Daily News reports, "A new hotline will help parents and teachers negotiate upcoming changes in city school bus service."
New York City school construction plan loses 7 buildings, 3,000 seats
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 4:39 AM
NY Daily News reports, "'We looked at the demographics and don't need the extra 3,000 seats to alleviate overcrowding,' said Jeff Shear, Klein's chief of staff for finance and administration. Instead, Shear said, the Education Department will build permanent homes for some schools now located in rental buildings. With that construction, the total number of seats built will still be 66,000 - but only 63,000 will be new capacity."
It's cool to stay in school
Date CapturedThursday November 09 2006, 4:33 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The citywide program is funded largely by $14.5 million of state money. It is administered by the United Way of New York City, which in turn contracts with local community groups. The program focuses on students who have 'attendance challenges' and are in danger of dropping out, but who are not so truant that they have fallen drastically behind."
Educators Want to Turn Former All-White School Into Charter
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 1:06 PM
AP reports, "Two educators want to locate charter schools in the former all-white school in Topeka that led to the Brown versus Board of Education case."
MICHIGAN PROPOSAL 5: School aid plan snubbed
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 12:50 PM
Detroit Free Press reports, "Proposal 5, a guaranteed annual funding increase for Michigan public schools and colleges, lost resoundingly Tuesday, after opponents hammered home the message that guaranteed school money also would guarantee cuts in other key services."
Alabama voters approve property tax proposal for school funding
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 12:46 PM
AP reports, "Alabama voters approved a proposed constitutional amendment Tuesday that requires 30 city and county school systems to have at least 10 mills of property taxes dedicated to public schools, a level of support already provided by the other 101 systems. The 10-mill minimum would start with the tax year beginning Oct. 1, 2007, and would raise about $23 million annually, according to the Legislative Fiscal Office. Each mill raises the property tax by $10 a year on a house valued at $100,000."
NCLB education law punishes honesty
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 10:26 AM
The Bulletin (Idaho) reports, "Thus, if a school expels more than one student per 100 student body members for violent crimes and the like, it earns the 'dangerous' list. Jefferson County expelled a dozen kids out of 675 in the last school year, including three for possession of weapons other than guns. Like school districts across the state, the district headquartered in Madras has a zero-tolerance policy where violence and weapons are concerned. It's a good policy, too, if what you care about is student safety. It's less helpful when being used as a measure of educational quality under NCLB, for it's not the policy being used across the nation."
Forum seeks input on resolving conflicts between Pittsburgh charter, public schools
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 8:07 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "School board members have said they're frustrated with charter schools, which they believe are held to lower standards than district schools. Charter schools say school districts don't like competition. Mr. Papale [A+ Schools' executive director] said the forum, one in a series the group has held about local education issues, will explore how charter schools are created and funded and whether there's a better system for regulating them."
$142 million in school fixes weighed
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 7:13 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The increase does not include operating costs or the costs of hiring more teachers and staff for the buildings."
LIU opens high-tech model classroom in Rockland
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 6:30 AM
The Journal News reports, "But Melody Hockley, an English as a second language teacher at Eldorado Elementary School in Chestnut Ridge, was more skeptical. She predicted a continuing disparity between what was available to teachers in their classrooms and what was available at LIU. The amenities and equipment in the room, she said, 'is more for the manufacturers to show off what they can do.' 'It looks nice and pretty," she said, 'but if there are budget problems, it's not getting into the classroom.'"
Ap-parent Snub
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 6:00 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Overall, just 1,189 schools [New York City], or 82 percent, have an operational association, despite rules set by the chancellor that require schools to hold elections for parent officers in June and for each school to have an association in place within a year of its existence."
A lesson in austerity
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 5:15 AM
Times Union reports on austerity budget, "But the failed budgets also fostered community. Several separate sports booster clubs united, forming the Mechanicville Red Raider Booster Club, which generated $84,000 to fund the district's fall athletic programs. Last week the club announced it raised an additional $80,000 to support winter sports programs, including boys and girls basketball, wrestling, indoor track and bowling. It gave a check to the school board at its Thursday meeting."
Teacher deal's Bloomy win-win
Date CapturedWednesday November 08 2006, 4:46 AM
NY Daily News reports, "In return, Bloomberg hopes to count on union President Randi Weingarten to stand by his side when he takes on Albany in two big battles: wrestling billions in aid from the state in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit and retaining mayoral control over the schools when it comes up for renewal in the Legislature in 2009."
School Children Return to New Orleans, Alone
Date CapturedTuesday November 07 2006, 11:41 AM
NPR reports, "Hundreds of children have returned to New Orleans to finish high school, without their parents. It's a chance to graduate with the classmates they've known for years. But school officials say the lack of parental supervision is causing discipline problems."
Boost for migrant education
Date CapturedTuesday November 07 2006, 8:32 AM
Monterey Herald reports, "There are both home-based and school-based programs. The home program is structured to have teachers and aides work in the family's home. The school program has parents and children attending class together at one of 12 school districts in the county."
Charter schools can finally move forward in Ohio
Date CapturedTuesday November 07 2006, 8:29 AM
The Tribune Chronicle opined, "Overall, they offer a small dose of competition from which everyone benefits — except perhaps teachers unions and their supplicants, who also have to convince charter teachers to join their organizations instead of conscripting them as a condition of employment or simply under peer pressure. Ohio’s charter program, started in 2001, now includes some 250 schools. Now it can move forward without the cloud of obstructionist litigation. It’s about time."
Philadelphia district hires auditor to review finances
Date CapturedTuesday November 07 2006, 8:23 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "In the wake of the Philadelphia School District's surprise $73.3 million deficit announced last month, the School Reform Commission announced yesterday it had appointed an internal auditor to serve in part as a financial watchdog. The commission has hired James P. Doosey, a former vice president and interim chief financial officer of the district, to the new $110,000-a-year post. He starts Nov. 20. 'We must bring our financial house in order so that we can focus our attention and efforts to the main business of the school district - to educate our children,' commission chairman James Nevels said in a prepared statement. 'Hiring an internal auditor is a necessary step to ensure that the SRC has the capacity to act as well-informed stewards of the district's budget.'"
Forced cheer
Date CapturedTuesday November 07 2006, 8:13 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin opined, "Tier schools in past decades have addressed this issue [Title IX] by allowing groups of students to form sport-specific cheering squads instead of just one representing the school. The benefit of this approach is that it opens the door to allow even more students to be involved with cheerleading. Doesn't that capture the spirit of Title IX and make much more sense than this mandate from the Department of Education?"
American School Bus Council Statement on New Study of School Bus Injuries
Date CapturedTuesday November 07 2006, 8:03 AM
The study, which analyses the national U.S. database of children treated in hospital emergency departments during the study period 2001-2003, makes three major safety-related points: Just 4 percent of all injuries to children each year in motor vehicle crashes during school travel hours are school bus related. One-third of the injuries sustained were minor strains and sprains. 97 percent of all children with school-bus related injuries were treated and released from the hospital immediately.
Maryland court program brings truancy improvements
Date CapturedTuesday November 07 2006, 7:48 AM
The Daily Times reports, "In its third and possibly final year, the truancy reduction pilot program seeks to understand and intervene in the underlying issues that keep children from school, said Christen Niskey, program coordinator for the truancy court effort in Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester county public schools. The intervention strategies range from counseling to medical support services, she said."
City Reaches Early Tentative Deal With Teachers’ Union
Date CapturedTuesday November 07 2006, 3:15 AM
NY Times reports, ""The new teachers’ contract includes a minor change to a remediation program for teachers who receive an unsatisfactory rating, and it allows the city to offer a voluntary buyout to any teacher who does not have a regular school assignment. But this time around there were no demands for such concessions and there were no explosive disagreements, no talk of a strike or political threats like the union’s intimation last year that it would endorse Fernando Ferrer rather than the mayor. In the end, the union stayed neutral. The contract needs the approval of the Panel for Educational Policy, as well as the union members."
Council to weigh anti-gang funding
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 3:02 PM
Times Union reports, "The school district [Albany] will soon introduce gang prevention at the high school and could expand it to the middle schools, according to Superintendent Eva Joseph."
School district wants to inform about dangers of social networking
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 2:53 PM
Pantagraph.com reports, "'We take student privacy issues very seriously, and we are very careful about releasing student information,' said McArdle[Lexington school Superintendent]. 'Unfortunately, many times students are too willing to share too much information on Web sites (such as myspace.com, youtube.com, xanga.com, or webtickle.com) with no thought that someone might use it inappropriately.' In response, the school district, in conjunction with the Lexington Council of Churches, will sponsor a presentation at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday featuring Jack Bristow, former DARE officer for Livingston County. Bristow serves as the liaison for Pontiac High School and gave a social networking presentation at a recent meeting of the Illinois Principals Association."
Paterson Schools chief has plan to succeed and he's sticking to it
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 11:04 AM
NorthJersey.com reports, "Since being appointed schools superintendent by the state Board of Education in July 2005, Glascoe has unveiled an aggressive vision that includes academic and administrative change: to enhance student achievement; to improve inadequate, and in some cases, crumbling school infrastructure; and to better engage the school district with the entire community."
North Carolina charter schools want cap raised
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 10:49 AM
News 14 Carolina reports, "A group of educators say they have the answers to a statewide overcrowding problem in schools. The state's charter schools believe the answer is to build more charter schools. The NC League of Charter Schools kicked off a campaign to do just that on Thursday morning but some don't agree and the law won't allow them to build more."
Phys Ed Class More Effective When There's More Talking
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 9:07 AM
Science Daily reports, "Researchers at Ohio State and Denison universities developed and tested the new program in which students at a rural Ohio high school learned how create a personalized exercise program. The students spent one gym class each week learning the skills necessary for planning a lifelong exercise program. Nearly half of the students said that they spent no time exercising outside of school prior to beginning the program. That number dropped to less than one in 10 students once the program ended."
Tag, you're out!
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 8:48 AM
LA Times reports, "Tag is a uniquely elemental game that develops naturally — and kids seem to be hard-wired to play it. At age 4 or 5, children are running around chasing each other, and by the first grade, they've created the rules and organized themselves into a game. 'It's one of the few games left where the adults have absolutely nothing to do with it,' says psychologist Fred Frankel, director of the UCLA Parent Training and Children's Friendship Programs. 'Kids transmit it from generation to generation and spontaneously organize it.'"
Upper Arlington schools add charters, choices
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 8:33 AM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH reports, "If the Upper Arlington school district hadn’t set up charter schools, there might not be an International Baccalaureate program at Upper Arlington High School or a quirky program for a small group of students who desire a different high-school experience. Wickliffe, the district’s elementary school long known as an innovative, creative place to learn, wouldn’t have been able to work with Harvard University to try a different way of honing teachers’ skills. The money, about $580,000 in all from state and federal government grants, rolled in when Upper Arlington made its three charter schools."
Separating the Sexes
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 7:18 AM
The UCSD Guardian reports, "The new regulations are such that one sex can have its own school, as long as there is a 'substantially equal' co-ed equivalent. This means it is acceptable for an all-boy school to be started - without an all-girl school - so long as there is a co-ed school in the area. This raises many questions about equality of opportunities for the genders. In theory the rules are designed to adhere to Title IX, but in practice this design seems a little too similar to 'separate but equal.' History clearly shows that separate almost never guarantees equal."
New Jersey struggles to define an adequate education
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 7:08 AM
Press of Atlantic City reports, "The state Department of Education last month estimated the base cost of educating a child at about $8,000 for K-8 students and $8,500 for those in high school. Keep in mind the base cost is like buying the base model of car. It will run, but it won't be as powerful or enjoyable as the higher-priced model. Advocates on all sides were appalled, saying districts already spend more than that and are struggling to maintain programs. The Education Law Center, which represents children in poor districts, came out with its own report last week showing that district base spending in 2004-05 was between $9,300 and $10,900."
Teens who feel 'connected' to school are less likely to get into trouble
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 6:04 AM
The Journal News reports, "A connected school was one where students felt safe, where students felt that teachers listened to them, where students believed that everyone was treated fairly, where conflict resolution and expectations were clear, where discipline was fair and consistent, and where there was an emphasis on academic achievement."
Teachers aim for inclusion in school events
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 5:25 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Teachers shared their ideas about how to celebrate diversity during the Multicultural Education Conference on Friday at the State University of New York at New Paltz. The 12th annual conference was sponsored by the New Paltz college and a number of state and local educational organizations. A total of 275 teachers, administrators, students and community members from the mid-Hudson Valley attended the event, themed 'Opening Minds, Closing the Gap: Fostering Achievement and Equity for All.'"
School thinks global with new class
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 5:17 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Though 24 schools in New York state teach Mandarin Chinese, Albany High School is the only upstate school to offer the language, Binghamton officials said. Most of the schools that offer the language are clustered in New York City and its suburbs."
Poor scores test parents' patience
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 4:15 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Angered by the dismal state test scores of the city's eighth-graders, a coalition of 100 parents of middle school kids took its demands for action to elite Stuyvesant High School. The New York City chapter of Coalition for Educational Justice asked the city Education Department to create a task force and take other measures to address poor performance in middle schools."
Study, Citing Student Injuries, Calls for Safety Belts
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 3:27 AM
NY Times reports, "Safety belts, particularly lap-shoulder belts, 'could not only prevent injuries related to crashes,' said the lead author, Jennifer McGeehan, a researcher at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children’s Hospital in Ohio, but also keep children seated 'so they’re not falling out of their seats when buses make normal turns or brake.'”
School Bus Drivers Angered by Corruption in Union
Date CapturedMonday November 06 2006, 3:18 AM
NY Times reports, "Many of New York City’s school bus drivers say their union local is so awash in corruption problems that they want the parent union to appoint a trustee to run it. And some drivers say they are angry and baffled that the parent union has done so little to address their concerns that their union, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, has been sullied by guilty pleas and indictments among its leaders."
No one is tracking students who fail the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test
Date CapturedSunday November 05 2006, 2:50 PM
San Antonio Express-News reports, "Texas is known for tracking student performance in meticulous detail, yet one group — the chronic test failers — is hidden in plain sight. Students are denied a high school diploma if they fail one of five mandatory Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exit exams."
Schools attempt to improve through contract with parents
Date CapturedSunday November 05 2006, 9:35 AM
Myrtle Beach online reports, "'The contract to me is very condescending," said 'Reid. 'It reads as if CMS is the parent and the parents at West Charlotte are the children.' A meeting last week drew about 350 parents to West Charlotte to talk about the school's turnaround plan. Everyone who spoke agreed that parents and students must be part of the solution. But Reid's husband, Norbert, raised questions about the tone of the contract and why CMS is singling out parents at the four schools. All of them have high poverty levels and serve mostly black and Hispanic students. A handful of others approached Principal John Modest afterward and agreed with the criticism."
The Writing Section? Relax
Date CapturedSunday November 05 2006, 8:02 AM
NY Times contributor Nancy Hass, contributing editor at Conde Nast Portfolio writes on SAT exams, "Despite its perceived shortcomings, some administrators, even those not willing to embrace it fully, believe it has long-term value. 'We are supportive of the College Board creating it, because we think it sends a good message,' says Mr. Furstenberg [dean of admissions at Dartmouth] . 'It communicates to high school teachers and students that writing is important and is looked at carefully.' Even if, it seems, it’s not."
No Joke, the Troops Did Their Homework
Date CapturedSunday November 05 2006, 7:55 AM
NY Times reports, "About 97 percent of the 1.4 million Americans serving in the active duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have graduated from high school or the equivalent, according to Pentagon figures. That compares with 85 percent of all adults 25 years or older who reported they had completed at least high school, according to a 2005 survey by the Census Bureau. Roughly 17 percent of the active duty members of the military have a bachelor’s or graduate degree, the Pentagon figures show, while in the nation as a whole, 28 percent of adults reported they had at least a bachelor’s degree."
California Schools to Fingerprint Students
Date CapturedSunday November 05 2006, 7:45 AM
AP reports, "The scan will call up the student's name and student ID, teacher's name and how much the student owes, since some receive government assistance for food. It is meant to speed up cafeteria lines."
CITY SCHOOL EXAMS FAIL THE 'TYPO' TEST
Date CapturedSunday November 05 2006, 7:35 AM
NY Post reports, "A total of 1.2 million booklets went out to the 600,000 students taking the exams. One English and one math booklet was given to each kid. Of the 1.2 million booklets, between 10,000 and 20,000 of them had problems, testing officials said yesterday. Some 90 different exams were created for the empowerment schools - though some questions were the same on all the tests. Each of the tests contained about 25 to 30 questions, testing officials said. Empowerment schools are allowed to set their own curricula but must prove their kids aren't falling behind."
New York City kids deserve more same-sex schools
Date CapturedSunday November 05 2006, 7:05 AM
NY Daily News contributors Joel Klein (NYC schools chancellor) and Dennis Walcott (deputy mayor for Education and Community Development) write, "Creating good educational choices is another powerful reason for supporting single-sex schools. We believe New Yorkers should be able to select from a wide array of high-quality public schools: large high schools and small high schools, schools focused on the performing arts and schools focused on business, charter schools and traditional public schools. Single-sex schools ought to be part of that mix."
Private schools wary of vouchers
Date CapturedSaturday November 04 2006, 1:43 PM
The Greenville news reports, "McCreary [director of research, evaluation, accountability and testing for Greenville County school district] says the simple fact that parents have chosen to pay for private school education is a statistically significant indicator of academic achievement. 'If you have the means to afford a private education, then normally things at home are different than they are with some public school students,' he said. 'When parents choose, they're usually more involved in their children's education,' he said. 'There's more reading, more books, more opportunities for learning at home.' There's no reason why people of disadvantaged backgrounds shouldn't be able to avail themselves of the opportunity to choose, however, said Thomas Simuel, president and CEO of the South Carolina Center for Grassroots and Community Alternatives, a school-choice group focusing on low-income black communities. 'I totally disagree with the assessment that vouchers would rob public schools,' Simuel said. 'I think public schools are already robbing from too many children who aren't cutting it in the public education system.' His group is holding 'town meetings' across the state to encourage parents in black communities to seek school choices, whether with publicly funded magnet or charter schools, or in home schools or virtual schools, or religious and secular private schools."
Feds say New York misdirected $118 million in reading grants
Date CapturedSaturday November 04 2006, 8:05 AM
AP Michael Gormley reports, "The state Education Department was wrong to direct $118 million in federal grants to New York's neediest schools because the money for reading programs was supposed to be broadly applied, according a federal audit issued Friday. The state Education Department 'inappropriately awarded approximately $118 million in Reading First subgrants, of which the nine (school districts) had drawn down approximately $70 million,' according to the audit by the federal Inspector General's Office. Those nine school districts received money intended for other school districts, according to the audit."
Neediest schools to get helping hand
Date CapturedSaturday November 04 2006, 7:49 AM
Philapdelphia Inquirer reports, "Some Philadelphia teachers may be able to earn extra money for helping boost student achievement at schools in low-income neighborhoods under a $20.5 million federal grant announced yesterday. Part of the grant would be used to set up an experimental merit-pay program, which the Bush administration favors but unions generally oppose. The school district and its teachers' and principals' unions have now agreed to develop a pilot plan that will use the funds to reward educators at 20 struggling elementary schools who help students succeed."
Educators React to Shift in Leadership at Gates Fund
Date CapturedSaturday November 04 2006, 7:35 AM
NY Times KAREN W. ARENSON reports, "The results have been mixed. Some Gates schools have showed gains. Others have not. The foundation and Mr. Vander Ark have been applauded for focus and willingness to innovate, but criticized for moving too quickly and not paying enough attention to results, especially at first. Jay P. Greene, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and a professor at the University of Arkansas who has received Gates money, praised Mr. Vander Ark’s focus but said the foundation 'was slow to commission rigorous evaluations of their efforts.'”
Chancellor Cites Favoritism at a New York School
Date CapturedSaturday November 04 2006, 7:31 AM
NY Times ELISSA GOOTMAN reports, "Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein said the school’s practices were a 'stark and different' example of the kind of favoritism that he has been trying to eliminate from the city’s array of coveted schools and gifted programs. Officials say an examination of the school’s most recent kindergarten admissions documents shows that school officials were looking not only at students’ performance, but also at how involved their parents were likely to be."
Discussion of Innovative Approaches to Teaching English Opens Urban Education Series Sponsored by Warner School
Date CapturedFriday November 03 2006, 10:03 AM
Miriam Ehtesham and Henry Padron, two bilingual teachers in the Rochester City School District (RCSD), will describe original approaches to teaching students who are immigrants and refugees at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, in the Gowen Room of Wilson Commons on the University of Rochester's River Campus.
Help Negotiating Needs For Special-Ed Students
Date CapturedFriday November 03 2006, 9:16 AM
Washington Post reports, "Five school systems are testing a new state program designed to help parents and educators avoid the conflict that sometimes makes it difficult to develop education plans for students with special needs. The process of drafting an individual education program, or IEP -- a blueprint for what services and support a special education student needs to be successful -- often is contentious. Parents and educators sometimes disagree about what services a student needs."
A School-Bus Stop for 40,000 City Kids
Date CapturedFriday November 03 2006, 5:24 AM
NY Post David Andreatta writes, "'We want to spend money on schools rather than on buses that kids aren't taking, while also ensuring that every child who wants and is eligible for busing gets it,' said DOE spokesman David Cantor. 'This plan will achieve that.' Cantor noted that the department has made 16 attempts since June to notify parents of the new bus-registration requirement through letters sent home with kids, reminder e-mails to principals and press releases. The plan affects only general-education students, not special-ed kids."
Test scores under investigation at New York City high school
Date CapturedFriday November 03 2006, 3:45 AM
AP reports, "City and state education officials are investigating claims that a high school tampered with students' scores on key state tests. Teachers at Susan E. Wagner High School in Staten Island say administrators pushed to raise some students' scores on Regents science, English and history exams last June, teachers' union spokesman Stuart Marques said Thursday."
Albuquerque Public Schools OK military charter school
Date CapturedThursday November 02 2006, 5:50 PM
The Albuquerque Tribune reports, "Year-round opportunities include sailing, survival training, marksmanship, military police, honor guard, music, pilot's license, air ground crew, scuba certification, culinary arts, seamanship on board Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine ships and exchange programs with cadets from England, Germany and Japan."
Teachers' special-ed input sought
Date CapturedThursday November 02 2006, 9:42 AM
Buffalo News reports, "The effort to reform Buffalo's special-education system will involve input from teachers, School Superintendent James A. Williams said at Wednesday evening's Board of Education meeting. 'We will call on you to work with us,' Williams said of district staff members. 'It will not work unless we have input from the teachers.'"
Improving our schools calls for collaboration
Date CapturedThursday November 02 2006, 9:03 AM
Times Union contributor LINDA HILLMAN, President, Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce in a letter to the editor writes, "Good decision-making does not happen in a vacuum. The community, including the business community, must join the dialogue on how to support the best possible education for our children, a critical factor in successful economic development initiatives."
Youth center cited again
Date CapturedThursday November 02 2006, 7:53 AM
Times Union reports, "Berkshire Farm residential center, the target of a 2005 investigation into staff beatings, sex abuse and drug dealing, is back under a microscope after an inspection found youngsters were allowed to fight each other and that their adult supervisors sometimes didn't show up for work. Among other things, the August review by the state Office of Children and Family Services found a 'five minute rule' in effect -- under which young boys were allowed five minutes to beat each other up before an adult intervened."
Ithaca City Schools enlists NYU in quest for equity
Date CapturedThursday November 02 2006, 7:51 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "The Ithaca City School District is receiving help from a New York University program to help the district better serve all of its students. The Equity Assistance Center at New York University's Metro Center is a program aimed at reducing disparities in education."
Web conference to address state of Internet laws
Date CapturedThursday November 02 2006, 7:45 AM
The Daily Orange reports, "The Syracuse University community will have the opportunity to witness a global discussion of Internet governance, which concerns creating internationally-accepted laws for the Internet, today from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. in Eggers Hall. The event is a live broadcast of a Web conference in the Maxwell Global Collaboratory. Participating in the conference are representatives from two larger conferences in progress, one in Greece and the other in Grenada, and from the Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers. The broadcast, which is hosted by the School of Information Studies' Collaboratory on Technology Enhanced Learning Communities, is open to the public."
School Bigs Eyed in S.I. Kid-Test 'Cheat'
Date CapturedThursday November 02 2006, 4:48 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Seventeen teachers at a Staten Island high school claim that administrators ordered them to bump up scores on Regents exam given in June, officials said yesterday."
Differentiated Curriculum Enhancement in Inclusive Middle School Science: Effects on Classroom and High-Stakes Tests
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 3:16 PM
By Mastropieri, Margo A; Scruggs, Thomas E; Norland, Jennifer J; Berkeley, Sheri; Et al. Researchers find, "The present investigation supports the effectiveness of using differentiated learning activities with peer partners in middle school inclusive science classes, not only on content posttests, but also on high-stakes end-of-year tests. When using peermediation combined with differentiated science activities, students appear to learn more content than when taught more traditionally, without peer- mediated learning activities."
School Administrators Fight Spending Initiatives
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 3:10 PM
NPR Larry Abramson reports, "Supporters of a voter initiative on the ballot in several states say they know how to boost education funding without borrowing money or raising taxes. They say the answer is to mandate that at least 65 percent of all education funding goes to the classroom."
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 Nonresponse Bias Analysis
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 11:47 AM
This NCES technical report explores the extent of potential bias introduced into the U.S. TIMSS study through nonresponse on the part of schools. Data from the third cycle of TIMSS, conducted in April-June, 2003, are the basis for the analyses.The investigation into nonresponse bias at the school level for U.S. TIMSS 2003 samples for grades 4 and 8 shows that there was no statistically significant relationship detected between participation status and the majority of school characteristics that are available for analysis. Ferraro, D., and Van de Kerckhove, W. (2006). Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 Nonresponse Bias Analysis (NCES 2007-044). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
Frederickson skill center suddenly in trouble
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 10:57 AM
The News Tribune reports, "The skill center has been a long-time dream of the Bethel School District and its neighbors. If built, the facility would join 10 other state-recognized skill centers in Washington state. Eighty-five of the state’s 296 school districts are members of one the centers. The nearest centers to Tacoma are in SeaTac and Tumwater."
Time for Vermont to consider district consolidation
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 8:05 AM
Burlington Free Press reports, "Commissioner Cate deserves credit for moving this discussion [consolidation] forward. However, the ultimate decision will -- and should -- rest with local communities. Montpelier cannot insist that any district share its governance, close a school, shrink its personnel or impose other cost-saving measures. Instead, the commissioner, governor, lawmakers and the public should continue to openly discuss the proposal."
Some local Ohio schools with polling stations won't hold classes
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 7:46 AM
Toledo Blade reports, "With school districts nationwide redoubling efforts to lock schools and watch visitors in the wake of a recent upswing in violence, the practice of using school buildings as polling locations has become an increasing concern for some educators."
Got m.i.l.k.? Oakland charter school takes part in safety plan
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 7:21 AM
Inside Bay Area reports, "In the first local event of its kind, the children's pictures, fingerprints and other identifying data will be saved on a computer disc and sent to their families, along with software that will allow them to update the information. If a child is lost or missing, caregivers will be able to send their photos and other data instantly to the authorities, who can post it publicly."
Rochester School 7 principal goes 'to the roof'
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 7:18 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "'If they read 3,000 books, I said I'd spend the day up here,' he [school principal] said, standing on a narrow, pebbled ledge on the Dewey Avenue side of the building. 'They've surpassed it. They've read 4,500 books.'"
Port Chester's Edison School plans workshops for educators
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 7:14 AM
Journal News reports, "Principal Eileen Santiago began the first of many community programs with an after-school program 10 years ago, run by the organization SER. The school has since added other services, including adult job training, parenting programs, health services and English classes. As time went on, the improvised effort became an example of what came to be known around the country as "community schools" and received federal funding."
$34 million in federal money to fund South Carolina teacher incentives
Date CapturedWednesday November 01 2006, 7:04 AM
WISTV.com reports, "Teachers and principals in SCTIF schools will be eligible to earn incentive pay that could range from $2,000 to $10,000 per year. Pay incentives are not automatic but are based on several factors, including structured observations by trained peers and supervisors, the overall academic success of the school and the levels of improvement in student performance in each teacher's classroom."
Parental apathy – or just poverty?
Date CapturedTuesday October 31 2006, 12:58 PM
The News-Sentinel columnist Kevin Leininger writes, "The statistics seem to support the connection between poverty and academic achievement, or the lack of it. Of the 11 schools on probation, almost all are at or near the top when ranked by the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. (See chart.) And when there are exceptions to that ranking, other demographic factors may be at work, Coutts said. At South Wayne Elementary, nearly half of students moved at least once last year, playing havoc with academic continuity. The mobility rate at Lakeside Middle School was 33 percent. And about 8 percent of the students at Maplewood Elementary list a language other than English as their primary tongue – an impediment to doing well on state-mandated English-language tests."
Washington state special-ed financing goes before court
Date CapturedTuesday October 31 2006, 7:25 AM
Seattle Times reports, "The lawsuit was filed two years ago and is just now coming to trial. Twelve districts formed the School Districts' Alliance and headed to the courthouse after talks with the Legislature failed to produce adequate progress, said Spokane School District Superintendent Brian Benzel. The challenge has been supported by 72 other districts, collectively serving 62 percent of the state's children in special education."
Student journalists deserve an apology
Date CapturedTuesday October 31 2006, 7:15 AM
St. Petersburg Times reports, "Orr [principal of Florida high school] stripped an article from the October edition of Red & Black, the school newspaper, that described the gap in academic performance between white and minority students. Never mind that the figures were compiled by other governmental agencies, that student journalists have broad legal rights to publish or that the data was readily available on the school district's own Web site."
Supporters of Rochester students honored
Date CapturedTuesday October 31 2006, 6:24 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The Rochester Education Foundation plans to honor partners of city school students at its first annual Partnerships Award dinner. Walter Cooper, Judge Michael Telesca, Lawyers for Learning and Xerox Corp. will be honored for their support of city school students Wednesday at the Riverside Convention Center."
School threat probed
Date CapturedTuesday October 31 2006, 4:38 AM
Newsday writes on increased security report at John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore, "The statement also said a letter will be sent home with students today."
NCAA calls on schools to control sports spending
Date CapturedMonday October 30 2006, 5:50 PM
Indystar.com reports, " More than 50 school presidents worked 18 months on the report. The report reiterates a concern NCAA president Myles Brand has sounded since last year -- that a financial crisis looms because the rate of growth in spending on sports has been higher than that of the university as a whole." (READ FULL REPORT ON EDUCATION NEW YORK ONLINE)
Michigan Proposal 5: School aid
Date CapturedMonday October 30 2006, 5:35 PM
Monroenews.com reports, "The school funding initiative would require the state to provide annual funding increases equal to the rate of inflation for K-12 schools, state universities and community colleges. If passed, the state would have to ante up an estimated initial cost ranging from $560 million to $708 million just in the first year. That money has to come from somewhere, opponents say, and it most likely will be taken from state services if voters approve the initiative."
Idaho education initiative causes confusion, debate in Idaho (KTVB Boise)
Date CapturedMonday October 30 2006, 5:12 PM
KTVC.com reports, "Organizers of the Invest in our Kids' Education campaign say they're leaving the decision of where to find the additional $219 million annually for the Idaho Legislature to decide."
Make youth sports community-based
Date CapturedMonday October 30 2006, 8:44 AM
Times Union contributor JOHN H. MUNSON, New York Home Educators' Network, in a letter to the editor writes "The real solution isn't to allow home-schoolers on public school teams; it's to replace interscholastic sports with community-based sports."
Symbol of hope
Date CapturedMonday October 30 2006, 7:56 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "To upgrade instruction, she [Adderly, a hands-on principal] tapped two of the school's best teachers to be math and literacy leaders and to coach other teachers. Every day, the coaches and Adderly work with teachers from a different grade and brainstorm how to help struggling students. Because many students also come to school with family, emotional and behavioral problems, Adderly set up three meetings a week to deal with them. For those meetings, Adderly introduced videotaping to capture students' classroom behavior. The tapes are shown when counselors, parents and teachers meet to devise plans to help."
In New Jersey, System to Help Poorest Schools Faces Criticism
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 11:59 PM
NY Times WINNIE HU writes, "Garfield is a so-called Abbott school district, one of 31 poor districts that have received a total of $35 billion in state aid since 1997 as part of an ambitious court-ordered social experiment to narrow the achievement gap between rich and poor students, whites and minorities. In a decision that set a precedent for school equality cases nationwide, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the poorest urban school districts should be given the resources to spend as much on their students as the wealthiest suburban districts do. Now a growing number of New Jersey elected officials, educators and parents are calling for sweeping changes to this school financing system, saying that it has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars in the Abbott districts. For every success story like Garfield, where fourth-grade test scores have risen to the state average, there are chronic problems, like those in Newark, Camden and Asbury Park."
Income tax is Ohio local schools' new funding solution
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 9:30 PM
Dayton Daily News reports, "Districts are trading in one tax base for a better one," said Howard Fleeter, a former Ohio State University professor who has studied the state's funding of education for nearly 20 years. Four times, the state Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional the state's reliance on property taxes to fund public education. The legislature has given districts some funding options."
Parents bear heightened fears for safety at schools
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 9:25 PM
NorthJersey.com reports, "Based on Gallup data from 2003 to 2006, parents with the least education were the most likely to say they were worried about their children's safety at school: 41 percent of parents with a high-school education or less said they were fearful; 20 percent of parents with some college and just 12 percent of college graduates said the same. Parental worry didn't vary significantly between mothers and fathers, nor did community -- urban, suburban or rural -- appear to affect it."
Minority enrollment in college still lagging
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 9:05 PM
USA TODAY reports, "Minority enrollments rose by 50.7% to 4.7 million between 1993 and 2003, while the number of white students increased 3.4%, to 10.5 million, the report says. White high school graduates are more likely than black or Hispanic peers to enroll in college. The report says 47.3% of white high school graduates ages 18 to 24 attend college, vs. 41.1% of black and 35.2% of Hispanic high school graduates. Among students who entered college in 1995-96, 36.4% of blacks and 42% of Hispanics earned a bachelor's degree within six years, vs. 58% of whites and 62.3% of Asian-Americans."
Parental involvement key to a child's school success
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 8:49 PM
Bay News 9 reports, "School district [Polk County, Florida] officials said classroom teaching is not enough. Parents are an integral part of the education process. So, the school board just approved nearly $250,000 in funding to hire outreach facilitators. Their job will be to talk to parents about homework, testing and truancy."
Are Single-Sex Classrooms Legal?
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 7:46 AM
U.S.News & World Report writes, "But on October 24, the Department of Education announced new Title IX regulations based on the guidelines of a No Child Left Behind amendment. Old regulations allowed for same-gender classes only in rare cases like physical education and human sexuality classes. But lawmakers in 2001 wanted to make those rules more flexible, and so the new ones expand that option to any class or school that can prove gender separation leads to improved student achievement. The change could lead to a wave of single-sex classrooms and even schools in public systems across the country. But it will also likely lead to legal challenges."
Yonkers parents split on school uniform policy
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 7:35 AM
The Journal News reports, "Close to 5,400 parents responded, representing more than 25 percent of the district's student households. 'We want to look at the data, and we wanted a broad look,' Martinez [Board of Education Vice President] said. 'We didn't want to just listen to a few parents who were able to come to a meeting. We wanted to give parents an opportunity to respond to the question.'"
Proposal 5: Investing in future, or bankrupting Michigan?
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 7:31 AM
AP reports, "Supporters of a ballot measure that would establish mandatory school funding levels say it would force the state to adequately fund education, which would create a better-educated work force and provide a boost to Michigan's ailing economy. Opponents of Proposal 5 say it would mostly benefit retiring teachers by shoring up pensions while softening incentives to improve pupil performance and siphoning off funding for other state services."
Title IX enforcement hits James Madison hard
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 7:25 AM
The Washington Times reports, "There is no dispute Title IX has closed large gender gaps for women in academics. According to one study, 9 percent of medical degrees in 1972 were earned by women and 38 percent in 1994. With law degrees, the numbers went from 7 percent to 43 percent. It also can be said that Title IX has caused the most turmoil in athletics -- college, high school, secondary and elementary education. Title IX requires proportional participation opportunities. The percentage of female athletes in the athletic program needs to match the percentage of women in a school's student body. The only defense to failing to have the mandated number of participants is for a school to demonstrate it is gradually adding women's sports over time to try to expand participation or that it already has accommodated the interest and ability of all women. While enforcement has been getting stricter in the past decade, the fallout from Title IX has become bigger and bigger."
Keep public parks public
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 6:18 AM
NY Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez writes, "Under the proposed deal, the city would supply money from its capital budget to renovate and increase the number of ballfields on Randalls Island from 30 to 68. The private schools would get near-exclusive use of 80% of those fields and, in turn, pay $2.85 million annually - an average of $142,000 each school per year - to finance the park renovations and part of the maintenance. The 20 schools, in effect, would be leasing for peanuts the city's biggest complex of public ballfields in a no-bid contract. A Daily News review of state financial records filed by 18 of the prep schools shows they have combined assets of nearly $900million."
Funding Arts In Education Workshop: November 15th, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 6:06 AM
Westchester.com reports, "On November 15th, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., classroom teachers, school representatives and administrators will have the opportunity to come together to brainstorm creative ways to keep the funds flowing for enhanced arts education in their schools. The Funding Initiative will feature pointers on how to secure funding for arts in education programs, and offer participants a chance to meet representatives from key funding sources such as the New York State Council on the Arts and the Empire State Partnership. This funding info-fest, hosted by the Westchester Arts Council, takes place at the Arts Exchange, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue in downtown White Plains. For more information, please contact Katie Guilbeau at (914) 428-4220 x333."
Regents Propose State Aid Hike
Date CapturedSunday October 29 2006, 5:55 AM
Post-Journal reports, "Historically, four aids in particular have experienced significant increases as schools report their expenditures: building, transportation, public excess cost for special education and BOCES aids. As a result, the Regents eventual recommendation may vary by as much as $200 million. An update will be available in December. 'Student achievement has been improving, but we have far to go,’' said Robert M. Bennett, regents chancellor. 'To accelerate this progress, we must invest the funds our neediest children deserve so they can all get a good education. The Regents are urging full access to pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds. Our total state aid proposal offers a fair and sustainable solution to one of New York’s most critical issues.'’’
Wyoming School Safety Drill Upsets Some Parents
Date CapturedSaturday October 28 2006, 7:01 PM
Newsday reports, "Principal David Britten said students weren't told ahead of time to make the drill as realistic as possible. Teachers were informed moments before it took place, he said. 'I think this is the best way to do it,' Britten said. 'We're not looking to scare anyone, but we want a sense of urgency.' But Wyoming Police Chief James Carmody said his officers were not aware students and parents were not told. He said his department will mandate that parents be notified ahead of time in the future."
Strip-searches probed at Rockland BOCES high school
Date CapturedSaturday October 28 2006, 8:39 AM
The Journal News reports, "The strip-searches appear to violate rules and regulations of both the Police Department and the Rockland Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Usually, students are not questioned by police without their parents or guardians being notified or present."
FURY OF BOOTED NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL PARENTS
Date CapturedSaturday October 28 2006, 8:16 AM
NY Post David Andreatta writes, "Parents claimed the principal, Olga Livanis, has cut student counseling sessions, single-sex math and science classes and sports programs; failed to supply students with a crossing guard and a nurse; and ignored their complaints. Some suggested Livanis, whose predecessor stood with parents in their loud public fight against the charter school, had a mandate to quash parent involvement."
Columbia Teachers College Alumnus is Project Director For New Columbia High School
Date CapturedSaturday October 28 2006, 8:02 AM
Columbia Teachers College writes, "Maldonado-Rivera's appointment was jointly announced today by Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein The new school, which will be operated by the New York City Department of Education in close collaboration with Columbia University, will be initially located in a transitional space and will accept students in the sixth grade, eventually serving approximately 650 students from grades six through 12 in a new building in Manhattanville."
Teen-drinking epidemic definitely crosses line
Date CapturedSaturday October 28 2006, 7:56 AM
Troy Record opined on teen drinking and school imposed consequences and plans to deal with the problem, "We are glad that teens who engage in such activity will have to face these tougher consequences. More school districts should take a cue from Averill Park. At the same time, parents everywhere need to be more vigilant and must hold their children accountable for their actions. Teachers and schools are not substitutes for a solid foundation of values taught at home. Children - even today's 'worldly' teenagers - want to know where the line is drawn. It is up to parents to make their children understand what will happen should they cross that line."
Obstacles likely too great for lofty education plan
Date CapturedSaturday October 28 2006, 7:41 AM
Rocky Mountain News contributor Linda Seebach, former teacher and long-time editor and columnist writes on "cliched" report, "Is it 'unconscionable' that only one in 10 African-American or Hispanic students earns a postgraduate degree? Maybe; it depends on why. It's not unconscionable that women earn only a small minority of degrees in math or engineering if it is their free choice to enter law or medicine instead. I wish these earnest people all the luck in the world with their ambitious goals. I just don't think they have much chance of achieving them."
Ferris Bueller's day is history for today's kids
Date CapturedFriday October 27 2006, 9:58 AM
USA TODAY reports, "Recent research showing that important brain development continues into adolescence has influenced new restrictions, says Stephanie Walton of the National Conference of State Legislatures. 'There's a real sense out there, and you see this reflected in all these laws, that kids don't grow up as fast as we used to think they do.' Lobbying by parents has brought a wave of laws and surveillance — as well as lawsuits contending that some policies designed to crack down on teens have gone too far:"
High School coaching jobs for blacks are few in New Jersey
Date CapturedFriday October 27 2006, 9:53 AM
Northjersey.com reports, "Opportunities have expanded for blacks in the NFL because of the 'Rooney Rule,' adopted in 2002, that stipulates that at least one minority candidate be interviewed for each head coaching vacancy. No such rule exists in the Garden State at the high school level because the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is powerless to impact hiring choices. But some say the organization should be more proactive in encouraging schools to interview minority coaching candidates."
School Board is supporting exceptions to Tennessee’s open meetings law
Date CapturedFriday October 27 2006, 9:44 AM
The City Paper reports, "The board is asking to exempt meetings to consider employee dismissal, compensation, discipline or performance, as well as collective bargaining matters, from the law. This could effect certain aspects of union negotiations. Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee coalition for Open Government, said these meetings should be held in public to hold the board accountable."
Rhinebeck school trustee wants accounting of field trips
Date CapturedFriday October 27 2006, 9:03 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Trustees are concerned that under new state Education Department requirements, there is no way to account for use of the funds. New controls over fiscal paper trails and use of equipment have been developed in response to the state Comptroller's Office's 2004 audit of the Roslyn Union Free School District in Nassau County, which found $11.2 million in district funds were used by school employees, their friends and families for personal benefit. 'I think the primary problem ... is transparency,' Burns [trustee] said. 'It's not how much is raised, but where it goes, precisely, hasn't been made quite clear.'"
Districts mustn't scrimp on efforts to keep schools safe
Date CapturedFriday October 27 2006, 8:40 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Richard C. Iannuzzi, president, New York State United Teachers writes, "What does it take to build that trust in a school environment? School health professionals — such as nurses, guidance counselors, social workers and psychologists — must be recognized as integral parts of the school team. Along with teachers, they are trained to build relationships; listen; identify warning signs and overcome adolescents' natural reluctance to confide. They must work tirelessly and in unison to create a culture of trust."
Pittsfield (Massachusetts) Public Schools not making the cut
Date CapturedThursday October 26 2006, 5:41 PM
Capital News 9 reports, "The Pittsfield [Massachusetts] School Committee now faces questions from concerned parents. Some wonder why they have not been included in school improvement plans. 'One thing that seems to be missing out of those school improvement plans is the word parent. The word parent is missing from many of those plans,' concerned parent Tricia Farley-Bouvier said. For the past four years, the school district has failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress required by the No Child Left Behind Act. Now the district is being placed into 'corrective action.'"
School system problems
Date CapturedThursday October 26 2006, 11:19 AM
Burlington Free Press contributor ROBERT MAYNARD, a member of Freedom Works Vermont opined on universal pre-k, "If a decentralized and flexible approach puts our children at an advantage in early education, why not apply that approach to our current K-12 system? Perhaps we should put parents back in control of their own children’s education and put an end to the government monopoly over education."
Ohio Supreme Court again does disservice to public education
Date CapturedThursday October 26 2006, 10:32 AM
The Morning Journal opined, "The Supreme Court's first disservice came when the court failed to enforce its DeRolph ruling that ordered state officials to replace Ohio's system of funding public education. The current system, the court ruled, was unconstitutional because its over-reliance on local property taxes put less-wealthy school districts at a disadvantage. Now, the charter school ruling preserves a fast-growing drain of taxpayer dollars away from public school systems."
Ithaca Central Schools consider security upgrades: Key card access, cameras may be part of project
Date CapturedThursday October 26 2006, 7:29 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "Security upgrades costing an estimated $500,000, including a combination of cameras and a key card access system, could be part of an Ithaca City School District facilities bond project. The proposed key card access system, as outlined for the Board of Education on Tuesday, would allow the district to lock or unlock doors and windows through its data network. Facilities Director Paul Alexander said a new access system that would use key cards would save the district time and money."
All-year school an intriguing idea for East Ramapo
Date CapturedThursday October 26 2006, 6:15 AM
Journal News opined, "The practical gains offered by an all-year academic calendar are particularly enticing for a district like East Ramapo. Students who are just mastering English are not left for two months without speaking their new language. Certainly, this means they lose less ground and test better in their new language. In New York state, those new English speakers must take standardized tests after just a year of instruction."
New York agencies approve Valhalla athletic fields for use
Date CapturedThursday October 26 2006, 6:12 AM
Journal News reports, "State environmental and health officials have given a clean bill of health to a three-acre athletic field at Valhalla High built on loads of dirt and rock."
Monticello school e-mails in 'poor taste'
Date CapturedThursday October 26 2006, 5:50 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Inappropriate e-mails exchanged at the Monticello school district have been 'blown way out of proportion' and aren't racist, said a lawyer for one female secretary placed on administrative leave last."
More students in high school sports
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 6:29 PM
Lebanon Express reports, "In addition to the overall numbers, the girls participation total of 2,953,355 set an all-time record. The boys total also increased, reaching 4,206,549, the highest participation in the past 28 years. This year's boys participation figure is second only to the record 4,367,442 in 1977-78."
Ohio Court OKs Charter Schools
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 4:08 PM
AP reports, "The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a narrowly divided opinion that publicly funded, privately operated charters schools are constitutional. The 4-3 decision was a blow to a coalition of citizen groups, teachers' unions, education associations and school boards led by the Ohio PTA. The court upheld the state Legislature's ability to create and to give money to common institutions of learning, even if they are not all the same."
New York education group merges with Annenberg Institute
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 9:30 AM
The Brown Daily Herald reports, "The Community Involvement Program, an education policy program previously housed under the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University, merged with Brown's Annenberg Institute for School Reform this September. According to Michael Grady, the deputy director of the Annenberg Institute, the CIP split from NYU because of 'serious policy disagreements,' and officials decided that Brown was the right home for the organization."
The No Family Left Behind Amendment
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 7:59 AM
Seattle Times contributor Richard Slettvet, a special-education teacher working in the Edmonds School District opined, "Acknowledging the role that families play in the educational success of their children, Congress today enacted the No Family Left Behind (NFLB) Amendment to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The NFLB will increase standards of accountability for Congress and the president to ensure that all families achieve high socioeconomic status (SES). Congressional districts that fail to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) will be subject to corrective action."
Nothing elementary about running school buses
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 7:38 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "New York state law dictates that districts can allow students in grades K-6 to walk up to 1{ miles to school, and secondary school students up to 3 miles. The Kingston district, however, limits walking to a half-mile for younger students and 1{ miles for older students. At present, the district provides transportation for 8,090 students who travel to 48 schools, including 34 private and parochial schools that state law mandates the district must provide for."
Pittsburgh city district putting heat on charter school students
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 7:09 AM
Post-Gazette reports, "The Pittsburgh Public Schools yesterday sent a letter to Pittsburgh's district judges, asking for their help in enforcing compulsory attendance laws involving students at the Career Connections Charter Middle School."
Middletown teacher says camcorder confiscation is unfair
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 5:56 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Media journalism teacher Fred Isseks says his class' second camera was confiscated because he was using it to expose construction dangers inside the high school ahead of the scheduled opening on Sept. 7. He says he handed it over to two house principals as soon as he was approached and has not seen the camera since. The school district charges that he was using school property for personal use and did not comply with instructions from his superiors."
School board stiffens penalties for drinking
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 5:09 AM
Times Union reports, "The code now calls for the following consequences for students who violate the district's drug and alcohol policy: a minimum five-day suspension (a combination of in school and out of school); a parent conference with the superintendent; four-week exclusion from extra-curricular activities; a referral to a student-assistance counselor; and attendance of a seven-week, county-run alcohol and drug program."
Federal Rules Back Single-Sex Public Education
Date CapturedWednesday October 25 2006, 3:16 AM
NY Times DIANA JEAN SCHEMO writes, "To open schools exclusively for boys or girls, a district has until now had to show a 'compelling reason,' for example, that it was acting to remedy past discrimination. But a new attitude began to take hold with the passage of the No Child Left Behind law in 2002 when women senators from both parties came out in support of same-sex education and asked the Education Department to draft guidelines to permit their growth. The new rules, first proposed by the Education Department in 2004, are designed to bring Title IX into conformity with a section of the No Child Left Behind law that called on the department to promote single-sex schools."
BOARD OF REGENTS PROPOSES MAJOR REFORM IN STATE AID TO NEW YORK STATE SCHOOLS
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 5:47 PM
The Board of Regents today recommended a $1.48 billion increase in State Aid to schools for 2007-2008. Most of this funding would go to school districts educating the State’s neediest children. The Regents propose an increase in State Aid to schools that is designed to link funding to the cost of a successful education. Like last year’s proposal, the proposal this year features a simple Foundation Formula that would replace 31 separate aid categories: District's State Aid = [Foundation Cost X Pupil Need X Regional Cost Index] – Expected Local Share
Maintenance Required: Charter Schooling in Michigan
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 12:22 PM
By Sara Mead. Education Sector Reports: Charter School Series. "This report examines both the achievements and shortfalls of Michigan's experiment in charter schooling. It reviews Michigan's charter school legislation and the evolution of charter schools in the state. It describes the state's charter school sector today and evaluates the performance of the state's 230 schools. It explores the problems of quality and other challenges facing Michigan's charter schools, and it offers recommendations for improvement." Education Sector, 1201 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 850, Washington, DC 20036.
Secretary Spellings Announces More Choices in Single Sex Education Amended Regulations Give Communities
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 10:35 AM
US Department of Education: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the release of final Title IX single-sex regulations that give communities more flexibility in offering additional choices to parents in the education of their children. Recognizing that some students learn better in a single sex class or school, the regulations give educators more flexibility, under Title IX, to offer single-sex classes, extracurricular activities and schools at the elementary and secondary education levels.
Buffalo schools lose on insurance
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 9:30 AM
Buffalo News reports, "In a decision stating that the Buffalo Public Schools engaged in 'heavy-handed bullying,' an arbitrator Monday ordered the school system to reinstate four health insurance plans for its teachers and to rehire - with back pay and interest - as many as 66 teachers laid off last year in a high-stakes insurance dispute. School officials responded that they will not back down, but instead will appeal the arbitrator's opinion."
Grades go home, but tests don't
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 9:13 AM
Dallas Morning News reports, "A Plano parent's four-year struggle to review his daughter's tests at home reveals a common practice at several area high schools. Teachers often prohibit students from taking graded tests home because they want to reuse them without worry of cheating or test-swapping on the Internet. The Plano school district is weighing two sides of the equation: parents' right to help their children vs. teachers' desire to keep difficult-to-prepare tests secure."
Voters may opt to replace 616 school districts with 21
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 8:59 AM
AP Tom Hester reports, "Plan would put question on November 2007 ballot asking voters in all 21 counties to create countywide districts to try to control property taxes. New Jersey now has 616 school districts. • If approved, new districts would begin operating July 1, 2009. • County school boards would be created. • The governor would appoint a chief school administrator to oversee each district. • The school chief would serve a term of three to five years. • Taxes still would be assessed and collected by municipalities. • No student would be required to change schools."
The Fordham Report 2006: NEW YORK STATE
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 8:05 AM
Thoman B. Fordham Institute report writes, "New York's current state academic standards are solid, and nearly one-quarter of high school students passed at least one Advanced Placement exam, leaving the Empire State second to none in this category. The state is also working diligently to grow the number of minorities taking Advanced Placement exams. Between 1992 and 2003, for example, the number of African-Americans and Hispanics taking the test doubled. Charter school policy is not doing as well. Charter schools have proven wildly popular in New York since 1998, when Governor George Pataki's charter school proposal became law-when it turned out that legislators wanted a pay raise for themselves more than they wanted to follow the teachers union's bidding."
The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 7:51 AM
The Thomas B. Fordham writes, "The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children? appraises each state according to thirty indicators across three major categories: student achievement for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic students; achievement trends for these same groups over the last 10-15 years; and the state's track record in implementing bold education reforms. In this, the inaugural edition, just six states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are proficient in reading, math or science. The study also finds that California, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, New York, and Texas are national leaders in education reform--leading the nation with a dedication to solid standards, tough accountability, and greater school choice can yield better classroom results." READ THE REPORT BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK.
The Children Left Behind
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 7:44 AM
The Cornell Daily Sun contributor Laura Taylor, a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University writes, "The achievement gap between whites and Latinos and blacks is staggering. At the end of high school, black and Latino students have reading and mathematics skills that are roughly the same as white students in eighth grade. Beyond that, black students are half as likely as white students to have a college degree by age 29, and Latinos are only one third as likely."
Public vs. Private: What's Better?
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 7:39 AM
Post-Standard reports, "'Education is the only realm where choices are pretty much tied to where one lives, but schools both public and private are very individual and there are wide variations,' said Margarita Mayo, an education policy specialist for the Business Council of New York State. 'The reasons for their choices are numerous and complicated.'"
Delaware County, Indiana schools teaching flu pandemic prevention
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 7:32 AM
Star Press reports, "With so much media attention given to the possibility of a flu pandemic, school officials are often asked if they are aware and how they will respond if a major outbreak occurs, Muncie Community Schools Supt. Marlin Creasy said. The letter alerts parents 'preliminary steps' schools are taking now, Creasy said. Education and communication about potential hazards and prevention is key, said Bill Gosnell, Delaware County Emergency Director."
The racist e-mails
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 5:55 AM
Times Herald-Record opined, "The Monticello School District has placed an assistant principal and three office workers on paid administrative leave while it decides what to do to them for sending racist and pornographic e-mails to each other on school computers."
Museum of Natural History Soon to Grant Degrees, Too
Date CapturedTuesday October 24 2006, 3:13 AM
NY Times reports, "The American Museum of Natural History, which plays host to about 400,000 schoolchildren each year, is about to become a graduate school. The New York State Board of Regents yesterday authorized the museum, on the West Side of Manhattan, to grant master’s degrees and Ph.D.’s in comparative biology, making it the first American museum with its own doctoral degree."
Company led by Bush's brother getting No Child money
Date CapturedMonday October 23 2006, 7:53 PM
AP reports, "At least 13 school districts are using money from President Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind, to buy products from a company run by his brother and partly owned by their parents, a newspaper reported."
Charter Schools against the Odds: An Assessment of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education
Date CapturedMonday October 23 2006, 4:44 PM
By Paul Hill, research professor in the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs and director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, both at the University of Washington.Contrib tors: John E. Chubb, Chester E. Finn Jr., Paul T. Hill, Caroline M. Hoxby, Eric Osberg, Paul E. Peterson, Brad Smith, Nat Torinus The Hoover Institution writes, "The expert contributors to this volume tell how state laws and policies have stacked the deck against charter schools by limiting the number of charter schools allowed in a state, forbidding for-profit firms from holding charters, forcing them to pay rent out of operating funds, and other ways. They explain how these policies can be amended to level the playing field and give charter schools—and the children they serve—a fairer chance to succeed." Full-text PDF versions of each chapter can be accessed by clicking on the desired chapter title.
New Jersey high schools warned to be more demanding
Date CapturedMonday October 23 2006, 9:21 AM
NorthJersey.com reports, "In New Jersey, a state Chamber of Commerce poll found 99 percent of businesses reported high school graduates were not prepared for company jobs. A national survey found 45 percent of businesses reported high school graduates were not trained to advance beyond entry-level jobs. Simpler high school classes can lead to trouble in college as well. Forty percent of students at four-year New Jersey colleges end up taking remedial courses, according to the committee. At community colleges, it's 78 percent."
Respect kids’ privacy while checking e-mail, expert says
Date CapturedMonday October 23 2006, 8:58 AM
Terrell Tribune reports, "To safeguard against any inappropriate computer use, either by children or by people trying to contact them, computers should be kept in central locations in the home, Meadows [professor in Eastern Illinois University’s School of Family and Consumer Science] advised. That way, children are more likely to behave if 'they don’t know when you’re going to walk by and look over their shoulders,' she said."
Cutting preschool costs
Date CapturedMonday October 23 2006, 7:22 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Two factors helped lower the cost. First,an initial plan to offer four free hours of preschool has been scrapped. Some families would have to share the costs, as they do now. That's a loss. Ideally, preschool should be a free local resource, just like public school . But this compromise should help speed action. The second factor was a recent survey that measured the demand for preschool and found that some parents wanted fewer hours than was initially anticipated."
Tolerance at schools may help stem the 'brain drain'
Date CapturedMonday October 23 2006, 5:59 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Since business officials are concerned about the brain drain, could they get schools to focus more on how gay students are treated? Ognibene [gay teacher] had the following tips for business officials: If your business has written gay-friendly policies, perhaps including domestic partner benefits, share such policies with school boards. A school district's gay-friendly policy might make teachers feel safer about being 'out.' This allows gay students to have positive gay role models in their formative years. Ask schools if they have gay-straight alliances or diversity clubs. Ognibene estimated that slightly more than 20 schools here have such alliances, a big increase from the couple that existed when he started one at Fairport nine years ago."
East Ramapo considers keeping students in class year-round
Date CapturedMonday October 23 2006, 5:33 AM
Journal News reports, "The district is forming a committee of administrators, board members, teachers and members of East Ramapo's curriculum department to study extending the school year as well as other options, such as bolstering the district's summer school program and providing transportation for summer school students."
Madison district promotes service
Date CapturedMonday October 23 2006, 5:09 AM
Post-Standard reports, "High school Principal Charles Chafee said administrators and teachers are still discussing the high school graduation requirement. He said they have not yet determined the required hours, how the program will be phased in or what the formal policy will look like. He hopes to implement the policy next fall. If the plan is approved, Madison Central will join at least 20 other Central New York school districts that require service hours for a diploma, including Chittenango, Cazenovia, DeRuyter and Otselic Valley."
El Paso district wants fewer students per school
Date CapturedSunday October 22 2006, 2:52 PM
El Paso Times reports, "A study published by Ohio and Marshal universities concludes that smaller schools tend to have: Lower dropout rates. Better student grade-point averages. Increased student attendance. Decreased failure and retention rates. Higher scores in standardized tests. In El Paso, all three of the schools rated exemplary are considered to be of either small or medium size. "
Press #1 for a Bad Idea
Date CapturedSunday October 22 2006, 8:44 AM
NY Times op-ed contributor Rebecca Jacobsen, former teacher and doctoral candidate in the politics and education program at Teachers College, Columbia University writes, "THE Yonkers Public Schools just started an automated polling program, called Connect-ED, that asks parents to enter their opinions on school policies by pressing the number keys on their phones. The president of the Yonkers Board of Education, Bernadette Dunne, says the system will help close the information “backpack gap” — so called because school notices requesting parent responses typically get buried in children’s backpacks, never to emerge."
Study Takes a Sharp Look at the City’s Failing Students
Date CapturedSunday October 22 2006, 8:22 AM
NY Times ELISSA GOOTMAN reports, "The study found that students who fall behind in the number of credits they are expected to accumulate have a difficult time getting back on track at traditional high schools. Of the class of 2003’s dropouts, the study found that 93 percent fell behind in their credits at some point, indicating that their chief problem may not be the state requirement that all graduates pass a series of Regents exams. By contrast, only 19 percent of those who graduated had fallen significantly behind in their credits at any point. There are 68,000 students ages 16 to 21 who have dropped out of school, the study found, but there are 70,000 who are still enrolled even though they are behind in their credits. Effectively serving that group, the bulk of whom are 16, 17 and 18, is critical to improving the city’s graduation rate, Ms. Cahill [senior counselor for education policy to Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor] said."
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS: Students' diversity outweighs teachers'
Date CapturedSunday October 22 2006, 8:11 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "The National Education Association reports that 40 percent of the nation's public school children are minorities, but only 11 percent of the teachers are. It also says that 38 percent of America's public schools do not have a single teacher of color on staff. The report contends that students of color tend to perform better — academically, personally and socially — when taught by teachers from their own ethnic group."
Sullivan West, where the buck stops nowhere
Date CapturedSunday October 22 2006, 8:07 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "A new high school for your district. Renovations to make your old schools seem new. Better education for your kids. At virtually no cost to you, since the state picks up 95 percent of the tab. That's what folks in western Sullivan County were promised when they voted to merge three school districts. Back then, in 1999, the future seemed as bright as the summer sun glistening on the Delaware."
Indiana Woman Sues School Over Bible Class
Date CapturedSaturday October 21 2006, 9:01 AM
AP reports, "An Indiana woman is suing her son's public school, alleging that its practice of allowing some students to attend Bible classes once a week on school grounds while others stay behind without instructional time is unconstitutional."
Mid-level districts short on funding, New Jersey school study finds
Date CapturedSaturday October 21 2006, 8:57 AM
The Star-Ledger reports, "Hundreds of New Jersey school districts, too well-off to receive large amounts of state aid but not wealthy enough to count on local taxpayers for more support, don't have enough funding to provide their students an "adequate" education, a state report indicates."
Relax, It’s Just Preschool
Date CapturedSaturday October 21 2006, 7:23 AM
NY Times contributor HILLARY CHURA writes, "Sources like the Department of Education nces.ed.gov, schooldigger .com, psk12.com and schoolsk-12.com allow you to examine school size, some demographics and occasionally test scores in public or private — but rarely both — schools. The material, however, can be dated. Apple-to-apple meters are hard to pinpoint since students at independent schools rarely take the mandatory tests as do their counterparts at public schools, said Myra McGovern, spokeswoman for the National Association of Independent Schools."
For preschool programs, does more costly mean better?
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 10:15 PM
NorthJersey.com reports, "'I don't believe there is a 100 percent correlation between cost and quality,' she [Linda Kriegel, executive director of Bergen County's Office for Children] says. 'Parents need to look at a lot of things, and cost is just one of those things.' Other factors include the tenure of the teachers and whether the school has a good reputation. One starting place for parents is the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which accredits preschools based on certain criteria."
Utah Last in Nation in Per Student Spending
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 9:45 PM
BYU reports, "Income tax revenue is reserved for educational funding. Income tax makes up 47.8 percent of the entire state revenue, and yet the state spends 57.3 percent of its total revenue on education, Spendlove said. The extra 10 percent of funding comes from the general state revenue fund, such as sales tax that is not technically specifically designated to education."
Charter School Supporters Respond to Falling Scores
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 3:39 PM
by Larry Abramson. NPR: Morning Edition, October 20, 2006 · "With test scores falling behind in some states, charter school supporters are calling for greater scrutiny."
NAEP State Comparisons
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 2:44 PM
You can create tables that compare states and jurisdictions based on the average scale scores for selected groups of public school students within a single assessment year, or compare the change in performance between two assessment years. For example: See how the average reading score for male students in a particular state compares to the average reading score for male students in other states in 2005, or See how the change (from 2002 to the focal year) in reading scores for male students in a particular state compares to the change in reading scores for male students in other states.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania schools to get silent 911 alarms
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 10:22 AM
AP reports, "The alarm buttons would enable school personnel to signal the dispatch center directly without having to pick up a telephone, dial 911 or talk out loud. Similar panic buttons can be found in banks and district justice offices. The dispatch center would immediately send police to the school."
School to use search dog
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 9:32 AM
Durango Herald reports, "The Ignacio School District [Colorado] board of directors agreed on Thursday to purchase a dog service to search for drugs, guns, alcohol and tobacco in schools."
Steroid testing of Texas high school athletes
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 9:00 AM
The Olympian reports, "In 2005, state lawmakers considered a testing program but instead directed the UIL [University Interscholastic League, the state's governing body for public high school sports] to develop an education plan about the dangers of steroid use. The UIL is surveying school districts to gauge how well that program is work-ing. The results are due in December."
Education-study data released after suit by advocates for poor
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 8:53 AM
NorthJersey.com reports, "The New Jersey Education Department released documents Thursday, including some cost projections for public education, after advocates for poor chil- dren sued to gain access to the data."
Alliance using the workplace to encourage greater Iowa parent involvement in education
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 8:39 AM
The Courier reports, "The Alliance for People Promoting Learning & Education --- or Apple --- launched an effort Tuesday encouraging businesses to promote the idea that parents and other employees should be involved at schools. A parent's involvement in their child's education has been identified as an important factor in how well the child does in school."
Changing direction for Philadelphia schools
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 8:20 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "At the Philadelphia schools, one of the goals on their 'balanced scorecard' centers on attendance. McDaniel, a 525-student school in a city neighborhood with one of the highest rates for shootings that occur during the school day, failed to meet "adequate yearly progress" under the No Child Left Behind law last year, in part because its attendance fell below 90 percent."
To curb dropout rate, develop new paths for learning and careers
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 6:46 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opined, "At least 27 of the nation's 100 top liberal arts schools that scrapped their SAT or ACT requirements have decided that students' high school performances should weigh as heavily as test scores. With this growing realization, educators also need to provide more alternatives to students who may be interested in vocational and technical education."
New York City principals union chief to retire, go national in '07
Date CapturedFriday October 20 2006, 4:44 AM
NY Daily News reports, "After six years at the helm of the city principals union, Jill Levy announced plans this week to step down when her term ends Jan. 31. She will devote her time to the national union, the American Federation of School Administrators, which elected her president last summer."
California School Site of Meditation Flap
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 3:51 PM
AP reports, "A federal appeals court in 1979 called TM [Transcendental Meditation] a form of religious teaching and ruled the practice could not be taught in New Jersey public schools. The decision is often cited as a precedent in religion-in-public-schools cases. Whether TM is religious or not, state education officials said that religion clubs are allowed in California public schools under certain conditions."
Suspension program aims to keep Ithaca students in school
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 9:42 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "The first half of a student's day is instructional. The last half is spent discussing what got them suspended."
Video-gaming American schools
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 9:18 AM
The Enquirer reports, "One of the nation's most prestigious scientific groups on Tuesday put video games into play in an ambitious new bid to transform American education. The Federation of American Scientists called for major investment in digital educational games that could reshape how students learn and workers are trained for 21st century jobs."
School Lunch Crunch
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 9:14 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Claiming that students who con their way to a free lunch cost the DOE as much as $5 million annually in federal reimbursements, the agency on Monday will begin requiring more students to pay cash before getting served. The policy is aimed at students whose household income disqualifies them from receiving a free lunch, but who finagle one by preying on compassionate cafeteria cashiers and lax enforcement of eligibility rules."
Feds need to keep hands off student records
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 8:28 AM
The majority of the Herald's 10-member board of student editors opined, "There has not been any indication that the information would be used for homeland security purposes - a move that would raise its own ethic al questions. But among the reasons Spellings listed for the database were better ways of notifying students of their eligibility for academic aid and better preparing high school graduates for college. These raise nanny state, not police state, concerns. Students already should be aware of such opportunities. It is the faculty's duty to remind students, and it is the students' duty to take advantage of what they have."
Upgrade could save Rochester district $1 million annually in costs
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 6:13 AM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Each school will be equipped with a communications platform with embedded voice mail capabilities, making it adjustable to increased user demand, and increasing the chance that district computer needs won't outgrow the computer system's capabilities." The phones have can send text messages in case of emergencies.
Taxpayers, teachers call for school funding reform
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 6:04 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Trudi Renwick, senior economist from the nonpartisan Fiscal Policy Institute, a research and education organization, said a proper balance needs to be found in funding schools with both state and local money. Rising taxes are not due to district overspending or increasing teacher salaries, but insufficient state aid and the increasing costs of maintaining services, she said."
Goal Set for School Athletes
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 5:22 AM
Post-Standard reports, "Scores of Syracuse high school athletes, males and females, will be trained to recognize and defuse violence against women through a program called Mentors in Violence Prevention. The eventual plan is for those high school students to train middle schoolers and create a school culture in which violence against females is unacceptable."
New York City Mayor Bloomberg Says City Won’t Pay in School Financing Case
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 3:20 AM
NY Times reports, "According to The News, Mr. Spitzer also suggested that the linchpin of the mayor’s education agenda — the Legislature’s decision in 2002 to give the mayor control over the school system — could be a tool used to pressure the city. 'In the background, you have the issue of mayoral control and other factors that will weigh in the balance in terms of how the negotiation plays out,' he said."
Bleak College Graduation Rate Is Found
Date CapturedThursday October 19 2006, 1:03 AM
The Washington Post reports, "The report, commissioned by D.C. city and school officials, asserts that nine out of 10 of the freshmen will be confined to low-paying jobs because they never began college or gave up before obtaining a degree. It blames the problem largely on the school system for failing to prepare students but also on colleges for being unable to accommodate students' deficiencies."
NEW JERSEY OPINIONS ON SCHOOL FUNDING
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 8:52 AM
Conducted for: Association for Children of New Jersey by Monmouth University Polling Institute. Data Collection: September/October 2006.
State education officials looking for more leeway in 'No Child Left Behind' law
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 8:36 AM
WCF Courier reports, "Focused strictly on education policy, the task force [Under the auspices of the Council of Chief State School Officers],did not address what many critics see as the most urgent problem facing No Child Left Behind: the lack of federal funding for it. In 2006, Iowa received only 59 percent of the $171 million it was authorized to obtain under the act, according to the National Education Association."
Let the New Jersey school merger fight begin
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 8:30 AM
Star-Ledger reports, "[New Jersey] State lawmakers will begin discussing a series of proposals today to establish 21 countywide school offices that would oversee virtually every function of public education, a change proponents say will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The offices, each controlled by a single superintendent and four- member county board, would replace hundreds of local superintendents and central office staff."
Imagine the best schools in the world ... no exceptions, no excuses
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 7:39 AM
Delawareonline contributors Marvin N. Schoenhals, Vision 2015 and Chairman/President of WSFS Financial Corporation and Valerie A. Woodruff, Delaware's Secretary of Education write, "Over the past 11 months, our 28-member Steering Committee has worked very hard. We have come to grips with the strengths and challenges of Delaware's public school system. We have searched the world for the best practices of school systems that are succeeding. Our plan, Vision 2015, results from an unprecedented level of research, analysis, discussion, debate, and decision-making. To support the Steering Committee, we engaged nearly 80 individuals in work groups, and involved another 400 citizens in more than 50 meetings throughout Delaware. And we engaged two top-flight firms -- The Boston Consulting Group and Cambridge Leadership Associates -- to keep us focused and moving forward. We really did our homework. And we did a lot of it."
Bloomberg and Klein Keep Pushing Ahead
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 7:31 AM
New York Observer writes, "At the moment, private groups are managing nearly 200 small public schools through a program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. That private funding, however, will expire in June in about 50 schools. The city is considering an idea to continue the private management by using public money as the Gates grants—which were never intended as a permanent funding source—expire."
Standardized tests can send students who fail into tailspin
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 6:36 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Dan Drmacich, prinicipal School Without Walls, Rochester School District writes, "Students who are poor, who are from English-as-a-second-language families, who have special education needs, who desire to have a vocational education or who have unique interests or learning styles, have suffered under the one-size-fits-all Regents education process. Even those students who do well on Regents tests suffer because they are often denied the opportunities to focus their studies on areas of personal interest, citizenship and other lifelong-learning skills. Each person who agrees should voice his or her concerns to school district officials, state and federal representatives. Only through active citizenship can we create an education system that truly meets the needs of our students and our society."
Binghamton schools get $4.85 million windfall
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 6:03 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The state money is coming from EXCEL -- Expanding our Children's Education and Learning -- an allocation that the state Legislature approved in April to help school districts with building projects. The amount is substantial -- $2.6 billion statewide, with $400 million going to high-need districts outside New York City, including Binghamton."
Put N.Y.C.'s lice policies on ice
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 4:32 AM
NY Daily News contributor Amy Ellen Schwartz:, Professor of Public Policy, New York University writes on NYC schools head lice policy, "Second, schools are now paying for lice removal companies to screen kids for lice and sell the services they offer. It's wrong to open school doors to people hawking remedies for profit. What's next, cold medicine for sale when kids come to class with runny noses?"
A Late Start, but Not a Bad Start if the Student Is Finally Ready
Date CapturedWednesday October 18 2006, 3:26 AM
NY Times reports, "There are 200 Ada Comstock students — one of every 13 Smith students — ranging in age from their early 20’s into their 60’s. They have all kinds of reasons for having stumbled off the well-trod paths of life. Some, like Rita McCoubrey, 23, of Santa Ana, Calif., had babies in high school; others, like Ellie Crews, 53, of Seattle, married husbands who insisted that their careers came first, and so they raised children into adulthood."
Florida Board of Education approves first merit pay plan
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 9:09 PM
AP reports, "Under the Special Teachers Are Rewarded, or STAR, program, a school district must develop a performance-pay plan that includes an evaluation component focused on the improvement of student learning."
New York State comptroller’s audit alleges school district wasted $12 million in taxpayer money
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 8:19 PM
Mid-Hudson News reports, "The audit charged the district wasted $12.5 million in taxpayer money because the district did not property address building occupancy levels and declining enrollment, which led to the closure of the Delaware Valley and Narrowsburg school buildings. The audit also said the district did not realize $2.1 million in savings due to economies of scale in staffing levels because it did not have a comprehensive strategic plan in place."
Oklahoma Lottery Transfers $17.4 Million For Education
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 9:20 AM
AP reports, "A total of 45 percent of lottery revenue goes to common education, including teacher pay and benefits. Another 45 percent goes to scholarships and loans to help Oklahoma residents attend state colleges and universities."
Improving student achievement is key to future
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 8:36 AM
AP reports, "[Gov. Jeb] Bush said that while stricter accountability standards are still being debated in Florida, other countries are surging ahead in the global market because of their higher standards. 'You think the Chinese are debating whether or not to have a 10th-grade-level aptitude test to determine whether someone is qualified to graduate from high school?' he said. 'They are way beyond that. And so is India and so is Singapore and so is southeast Asia. Many countries all around the world have figured that out before we have.'"
Alabama school catches up with attendance 'glitch'
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 8:04 AM
The Huntsville Times reports, "In late August, the state Department of Education [Alabama] cited the school on Carter's Gin Road for failing to maintain at least 95 percent daily attendance last year. Assistant Principal Melanie Barkley attributed the problem to a bookkeeping error: Students who arrived late for class were being marked absent when they should have been counted as tardy. Employees combed through attendance logs and found late-arriving students were mistakenly marked absent 403 times last school year, Barkley said. Giving those kids credit for coming to class late bumped Sparkman Middle's daily attendance from 94.42 percent to about 96 percent - comfortably above the state's goal."
Time to grade colleges
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 7:14 AM
USA TODAY opined, "While fears of compromised privacy are hypothetical, the need for a new system is real. The current state systems are incompatible, so comparison among schools in different states is impossible. Federal statistics miss students who start part-time, enter later or transfer from other institutions. Better data, through either a comprehensive database or scientifically valid sampling, could answer many pressing questions. Consumers who now see only a school's sticker price might learn what students actually pay, after financial aid is calculated. Researchers might learn why students drop out and where they go. Or what impact college has on their future success."
School-funding reform is focus of meeting
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 6:20 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Eleven Dutchess County school districts are sponsoring an informational meeting, 'Fixing School Taxes,' on Wednesday at Arlington High School. It's an effort to answer taxpayers' questions and encourage grassroots involvement in school-tax reform. The event has been organized by Help Arlington Lower Taxes, a committee of Arlington board members, employees and local residents."
New York City on hook for $1B in school aid
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 4:46 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The city [New York City] has long argued that it should not have to pay one penny to make up for the state's historic shortchanging of city schools, and so far the courts have not ordered the city to shell out any of the $5.6 billion they have set as the tab."
Tips for a Better Parent-School Relationship
Date CapturedTuesday October 17 2006, 3:29 AM
Washingon Post Jay Mathews writes, "In many ways, parents are the most important teachers children will ever have. But drawing them into schools is often difficult. So is forging a constructive parent-school relationship. Teachers complain about parents who meddle too much and those who can't be found. Parents say that educators claim to want more involvement but that they belittle their suggestions. Here are 10 recommendations for better relations from educators and school-savvy parents."
New York school aid fix beyond courts
Date CapturedMonday October 16 2006, 9:26 PM
Poughkeepsie Journal opined, "Any realistic, statewide and permanent solution to how schools are funded will have to come from state lawmakers — and, indirectly at least, from the taxpayers who elect them. The courts have a role, but it will be impossible, and wrong, for them to try to micromanage from the bench."
California Law Blocks Transfer of 'Lemon' Teachers
Date CapturedMonday October 16 2006, 4:16 PM
Infozine reports, "If a teacher doesn't measure up, should he or she jump over other applicants for a job at a different school? Not anymore, at least not in California's neediest schools. A new state law bars school districts from forcing principals at low-scoring schools to hire teachers who transfer from elsewhere in the district."
Merit system won't pay off
Date CapturedMonday October 16 2006, 2:29 PM
Statesman Journal contributor and mother of eight children, Karen Utley writes, "Public education is expensive. The rate of student failure is deeply depressing. Policy makers and budget-keepers search for simple solutions, but complicated problems require incremental adjustment and no progress will be made until they stop hoping they can fix the schools by blaming the teachers."
Ithaca Central School District equity: Identify strengths, weaknesses
Date CapturedMonday October 16 2006, 7:41 AM
Ithaca Journal contributor Melina Carnicelli, assistant superintendent for human resources, Ithaca City School District writes, "I envision ICSD's human resources department as the organizational hub that continuously emphasizes equity through effective workplace policies/practices and professional development at all levels. The HR department sets the tone for the organization and is the point of contact and partnership with community organizations and individuals committed to recruiting, hiring and sustaining a highly qualified and diverse workforce. This vision is not an initiative, program or special project; it is not in addition to the work we do ... it IS the work!"
Colleges using sobering tactics to curb partying
Date CapturedMonday October 16 2006, 7:26 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Area colleges are taking several steps to try to dissuade or clamp down on underage and excessive student drinking. While Sunday marked the start of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, dealing with alcohol is a year-round endeavor at schools. It also is an uphill battle. Underage alcohol consumption is by far the most common crime committed on college campuses, according to federal statistics. Various studies show that a sizable minority of students nationwide drink frequently and heavily, and many end up in academic trouble, in scrapes with the law, and running health and safety risks."
$5B Headache
Date CapturedMonday October 16 2006, 7:14 AM
NY Post contributor Sol Stern writes on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) lawsuit, "The high court heard arguments on the case Tuesday; its past rulings suggest it will hold that New York City is entitled to almost $5 billion a year in extra state funding for its schools - close to the amount that the trial court ordered last year. That means a huge political migraine for Spitzer. On the one hand, the forces that backed the lawsuit - the teachers' union, the education-industry interests, New York City Democrats - represent the heart of Spitzer's liberal political base, and eagerly anticipate a big payoff. On the other hand, the billions in higher taxes needed to pay for the increased funding for the city's schools will make it impossible for Spitzer to fulfill his campaign promise to rescue the state from its looming fiscal crisis."
School Gruel in Gross Cafeterias
Date CapturedMonday October 16 2006, 7:01 AM
NY Post reports, "A staggering 360 school cafeterias - nearly one out of every three - is infested with mice, according to shocking new health-inspection reports obtained by The Post. In all, 111 schools - nearly one in 10 - were slapped with so many flagrant food violations that they flunked their inspections. That's more than triple the prior year's 3 percent failure rate. And the total number of rodent violations in school food areas jumped 10 percent during the 2005-2006 academic year - to 413 from 370 the prior year."
Cornered on bus stops
Date CapturedMonday October 16 2006, 4:47 AM
Newsday reports, "More than half of the 5,921 [Lawrence] students who ride the buses attend private schools, said district Superintendent John T. Fitzsimons. State law mandates that districts provide transportation to all students, as long as their schools are within 15 miles from the student's home. But in a revelation that has roiled the already divided district, it turns out that for years, in violation of district policy, some 300 stops were in front of homes of private school students and that some parents were bribing drivers with gifts and cash. All the while, most public school kids have had to walk to corner stops."
'Ghetto' party, photos stir controversy at Texas law school
Date CapturedSunday October 15 2006, 10:15 AM
The Western Star (AUSTIN, Texas) reports, "The dean of the School of Law at the University of Texas has urged students to 'think twice' and 'think twice again' about their future conduct after the Internet posting of photographs taken at an off-campus party organized around a 'ghetto' theme."
Arizona college leaders' trips scrutinized
Date CapturedSunday October 15 2006, 9:24 AM
Arizona Republic reports, "Critics contend international programs are a waste of money and distort the traditional mission of a community college. That mission was to serve as a transition for high school students to four-year universities and provide continuing education. Sixty-five percent of Mesa's students are part-timers."
Learning curve: Most Florida high school grads not ready for college classes
Date CapturedSunday October 15 2006, 9:21 AM
Sun-Sentinel reports, "Most students entering South Florida's community colleges lack the basic skills they need to take college-level classes, forcing schools to spend millions for remedial work, statistics show."
Early-college program set for California students
Date CapturedSunday October 15 2006, 9:11 AM
LA Daily News reports, "The Santa Clarita campus is set to open for the 2007-08 school year and will be on the college's new Canyon Country campus. The concept of the school is to take students who are underrepresented on college campuses - minorities, low-income students, English-language learners and first-generation college students - and put them into a college setting. This addresses a statewide trend - a decrease in minority enrollment in universities."
Waning voter confidence in Buffalo city's schools
Date CapturedSunday October 15 2006, 9:07 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Buffalo voters have been losing confidence in the city's once highly acclaimed public schools, according to a Buffalo News poll conducted earlier this month. More than half of respondents - 54 percent - have an unfavorable opinion of the school district, and only 32 percent have a favorable opinion."
SCHOOLS 'DEVELOP' $TRATEGY
Date CapturedSunday October 15 2006, 7:56 AM
NY Post reports, "Under the program, the city issues bonds to developers to rebuild and expand existing school sites alongside residential, commercial or office space."
Teacher, management collaboration a key lesson
Date CapturedSaturday October 14 2006, 9:57 AM
The Providence Journal reports, "Urbanski [director of the Teacher Union Reform Network] argued that you can't accomplish true reform unless you change what happens to children's lives before and after school. That means doing more in the areas of early childhhod education, after-school programs, health care and housing."
Kids need balance in school, expert says
Date CapturedSaturday October 14 2006, 9:18 AM
News Journal (Delaware) reports, "Comer [renowned child psychiatrist] said he had to tell his own story first so the audience of education and health professionals could see where he was coming from. He grew up poor in Chicago as one of five children, with a mother who was the daughter of a sharecropper and a father who was a laborer. Yet they provided their children with warmth and attention, taught them social skills, made them feel good about themselves and exposed them to museums and anything else they thought was educational."
Inside Albany
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 3:33 PM
This week on IA: Billions at stake-Top court hears New York City school funding case that has sweeping implications statewide. Check schedule.
Crack down on school truancy
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 10:31 AM
Sun-Times News reports, "The ordinance provides for 'investigatory detention,' meaning a police officer may stop and detain a person whom the officer reasonably suspects to be violating the ordinance for the purpose of verifying the detained person's identity, age, school enrollment and authority to be absent from school. The subject shall be promptly released upon verification of authorization to be absent from school."
Attendance to make up 10 percent of Buffalo students' grades
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 9:40 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Supporters of the measure described it as an appropriate way to improve poor attendance rates and emphasize the importance of being in school. Opponents said it offers rewards to students for doing what they should be doing anyway."
Integrate University at Buffalo, downtown
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 9:34 AM
Buffalo News opined, "UB students of architecture and urban planning could benefit from a downtown school that would put them near the terra cotta-clad Guaranty Building, art deco City Hall, glimmering Hauptman-Woodward Research Institute and other structural gems. Law students at a downtown school would have easy access to the courts and the area's major law firms. The university could perform a role in helping boost the city's economic development, urban education and neighborhood stabilization. And downtown would benefit from the students' vitality and the attendant economic benefits, from housing to restaurants, that their presence inevitably would bring."
There is no 'boy crisis'
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 7:36 AM
USA TODAY contributor Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women writes, "One proposed solution has been to segregate boys from girls in school, but not only does that fail to improve performance, it also sends a message that it is difficult for the sexes to work and learn together, and that the best remedy is to give up trying. If we want women and men to compete on a level playing field as adults, they must start in school."
A step backward
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 6:37 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opined, "There's no acceptable way to sugarcoat the latest math test scores coming out of the City [Rochester] School District. Overall, the performance was troubling. This was a step backward in the city's effort to raise standards and to prepare kids in basic academic skills."
Wappingers bus drivers picket school district over contract
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 6:12 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The 131 members of the Wappingers Federation of Workers who participated were a mix of part-time bus drivers and night custodians and mechanics. They said they wanted to express their support for bus safety and protest their expired contract."
Court should not determine school funding
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 5:04 AM
UticaOD.com writes, "Whatever the court decides in this case [Campaign for Fiscal Equity], our children's education is really in our hands. It's up to us to pressure the legislature to take the appropriate steps to reform the school aid formula."
Giving Gallaudet a Bad Name
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 3:59 AM
Washington Post opined, "UNHAPPY WITH Gallaudet University's choice of a new president, students continued their blockade of the campus yesterday. Hundreds of students were being denied their college education. Elementary and high school students also were locked out of their Kendall Green schools, which share the campus. Every lost day of school for them is significant."
New York City Middle School Admission Studied
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 3:33 AM
NY Times reports, "Speaking to members of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, Mr. Klein [New York City Schools Chancellor] said he was concerned that the process often unfairly favors savvy and well-connected parents."
Education panelists: Lobby for No Child Left Behind changes
Date CapturedFriday October 13 2006, 12:29 AM
The Desert Sun reports, "'We need a growth model,' said Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association. 'It’s the only measure that makes sense.' A growth model, which North Carolina and Tennessee are piloting this year, measures student performance based on how much each individual improved from the beginning of the school year. No Child Left Behind, on the other hand, measures student performance based on prescribed goals that all students are required to meet each year."
Texas Police Offer Gang Education in Spanish
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 8:39 PM
Kfoxtv.com reports, "Through labeled pictures of gang members and their common dress codes, parents learned all they need to know, and how to keep their children away from gangs."
Former U.S. education secretaries file brief supporting Jefferson County Public Schools desegregation policy
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 7:53 PM
Business First of Louisville reports, "The Supreme Court will decide whether school districts can consider race when assigning students to schools in an effort to maintain diversity."
Tough bus check policy approved by local Michigan board
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 7:43 PM
THE FLINT JOURNAL reports, "The policy requires that every district bus driver is required to do a thorough inspection of a district vehicle to make sure that no students or passengers remain on the vehicle."
Economic Outcomes of High School Completers and Noncompleters 8 Years Later
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 6:49 PM
NCES: The findings suggest that individuals who completed high school within 6 years generally had more favorable economic outcomes than their counterparts who completed high school later or not at all. However, differences in economic outcomes were most prominent between males and females even after controlling for the timing and type of high school credential earned.
Schools clamp down on use of cell phones by students
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 8:48 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Concerned about classroom disruption, cheating on exams and even the potential for violence, local schools are tightening their bans on student cell phone use during the school day."
James Madison University draws criticism
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 8:02 AM
TIMES-DISPATCH reports, "An official with the U.S. Olympic Committee criticized James Madison University leaders this week for their plan to eliminate 10 varsity sports programs. James E. Scherr, the committee's CEO, deemed "troubling" the university's decision two weeks ago to drop the intercollegiate teams to bring the school into compliance with federal Title IX regulations governing the proportions of men's and women's sports. Scherr said he believes the action will have a negative impact on Olympic sports in the United States."
Police to step up enforcement of school-bus laws
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 6:49 AM
The Journal News reports, "The one-day crackdown is part of the statewide 'Operation Safe Stop' - a precursor to 'National School Bus Safety Week,' which is Oct. 15 to 21. Operation Safe Stop is geared toward promoting school bus safety through education and enforcement."
Engaging minds
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 5:30 AM
Times Union writes, "Mr. Hull has launched the Help Yourself Foundation, which is dedicated to helping promising third-graders get a jump start on college. He has a resume to back up his ambitions. While president of Beloit College in Wisconsin, he oversaw an innovative after-school program, beginning with fourth-graders and continuing through high school. The results were impressive: 41 percent of the students stayed with the program, and 95 percent of those who stayed went on to college, compared with 36 percent who did not participate."
New York City Puts Brakes on Planned School Bus Cuts
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 5:19 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Education officials said that just 63 percent of the 110,000 students eligible to take yellow school buses responded to a request to register for the service, indicating that thousands of those unregistered could still need service."
Charters Charting Course to Success
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 5:19 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "While charter students in each of the grades outperformed their counterparts in public schools, they did not always outpace them in terms of gains over the previous year. State education officials warned against drawing comparisons to previous years, noting that the tests were new and claiming they were more difficult."
Scores on State Math Tests Dip With Districts’ Income
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 3:40 AM
NY Times reports, "It was the wide gap between poor cities and wealthy districts that Mr. Mills identified as a cause for alarm when he announced the scores in Albany yesterday. While 86.3 percent of students in rich, or so-called low-need districts scored proficiently, only 28.6 percent did so in Buffalo, 30.1 percent in Syracuse, and 33.1 percent in Rochester. 'I am talking about state aid, and it’s a reminder that resources have something to do with this as well,” Mr. Mills said. He added: 'The low-needs school districts, that is, the ones that have the resources, are higher performing — much higher performing.'”
Conference on School Safety
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 12:24 AM
The White House: Welcome to "Ask the White House" -- an online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Administration officials and friends of the White House. Visit the "Ask the White House" archives to read other discussions with White House officials.
MIXED REVIEWS FOR BLENDING GENERAL AND SPECIAL-ED STUDENTS
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 12:11 AM
Staten Island Advance reports, "While 75 school districts in New York were warned by the state last week that their work with special education students was deficient, the city Department of Education was singled out for having taken some positive steps. One of the most significant of those has been its determination in recent years to increase the number of classes that mix general and special education students -- known as Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT)."
Michigan plan on hold for special ed room policy
Date CapturedThursday October 12 2006, 12:06 AM
The Detroit News reports, "Seclusion -- or timeout -- rooms have been a hot button issue in the county [Livingston County, Michigan]since the agency's parent advisory committee discovered a 5-by-5- foot padded room during a tour of the new $5 million special education school, Pathway, last month. They said they were not told of the room during the planning sessions for the school."
Lawmakers seek less education spending:State looks to lower education spending
Date CapturedWednesday October 11 2006, 8:16 AM
The Journal News Yancey Roy reports, "Instead of a range of $4.7 billion to $5.6 billion in additional aid, as ordered by a mid-level court, state lawyers want the minimum set at $1.93 billion. State lawyers also want the court to issue its decision in a legally softer way - a "declaratory judgment," rather than a "directive." A directive would provide less wiggle room. But that was met with skepticism by a judge who has seen the case bounce around the legal system for 13 years."
Education must evolve to keep America competitive
Date CapturedWednesday October 11 2006, 7:00 AM
The Press Republican reports, "Curriculums must emphasize innovation, problem solving and critical analysis, Rogers [executive director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents] said. Changing the structure entails increasing the school system's efficiency and productivity, developing new curriculums, having more centralized control in education and creating a social agenda to combat poverty."
Schools bridge culture gap
Date CapturedWednesday October 11 2006, 6:15 AM
The Journal News reports, "The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to work on parental involvement and to devote 1 percent of Title I funding toward such efforts. For immigrants and other parent groups, the efforts go beyond the traditional PTA structure into new kinds of organizations. All the efforts have grown out of research that ties parental involvement to academic performance."
School Grades May Get F: Gov. Jeb Bush
Date CapturedWednesday October 11 2006, 6:00 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Under the city's plan, each of the 1,450 schools would be graded on student progress, performance on standardized exams and school environment."
School dollars back on court docket
Date CapturedWednesday October 11 2006, 5:15 AM
Times Union reports, "The Court of Appeals in 2003 ruled on CFE's behalf, agreeing the approximately 1.1 million-student New York City system had been shortchanged over the years and should get more funding. Since then, however, Gov. George Pataki and the state Legislature missed a court-ordered deadline to solve the funding problem and litigants have been back to both local and state courts several times in what could best be described as a classic legal saga of briefs, arguments, court rulings and appeals."
School Financing Case Argued Before New York State’s Highest Court
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 11:29 PM
NY Times reports, "Lawyers on opposing sides of a lawsuit that challenges the fairness of the state’s education financing system argued before the Court of Appeals on Tuesday over how much more money it would cost to give New York City’s schoolchildren a decent education — at least $4.7 billion or only $1.93 billion."
Appeals court: School boards not immune from federal lawsuits
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 10:33 PM
AP reports, "A federal appeals court [2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan], ruling in a case of a 75-year-old teacher who claims he was fired because of his age and his exercise of free speech, said Tuesday that local boards of education cannot claim they are arms of the state immune from lawsuits."
Courting Failure: How School Finance Lawsuits Exploit Judges' Good Intentions and Harm our Children
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 9:20 AM
Read "Courting Failure: How School Finance Lawsuits Exploit Judges' Good Intentions and Harm our Children" by Eric Hanushek. This link allows the reader to read the book by chapters.
Courting Failure: How School Finance Lawsuits Exploit Judges' Good Intentions and Harm our Children (CHAPTER 1)
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 9:13 AM
By Eric Hanushek. Read chapter 1, by Sol Stern. Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. New York: The March of Folly.
Bush Holding Summit on School Violence
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 9:05 AM
AP Ben Feller reports, "Compelled to respond to a spike in school violence, the Bush administration is hoping that a high-profile summit will get the word out about safety. President Bush called for Tuesday's conference after three shooting rampages in two weeks unnerved the nation. Communities in Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are still grieving."
District Charter Schools May Become Majority in 8 Years
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 8:21 AM
Epoch Times reports, "DC's charter schools and DCPS are serving similar and comparable populations of students. The students in charter schools in the District are 98% students of color (DCPS: 95%) and nearly three-fourths (74%) are low-income (DCPS: 61%). 90% of the students in charter schools are black compared to 84% in the DCPS."
Bus carries school spending drive
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 6:21 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Some critics contend the existing court ruling would not help other low-income districts and would only apply to funding for the city. 'They couldn't be wronger,' Ulster County legislator Susan Zimit said. She cited several Mid-Hudson Valley schools that would receive increased funding if the court supports the AQE/CFE formula."
CFE Supporters Rally for Aid Formula
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 6:16 AM
WXXI reports, "People demanding a new state school aid formula cheered as members of two pro-education groups pulled into Rochester Monday on board a school bus. Members of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and the Alliance for Quality Education are touring the state on their way to Albany."
$150,000 in state funding for Mahopac sports
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 6:12 AM
The Journal News reports, " High and middle school students are paying $408 for every sport while elementary school children are being charged an extra $100 to participate in the MSA's [Mahopac Sports Association] youth sports programs."
School Financing Case Plays Out in Court, and in Classrooms
Date CapturedTuesday October 10 2006, 3:21 AM
NY Times reports, "Geri D. Palast, the director of the fiscal equity group, said it had asked the court to impose strict controls to make sure the money was spent wisely. 'Accountability is at the core of this,' she said."
FACTS ON POLICY: School Funding Shift
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 11:18 PM
Hoover Institute: "U.S. public school funding was once primarily financed locally but over time it has shifted toward state and federal funding."
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), Harvard start project
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 11:09 PM
Austin Business Journal reports, "Research shows clearly that, with knowledge and support, families can make a difference in their kids' success in school," says Wes Hoover, the lab's president and CEO. 'We look forward to working with Harvard ... to address this critical need.'"
October Proclaimed Cyber Security Awareness Month in New York State
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 1:50 PM
Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure: "Whereas, each of us has a critical role in maintaining the security of cyberspace, and a greater awareness of computer-associated risks will improve the integrity of New York State’s information infrastructure and economy; the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the US Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance have designated October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and New York State joins in the observance of this worthy cause and in support of its crucial goals;"
New York state and Guardian Angels partner in online safety prgram
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 1:45 PM
AP reports, "Teachers will also be taught to make sure students' work has not been plagiarized and learn how to detect and stop cyber-bullying: attacks on children by other children through e-mail, instant messaging or rumors on Web sites."
Improving minority education means knowing law, New Jersey parents told
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 1:38 PM
The Record (New Jersey) reports, "The statute [Title 18A], for instance, lists classes that must be taught in all districts. It outlines professional qualifications for teachers and lists the powers of the state and local school boards. In short, it's a blueprint for public education in New Jersey."
Courting Failure: Education Experts Expose the Politics behind the Nation's School Finance Lawsuits
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 10:08 AM
The Hoover Institute writes, "One of the most devastating elements in these [school funding equity] trials is the high-profile 'costing out' studies used to calculate the price tag of an adequate education. None of the studies effectively deals with any of the inefficiencies that currently exist in public schools, presuming that what is needed to get the desired student outcomes is simply more of the same -- and more money to support it. Indeed, some of the studies explicitly choose the most expensive way of running an educational program rather than the least expensive, inflating the costs and completely ignoring any possible change in the incentives or operations of public schools. Unfortunately, the courts have frequently sided with these recommendations."
Grants aid push for AP courses in Niagara Falls School District
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 9:55 AM
Buffalo News reports, "The goal is to bring more students, including minority students, into AP courses, chief school administrator Mark Laurrie said last week."
Advocates call for solution to fiscal equity lawsuit
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 8:23 AM
AP reports, "Tomorrow, the latest appeal will be heard, but a negotiated solution may extend beyond the end of Pataki's third term."
Hudson Valley schools face crowding
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 7:33 AM
The Times Herald-Record reports, "Of 136 school buildings, nine had their space adequacy rated as 'poor' — the lowest ranking — while 48 were rated 'fair' by professional engineers and architects who conducted the surveys last year. The rest earned the top ranking of 'good.' The classroom crunch might surprise taxpayers who, through borrowing, have funded a construction boom for nearly the past two decades. From 1987 to 2005, school districts in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties have spent more than $1.2 billion for new buildings, renovations, alterations and additions. Those projects added about 14.5 million square feet of space, according to state Education Department figures. That's roughly the equivalent of 70 super Wal-Mart stores."
Recreate New York high schools
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 7:31 AM
The Journal News writes, "Today's students can't wait decades for high school to become meaningful schooling — it has to be aggressively restructured now. With tougher standards, expanding curriculum and new technology demands in their faces, that means high-schoolers should be supported in taking five, even six years to earn high school diplomas — including those who aren't classified 'special-ed' or pegged as English-learners. And bright or otherwise gifted students should be allowed opportunities to graduate in less than four years."
Fighting for dollars and sense
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 5:45 AM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND reports, "Lower courts already have ruled that the city shortchanges its students in that amount - for example, by employing thousands of uncertified teachers. Supporters hope a ruling in favor of city schools would also reap more money for needy districts elsewhere in the state, including Long Island. They base their hope on a political calculation: They assume that if the court orders the governor and legislature to distribute the money, that individual lawmakers then would demand that other needy districts also benefit from the windfall."
Making the grades
Date CapturedMonday October 09 2006, 4:58 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Teachers and principals have publicly worried that the department [New York City Department of Education] will oversimplify their efforts, dismissing the many subtleties of creating a safe and successful school."
School Voucher Program Shaking Up Cincinnati Schools
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 10:05 PM
AP reports, "In Cincinnati, 830 students are participating in the voucher program. Those children are dealing with new settings, new peers and new demands. Some students are taking religion class for the first time."
Nashville Tennessee Chamber chair: Key to work force is education
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 9:56 PM
The Tennessean reports, "This year, we're going to hire a high-profile education leader who will coordinate efforts in Nashville (among) the different nonprofits that help the school system. We want education to be on the minds of everyday citizens — how important education is. So we want to bring in a person with a strong personality that has the ability to sell that."
New York Home-schoolers want to play too
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 7:21 PM
Times Union reports, "The New York State Public High School Athletic Association, which sets policy for high school sports -- and which, despite its name, is a private entity -- has a long-standing rule prohibiting home-schoolers from participating in interscholastic sports."
Stress, trauma a reality for some kids in school
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 9:28 AM
Enterprise reports, "School psychologists across the region agree. From day-to-day anxiety over high-stakes testing and problems at home, to tragic deaths from accident or illness, to increased bullying and fights in school yards, to fear of violence erupting in their classroom — students today face a multitude of challenges not often seen by their parents or grandparents."
Mall might house Washington state high school
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 9:24 AM
The News Tribune reports, "The Tacoma, Bethel and Franklin Pierce school districts are partnering with the mall and a community group to open an alternative high school program at the shopping center, according to representatives from the districts and the group."
FOR THE CHILDREN
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 8:59 AM
NY Post opined, "Klein [New York City schools chancellor] is to be applauded for looking to breathe fresh air into a stale system. For years, he's been hoping to shake up school management through such promising ideas as charter schools - only to be stymied by the educrats and their puppets in Albany. Clearly, he's not giving up."
Punish parents when kids are tardy? No
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 8:51 AM
NY Daily News op-ed contributors John Beam, Executive Director of the National Center for Schools and Communities at Fordham University and Cecelia Blewer, co-founder of the Independent Commission on Public Education in New York City write, "Of course students should get to school on time and show up every day they can. Our experience as researchers and parents - and plain common sense - suggests that strong attendance goes hand in hand with other positive results in schools, from fewer discipline issues to higher academic achievement. But humiliating parents for their children's attendance and tardiness problems is a big mistake - one that puts shortsighted punitive instincts before the good of parents, children and schools."
Up to court to end sellout of New York City schools
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 8:46 AM
NY Daily News op-ed contributor Robert Jackson, plaintiff in CFE vs. State of New York and chairman of the Education Committee of the New York City Council writes, "It is to the enduring shame of this nation that millions of schoolchildren still struggle to learn in overcrowded classrooms with uncertified teachers, using outdated textbooks, and emerge bereft of a chance in life. These are conditions that demoralize, insult and crush young spirits, that breed despair, ignorance and civic alienation. The enduring social cost is enormous."
Manhattanville College student teachers get more time in the classroom
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 8:38 AM
JOURNAL NEWS reports, "If there's one thing a new school teacher has to learn, it's how to improvise in the classroom. That's one reason why Manhattanville College's School of Education is sending more of its teaching students every year into classrooms at the Thomas A. Edison Community School in Port Chester, a short drive away."
New agenda for Texas education
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 8:19 AM
Chron.com contributor Jim Windham, Texas Institute for Education Reform writes, "During the 1990s, Texas became a national leader in education reform when a bipartisan group of Texans joined together to establish academic standards and accountability as the framework for transforming public schools. The reforms began in 1993 when the state adopted a new accountability system that linked school accreditation with success in meeting academic standards."
Regulations put resolve to the test: Home-schooled New Yorkers need GED
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 8:14 AM
Times Union reports, "All athletes must be declared eligible by the NCAA Clearinghouse. Living in New York doesn't make it any easier for home-schoolers. New York is the only state that does not accept a home-school diploma as proof of graduation. Because there is no other way to certify a substantial equivalent of a four-year high school diploma, home-schoolers are required to take and pass the General Education Development test in order to meet the NCAA's graduation requirement."
SUNY Brockport opens college door
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 8:06 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Christine E. Murray, dean, School of Professions, State University College at Brockport writes, "The college [SUNY Brockport] is moving forward to collaborate with the CSD's effort to create small secondary schools focusing on college preparation. For three years, the college's Computational Math, Science and Technology Institute has offered professional development to teachers, introducing new ways to teach these vital subjects."
Wheels in motion for Rochester district to keep advancing to success
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 7:59 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Manuel Rivera, superintendent, Rochester School District writes, "The gains of our students and the progress of our district is a direct result of people working together toward a common goal, and that includes the Board of Education, our union leaders, staff, parents, the higher education, faith and business communities and many involved citizens."
Indianapolis, Indiana Charter schools show fast progress
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 7:54 AM
Indianapolis Star reports, "At least one critic was skeptical of the importance of such figures. Gains on testing aren't likely to be caused by better curriculum or teaching, said Marilyn Haring, an education professor at Purdue University. She said charter school results usually result from smaller classes.":
Sold school computers might hold senstitive info
Date CapturedSunday October 08 2006, 12:52 AM
AP reports, "Snook [heads Cardinal school district in Iowa] said two of the computers sold had been used in school offices but should have had grades and other information deleted before the sale."
Indiana district considers 4-day school week
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 6:43 PM
AP reports, "Some advocates of the four-day school week say the longer school days mean more instruction time for each class. The schedule may also help cut costs by eliminating one day a week of transportation costs, food service and other expenses."
Federal appeals court rules Arizona's charter schools ineligible to receive federal aid
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 6:38 PM
Douglas Dispatch reports, "He [Judge Michael Hawkins] said the federal statute that defines which schools are eligible for federal aid spells out that only non-profit schools are eligible for the aid."
Alternative Buffalo school called 'explosive'
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 2:55 PM
Buffalo News reports, "Shortages in staffing, security, supplies and instruction have created an "explosive situation" at Buffalo's new alternative school for troubled students, the president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation has charged."
President Bush's Radio Address
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 12:57 PM
Office of the Press Secretary, October 7, 2006: "As we work to keep our classrooms safe, we must also ensure that the children studying there get a good education. I believe every child can learn. So when I came to Washington, I worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and I was proud to sign it into law. The theory behind this law is straightforward: We expect every school in America to teach every student to read, write, add, and subtract."
Rochester School Without Walls reflects
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 8:38 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "These days, School Without Walls has 385 students in seventh through 12th grades, and differs from other city high schools in that it veers its focus away from conventional classroom learning. It continues the tradition of requiring students to complete 300 hours of community service from grades nine to 12, and submit a senior project, which is voted on by a six-person jury, as a graduation requirement."
Camden, New Jersey schools get monitor
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 8:29 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Citing a magnitude of problems, the state Department of Education yesterday appointed a fiscal monitor to oversee the Camden school system."
New Jersey tries to quash lawsuit that seeks school vouchers
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 8:17 AM
Star-Ledger reports, "Yesterday, lawyers for the plaintiffs said the case's central point -- that the rights of some children are being violated -- has been lost in the controversy over vouchers."
Visitors by appointment only at one Pennsylvania school
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 7:59 AM
AP reports, "All visitors, including parents, must make an appointment before entering Neil Armstrong Elementary School under a policy school officials said took effect Friday."
COLUMBIA PREZ TALKS TOUGH
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 7:47 AM
NY Post opined on Columbia University event, "During the fracas, hooligans didn't merely shout down a speaker who happened to oppose illegal immigration; they physically attacked him, forced him to flee and sparked an outright brawl."
New Policy To Oversee Jamestown HS Volunteers
Date CapturedSaturday October 07 2006, 7:31 AM
The Post-Journal reports, "While infrequent volunteers only need a building principal’s clearance, those working in the classroom on a near daily basis will now need to be fingerprinted and approved by the school board."
The Accuracy and Effectiveness of Adequate Yearly Progress, NCLB's School Evaluation System
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 7:06 PM
William J. Mathis writes, "Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is the key element of the accountability system mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This report reveals that AYP in its 2006 form as the prime indicator of academic achievement is not supported by reliable evidence. Expecting all children to reach mastery level on their state’s standardized tests by 2014, the fundamental requirement of AYP, is unrealistic. The growth model and other improvement proposals now on the table do not have sufficient power to resolve the underlying problems of the system. In addition, the program, whether conceived as implementation costs or remedial costs, is significantly underfunded in a way that will disproportionately penalize schools attended by the neediest children. Further, the curriculum is being narrowed to focus on tested areas at the cost of other vital educational purposes." Mathis, William J., Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union, University of Vermont.
Five Buffalo area districts draw warnings on special ed
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 10:28 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Lake Shore also has begun hand-delivering invitations to high school students to attend the annual special education committee meeting that evaluates their situation. That likely will help students in their transition out of high school, because they will be involved in the process leading up to it, Capell [director of special education] said."
Five Buffalo area districts draw warnings on special ed
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 10:28 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Lake Shore also has begun hand-delivering invitations to high school students to attend the annual special education committee meeting that evaluates their situation. That likely will help students in their transition out of high school, because they will be involved in the process leading up to it, Capell [director of special education] said."
U.S. grant will fund 3 Buffalo centers
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 10:23 AM
Buffalo News reports, "A Buffalo nonprofit group that trains parents to help their children succeed in school has received a $4.5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to open new centers in Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers. EPIC (Every Person Influences Children) estimates that the grant will allow it to work directly with more than 325,000 families in the next five years, most of them low-income and minority."
Denver Schools grading system explored
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 10:00 AM
Rocky Mountain News reports, "Also Thursday, board members gave informal approval to beginning a new method of funding schools. Called 'weighted student funding,' the idea is to allow dollars to follow individual students to schools rather than doling out dollars based on set classrooms of 26.5 kids."
’The Plight of Black Students in South Carolilna.’
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 9:40 AM
The Times and Democrat report, "Proponents of school choice and vouchers as well as supporters of the public schools agreed at a recent South Carolina State University forum that strengthening the black family, getting more parental involvement in the education of children and more early childhood education programs are essential to producing successful students."
Columbia University Investigation to Look at Facebook
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 9:11 AM
Columbia Spectator reports, "The investigation comes after a violent protest broke out in Roone Arledge Auditorium during a speech by Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, an organization that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border for illegal immigrants. Shortly after the speaker took the stage, several audience members rushed onto the stage with banners, sparking a physical conflict and prompting the early cancellation of the speech."
CSRQ Center Report on Middle and High School Comprehensive School Reform Models
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 8:31 AM
This Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center report "serves as a consumer guide that will help decision makers sort through claims about which school reform approaches could truly meet the needs of students. The report is the first comprehensive review of middle and high school whole-school reform models ever issued. To prepare this report, the CSRQ Center screened nearly 1,500 documents and reviewed 197 studies on 18 widely implemented middle and high school models. We used rigorous standards that are aligned with the requirements for scientifically based research established by NCLB. Each model is rated on a number of dimensions, including evidence of raising student achievement. The reviews of the individual models provide education decision makers with profiles of each model and the evidence needed to make decisions to meet locally defined needs."
President Bush Says He'll Strengthen Education Policy
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 7:22 AM
LA Times reports, "The president said that parents are not necessarily getting information about students' progress quickly enough to switch a child's enrollment to another school if they think a change is necessary." Bush suggested school districts were not appropriate in their use of federal funds provided for tutoring.
Ithaca Central School District on state special education-improvement list
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 7:16 AM
The Ithaca Journal reports, "McEnery [director of special education] said the state's graduation numbers also may not give the whole picture. 'They're talking about students who achieved a local or Regents diploma,' she said. 'It does not include students that graduated in five years, it does not include students who exited with a special education diploma and it does not include students who completed the requirements for a GED.'”
Plattsburgh City School students with disabilities not meeting standards, report says
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 6:55 AM
The Press-Republican reports, "Plattsburgh City School officials were not surprised by Thursday's report. 'The report is based on 2004-05 data of which the district not only was aware of but had already begun taking measures to address issues a year ago,' Short [Plattsburgh City School Superintendent] said. 'Throughout this past summer a team of teachers have further worked on a Gap Closing Committee specifically created to address district needs.'"
Not good enough for special needs kids
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 6:46 AM
The Journal News reports, on East Ramapo's designation, "East Ramapo has long been identified as a struggling school district with student scores among the lowest in Rockland. It is Rockland's only district considered an urban/suburban school district because of its high percentage of children eligible to receive free- or reduced-price lunch and with limited English proficiency, both hallmarks of poverty. The newly released list contains a large proportion of schools with poor scores for all students and many large urban districts that long have struggled with poverty-related problems."
Nanuet turns to text-messaging to notify parents
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 6:37 AM
The Journal News reports, "It used to be that phone calls and, more recently, e-mails were the only way to reach parents during school emergencies. The Nanuet school district is adding a new tool to its communications arsenal: text messaging."
Report: Special education lags in 4 districts
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 6:29 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Students with disabilities aren't doing as well as they should be in four Dutchess County school districts, so state education officials said they'll be stepping in to help." Poughkeepsie students with disabilities had the second lowest reported graduation rate in the state.
8 mid-Hudson schools on notice
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 6:19 AM
The Times Herald-Record reports, "The state [New York] has promised to provide special-education experts to help local districts. School districts stand to lose federal funds if they fail to make progress."
Spota backs Sen. LaValle on schools czar
Date CapturedFriday October 06 2006, 5:09 AM
Newsday reports, "LaValle said he was especially aggrieved that his bill is opposed by the state School Boards Association. 'The very people we want oversight over are the ones blocking the legislation,' he said."
Call For School Spending Oversight
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 6:52 PM
AP reports, "It is not unusual for homeowners in suburban New York school districts to pay $500 to $800 a month in school taxes alone."
Fact Sheet: The No Child Left Behind Act: Challenging Students Through High Expectations
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 6:03 PM
The No Child Left Behind Act Is A Historic Law - It Is Working, And It Is Here To Stay. When he came to Washington, President Bush worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and he was proud to sign it into law. Today, President Bush discussed the progress made under NCLB and areas where we can look to improve.
75 New York School Districts Identified for Low Performance Among Students with Disabilities
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 5:46 PM
New York State Education Department Press Release: The State Education Department has identified 75 school districts as “In Need of Assistance or Intervention” because of low performance among students with disabilities, Commissioner Richard Mills announced today.
New Jersey county districts could diversify schools
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 10:37 AM
Star-Ledger reports, "Corzine [New Jersey governor] said he is not supporting local government or school district consolidation as a way to confront segregation in New Jersey schools, but he sees it as a side benefit of consolidation in the interest of property tax relief."
New Jersey questioning charter schools' results
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 10:29 AM
Star-Ledger reports, "One new proposal would require charter-school applicants to document the need within the community for their proposed school. Justification could include public school performance or interest within the community, officials said."
Vigilance at school is everyone's responsibility
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 8:20 AM
The Press-Republican opined, "The public also needs to be watchful. Whether you have kids in school, our communities need to have their members be aware of the potential dangers that daily face their school staff and students. Observe and report what you might consider to be untoward or unusual behavior. We don't want to be alarmists. However, recent events compel us to be ever more vigilant in and around our schools. Our kids are depending on us."
Alliance grows; Syracuse schools benefit
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 7:31 AM
"The institutions [Le Moyne College, Onondaga Community College, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and SUNY Upstate Medical University] will support the 'smaller learning communities' within the high schools; help prepare city students for college; and prepare teachers to work in an urban school. The partnership will work with the district to figure out exactly what its role will be."
North Rockland meetings on TV
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 6:50 AM
The Journal News reports, "He [North Rockland Schools Superintendent ] said he couldn't guarantee how many people would watch North Rockland's school board meetings, but he wanted them available to the public. 'Under the circumstances, it seems the more information people have, the better for everybody,' he said."
Nonprofit builds new school playground
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 6:35 AM
The Daily News reports, "It's the first project completed by Out2Play, dedicated to building and refurbishing city public school playgrounds. 'A lot of schools don't have gymnasiums or that kind of thing," she said. "We want to give them an outdoor space where they're encouraged to be physically active'"
New York City Considers Plan to Let Outsiders Run Schools
Date CapturedThursday October 05 2006, 3:19 AM
NY Times reports, "Randi Weingarten, the teachers’ union president, urged the administration to make its discussions more public. 'I have been concerned about the sub rosa debate on whether to privatize the management of the school system for quite a while,' she said. 'On an issue that is this transcendent there has to be a real public debate.'”
Recent School Shootings Raise Questions About New York City Schools Cell Phone Policy
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 7:30 PM
NY1 reports, "He [NYC Mayor Bloomberg] says the city has taken the appropriate steps to help make children safe in the classroom, with school safety officers at all schools and police walking the beat near every junior high and high school in the city. And the mayor says cell phones can actually do more harm than good."
Hawaii High School Audit Prompts Background Checks: Audit Found Coach Had Murder Conviction
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 7:19 PM
TheHawaiichannel.com reports, "The state [Hawaii] auditor's report found that the school dismissed a head coach three months into the job when it was discovered he had a murder conviction. An assistant coach was also let go because of a previous assault and abuse conviction. The audit also found that last school year three new coaches were hired and had finished the season before the background checks were completed."
Group wants e-mail records:Mason schools says destroying them OK
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 6:37 PM
Cincinnati.com reports, "In the latest dispute between a tax-accountability group and Mason's [Ohio] school district, Mason Citizens for Accountability and Results in Education says the Mason City School District is trying to destroy e-mail records before the group can obtain copies. But district officials say according to their records retention policy e-mails can be destroyed as they are read and that the group's latest lengthy records request is too general to fulfill."
Survey: 1.4 million injuries in high school sports
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 10:27 AM
South Bend Tribune reports, "A nationwide study by Columbus (Ohio) Children's Hospital has found that football had the highest injury rate by far, followed by wrestling, boys and girls soccer and girls basketball."
Education gains start with widespread literacy
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 9:53 AM
Buffalo News contributor Sherry L. Byrnes, family literacy coordinator at Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo & Erie County writes, "Literacy is essential to that task, but it cannot develop meaningfully in a "school vacuum." For this reason, I encourage everyone - our civic leaders and businesses, grass-roots block clubs and churches, and every person who just wants to live in a decent community - to get involved. Our children and our city are at serious risk. In January, the Buffalo Reads Coalition will launch a citywide strategic initiative for literacy that will require every person to ask how he or she can take part in solving our city's literacy challenge - and to act."
Parents must help information-age kids cope with fear amid news of school shootings
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 9:07 AM
AP reports, "Today’s adolescents and teens happen upon an endless amount of news while researching homework on the Internet or talking with friends through instant messaging systems, chat rooms and blogs. Some even receive news updates on their cell phones. So while parents’ instincts might be to shy away from talking about frightening real-life stories of harm to children, chances are they will need to confront the news instead."
Study: Boozers Aren’t Losers In Earnings
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 8:43 AM
The Harvard Crimson reports, "Teenagers who binge-drink during high school may have a harder time finding a job compared to their non-binge drinking counterparts, but when they do land a job, their earning potential averages 6 percent higher, according to researchers in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research last month."
New Jersey property tax committee plans to tackle special ed
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 8:13 AM
The Daily Journal reports, "Proposals from the state panel on school-funding reform will focus on reducing the number of special-education students sent to expensive private schools, said committee co-chairman Sen. John Adler. But containing special-education costs is so complex that Pennsylvania and several other states have decided there is no suitable way to figure it out, noted Thomas Parrish of the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research. They instead rely on other factors such as a district's size and poverty."
Attacks show ‘threats … can come from anywhere'
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 7:06 AM
USA TODAY Kevin Johnson and Greg Toppo report, "The recent shootings mean authorities likely will 'go back to the drawing board' and make sure their school security plan protects students from a possible attack by an adult from off campus, Norman [supervisory special agent at the FBI's behavioral analysis] says. 'A whole new demographic has been introduced here. We're going to have to deal with that. It's a sad state of affairs.'”
Cyber Bullying has become a trend that can't be ignored
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 6:24 AM
The Press Republican reports, "McBride [educator and expert] asked students what would happen if there were laws preventing youths from purchasing cell phones until they were 17 and requiring parental oversight and approval before sending e-mails. Cyber bullying, she said, is causing adults around the world to consider such laws. 'You are taking this technology stuff to another level, and you understand this technology better than we do. We are not being overprotective; we are trying to get to the level where we can protect you.'"
Demoting Advanced Placement
Date CapturedWednesday October 04 2006, 3:34 AM
NY Times JOE BERGER writes, "The high school years have been distorted enough by the frenzied rounds of college visits, applications and S.A.T. cram courses. At an evening forum last week to acquaint Scarsdale parents with the faculty proposal, critics of A.P. courses asked: Is our mission to steal a head start on college? Or should we be cultivating habits of mind like tolerance of ambiguity, persistence in the face of setbacks, the ability to work with others on complex problems? Nevertheless, questions from parents signaled some considerable anxiety about dropping a program that has reliably gotten Scarsdale students into top colleges."
U of California Davis rise in reported sex offenses reviewed
Date CapturedTuesday October 03 2006, 9:50 AM
The Sacramento Bee reports, "Jennifer Beeman, head of the UC Davis Campus Violence Prevention Program, said she believes the increase in the number of reported sex offenses on UC Davis campuses in 2005 could reflect the success of campus programs that seek to educate students about sex assaults and to encourage them -- and others aware of such crimes -- to report them."
D.C. Charters on Rise; Quality Unequal
Date CapturedTuesday October 03 2006, 8:42 AM
The Washington Post reports, "The number of District charter schools has grown dramatically in the past 10 years, but the quality has been uneven, and officials should consider closing low-performing schools, according to findings in a study to be released today."
Teaching preschoolers is good for everybody
Date CapturedTuesday October 03 2006, 7:41 AM
The Denver Post reports, "Researchers have solidly documented what happens to children who do not get mental, physical and environmental stimulation during those crucial early years: Their cognitive skills are woefully inadequate, and they wind up behind in first grade. That is where the education gap first appears between poor and wealthy children. As taxpayers, we pay for a public school education system that starts too late."
Experts: Events might weigh heavily on kids
Date CapturedTuesday October 03 2006, 7:15 AM
USA TODAY reports, "“This has been one of the most gruesome weeks I've ever encountered in 20 years of dealing with school safety,” says Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center, which helps schools prepare for and respond to crisis. 'It's hit an entirely new low. Parents are going to be wondering if their children are safe returning to school.'”
Ministers and school union reps convene
Date CapturedTuesday October 03 2006, 6:05 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "For the first time ever, City School District union heads and a ministers group met to address the concerns of current and former African-American school district employees. And in the first agreement in what could be a long dialogue, Rochester-area black ministers and union representatives agreed that the mix of approximately 85 percent white teachers and 85 percent black or Hispanic students needs to change."
National school violence conference set
Date CapturedTuesday October 03 2006, 12:58 AM
AP reports, "The Bush administration will host a conference next week to discuss the recent string of school violence across the country, the White House said Monday. Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the conference will bring together education and law enforcement officials to talk about the nature of the problem and federal action that can help communities prevent violence and deal with its aftermath."
Boy trouble
Date CapturedMonday October 02 2006, 5:00 PM
The Boston Globe opined, "Gender-specific academic initiatives can be difficult to square with antidiscrimination laws. Yet public school systems in other states have managed to establish separate courses for boys and girls within a school, provided they do not set up entirely separate institutions. An enterprising school district or charter school could make history here by taking on the boys."
When a positive is a negative
Date CapturedMonday October 02 2006, 1:40 PM
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) reports, "Although a growing number of school districts nationwide are requiring athletes to pass drug screenings as a condition to participate in sports and extracurricular activities, the idea has come under heavy criticism by researchers and civil liberties groups that say its ineffective and intrusive. A federally funded 2003 study by the University of Michigan found that student drug use did not decrease in schools where students were being randomly tested."
More families relocating during school year
Date CapturedMonday October 02 2006, 1:34 PM
The Star Press reports, "Mount Pleasant Township Community Schools Supt. Mary Ann Irwin notices more students from other countries who move to Delaware County after living in another state. Indiana's student tracking number makes it easier to transition students into a new school, Irwin said. Teachers can easily access academic information for students who move within the state."
Endicott principal shows value of warning system
Date CapturedMonday October 02 2006, 7:06 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Tomic, who received national recognition for his conduct, was alerted by a hazard warning radio activated by a National Weather Service signal that automatically turns the radio on and announces a potential hazard. They are installed in many schools -- and required in six states (but not New York or Pennsylvania) -- but now the Homeland Security Department has decided to provide $5 million to make sure the radios are in every public school in the United States, some 97,000 in all."
Conditions at many schools 'unsatisfactory,' surveys find
Date CapturedMonday October 02 2006, 6:58 AM
Times Herald-Record Kristina Wells reports, "Roughly 20 percent of the region's schools {mid-Hudson Valley] were rated overall 'unsatisfactory' for having outdated or inoperable smoke alarm systems, sagging floors or ceilings, antiquated fire escapes and even vermin infestation, according to comprehensive building condition surveys conducted a year ago."
Make policy clear, apply to everyone
Date CapturedMonday October 02 2006, 6:52 AM
Utica.com opined on school policy, "Ideally, establishing policies would be a joint effort by school officials, parents, community and students. Definite boundaries should be set, and the final policy should not only be part of the student handbook, but included in the district newsletter so all taxpayers are aware of it."
Create Inspector General for schools
Date CapturedMonday October 02 2006, 6:14 AM
Newsday opined on IG for schools, "Taxpayers and even insiders often find the budget and bureaucracy to be impenetrable. And they may feel reluctant to bring their concerns of wrongdoing to the very school officials they suspect. An inspector general would be the place to go."
Manhattan school gives parents detention with tardy children
Date CapturedMonday October 02 2006, 5:17 AM
Newsday reports, "Under the new rule at the Manhattan School for Children, parents who don't drop off their children by 8:25 a.m. have to pick up late slips from the principal's office and go to the auditorium to serve 20 minutes of detention with them."
Belts and Suspenders
Date CapturedSunday October 01 2006, 11:39 PM
NY Times opined on accountability in schools, "The lapses in accountability have taken a harsh toll in public confidence, increasing taxpayers’ hostility to otherwise worthy school budgets and fostering an unhealthy mix of anger and apathy. For the sake of robustness and transparency in public education, the State Legislature should look closely at the recommendations coming out of Suffolk County."
Anti-Violence Funds for Schools Drops
Date CapturedSunday October 01 2006, 10:19 PM
AP reports, "Since 2001, federal funding for a grant program that helps U.S. schools pay for programs to prevent substance abuse and violence has declined significantly. Funding was $439.2 million in 2001 but has fallen to $346.5 million this year, with $310 million recommended for 2007."
Attendance and school funding in California school district
Date CapturedSunday October 01 2006, 2:00 PM
Desert Dispatch reports, "Parents get the calls — an electronic voice notifying them their child was absent from school. What follows can go any number of ways, but it usually involves kids trying to convince their parents they were in school and not ditching. It turns out they might be telling the truth."
Money helps; curriculum, too
Date CapturedSunday October 01 2006, 11:25 AM
Record Eagle Op-Ed contributor Jack Lessenberry writes, "They call it 'count day,' the day when students are bribed with pizza, ice cream and the chance to win Game Boys, iPods or even a laptop, if they do just one thing in school. Not pass their tests, not win scholarships, not win a spelling bee, if their school has such a thing anymore. They don't even have to read, write or learn anything, and some didn't do that, either. No. What the state's school systems, especially Detroit's, wanted students to do Wednesday was this: Show up."
New Rochelle museum to open with Rockwell exhibit
Date CapturedSunday October 01 2006, 10:16 AM
THE JOURNAL NEWS reports, "The city's [New Rochelle] newest public space for displaying art, historical artifacts and other cultural works is scheduled to open in just over a week at New Rochelle High School. Filling two gallery rooms in the school's new wing, the museum will be free and open to the public. The first exhibit in the Museum of Arts and Culture will display dozens of works by New Rochelle notable Norman Rockwell, the painter famed for his depictions of small-town Americana."
Letter grades may take on more weight in Elmira schools
Date CapturedSunday October 01 2006, 10:10 AM
The Star-Gazette reports, "The state [New York] Education Department does not keep track of the number of New York schools that weigh grades. However, nationally about half of America's school systems weight student grades, according to a paper on the subject written in 2000 by Gail C. Downs of the Center for Research and Evaluation."
How state figures out who gets what when allocating funds for education
Date CapturedSunday October 01 2006, 8:23 AM
Anchorage Daily News reports, "A lawsuit set for trial Monday charges that the state's school-funding method doesn't provide enough money to fulfill the Alaska Constitution's promise of an education for all children. How exactly does the current system work? The formula, adopted in 1998, first considers a school's average daily enrollment during a 20-day period in October. This is called the ADM."
No favorable statistic left behind in federal law
Date CapturedSunday October 01 2006, 7:33 AM
Columnist George Will writes, "No Child Left Behind supposedly promotes education accountability by mandating reliable data to measure progress. But Washington looks like an untrustworthy manipulator of data when it uses the phrase 'instruction-related activity' to draw a bull's-eye around the status quo."
California law tightens school rules: It could become harder to avoid summer school
Date CapturedSaturday September 30 2006, 8:23 AM
Press Telegraph reports, "The law allows districts to further involve parents in the decision about whether children should attend summer school or other programs, he [spokesman for Long Beach Unified School District] said. Districts could 'make sure that the parent is aware of these opportunities and is fully informed before their child does or does not participate,' he said."
Study: U.S. high school sports injury rates cut in half
Date CapturedSaturday September 30 2006, 8:17 AM
AP reports, " High school sports injury rates in the United States have dropped by more than half in the past decade, probably because of better equipment and other advances, researchers reported Thursday. In all nine major sports examined except volleyball, injury rates were at least two times higher in the mid-1990s than they were during the 2005-06 school year, said Dawn Comstock, a researcher at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio and lead author of the study."
October 18, 2006 is School Bus Driver Appreciation Day in New York State
Date CapturedSaturday September 30 2006, 2:38 AM
New York State Education Department Press Release: "WHEREAS, The position of a school bus driver requires tremendous responsibility; they have to maneuver through traffic regardless of road conditions while maintaining the conduct of the children on the bus and are looked upon for leadership and life-saving decision-making in the event of an emergency; and WHEREAS, School bus drivers delicately direct these children while they are exiting the bus at their destination; when an adult is normally at a bus stop to meet a child and is not present, they will keep that child in their safe care until adult supervision is located or the child can be returned to school; and WHEREAS, Furthermore, school bus drivers may also be an important aid in the fight against terrorism; they are able to observe any suspicious activity or people along their bus route and communicate that information to the proper authorities;"
Educators criticize potential federal cuts to education
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 9:47 AM
Mid-Hudson News reports, "Dutchess and Orange County educators Thursday called on area members of Congress to resist funding cuts to education."
Is Your Child’s School Effective? Don’t rely on NCLB to tell you
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 8:10 AM
Hoover Institute Education Next writes, "It must also be admitted that most states could not have used growth scores when NCLB was enacted, simply because most states had not constructed the tracking system Florida has put together. Congress may have done all that it could in 2002. But since other states are now beginning to build their own warehouses of data that follow the progress of individual students, the time has arrived when a legislative fix should be feasible." Paul E. Peterson, professor of government at Harvard University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and Martin R.West, assistant professor at Brown University both serve as editors of Education Next.
Public forum is part of school reform
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 8:04 AM
Selma Times-Journal letter to the editor: Gerald Shirley, Principal, School of Discovery, Selma, Ala. writes, "Engaging the public is now a form of school reform. Public dialogue can generate positive action-oriented results. It is more than just talking or offering lip service."
Dayton schools hope for perfect attendance
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 7:58 AM
Dayton Daily News reports, "Taking no chances, Dayton Public Schools is airing television commercials featuring its teacher of the year, Julie Berro, surrounded by her kindergarten class, telling viewers, 'an empty chair means a loss of thousands of dollars in state aid for your child's education. Please don't let that happen.'"
Academic reforms needed to help athletes graduate
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 7:06 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opined, "A newly released study of 93,000 Division I athletes showed 77 percent of them graduated within six years, up from 76 percent last year. That kind of progress among mostly scholarship athletes who entered college from 1996 to 1999 speaks to the merit of academic reforms adopted by the NCAA in recent years. It's also a solid model for local school districts such as Rochester's to improve the graduation rates of high school athletes. The sooner student athletes understand that they're students first, the better their chances of succeeding on the college level. Fortunately, there is already talk in Rochester about finding new ways to improve the graduation rate among student athletes."
A Good 'Read'
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 5:42 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA writes, "Students in city [New York City] charter schools are more likely to be reading at or above grade level than their counterparts in traditional public schools in the same neighborhood, a new analysis reveals. The findings, by the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, show that more than two-thirds of charter schools subjected to state reading tests this year outperformed public schools in the same district."
It's time for testing in schools
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 5:34 AM
Times Union Brian Ettkin opined, "New York legislation that would allow each school district to decide if it chooses to test for steroids -- and provide for a $5 million school grant program -- passed the Senate and is in the Assembly Codes Committee."
Evaluating your school's safety plan
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 1:41 AM
CNN Gerri Willis writes, "Parents should know who's in charge. If something goes wrong you need to know the chain of command. Make sure your child's school has procedures for communicating with parents, local and state government officials and the media. Kenneth Trump of SchoolSafety.org told us that cell phones can actually make the situation worse by accelerating the spread of rumors and causing parents to flock to the scene. This could distract officials from the crisis."
Tackle Utah education disparity
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 1:12 AM
Deseret Morning News editorial writes, "The report ["Closing Educational Achievement Gaps for Latina/o Students in Utah,"] points out the inadequacy of Utah's school funding in terms of per pupil expenditures, Utah's large school and class sizes as well as data that show that Utah funds districts with the highest percentage of minorities at lower rates. The researchers contend that while the methodology of the latter point could be disputed, 'the fact remains that districts with higher percentages of students of color, in fact, need more funding than (other) districts in order to move from 'equality' to 'equity.'"
September 28, 2006 Press Release - Closure of Taylor Business Institute
Date CapturedFriday September 29 2006, 12:01 AM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, SEPTEMBER 28, 2006: “We identified several areas of consistent non-compliance at Taylor. These areas include inadequate rigor, level and content of coursework that could impact a student’s ability to transfer credits to other degree-granting institutions; inadequate investments in critical educational services, such as faculty, library resources, equipment and support services; rapid turnover of staff and faculty; understaffed student support services; and hiring of staff and faculty who lack requisite skills and experience. In short, the students at Taylor are not receiving the college-level education that they are paying for,” said Johanna Duncan-Poitier, Deputy Commissioner for Higher Education and the Professions. "The State Education Department will directly contact all Taylor students to inform them about the school’s closure and detail all options for continuing their education at other institutions. The Department has arranged a College Transfer Fair for the Taylor students on October 18th from 2-7 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center. Representatives of other educational institutions will be there to discuss transfer opportunities. Information and guidance about State and Federal student financial aid will also be provided. “We want the transition to go smoothly so that students will choose to continue their education and graduate,” said Duncan-Poitier. "The Department has also created a page on its Web site for Taylor students."
Buffalo alternative school off to a rough start
Date CapturedThursday September 28 2006, 12:33 PM
Buffalo News reports, "'These are youngsters who have not had success, period,' he [Superintendent] said. 'These are 17, 16 years old and they have some serious problems embedded in their personalities. They don't know right from wrong.' Teachers at the school are devoted and hard-working, but have not yet received proper training, Collier [associate superintendent for student support services] said."
New Orleans suit targets school busing: Parent says service must be provided
Date CapturedThursday September 28 2006, 8:23 AM
The Times-Picayune reports, "Calling into question the responsibilities of charter schools that now dominate New Orleans' public education landscape, a Lusher Elementary parent has filed a lawsuit challenging the school's decision not to provide bus service to its students."
The Invisible Face of CFE: New York’s Small City School Districts in Crisis
Date CapturedThursday September 28 2006, 7:47 AM
Prepared by Robert Biggerstaff, New York State Association of Small City School Districts' and written by Charles A. Winters, former Newburgh administrator, study concludes students in small New York state urban settings suffer as much or more than children in New York City from chronic underfunding. Small-city districts have comparable poverty levels, draw from a less wealthy tax base and students fail just as much, if not more, than New York City children.
Help Rochester student athletes make grade
Date CapturedThursday September 28 2006, 6:36 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayists and parents Jim Greco and Bowers, former school board member write, "The school must provide opportunities for probationary athletes to receive academic assistance or tutoring. It directs the coach of the sport in which the student participates; his or her guidance counselors, teacher or teachers and the school's athletic and academy directors to collectively monitor the probationary athlete's academic progress. "
Rochester area colleges light the way to economic vitality for region
Date CapturedThursday September 28 2006, 6:34 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayists Joel Seligman, president of University of Rochester and Braveman, president of Nazareth College write, "Area colleges contribute to the quality of the community's social, educational and cultural life. Recent studies have shown that knowledge workers are drawn to a climate in which the arts are thriving. The myriad arts offerings from the Eastman School of Music, the Nazareth College Arts Center and other local colleges provide affordable access to some of the world's most renowned performers and artists, bring thousands of visitors to the area and create an atmosphere that can help attract and retain talent. As local leaders discuss economic development, it is important that they recognize the tremendous opportunities and potential offered by Rochester area colleges. By taking full advantage of university research, university-generated human capital, local business creativity and the full support of all local entities, we can create the kind of environment in which the Rochester economy can flourish and our talented young people will want to build their lives."
Report stresses woes of schools in smaller New York state cities
Date CapturedThursday September 28 2006, 5:54 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "Released yesterday by the New York State Association of Small City School Districts, the study says students in urban settings like Newburgh, Middletown and Kingston are suffering as much — or more — as kids in New York City from chronic underfunding."
State orders commercial school in NYC closed, citing poor quality
Date CapturedThursday September 28 2006, 4:08 AM
Newsday reports, "Their [group of educators] report stated that 'the institute operates more as a high school equivalency preparation enterprise than as a college.' The report also questioned whether the public investment in the school is worth it."
It Takes a Parent: Transforming Education in the Wake of the No Child Left Behind Act
Date CapturedThursday September 28 2006, 1:07 AM
"With the goal of demonstrating the importance of parental involvement as a key strategy for improving student success, this report provides recommendations for education leaders and policymakers. It focuses on three major strands that are crucial to effective parental involvement: 1. Information: The opportunities and challenges of parental awareness about student and school performance; 2. Engagement: The importance of meaningful parental engagement with school officials and teachers; and 3. Advocacy: The critical role that effective parent advocacy, based on good information and informed engagement, plays in student and school performance." The report was produced by Appleseed, in coordination with several other key law firms and groups. Law firm, Holland & Knight, coordinated and carried out much of the research and drafted the final report, with assistance in two states from volunteers from DLA Piper. The National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP played key roles in gathering and assessing information.
Autism and Special Education Law
Date CapturedWednesday September 27 2006, 10:29 PM
Marshfield Mariner reports, "The Marshfield School District has noted increased numbers of children diagnosed with ASD, and it is important that parents of children with ASD learn as much as they can about ASD and how to help the schools help their children."
Small cities sue New York state over school funding
Date CapturedWednesday September 27 2006, 3:57 PM
WNYT reports, "A total of 19 small city districts are challenging the way state aid for education is handed out. Those districts include Albany, Schenectady, Glens Falls and Cohoes." (news video)
School and Parent Interaction by Household Language and Poverty Status: 2002-03
Date CapturedWednesday September 27 2006, 3:35 PM
NCES: Language minority parents may face a number of challenges when trying to communicate or become involved with their child’s school. This Issue Brief describes school-to-home communication practices and opportunities for parent involvement at school as reported by parents of U.S. school-age students from primarily English- and primarily Spanish-speaking households during the 2002–03 school year. Among the findings: A greater percentage of students in English-speaking households than in Spanish-speaking households had parents who reported receiving personal notes or e-mails about the student; receiving newsletters, memos, or notices addressed to all parents; opportunities to attend general meetings; opportunities to attend school events; and chances to volunteer. Differences were still apparent after taking poverty status into account. This Issue Brief was prepared by Christine Enyeart, Juliet Diehl, Gillian Hampden-Thompson, and Marion Scotchmer of the American Institutes for Research.
New York City Teachers Union Files Grievance Over Overcrowded Classrooms
Date CapturedWednesday September 27 2006, 3:20 PM
NY1 reports, "The [New York] City Education Department calls the union's data "unreliable" and said the majority of oversized classes are addressed during the first two weeks of school."
School board formulates policy on religion
Date CapturedWednesday September 27 2006, 7:45 AM
The Daily Freeman reports, "School officials say teachers must maintain neutrality on religious issues while recognizing that some concepts can only be taught with a limited number of cultural references."
Charter schools are not a drain on public schools
Date CapturedWednesday September 27 2006, 6:21 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributor John Bliss, founder and director of instruction, Urban Choice Charter School in Rochester writes, "Here are the facts: Charter schools were designed to provide parents with badly needed options. Charter schools are just as 'public' as any other public school. Charter schools do not drain money from other public schools. In fact, their existence helps other public schools financially and this is the point that no one seems to really get."
Secretary Spellings Announces Plans for More Affordable, Accessible, Accountable and Consumer-Friendly U.S. Higher Education System
Date CapturedWednesday September 27 2006, 1:13 AM
Secretary Spellings has called for a privacy-protected student-level data system—similar to what currently exists for K-12 students—that would create a higher education information system and provide transparency and ease when students and families shop for colleges. Armed with this information, the Department's existing college search website can be redesigned and made more useful to answer such basic questions as how much a school is really going to cost and how long it will take to get a degree. In recent years, the number of non-traditional students has increased as more Americans of all ages seek additional degrees mid-career or attend college for the first time. Secretary Spelling's plan would facilitate their access to information on colleges, financial aid and provide data on affordability.
Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2003-04
Date CapturedWednesday September 27 2006, 12:53 AM
NCES: The data include such characteristics as the numbers of students and teachers, number of high school completers and the averaged freshman graduation rate, and revenues and expenditures. Several findings were: These 100 largest districts enrolled 23 percent of all public school students, and employed 22 percent of all public school teachers, in 2003-04. The 100 largest districts produced 20 percent of all high school completers (both diploma and other completion credential recipients) in 2002-03. Across these districts, the averaged freshman graduation rate was 68.8 percent. In 19 of the 100 largest districts the rate was 80 percent or higher. The rate was less than 50 percent in 8 of the 100 largest districts. Three states – California, Florida, and Texas – accounted for 41 of the 100 largest public school districts. Current per-pupil expenditures in fiscal year 2003 ranged from a low of $4,413 in Alpine School District, Utah to a high of $17,652 in Newark City, New Jersey. Dalton, B., Sable, J., and Hoffman, L. (2006). Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2003–04 (NCES 2006-329). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
They’re All Federal Educators Now
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 8:11 AM
Neal McCluskey, policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom writes, "As Congress moves inexorably closer to next year's scheduled reauthorization of NCLB, conservatives must reject calls for federal standards and tests, and remember the principles that they once held dear. Politically compromised, big-government policies will simply never provide the education our children need and deserve. Only pulling government out of education, and empowering parents and families with school choice, will do that."
When the teacher brings the apple
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 7:12 AM
The Christian Science Monitor opined, "The danger of using private money for such a public purpose [school funding] is that it further erodes taxpayer support for government-run schools. Teachers or donors who pay for supplies are to be commended. But is this any way to run a railroad? States and local governments need to meet basic standards for education, and fund them. Public education should not be a charity, but an obligation - a social contract between generations."
Kingston teacher wins regional recognition
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 6:58 AM
The Daily Freeman reports, "June Wolfersteig, a home and career skills teacher at J. Watson Bailey Middle School, has been honored as 'Regional Teacher of the Year' by the New York Association for Family and Consumer Science Educators."
Pilot program will screen Plattsburgh High School sophomores for depression
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 6:49 AM
Press Republican reports, "The licensed clinical social worker [Mary Anne Cox], whose mental-health experience includes crisis intervention and intensive-case management, is coordinating a pilot program about to take wing at Plattsburgh High School called Columbia Teen Screen that will give mental-health checkups this fall to 10th-graders and, next spring, to eighth-graders."
Hornell City School District to offer Mandarin Chinese
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 6:45 AM
The Star-Gazette reports, "The Foreign Language Assistance Program-Local Education Agency Grant provides federal funding for foreign language instruction in less commonly taught languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian and some Indic, Iranian and Turkic languages, the release said."
NCLB's flaws cast Binghamton High in bad light
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 6:33 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin contributors Donald Loewen, assistant professor of Russian and Dale Tomich, professor of sociology at Binghamton University write, "Students who move out of the area are still considered Binghamton's responsibility if they don't officially register at another school. And students who move into Binghamton are considered the school's responsibility immediately, even if they show up a week before a mandatory test and the school has no chance to prepare them."
Yes to collaboration between City Hall, Rochester city schools
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 6:25 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle contributors Malik Evans, vice president, Rochester Board of Education and board member Tom Brennan write, "The school board has encouraged and will continue to support a strong working relationship with our friends in city government. The CSD and City Hall are mutually dependent in their efforts to build stronger communities."
Calling for a watchdog: Suffolk County grand jury urges New York state to create monitor of schools' spending
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 4:57 AM
Newsday reports on Suffolk County's grand jury's recommendation to create a new state office of Inspector General for Education and a "New state law requiring school boards to post on their Web sites, or provide copies in libraries and district offices, all employment contracts and any amendments at least one month before any board vote."
New York City Schools Even Odds for Gifted Kids
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 4:49 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports on a uniform application procedure for gifted children, "Citing an unreliable hodgepodge of selection criteria that varied from school to school and district to district, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said that a standardized system would ensure equity."
School Principals Criticize Union Leaders
Date CapturedTuesday September 26 2006, 3:21 AM
NY Times reports, "In a sign of open rebellion against their union, whose contract expired more than three years ago, 31 New York City public school principals have written a scathing letter, citing 'grave concerns' about the union’s 'ineffectiveness,' and accusing its leaders of being increasingly 'out of touch' with members."
Blacks take education into their own hands: Once dominated by whites, homeschooling appeals to more African Americans
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 1:06 PM
San Francisco Chronicle reports, "The Marshalls, who had both worked as teachers' aides, feared public school would contradict their Christian beliefs, and they wanted to avoid having their sons labeled as violent or hyperactive or seeing them pressured by peers to drink, do drugs and have sex. A desire for more rigorous academics and greater emphasis on black history also has led black families into homeschooling, educators say."
Giving Kids the Chaff: How to Find and Keep the Teachers We Need
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 9:08 AM
Marie Gryphon, director of educational programs at the Institute for Humane Studies and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute concludes, "Teacher quality can be improved dramatically when hiring managers understand the attributes that make for good teachers and are given the right incentives to make good hiring decisions. Many of the current public policy proposals to improve educational quality in American public schools, such as merit pay and hiring bonuses for teachers with subjectspecific expertise, attempt to create the same economic stimuli that are naturally present in competitive markets. Allowing families to choose their schools, and giving schools the freedom and market incentives to make wise personnel decisions, will reward good schools and good teachers, providing more students with the high-quality education they deserve."
Schools, parents and police monitor online hangout in search of bad guys - and good information
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 8:37 AM
Newsday reports on website, "'In one way, it's a tool for a parent,' Palmer [parent] said. 'We found it [MySpace] just to be really an avenue where we can kind of get a grasp on what kids are doing, what they're talking about, what they're getting involved in.'"
Students, residents at odds
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 6:57 AM
The Daily Star reports on collegetown neighborhoods, "Both schools [State University College at Oneonta and Hartwick College] collaborated last semester on OH-Fest, a free festival and concert in Neahwa Park, designed to bring the two campuses and the year-round Oneonta community together, and the schools regularly participate in community-service activities."
MySpace, Seventeen launch parents education plan
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 6:17 AM
Reuters reports, "To download the parents guide, surfers can click on 'Safety Tip" at MySpace.com. Brochures will also be distributed to about 55,000 schools representing grades 7 through 12 in the United States in October."
'No Child Left Behind' commission
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 6:10 AM
Herald Tribune reports, "States have widely different standards for how they are measuring school progress under the law, and testing can be skewed by students with disabilities and those whose first language isn't English. 'Most groups felt they were not fully involved with writing the initial legislation, so now they want to have their say,' said Jack Jennings, director of the Center for Education Policy."
Education goal is unrealistic
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 6:02 AM
Kim Littel, director of pupil services for Viroqua Area School, Wisconsin, writes, "Two questions need to be considered when dealing with NCLB re-authorization: Will improving test scores reduce our prison population? Will improving test scores make people more successful in life?"
Elmira student information available online (second story)
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 5:32 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "Parents of Elmira City School District students may register at any time for ParentCONNECT, an online program that allows them to view information about their child's attendance, classes and grades as well as their discipline and attendance records."
Taking a look at longer classes
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 5:19 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin "A main roadblock to extending the year is financial concerns. Any move to add days to the school year, or hours to the school day, would have to be negotiated with labor unions, including teachers' associations, officials said. And this would mean higher labor costs. 'If you extend the school year, I would assume people would expect addition compensation,' Busch said."
Albany High security tighter after incident
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 4:58 AM
Times Union writes, "Melissa Mackey said it was hypocritical of school officials to call for more parent involvement and ban parents from Sunday's meeting. Mackey, who is involved with the group Community United for Quality Education and has a daughter at Albany High, said school officials should engage students and parents in an effort to stop the violence."
Late for schools: It took state four years after takeover to appoint monitor for Roosevelt district, now $4M in the red
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 4:38 AM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND writes, "A review of Roosevelt's records reveals numerous early warning signs. During the summer, for example, the district laid off teachers and cut services including full-day kindergarten, after local voters twice rejected its budget. The second 'no' vote followed a state audit's revelation of irregular spending, sloppy bookkeeping and loose financial controls. At the time, the district's business office was in turmoil. It had undergone three changes of leadership in four months."
Flap Over New York City School Computer Dump
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 4:31 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA and JANA WINTER write, "Administrators at Walt Whitman Intermediate School in Flatbush trashed scores of computer monitors, keyboards, hard drives, printers and desks, leaving them outside like high-tech gravestones."
Save the kids caught in the middle
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 4:24 AM
NY Daily News opined on middle schools, "Klein [chancellor] is all too aware of the middle-school miasma. It is one of the reasons why he is establishing school-by-school accountability measures, pushing to expand the number of charter schools and seeking to empower principals. If anything, these dismal test results should give him more muscle in a fight to stop teachers and principals from treating kids as if they naturally become dull at the age of 12."
Schools tuning in to disaster warnings
Date CapturedMonday September 25 2006, 4:20 AM
NY Daily News reports, "City schools and public schools across the country will get special radios that can warn of disasters ranging from terrorist attacks to runaway trains to hurricanes."
Too much time wasted on homework?
Date CapturedSunday September 24 2006, 10:05 AM
Philadelpha Inquirer prints Washington Post story by Valerie Strauss, "Elementary school students get no academic benefit from homework - except reading and some basic-skills practice - yet schools require more than ever. High school students studying until dawn probably are wasting their time because there is no academic benefit after two hours a night. For middle schoolers, the benefit ends after 11/2 hours. And perhaps more important, Cooper said, is that most teachers get little or no training on how to create homework assignments that advance learning."
Maine-Endwell Central School District Board of Education decision reflects the district's needs
Date CapturedSunday September 24 2006, 9:56 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin contributor Waneta Griffin, president of the Maine-Endwell Board of Education writes, "The board developed the proposed capital improvement plan after receiving input from a volunteer group of residents called the Capital Project Facilities Committee. The project contains work identified by that group. The district also held two public meetings where comments were encouraged and recorded. Further, district administrators, board members and project professionals requested and received community feedback through surveys and other communications. The project team worked diligently to create a plan that addresses the district's education and infrastructure needs, and maintains fiscal responsibility."
National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)
Date CapturedSunday September 24 2006, 8:59 AM
Norwich Free Academy's club's initiative informs students about recruitment privacy rights
Date CapturedSunday September 24 2006, 8:50 AM
Norwich Bulletin reports, "The federal government's No Child Left Behind Act stipulates school administrators must share a range of student information with the state and federal governments, including high school students' contact information for military recruiters."
Schools get space-d out
Date CapturedSunday September 24 2006, 7:39 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Plans to build schools in the Rockaways are far behind the number of new homes already built, Hooks and others on the education council said. As part of Mayor Bloomberg's multibillion-dollar school construction plan to relieve overcrowding in city schools, 2,597 new seats are planned for District 27, which includes the Rockaways, by 2009. Exactly where those seats will be, and what form they will take, has not been determined, said Kelly Devers, an Education Department spokeswoman. At least one new charter school, which is expected to serve up to 800 kindergarten- grade 8 students, has been planned in conjunction with the construction of Arverne by the Sea, a multimillion-dollar, 2,300-unit condo development on the eastern end of the peninsula."
New York City charter schools grounded
Date CapturedSunday September 24 2006, 7:28 AM
NY Daily News reports, "What Imagine Schools and other groups weren't told is that eight of the state's 100 charters are going unused - even though 22,000 New York children are on waiting lists for seats in charter schools. The eight unused charters are being held hostage by a wrinkle in state law."
Providing Highly Mobile Students with an Effective Education
Date CapturedSaturday September 23 2006, 10:48 PM
"Various military branches have devised strategies to address these [highly mobile children] challenges and to promote academic and social success, which in some case may be useful for other subpopulations. They include: the establishment of family and educational support networks during deployments; the encouragement of parental involvement associated with high academic achievement; the use of school counselors to meet the needs of military adolescents and to advocate and implement strategies for smoother school transitions; and a "corporate culture" that supports families and encourages strong school-family-military partnerships." Walls, Charles A. ERIC Identifier: ED482918 Publication Date: 2003-11-00. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education.
Philadelphia Catholic schools receive city money for afterschool programs
Date CapturedSaturday September 23 2006, 6:41 PM
AP reports, "Five [Philadelphia] Roman Catholic schools will receive city funds to open centers that provide academic and recreational activities for children and their families after school and during evenings, weekends and summer in an effort to reduce violence and crime."
Ohio probing absence rates
Date CapturedSaturday September 23 2006, 6:29 PM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH reports, "The attendance numbers for many Internet charter schools look good. In fact, the number with perfect scores are a little too good, prompting the Ohio Department of Education to give them a second look later this month, said Todd Hanes, executive director of the department’s Office of Community Schools."
NAACP urged to help Tennessee schools aim high
Date CapturedSaturday September 23 2006, 6:04 PM
The Tennessean reports, "School accountability and community involvement are key to ensuring that all children, regardless of their race, economic background or physical condition, are getting a fair shot at a good education, a panel of educators told NAACP members Friday."
At halfway point, New Jersey property tax reform elusive
Date CapturedSaturday September 23 2006, 1:48 PM
AP TOM HESTER Jr. reports, "The average New Jerseyan pays about $6,000 in annual property taxes, twice the national average."
Roosevelt charter school nears probation
Date CapturedSaturday September 23 2006, 8:28 AM
Newsday reports, "Chiding the Roosevelt charter school for holding classes in a building that has no fire sprinklers, a committee of the SUNY Board of Trustees recommended Friday that the school be placed on probation."
Upstate New York educator recommended as Boston schools chief
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 7:37 PM
AP reports, "Manuel Rivera, superintendent of the Rochester, N.Y., school district, met Friday morning with principals in Rochester and told them of the move."
Debates abound at New Jersey board meeting
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 11:30 AM
HERALD NEWS reports, "A policy being considered by the Board of Education will require students involved in extracurricular activities to maintain a minimum 2.0 grade-point average for sixth-, seventh, eighth- and ninth-graders and 2.5 for grades 10 through 12."
Wyoming 'Virtual school' policies sought
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 11:03 AM
AP reports, "The University of Wyoming and the state's community colleges offer classes online. But Wyoming is one of the few states without any written policy for online and other distance learning at the K-12 level."
Secretary Spellings encourages free tutoring program
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 9:45 AM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH reports, "Spellings said some school districts haven’t been forthcoming enough about parents’ options, perhaps because the districts pay for the tutoring with the federal funding it receives."
Vallas receives Urban Innovator Award
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 9:33 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "'He [Vallas] has been responsible for sweeping reforms in Philadelphia which have led to higher test scores, better-trained teachers, safer schools, a unified curriculum and improved financial stability,' the institute [Manhattan Institute] said in a statement."
The No Child Left Behind Act: Are We Saving or Ruining Our Public Schools
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 9:25 AM
Law.com contributor Danielle Holley-Walker, assistant professor of law at the University of South Carolina School of Law writes, "With NCLB the federal government took on the daunting task of increasing student achievement. While the law has wrought change, the ongoing question is whether this or other federal government initiatives are effective in assisting schools in the day-to-day struggle to improve a child's reading level, math skills and scientific knowledge. Thus far, NCLB has provided more questions than answers, and it is up to Congress to take the next step."
Ad assignment goes awry on MySpace
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 9:14 AM
AP reports on threatening online posting, "The school later traced the postings to a school computer. It refused to identify the suspect because of federal privacy laws regarding students." The student could receive sanctions, including expulsion.
California school to review low test scores, block schedule
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 8:47 AM
CONTRA COSTA TIMES reports, "Some teachers say that this block schedule format puts students at a disadvantage with standardized testing. They claim that the problem lies with students who took core academic subjects in the fall term. They may lose that knowledge come spring testing time. Meanwhile, students who take those courses in the spring test after only completing a little more than half of the material."
Buffalo Teachers Federation now affiliated with NYS United Teachers
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 8:19 AM
Business First of Buffalo reports, "The 3,700-member BTF Thursday officially joined with the New York State United Teachers, the Albany-based group that represents 575,000 educators and school personnel. NYSUT said in a statement it would immediately begin working with the BTF leadership in its struggle with the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority for a fair contract."
Ithaca and educational equity
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 7:58 AM
Ithaca Journal guest columnist Patrice Lockert Anthony opined, "The effects of individualism and its impact on racism, on society's psyche, are deeply ingrained. To positively impact our future we need a community-wide commitment to change, equity and excellence for all. Without that commitment, like the Ithaca City School District's commitment to equity, promises and laws are just words on paper."
Accountability in Syracuse
Date CapturedFriday September 22 2006, 6:05 AM
The Post-Standard reports Syracuse's $900 million school renovation project's website will allow people to "easily access information on the project and monitor progress." The website address is: http://www.syracuse.ny.us/jscb.us/.
New York Reading Skills Drop After 5th Grade
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 3:30 PM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, "The pattern of success in elementary school but failure in the middle grades, while hardly new, offered the most pessimistic assessment yet of New York State’s chances of meeting the goal of the No Child Left Behind law, which seeks 100 percent proficiency in reading and math among all categories of students by the 2013-14 school year, or even of a more realistic target of 80 percent proficiency for students without special needs."
Results show English scores dropping as New York children get older
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 1:36 PM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND AND STACEY ALTHERR report, "State education officials declared at a morning news conference the latest results underline an essential point: that public middle schools need to do more to challenge students academically. Research studies have shown that scores in parochial and private schools don't take the same dip in the later grades as the public sector's."
Should Philadelphia schools leave Pennsylvania control?
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 8:42 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Mayor Street's office is creating a task force and hiring a consultant to look at the state of education in the city - including whether it's time for the school district to leave state control."
Data is driving education now
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 8:25 AM
South Idaho Press contributor Mike Chesley, superintendent of the Cassia Joint School District (Idaho) writes, "Across America, educators, parents and students are swimming in data. Over the past decade, education based on academic standards has become the norm. This has fueled the push for data to show how students are doing and to guide efforts to improve. The trend has only grown since the early 2002 signing of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, mandating all students in public schools (Cassia School District #151 included) be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Guess what? It is a good thing."
New Mexico board members lament lack of control
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 8:19 AM
Clovis News Journal reports, "As more and more mandates are handed down from the state and federal government, eastern New Mexico school board members feel more and more inert. 'We used to make decisions. Now we just rubber-stamp,' said a frustrated Rex Rush, vice president of the Melrose school board."
Curry praised as model for teacher education
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 7:07 AM
Cavalier Daily reports, 'Students [in the Education School] are taught to praise research and to be able to discern what is relevant in research and to use instructional methods that have been proven effective,' Education Prof. Sandy Cohen said. 'We really strive for our students to see themselves as researchers in their own classrooms ... emphasizing the things that work and that don't work'."
'Dangerous' special ed controversy
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 4:57 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Parent leaders and educators are steamed about a state list that labels three special education schools in Queens 'persistently dangerous.' They charge the report is inaccurate and has needlessly upset parents."
Why We Need a National School Test
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 3:55 AM
Washington Post Op-Ed contributors William J. Bennett, education secretary under President Ronald Reagan and Rod Paige, education secretary under President George W. Bush write, "As both of us have long argued, Washington should set sound national academic standards and administer a high-quality national test. Publicize everybody's results, right down to the school level. Then Washington should butt out."
Unfair Advancement
Date CapturedThursday September 21 2006, 3:52 AM
NY Times Op-Ed contributor Rodney Labrecque, head of Wilbraham & Monson Academy, a college preparatory school opined on Advanced Placement (AP) tests, "Even if Advanced Placement were an effective high school education tool, there is little evidence to think it would be a useful yardstick for admissions. A 2004 study of the University of California system found that 'the number of Advanced Placement and honors courses taken in high school bears little or no relationship to student’s later performance in college.' (Not surprisingly, the College Board, which administers the tests, rebutted this conclusion.)"
Oregon reapplies to pilot way of assessing students
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 10:53 PM
AP reports, "Oregon has some key selling points in pitching itself as a candidate for the pilot program, including the development of a statewide database that allows for the tracking of a student's academic progress, even if they switch school districts."
RFID and student privacy in California
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 12:19 PM
e-week reports, "Last year the Brittan Elementary School District in Sutter, Calif., required all its students to wear an ID badge implanted with a radio-frequency chip [RFID]. The badges, which stored a 15-digit identifier for each student, were intended to be used as an attendance aid. Parents, however, were up in arms over the practice, which many said violated their kids' privacy rights."
North Dakota $116 million property tax relief plan announced
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 11:57 AM
Iowa Farmer Today reports, "The plan would provide tax relief for residential property in the amount of 10 percent, for agricultural property in the amount of 5 percent, and for commercial property in the amount of 5 percent."
Mayor Bloomberg In California For Education Announcement
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 11:31 AM
NY1 reports on mayoral control of schools, "The jury is still out on whether putting the mayor in charge of schools was a total success."
CHARTERS BY NUMBERS
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 11:25 AM
Center for Education Reform reports, "Charter schools again experienced double-digit growth this year. Despite caps deflating the number that can open in states from North Carolina to New York, the number of charters in 40 states and the District of Columbia rose 11 percent from 3,600 to 3,977 nationwide. There are now approximately 1.15 million students attending charter schools across the country."
New York charter school eyes sanctions over hazard
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 9:43 AM
Newsday JOHN HILDEBRAND writes, "State monitors are urging that a Roosevelt charter school acclaimed for its academic prowess be put on probation, after the school allowed 150 students to start classes in a building that has no fire-sprinkler system."
Impact of steroids felt across high school sports
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 9:20 AM
San Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius writes, "Every high school [California] athlete must sign a pledge that he or she will not use anabolic steroids. Every coach and volunteer must complete the American Sport Education Program course on steroids. And finally, in many schools, such as Archbishop Riordan in San Francisco, parents are required to attend a meeting to discuss the use and abuse of steroids."
Niagara Falls school district, hospital receive share of casino revenue
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 8:38 AM
Buffalo News reports, "The mayor handed the school's check Monday to Niagara Falls City School Board President Robert Kazeangin Jr., who said the money will be spent on undetermined capital projects."
Community needs to analyze bond requests
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 7:50 AM
Ithaca Journal guest columnist Allen Lambert, former member of the Ithaca City School District Board of Education writes, "Of what use is a public hearing when citizens do not have details to comment on, or when it is too late to influence a decision? No information was available to the public until the evening of Sept. 7. And little detail has been published in newspapers so citizens can begin to examine particulars. Yet, the board of education is expected to make a huge decision without adequate time for itself or the community."
Is Ithaca Central School District really committed to equity?
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 7:49 AM
Ithaca Journal Op-Ed contributor Audrey Cooper, on behalf of ACTION: Activists Committed To Interrupting Oppression Now! writes, “'Continue efforts to recruit and retain a staff that is ethnically and culturally diverse. Ensure that all search committees see this as a key district goal, and enlist the support of the community in attracting and retaining staff of color at all levels. Train supervisors to insure (sic) that the workplace is free of bias, harassment, prejudice, or discrimination and is a safe and welcoming place for all employees.' Despite the intentions implied in the above words, many of the superintendent's actions indicate a lack of commitment to such recruitment and retention."
Ithaca Central School District bond project: Focus on discussion, not false deadlines
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 7:48 AM
Ithaca Journal opined, "With no pressing crisis to resolve, district officials, board members and ICSD residents must spend the time needed to thoroughly analyze options and build community consensus on how to proceed — and let the timeline assemble itself as it may."
School tax changes needed
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 6:57 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal opined, "The courts have mandated the state improve spending for New York City schools. But the state can't answer that by simply diverting funding away from other districts around the state. Inequities in state funding for schools all across the state need to be addressed."
Local Dutchess County schools get state aid for tech upgrades
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 6:56 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Dutchess County schools will receive almost three-quarters of a million dollars for their technology programs, officials announced Tuesday. The money — $712,676 total — will be divided among nine school districts. The amount each school district receives was partly based on enrollment figures."
Rivera addresses racism concerns
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 5:27 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Rochester School Superintendent Manuel Rivera pledged Tuesday to investigate charges of institutional racism in the City School District and create a better system for employees to raise workplace concerns without fear of retaliation."
Mayor Bloomberg Re-emphasizes School Control
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 3:16 AM
NY Times reports, "In addition, education advocates and elected officials say, Mr. Bloomberg has alienated many parents — precisely the public needed to bring pressure on legislators — who feel excluded from influencing decisions about the system."
'Lite' Choice in School Reform
Date CapturedWednesday September 20 2006, 12:07 AM
The Washington Post reports, "Under-performing schools in Prince George's, Baltimore and elsewhere across the nation have seized on the turnaround specialist as a quick fix that satisfies the federal No Child Left Behind directive, which requires chronically low-performing schools to choose some form of alternative governance, such as a new staff or management by a private company. The report by the Center on Education Policy cites the Prince George's system as emblematic of a national trend: When school systems are forced to take corrective action, they tend to chose the least radical -- and least corrective, it says -- option."
House Demands Student Search Policies
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 11:53 PM
AP reports, "The House issued an ultimatum to school boards Tuesday: Establish policies on student searches or risk losing federal funds. The House passed a bill by voice vote that would require the search rules. The Senate has not yet considered a companion measure."
Wyoming Schools Are Flush With Money
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 11:47 PM
AP reports, "Rising production and soaring prices for natural gas have helped Wyoming produce huge budget surpluses over the past few years - $1.8 billion in 2006 alone and $900 million the year before that. And much of it has been pumped back into education."
Florida class-size limits again prod large cash request
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 11:40 PM
The News-Press reports, "The State Board of Education is seeking $5.7 billion from lawmakers next year for operating and construction costs, a year after the Legislature approved its largest spending boost to shrink classes since voters approved the 2002 amendment. That amount includes $714 million in new money for teachers, supplies, transportation and other operational costs, and nearly $2.9 billion to build new, permanent classrooms in overcrowded school districts."
Boston schools win top education award; Jersey City a finalist
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 8:48 PM
AP reports, "The Boston public school system won the nation's largest prize in public education Tuesday, earning $500,000 in college scholarships for making steady gains in the classroom. Jersey City's school system was a finalist for the award and will receive $125,000."The other four finalists will each receive $125,00. They are Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut, Jersey City School District in New Jersey, Miami Dade County Public Schools and the New York City Department of Education.
Texas school district receives superior achievement rating
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 6:59 PM
The Brownsville Herald reports on the Texas Education Agency (TEA) financial accountability system, “'We are very pleased with BISD’s Schools FIRST rating,' said Hector Gonzales, BISD interim superintendent. 'This rating shows that Brownsville’s schools are accountable not only for student learning, but also for achieving these results cost-effectively and efficiently.'”
High School sports is more than wins and losses
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 1:03 PM
Gloucester Daily Times Steve Maniaci writes, "High school sports is a vehicle that gives student athletes the opportunity to enhance their academic careers. It is an after-school activity that takes place in a safe environment. It is also a place where kids can get some exercise, and relieve some stress from a busy school day. High school sports also provides the student athletes a chance to spend time with friends and make new friends. It is also a place where the student athlete can learn to work in a group and deal with pressure situations. Wins and losses also provide life lessons. A student athlete has the opportunity to learn why they won or lost each game, and can make adjustments to maintain or achieve a positive result."
Program targets bullying via awareness, caring
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 12:55 PM
Huron Daily Tribune reports, "LaPine [teacher] said the parochial schools also can bring Bible lessons into the discussions, teaching students what Jesus would do about bullying. 'It's an extra advantage,' LaPine said about teaching from the Bible. To include parents in the program, the bullying prevention coordinating committee is planning a parent kick-off for each school to inform parents about the program and how it will help students."
Teacher colleges get low marks
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 11:56 AM
The Honolulu Advertiser writes, "Don Young, interim dean of UH's College of Education [University of Hawaii] that produces most of Hawai'i's new teachers each year, called the report [Educating School Teachers] 'broad-brush charges' not particularly applicable to Hawai'i where student teachers have been receiving standards-based education for the past five or six years, as well as extensive hands-on classroom experience." The university has launched new courses that address challenges such as No Child Left Behind requirements. UH was not pinpointed in the Levine study.
National Federation of State High School Associations - Member Associations
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 10:30 AM
Participation in High School Sports Increases Again; Confirms NFHS Commitment to Stronger Leadership
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 10:12 AM
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: For the 17th consecutive year, the number of student participants in high school athletics increased in 2005-06, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Announcement of the increase comes as the NFHS, the national leadership organization for high school athletics and fine arts activity programs, launches new initiatives toward becoming a more proactive force for the future of high school activity programs nationwide.
Consolidation will cut school bus costs by 21 percent this year
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 9:25 AM
Daily and Sunday Review reports, "Due to the Towanda School District’s school consolidation project, which closed three elementary schools last June, the Towanda School District was able to eliminate three yellow school bus routes this year, along with one van route, school district Business Manager Doreen Secor said at Monday’s School board meeting. Consequently, the school district’s expense of paying bus contractors to transport students to and from school this year will be $918,000, which is $245,000 less than the $1.16 million that the school district paid last year for the school bus service, Secor said."
Backers Pleased that Michigan Communities Are Talking About School Development and Land Use
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 8:42 AM
Smart Growth reports, "Since 1994 Proposal A cut property taxes in half, spurring district requests for new taxes 'to build trophy schools,' Michigan public school construction debt has 'ballooned from $4 billion to more than $12 billion,' with 278 older schools closed and more than 500 new ones opened. The related outflow from cities, backed by the ''school choice'' policy, is shifting the urban tax base to suburban districts, with '$7,200 in state funds attached to each youngster.'''
Board's goal: Raise its grade
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 8:30 AM
The Detroit News reports, "Jennifer Rogers of the Michigan Association of School Boards in Lansing said school boards can set the tone for entire districts and the communities in which they operate. 'It is important for boards to improve the culture of the schools,' she said. 'The board is responsible for improving how it is perceived by the community.' The process of self-evaluation can be difficult for school board members, Janulis [boardmember] said. Only about half of the state's 600-plus school boards evaluate themselves, according to the school boards association."
School-tax reform battle being waged on local fronts
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 7:05 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Anybody fed up with rising school taxes can get involved in local campaigns to reform the current property-based system."
State audits Port Jervis schools and finds $27,000 food tab
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 6:55 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "According to a state comptroller's audit, the Port Jervis School District has lacked written policies on items such as district food expenses, cell phone usage and employee contracts."
New turf fields mean more playing time for Suffern athletes
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 6:23 AM
The Journal News reports, "Two new artificial-turf fields have been installed at Suffern Middle School, part of the Ramapo Central School District's $5.2 million project to upgrade its middle school athletic complex."
Drive urges reworking school aid
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 5:32 AM
Times Union reports, "Stratton [Schenectady mayor] said the resolution of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit could add $60 million in state aid to Schenectady City Schools over the next four years. That is the figure included in a proposed settlement of the lawsuit, according to the Alliance for Quality Education, a statewide group that advocates for more school funding."
Classes at West Side School End with Bang
Date CapturedTuesday September 19 2006, 4:56 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA and C.J. SULLIVAN report on use of dynamite near a New York City school, "A Department of Education spokeswoman said the school - at West End Avenue and West 70th Street - and its students were safe. But parents insisted the blasting caught them off guard, saying they learned of it from the school's principal only yesterday."
University of Virginia Curry School of Education Recognized as National Model
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 11:15 PM
Newswise reports, "The Curry School's five-year B.A./M.T. program, the high quality of its students, the balance between theory and practical experience and the reputation of the faculty are among the elements given high marks in the study, which was done by Arthur Levine, former president of Teachers College at Columbia University and now president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation."
Educating School Teachers
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 6:47 PM
Study author Arthur Levine, who recently left the presidency of Teachers College, Columbia University to become president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation concludes "that a majority of teacher education graduates are prepared in university-based programs that suffer from low admission and graduation standards. Their faculties, curriculums and research are disconnected from school practice and practitioners. There are wide variations in program quality, with the majority of teachers prepared in lower quality programs. Both state and accreditation standards for maintaining quality are ineffective."
School Choice: 2006 Progress Report
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 5:46 PM
Dan Lips, Education Analyst and Evan Feinberg, Research Assistant in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation write, "One likely reason for the growing bipartisan sup­port for school choice is the mounting empirical evidence that school choice programs work. Over the past 15 years, the growth of school choice pro­grams has enabled researchers to study the impact of school choice on students, families, and school systems. Students participating in school choice programs have made academic gains when com­pared to their peers in public school. Importantly, public schools that face competition from choice programs have shown improvement."
ACLU, Arizona school board group challenging corporate tax credit
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 5:36 PM
The Business Journal of Phoenix reports, "The Arizona School Boards Association and American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona are challenging the legality of a new corporate tax credit that allows businesses to write off donations to private schools."
School Days
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 12:28 PM
Fastcompany.com interview: Should for-profit companies run public schools? An entrepreneur and a principal weigh in.
Sen. Schumer presses for more school aid
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 12:10 PM
Buffalo News reports, "'I think the plan is to have public schools fail so we can start shifting more and more money to charter schools and voucher programs,' Sloan Superintendent James P. Mazgajewski said. 'I think what they're trying to do is break down the system.'"
Ivy Tech draws plans to aid dropouts
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 11:50 AM
AP reports, "Ivy Tech Community College hopes to offer a new 'fast track' program to help some dropouts earn their high school diplomas while gaining college credit. Dropouts older than age 19 could use the program to earn either a high school diploma or a GED, while also gaining college credit at Ivy Tech if they pay tuition."
Rural schools officials lobby for timber payments
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 11:44 AM
AP reports, "'Rural children need to have equal opportunity to learn,' said Douglas, superintendent of Tehama County schools in Northern California. 'If this bill is not reauthorized, the promise of No Child Left Behind will be a hollow campaign promise in the forest counties of America and not a promise of opportunity.'"
Missouri teachers’ credentials checked
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 11:35 AM
The Kansas City Star reports, "Last month, the department essentially flunked Missouri and several other states over the mandate, putting them at risk of having school aid withheld. Kansas earned high marks for satisfying all six criteria. The big challenge in Missouri is proving compliance among veteran educators who earned their certification before a 1988 state requirement that teaching candidates pass a subject-matter test before earning a license."
Group seeks Wisconsin school funding solutions
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 11:14 AM
Appleton Post-Crescent reports, "He [committee chairman] said the most pressing issues, such as how to help schools with declining enrollments, will be addressed in time to implement during the upcoming state budget process."
Maine education head to challenge ruling on SATs
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 9:26 AM
Statehouse Reporter reports, "The federal government wanted more proof that the SAT was aligned with the curriculum, in general, and found it didn’t adequately measure progress in math. A second test will be added at the high school level measuring science and math next year."
Air Force JROTC program building character at South Carolina North High School
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 9:09 AM
The Times and Democrat reports, "Teaching life skills and preparing young men and women to be successful are two of the objectives of the new Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training program introduced at North High [South Carolina] this school year."
Battling Alaska youth gangs at the source
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 9:02 AM
Anchorage Daily News reports, "Anchorage is furious about escalating youth violence and gang crimes and wants something done about it."
It's still rich school, poor school
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 8:48 AM
The Oregonian reports, "The Portland Schools Foundation was created in a time of waning support for public schools to harness the energy and means of wealthy parents and keep them from fleeing to private schools. The equity fund grew out of a desire to ensure that holding onto those parents didn't just serve to widen the gap between rich and poor schools."
Lesson lost: Romer's [Los Angeles schools superintendent] mistake was forgetting the parents
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 8:26 AM
LA Daily News opined, "Romer's mistake was that he concentrated on building new schools and raising test scores - both worthy efforts - but rolled back the clock on community involvement. That's why parents have been turning to charter schools and why the public is more or less behind the mayor's takeover effort."
Florida School Boards Association objects to charter law
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 8:23 AM
FLORIDA TODAY reports, "The Florida School Boards Association plans to challenge the constitutionality of the new charter school commission and is calling on every school board in the state to do the same."
Wisconsin Desegregation NewsTracker
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 8:17 AM
The Journal Times reports, "More than two-thirds of Racine Unified's [Wisconsin] school buildings wouldn't comply with a proposed desegregation policy based on student enrollment data from last school year."
Who supports Ohio private schools?
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 7:38 AM
THE ENQUIRER reports, "Across the region and state, private and religious schools get tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer support each year from the Ohio Department of Education. Ohio is among the most generous states toward private and religious schools, national experts say."
School-tax rebates on the way soon
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 6:55 AM
The Daily Star reports on property taxes, "Homeowners who receive a basic or enhanced School Tax Relief (STAR) exemption on their 2006-2007 school-tax bill are eligible to receive the rebate. The amount of the rebate will be determined based on the school district of the eligible homeowner."
Paying in pieces
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 5:21 AM
The Journal News reports, "If a district can collect all of its taxes on time, it can invest the money at a better rate, providing it more income. East Ramapo, for instance, this year had enough investment profit to help keep its tax rate increase below 1 percent, when that was added to some grant money, additional state aid and cost-cutting. The investments saved all the taxpayers in the district money, since it offset some of the budget increases. In fact, all eight of Rockland's school districts do this."
School buses in 11 states tune in to radio programming aimed at kids
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 5:21 AM
USA TODAY reports, "Radio on the bus helps keep students 'focused,' says Linda Farbry, director of transportation for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, the nation's 13th-largest school system. She says most of the district's buses play radio from an approved list of stations, and because the ads aren't directed at students, kids easily ignore them. Farbry opposes Bus Radio because she says it would be harder for kids to tune out ads geared to their interests."
Success in Philly Could Spread Here
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 3:51 AM
NY Post reports, "The New York STD school-testing program is modeled after that of Philadelphia, which in 2003 found more than 17,000 cases of chlamydia - more than double the number reported a decade earlier."
Teaching Math, Singapore Style
Date CapturedMonday September 18 2006, 3:26 AM
NY Times opined, "The countries that outperform the United States in math and science education have some things in common. They set national priorities for what public school children should learn and when. They also spend a lot of energy ensuring that every school has a high-quality curriculum that is harnessed to clearly articulated national goals. This country, by contrast, has a wildly uneven system of standards and tests that varies from place to place. We are also notoriously susceptible to educational fads."
In New Jersey, a Community Divided
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 9:35 PM
NY Times reports, "The state’s findings made no mention of religion, but the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which made the initial complaint to the state, did. It said that the school catered to the Orthodox, who rarely send their children to school with those who are not Orthodox. This summer, when the State Department of Education ordered the district to correct the special-education disparity and the district appealed the order to the education commissioner, a big rift in Lakewood grew bigger. It is a rift that has deepened in recent years as a group that once had little to do with public institutions began to join them, electing its members to a majority of school board seats and two of the five township committee seats."
Social Studies Goes to the Back of the Class
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 8:53 PM
NPR Liane Hansen discusses the importance of math and reading with Fred Risinger, former coordinator of Social Studies Education at the School of Education at Indiana University.
Turn city schools into magnets
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 12:12 PM
The York Daily contributor and home-schooling parent NANCY SNYDER writes, "There was a time when I taught my children everything they knew. Now, when I can't find a solution to a problem, I go to my children. So I recently asked them, 'What can be done for our city schools?' Noah responded quickly, 'Set up a cooperative system throughout the county. Turn the city schools into magnet schools that will attract students from middle-class families throughout the county. Bus city students who aren't in the magnet schools to nearby suburban schools.'"
Mississippi Education: Dropouts Bounds' (State Superintendent of Education) next target
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 12:02 PM
The Clarion Ledger opined, "Bounds is embarking on a fund-raising drive to implement ways to keep kids in school. It's a daunting task, Bounds says, because a key to keeping kids in school is having them ready to enter school. By third grade, he says, teachers can predict which kids will ultimately drop out. 'Some states base the number of prison beds on that figure,' he said. The children started school behind and can never catch up - exacerbated here because Mississippi is one of the few states without a prekindergarten program."
Regional office of Illinois education says its has a right to check on homeschool students
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 11:57 AM
The Southern reports, "'According to the Regional Office of Education, they do have the right to check on home-schooling parents,' Garnati [Williamson County State's Attorney] said. A Marion resident was recently sentenced to 48 hours in the Williamson County Jail after she was convicted of allowing her child to remain truant from school. She claimed she was home-schooling her child, but Williamson County Judge Ron Eckiss ruled that she was not home-schooling and was rather allowing her child to remain truant from school."
South Carolina school district considers background checks
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 11:47 AM
Island Packet reporter Dan Williamson and reporter Devon Morrow of The (Columbia) State write, "'That's [background checks] something we need to do as soon as possible,' she [Connie Long, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources] said. 'We want to make sure that the people who are working closest with our children are people of integrity and people with nothing to hide and who are genuinely interested in the education of our students and don't have an ulterior motive.'"
Massachusetts, Pittsfield District has high hopes for grant
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 11:38 AM
Berkshire Eagle reports, "Schools officials believe that a rare federal grant recently awarded to the Pittsfield Public School District will help increase school attendance, decrease disruptive behavior and improve graduation rates. The $2.8 million Safe Schools/Healthy Students Grant is part of a joint effort by the U.S. departments of Education, Health and Human services. Only 19 districts across the nation were awarded the three-year grant, and Pittsfield secured the second-largest sum."
The battle over charter schools in California
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 11:31 AM
Inside Bay Area reports, "Despite the growth, charters make up only about 6 percent of the state's schools, and they enroll only about 3 percent of California students, according to EdSource, a nonpartisan educational policy group. Charter schools never have found easy acceptance in the state. School districts have fought or blocked their creation within city boundaries, teachers' unions accuse the movement of undermining hard-won contracts and charter operators complain they have been hamstrung and undercut by a confusing and constricting stream of laws that stifle the very reform the schools were formed to foster."
Oregon wins first round in school funding lawsuit
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 11:12 AM
AP reports, "Generally, news coverage of the amendment before the November, 2000 election did not imply to voters that a 'yes' vote on the measure would result in a new - and expensive - fiscal mandate, Fletcher said, an argument that found favor with Judge Marshall."
Funding error may be costing Texas schools
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 11:08 AM
Daily Light reports, "Numbers put together by JR3, a consulting firm, indicate WISD received only $1,056 per new student during the 2004-2005 school year. The district should have received about $6,585 for each of the new students, according to JR3’s calculations. The formula glitch is believed to have affected those districts experiencing high student growth and high increases in property values in the same year."
New Hampshire given final chance to step up to education plate
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 10:52 AM
Portsmouth Herald opined, "What the courts, school officials, parents and students really want and need is a specific list of what courses and levels of proficiency constitute an adequate education in today's world. The plans put forth by legislatures and governors since the first Claremont education funding suit in 1993 define adequacy based on how much the state can afford to pay toward the education of its children, not what the children actually need to be educated adequately."
Start of school year is always a big thrill
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 10:40 AM
Buffalo News contributor and teacher MARGIE HERBERGER writes, "It was late August and I was excited. Every table in my study, dining room and living room was littered with pads, notebooks and texts about teaching. I fluttered from one to the other like a crazed butterfly, alighting on one pile, finding a paper, making a note and moving on to the next pile. What was I doing? Planning. I'm an English teacher, September was coming and I couldn't wait."
Urban education program promises focus
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 10:29 AM
Republican-American reports on proposed curriculum in Connecticut school, "The Comer program is not focused specifically on academic achievement, though supporters say fostering a warmer attitude toward school leads to higher test scores. 'Academic achievement is an outcome of good development,' Joyner [education professor who helped develop the program] said. 'It's just as important for a kid to be good as it is to be smart.'" Joyner said a particular focus for Walsh [Connecticut school] would be developing a schoolwide focus on learning proper English, and recognizing when to use it instead of street slang."
D.C. Parents Oppose Special-Ed 'Inclusion': Disabled Would Suffer, Critics Say
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 10:21 AM
The Washington Post reports on Washington, D.C. schools and special education inclusion, "D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey plans to return about 2,000 disabled students in private schools to the public system and close four special-education centers, moves aimed at saving money by integrating the children into the general education population. His proposal, released last week and already drawing fire, is included in a $2.3 billion, 15-year master facilities plan to upgrade the system. The master plan calls for renovating 121 schools and closing 19."
Johnson City schools seek input on funds
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 9:42 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports on EXCEL, a one-time allocation to help school districts fund new building projects, "The Johnson City Central School District received an unexpected gift in April when state lawmakers approved $2 million more in building aid for the district. Now, school board members are asking the public to help determine how to spend the money. They are asking district residents to participate in focus group sessions in October to get feedback on the best use of the $2,030,375 coming to Johnson City under EXCEL, or Expanding our Children's Education and Learning."
Parents must show an interest in their children's education
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 9:34 AM
Pensacola News Journal contributor Ralph Hendel, retired from the Philadelphia Police Department opined, "If you wonder why your child is not doing well in school, I can assure you it is not a result of poor teachers or a lack of books or equipment in the classroom -- or the way subjects are taught. In almost all cases, it is a result of parents and guardians who have failed to take enough interest in raising that child."
Toughen home day care enforcement? No
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 9:12 AM
NY Daily News Op-Ed contributors Sandra Robinson, family day-care provider in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Ilana Berger, Director of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) opined, "Ironically, rather than improving safety conditions, the new rules would force desperate parents to leave children in more dangerous situations. They would have to scramble to find ad hoc care or potentially leave their kids entirely unsupervised."
Toughen home day care enforcement? Yes
Date CapturedSunday September 17 2006, 8:56 AM
NY Daily News Op-Ed contributor ELLIOTT MARCUS, associate commissioner overseeing the city Health Department's Bureau of Day Care opined, "An example of an issue we reviewed was what's called the "egress" policy. City and state laws require two means of exiting any building that houses a child-care center. The rule is meant to ensure that in the event of an emergency, children can be evacuated quickly and safely. We looked carefully at the policy's implementation, working closely with the New York State Office of Children and Family Services and the Fire Department. We met with community groups and considered the characteristics of the city's housing stock as well as the economic interests of providers who offer care in their homes."
Officials help cut truancy rate in half: Local Wisconsin city leaders, schools, community collaborate
Date CapturedSaturday September 16 2006, 10:47 AM
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, "In two years, the Racine Unified School District has lowered its truancy rate from 21.7% to 9%, prompting state schools Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster to offer more financial support for the community and to proclaim Racine as the 'resource and model for others around the state' as programs to curb school-skipping expand to Madison, Kenosha, Janesville and Beloit."
Wide Variety of Factors Involved in Achievement Gap
Date CapturedSaturday September 16 2006, 10:32 AM
Norwalk Citizen News reports, "The panelists [at a forum last week at Norwalk Community College] offered a wide range of observations dealing with the prospect of success in closing the achievement gap, including the following: *Educators have to think beyond the community. *Communities can't put blind faith in a charismatic leader. *Communities need to have courageous conversations about class and race and not be afraid to bring up the issues. *Communities have to be open to data that may fly in the face of beliefs. *Educators must look at the best practices that achieve success in other countries. *Thinking that low achievement in a school system is acceptable is offensive. *Investment in professional development should relate to what teachers are doing in the classrooms. *Opportunities for teachers to get together should be built within the school day. *Principals need to realize that their primary purpose is to know what's going on in the classrooms. *The way education is funded is a huge barrier to closing the gap. Therefore schools systems can't wait for more money to change a system. *The focus needs to be on the teachers and the students in the classrooms. *Four-to-six-week teacher-generated pupil assessment is important to determine if teaching goals are being met."
New steroid policy in Santa Cruz, California schools
Date CapturedSaturday September 16 2006, 10:18 AM
Santa Cruz Sentinel reports, "Students in the Santa Cruz City Schools district will be taught the dangers of steroids beginning in the sixth grade, and athletes and coaches caught with steroids will be subject to stiff new penalties under a policy adopted this week by district trustees."
Protecting our children
Date CapturedSaturday September 16 2006, 9:23 AM
The Journal News reports, "This county's added traffic volume and the bad habits of some drivers increase the chances of pedestrian accidents, especially involving children. While most Rockland youngsters take buses and vans to school these days, and a large number are privately driven by parents, there are those living near schools who walk, who cross streets after class to play, who may or may not pay attention, just as drivers may or may not do so."
School bus study finds lower-cost alternative: 2 New York school districts to weigh joint maintenance
Date CapturedSaturday September 16 2006, 9:18 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "But a joint transportation garage would not work for several reasons, according to the report. They include: * Differences in the program. For example, Maine-Endwell's transportation employees are unionized while Union-Endicott's employees are not. * Maine-Endwell's bus garage off Church Street in Maine isn't large enough to support a 100-vehicle, 25- to 30-acre facility to house the buses. * Union-Endicott's bus garage on Bradley Creek Road in Maine is large enough but does not have access to water or sewer lines and is too hilly to support an increase in bus traffic."
Texas School Finance Talks Begin
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 9:29 PM
KXAN reports, "School finance reform may turn out to have little to do with schools when lawmakers come back to Austin next month. It will be finance first and then schools second."
Volunteers sought to research school configuration
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 6:48 PM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The Susquehanna Valley Board of Education is still looking for volunteers to research a possible reconfiguration of the school district's two elementary schools. The volunteers will study having one of the schools house kindergarten through second grade students, and the other school house third through fifth grade students, district officials said."
Los Angeles Unified School District left the parents behind
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 1:31 PM
LA Daily News reports on highlights of a California state audit, "The district has 'all but abandoned' efforts to increase parental and community involvement, a goal of its 2000 reorganization. Promised staffing reductions were only temporary, and the number of support employees has actually increased over 1999 levels. The district says additional employees are needed to manage school construction and technology programs. The district should evaluate why local advisory councils have not met objectives; develop guidelines for what the councils should accomplish; and define how local districts can help."
New York City school features British curriculum
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 12:47 PM
AP reports, "About 50 grade-school pupils arrived Thursday for the first day of classes at the new British International School of New York, the city's only school centered on Britain's national curriculum."
California school district nixes attendance campaign
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 11:33 AM
North County Times reports, "The [Temecula Valley Unified] school district has nixed its campaign offering students prizes ranging from computers to a new car for near-perfect attendance. The effort's debut last year produced only a minor bump in attendance."
New York State Education Department News and Notes
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 8:50 AM
Education news from the Desk of Jean C. Stevens, Interim Deputy Commissioner.
Rural schools lobby for cash to ease logging losses
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 8:33 AM
The Oregonian reports, "More than 200 rural educators and officials from 22 states converged on Capitol Hill this week in a last-ditch effort to pressure Congress to continue payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging."
CFE Gears Up for Court Date
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 7:57 AM
WXXI Karen DeWitt reports, "CFE wants the State's [New York] highest court to affirm the lower court's finding that around $5 billion additional dollars per year will be required. And Wayland [CFE attorney] says he wants the state's highest court to make clear that the legislature and governor must comply with the court's order."
Charter schools help improve public education
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 7:34 AM
Times Union Op-Ed contributor Peter Murphy, NY Charter Schools Association policy director writes, "The fact is that most charter schools in the state now outperform district-run schools as measured by results on state exams, yet the Times Union continues to cloud this fact with its incessant campaign against New Covenant Charter School. The reality is that struggling charter schools will have one of two outcomes: improve or be closed. Such has been the record of charter school accountability in New York state."
'He saved lives': Tier principal Charles F. Johnson wins national award
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 7:11 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The Mark Trail Award, which is presented annually by the federal agency and Congress, recognizes individuals and organizations that use the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's alert systems to save lives and protect property."
Charter limbo: First fix the state charter school law, and then lift the cap
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 6:43 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opined, "What's needed in New York is a better law that creates a state funding stream for charters apart from normal school aid. What's needed is a method of charter review and oversight that maximizes potential and minimizes mediocrity. And what's needed, too, is a lift of the 100-school cap so that the experiment may continue, but not at a rate that frustrates assessment and control."
Onteora limits in-school recruitment
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 1:17 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "'The No Child Left Behind Law states that you must allow military recruiters on your school grounds on the same basis that you allow any other recruiters on school grounds, and if you don't allow them, you're going to lose your (federal) Title I funding,' he [board President Marino D'Orazio] said."
Some see early South Carolina childhood program opening voucher door
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 1:04 AM
AP reports, "Under the new law, children have to live in the suing school districts and meet age and income limits to get into the privately operated programs. But they can 'attend schools outside that geography,' DeVenny [director of statewide early childhood education program] said."
Issue of school reform tackled at recent Kentucky retreat
Date CapturedFriday September 15 2006, 12:35 AM
The Kentucky Standard reports, "Haycock [Director of The Education Trust] said there are certain things in common among high achieving schools and school districts. Among these are: setting clear, high goals for students; putting all children in a demanding high school core curriculum; use of a common curriculum that does not leave teachers to develop their own; benchmark testing that tracks performance; and providing extra help for students that arrive behind at a certain grade level."
Pennsylvania tax study commissions to examine local reform
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 1:44 PM
The Williamsport Sun-Gazette reports, "By today, school boards across the state [Pennsylvania] must appoint a tax study commission to look into reducing property taxes for their landowners. Required as part of state law when Gov. Ed Rendell signed the state’s Taxpayer Relief Act, also known as Act 1, on June 27, each commission’s purpose is to study the existing tax structure of its school district and municipality."
Service-learning program gives children a ‘jump start’ into school
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 1:36 PM
"The School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has launched a new outreach and service-learning program aimed at helping economically disadvantaged preschoolers get a "jump start" on kindergarten, while giving college students experience in the classroom."
Education Policy Should Not Be Based on Programs that Cannot be Replicated
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 12:06 PM
Education Finance and Accountability Program at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University (EFAP) Director John Yinger writes, "The use of additional funds does not, of course, guarantee success. Many schools undoubtedly use policies and practices that cost more than equally effective alternatives. But one cannot identify these alternatives simply by looking at a few successful schools. Instead, we need to continue evaluating a wide range of programs to determine which ones can raise student performance under what circumstances and at what cost."
Projections of Education Statistics to 2015
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 11:31 AM
This NCES publication provides projections for key education statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment, earned degrees conferred, and current-fund expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2015. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2015. In addition, the report includes a methodology section describing models and assumptions used to develop national and state-level projections. Hussar. W.J., and Bailey, T.M. (2006). Projections of Education Statistics to 2015 (NCES 2006-084). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Buffalo special education program a "major problem'
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 11:04 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Williams [superintendent] said his staff is preparing to seek bids from outside consultants to assess the system and make recommendations for reform. He did not set a timetable, but called special education his "No. 1 priority" now that a three-year academic improvement plan is taking hold. About 20 percent of Buffalo's students have special education designation, far more than other local school districts and one of the highest rates in the state."
289 Philadelphia children take taxi to school - to tune of $15,000 a year each
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 9:22 AM
Philadelphia Daily News reports, "Of the 289 students who receive taxicab service, 259 of them get special-education services for medical, emotional or other reasons."
Trailblazer Tour brings education goals to Mississippi
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 9:08 AM
The Sun Herald reports, "Middle- and high-school curriculums must change so students will be better prepared whether they choose to go directly to work or attend community college or a university first, officials said."
Shortage of Bronx school nurses critical
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 9:01 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Maysoun Freij, an advocate for the New York Immigration Coalition, said, 'New York has the fortune of having a large pool of bilingual and bicultural students who could go on to become nurses and doctors if given the chance.'"
States give tax breaks to college savers
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 8:50 AM
USA TODAY reports, "The 529 plans — named for a section of the federal tax code — have gained popularity by allowing parents and grandparents to put away money for college and pay no federal tax on withdrawals if the money goes for tuition and books. In many cases, the money can be used for any college or university, not just a school in the state that sponsors the 529."
Kentucky home educators required to teach rigid curriculum
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 8:41 AM
Pioneer News reports, "Kentucky law recognizes home schools as private institutions. The laws that apply to state private schools apply to home schools as well."
Principal's cell grab is right call: Mayor Bloomberg
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 8:20 AM
NY Daily News reports, "But some students and parents, including a group suing the city over its cell phone ban, maintain the phones are needed in cases of emergency."
Educate us about violence, New York City Chancellor Klein tells schools
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 7:51 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The directive came more than a week after the teachers union accused the Education Department of inaccurately recording school crime and began testing an online system that will allow teachers to report violence. The union's criticism was prompted by a state report that classified only 14 of the city's 1,400 schools as 'persistently dangerous.'"
Onteora joins towns' fight to defend property assessments
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 7:48 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "The Onteora school board has agreed to participate with three towns fighting lawsuits that seek an 82 percent assessment reduction on more than $757 million in property owned by New York City and New York state."
Clinton County hit with huge state ed bill
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 7:34 AM
Press Republican reports, "The county must come up with more than $300,000 immediately to satisfy a bill from the State Department of Education for pre-school special education services. Some of the charges go back to 2004."
It's way past time for school funding reform
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 5:56 AM
Times Herald-Record contributor Sue Books, professor in the Department of Secondary Education at SUNY New Paltz opined, "In 2003, the funding gap between the 25 percent of school districts in New York with the most and the least poverty was $2,280 per pupil. Between two high schools with 1,500 students each, this amounts to $3.4 million a year. Funding gaps on this scale mean children in some schools receive much more than others of almost everything money can buy for schools: buildings in good repair; well-qualified and adequately compensated teachers; challenging programs; opportunities to participate in art, music and sports; and enough guidance counselors to help students through the increasingly complex college-application maze."
History-making Syracuse meeting goes virtual
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 5:50 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "Not many people would chortle about getting a chance to participate in a Syracuse school board meeting, but Education Commissioner Nancy McCarty did."
$3.4M Study of New York City Schools
Date CapturedThursday September 14 2006, 4:51 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA reports, "The city [NYC] has agreed to pay the Rand Corp. roughly $3.4 million to study its effort to end social promotion from the third and fifth grades, The Post has learned."
228 New York High Schools Are Identified As Needing Improvement
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 9:25 PM
A total of 228 high schools have been identified by the State Education Department as needing improvement under federal and state rules. Of these, 18 high schools were newly identified this school year. In addition, 29 schools have been removed from the list because they have made Adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years in all areas for which they were identified. An additional 75 high schools made AYP last year and will be removed from the list if they make AYP in 2006-2007.
Desegregation, Test Score Mandates Leave Schools In Lurch
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 8:31 PM
WRAL.com. reports on local North Carolina schools and NCLB, "Nationwide, 293 school systems are under desegregation orders. The U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday that nothing in the No Child Left Behind Act provides a school district with the authority to violate an applicable desegregation plan. On the other hand, they said the regulation clear clearly states that the existence of such a plan doesn't permit a district to avoid providing public school choice."
Rochester area schools shorted $44M by fed
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 5:16 PM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The Rochester area is being shorted $44 million in federal school aid promised under the No Child Left Behind Act, Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said today while announcing a report detailing statewide school funding shortfalls."
Secretary Spellings Announces Final Limited English Proficiency Regulations
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 5:11 PM
The new Title I Regulation is intended to help recently arrived Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students learn English and other subjects while giving states and local school districts greater flexibility on assessment while continuing to hold them accountable under No Child Left Behind.
A plan to inspire achievement
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 3:35 PM
Daily Herald reports on Utah Scholars program, "The goal is to encourage students to take more rigorous academic courses in high school. Students who succeed in the program will be designated Utah Scholars at graduation -- a title that will be noted on transcripts and which will help them qualify for higher levels of college financial aid."
Binghamton leaders support new funding plan for education
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 3:30 PM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The officials who spoke at a press conference at Binghamton City Hall said lawmakers should come up with a statewide solution that would funnel more state school aid money to less affluent school districts statewide, including those in the Southern Tier."
Texas Extension Program Helps Prepare Special-Needs Students for Life After High School
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 1:21 PM
Texas A&M University AgNews reports, "The program, funded through the Texas Education Agency, is designed to assist career and technology teachers – formerly known as vocational teachers – who are working with students with special needs, primarily in high school, he [Dr. Rick Peterson, Extension parenting specialist and project director] said."
Think tank urges Florida school reforms, no class-size limits
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 10:20 AM
Orlando Sentinel reports, "New educational reforms could be ahead for Florida schools now that a conservative think tank has called for better-qualified teachers, tougher reading and math standards and an end to the state's constitutional directive to reduce class sizes."
Derby [Connecticut] to ease cell phone ban
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 9:05 AM
Connecticut Post reports, "Cell phones are banned classrooms, but Board of Education members are trying to balance that policy with parents' desire for their children to have access to them during emergencies."
Binghamtom High School still needs improvement
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 7:20 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "While most subgroups made adequate progress for the 2005-06 year, students with disabilities did not, Cahill [assistant superintendent of instruction] said. Cahill outlined several strategies to raise scores, including giving teachers more training to help students with disabilities, providing programs for students not reading at grade level and helping educators teach reading in various subjects."
Taking charge, making history: Stewart, Binghamton's first black principal since '80s, brings enthusiasm to Horace Mann
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 7:18 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "The district hired Stewart, who worked for five years as principal of Sidney Elementary School in Delaware County, because he's an experienced, successful elementary school principal whose style of collaborating with parents and teachers fits with Binghamton's philosophy, Superintendent Peggy J. Wozniak said. But the fact that Stewart is black is a plus as the region's most racially diverse school district makes efforts to diversify its staff, Wozniak said."
Nine local Mid-Hudson school still get failing marks
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 7:00 AM
Times-Herald Record reports, "The list is more than name-calling. Districts have to pour resources into the problem areas — resources that local taxpayers often have to pay for. In the long run, teachers and principals might be fired if the failures continue. The federal No Child Left Behind Law sets the rules. It covers not only scores but the performance of various racial, ethnic, and other special groups."
Petition seeks busing for Auburn, New York pupils
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 6:06 AM
Post-Standard reports, "Another parent with concerns about her child walking was critical of the lack of response to her inquiry about a walk-back pass. Susan Phillips Coe said safety 'should be a top priority, along with communication between the school and parents.'"
'Low'down on New York City High Schools
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 5:06 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Fewer city high schools got a failing grade from the state this year compared with last, but the dreaded roster included a handful of small schools and its first charter school - both high priorities of Bloomberg's administration."
The Not-So-Public Part of the Public Schools: Lack of Accountability
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 3:22 AM
NY Times reports, "Their [Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein] reinvented school system has many more private components than ever before, which come under very little outside scrutiny. This not-so-public part of the public school system has received more than $330 million in grants and donations from private sources over the past three years, according to Education Department statistics."
Eleven More New York City schools Fail to Meet State Criteria
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 1:42 AM
NY Times reports, "The designations mean that students in the schools, including a Manhattan charter school, two schools for recent immigrants, in Manhattan and Queens, which are open only to students with limited English skills, and a Brooklyn school that has won wide acclaim for its work with students at serious risk of dropping out, now have the right to ask for a transfer to a better school."
Florida county school board votes to control charters
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 1:05 AM
FLORIDA TODAY reports, "In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the Brevard County School Board voted to retain its exclusive authority over charter schools and stressed in a resolution its constitutional role to 'operate, control and supervise all free public schools' in the district, including charters."
Oregon athletes must meet tougher standards
Date CapturedWednesday September 13 2006, 12:34 AM
Ashland Daily Tidings reports, "The Ashland School Board was wary of approving a new policy permanently until the high school creates more detailed plans for how to work with students who are not meeting the requirements."
Reforming Education in Florida: A Study Prepared by the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, Hoover Institution 2006
Date CapturedTuesday September 12 2006, 2:04 PM
By Paul Peterson. This assessment by the Koret Task Force identifies reforms that have been undertaken and Florida's education policies related to accountability, curriculum reform, effective teaching, school choice, and organizational change, including voluntary preschool education, class-size reduction, and more effective resource management. Contributors include John E. Chubb, Williamson M. Evers, Chester E. Finn Jr., Eric A. Hanushek, Paul T. Hill, E. D. Hirsch, Caroline M. Hoxby, Terry M. Moe, Paul E. Peterson, Diane Ravitch, and Herbert J. Walberg. Additional contributors include Paul Clopton, Elena Llaudet, Sonali Murarka, and Marguerite Roza. (Chapters of the book can be viewed.)
States Direct New State Money into Education
Date CapturedTuesday September 12 2006, 10:36 AM
NPR reports, "After years of lean budgets, money is flowing into many state treasuries."
U.S. Spends More on Education, Gets Worse Results, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Finds
Date CapturedTuesday September 12 2006, 7:32 AM
Bloomberg reports, "The U.S. spent about $12,000 per student, second only to Switzerland among the 30 OECD countries based on 2003 figures, the OECD said today in its annual report on education. The U.S. outperformed only five of the 30 countries on an OECD test given to 15-year-olds, ranked 12th in high school completion rates and averaged 23 students per class, higher than the average of 21."
Segregated schools: New debate, old problem
Date CapturedTuesday September 12 2006, 7:12 AM
USA TODAY DeWayne Wickham opined, "In essence, this 1974 ruling gave whites who flee to the suburbs the cover they needed to perpetuate the school segregation that the high court outlawed 20 years earlier, many of the panelists argued. In 1935, W.E.B. DuBois, the black sociologist and civil rights activist, wrote that 'the Negro needs neither segregated schools nor mixed schools. What he needs is (a good) Education.' Chambers thinks DuBois is right — and so do I."
Angry taxpayers speak out at Haverstraw Town Board meeting
Date CapturedTuesday September 12 2006, 6:19 AM
The Journal News reports, "The higher taxes reflect a combination of a reassessment of property — Haverstraw's first in four decades — and tax repayments to the Mirant Corp., the company that owns the Bowline and Lovett power plants. The plants had been overtaxed for decades. 'If you knew this is going to happen, how come tax increases weren't phased in slightly over the 10-year period?' resident Joel Dietch asked the board last night."
Harvard Ends Early Admission, Citing Barrier to Disadvantaged
Date CapturedTuesday September 12 2006, 2:58 AM
NY Times ALAN FINDER and KAREN W. ARENSON report, "Harvard will be the first of the nation’s prestigious universities to do away completely with early admissions, in which high school seniors try to bolster their chances at competitive schools by applying in the fall and learning whether they have been admitted in December, months before other students."
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT SEEKS SURROGATE PARENTS
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 11:11 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) reports, "Special education students are in need of San Franciscans who are willing to volunteer their time to be 'surrogate parents,' according to the San Francisco Unified School District."
Kentucky schools will compete in attendance
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 2:03 PM
The Cincinnati Post reports, "Decades ago, rounding up kids cutting school was the job of the police truancy officer. It's an image best captured in the famous Norman Rockwell painting of the officer sitting at a diner counter next to a young boy who appears to be set to run away from home. Rockwell was so 20th-century. Today, Newport Independent Schools is the only district in Kentucky to track truants electronically and with lightning-speed."
New York Children’s Action Network [CAN] wants state government to make children’s issues a priority
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 1:54 PM
Legislative Gazette reports, " The network’s first step is to create a 'children’s budget,' which will strengthen programs and services that affect children and their families."
Is local Ohio school performance linked to poverty?
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 1:48 PM
Athens News reports, "Several factors contribute to the discrepancy in test results between students living in poverty and those who don't, but the size of the gap is still surprising."
Nursery-school students get head start on computers
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 9:32 AM
The Columbus Dispatch reports, "About two-thirds of children in nursery school use computers and 23 percent of them use the Internet, according to a national study." (read study on Education New York Online --- see Education Policy page, Information Policy link)
New Jersey school districts pooling bank accounts
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 9:25 AM
Northjersey.com reports, "'The banking consortium is important for smaller districts because we cannot maintain significant fund balance or surplus to make our monthly balances attractive to financial institutions,' said Gustello, whose district has a 2006-07 school budget of $10 million. 'Participating in a consortium makes smaller districts more appealing [to banks].'"
Attendance below expectations at new accelerated learning academies
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 8:35 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette requested data to see whether parents and students were availing themselves of the longer school day and extended school year at the academies, which are using the $3.6 million America's Choice program of teaching strategies and curriculum supplements. The academies serve elementary and middle-grade students."
Cooperstown plans kickoff for new academic targets
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 7:00 AM
Cooperstown Crier reports, "The initiative is designed to push the Cooperstown School District from 'good to great' by 2010, officials said, and has been worked on by committees made up of parents, faculty, staff, administrators, community members and students since February."
White Plains to discuss school bond proposal and property taxes
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 6:05 AM
THE JOURNAL NEWS reports, "'I understand things need to be fixed, but I don't believe that it's a hazardous building, and I don't believe that what they're adding is what the school system needs,' said Charles Lederman, a resident who served on a district budget committee when the plan was under consideration last year. Lederman said the Post Road School plan merely 'spends close to $40 million to make a beautiful, modern schoolhouse that will look very nice in real estate brochures.'"
Albany charter schools display sharing spirit
Date CapturedMonday September 11 2006, 5:08 AM
Times Union Rick Karlin reports, "The schools share a renovated building at 42 S. Dove St. in the city's South End. The Brighter Choice Foundation, which owns the building, helps charter schools get started with financing and advice."
Center on Education Policy
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 11:26 PM
Race, Poverty and Special Education
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 10:58 PM
Connect for Kids reprints National Academies editorial by Christopher Cross, senior fellow at the Center on Education Policy, "To make sure that minority students who are poorly prepared for school are not assigned to special education solely for that reason, teachers should be required to first provide them with effective instruction and social support in mainstream classrooms before considering special ed."
New Jersey Residents: No Kids, Why Pay School Funds?
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 6:01 PM
AP reports, "Rogozin [NJ taxpayer] is part of a growing chorus of New Jerseyans wondering why they have to pay property taxes to fund schools if they don't have children using schools."
Point of no return
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 12:09 PM
LA Daily News opined on Los Angeles schools and constitutionality of mayoral control, "Instead of trying to hold back the tidal wave of public and political support for the mayor's plan, the school board should embrace progress — unless, of course, the members care more about themselves than the kids."
Changing classrooms require change in teaching methods
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 11:56 AM
Beacon News reports, "Local [Illinois] educators need to adapt their teaching styles to their increasingly diverse classrooms, West Aurora school administrators told a group of new teachers during an Aurora University seminar last week."
Using Data To Drive Policy
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 11:24 AM
The School Administrator, Terri Duggan Schwartzbeck writes, "Until more states have the data systems that can truly track student growth and all the factors involved, including courses taken and graduation/dropout information, policymakers in Washington will remain hampered by gaps in the data. How do we ever truly know what students know? That’s the million-dollar question."
Fordham Graduate School of Education Nets $4.5 Million in Grants
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 10:47 AM
The New York State Education Department has awarded Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education $4.5 million in contracts for two Bilingual Education Technical Assistance Centers (BETACs) to serve more than 51,300 students in grades K-12 in the Bronx and Lower Hudson Valley. The highly competitive awards each total $2.25 million over a five-year period. BETACs were established by the New York State Education Department to assist districts and schools in developing high quality educational programs to help English Language Learners (ELL) or Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students meet New York state’s learning standards.
SMART PASS NABS SUB-PAR TEACHERS
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 10:13 AM
NY Post reports, " A sophisticated swipe-card system to track the city's army of substitute teachers - and keep criminals away from classrooms - will soon be installed at every public school around the city."
Proposed federal cuts hurt Illinois special education
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 3:13 AM
The Southern Illinois reports, "'Without these funds, school districts will not be able to financially provide the mandated services such as nursing services, social work and speech therapy to low-income students in special education,' said Glenn [coordinates federally funded administrative outreach program]. 'The loss of these funds will cause special education students as well as regular education students to suffer.'"
Florida high school implements tenth-grade academy to support students
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 2:49 AM
Boca Raton News reports, "With the implementation of a ninth-grade academy two years ago and a tenth-grade academy this year, students are segregated to different buildings based on grade level. Teachers of different subject areas are also teamed up and assigned to certain students, according to Johnny McDaniel, assistant principal at Atlantic Community High School."
Michigan’s Big Property Tax Cut, and the Lessons It Has for New Jersey
Date CapturedSunday September 10 2006, 2:01 AM
NY Times RICHARD G. JONES writes, "Some elements resembling parts of Michigan’s solution have already been suggested in Trenton. For instance, at the start of the special legislative session, Gov. Jon S. Corzine proposed a cap of 4 percent on the annual increase in property tax rates. In many towns, the rate has climbed nearly twice that in one year. And while legislators have also discussed reducing the state’s reliance on property taxes to pay for public schools — last year, $10.8 billion, or 55 percent, of the state’s $19.6 billion property tax levy was used for education — no legislator has at this point suggested a change as drastic as the one in Michigan."
Where Should Utah State Spend Education Money?
Date CapturedSaturday September 09 2006, 9:46 AM
Red Orbit reports, "Utah spends the least per student in the country, and has the nation's biggest classes. While past studies showed the state's multitude of children -- Utah has the nation's highest birthrate -- made boosting school funding tough. Utah in 1995 was fifth in the country in terms of funding effort, according to the foundation's 'Paradox Lost' report."
Upstate schools want aid if N.Y.C. gets more funds: September is "Act For Education Month."
Date CapturedSaturday September 09 2006, 8:24 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "In anticipation of next month's hearing in the state Court of Appeals, the groups rallied education and political leaders in Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and other cities to push for the passage of legislation to increase school funding if the Court of Appeals upholds a ruling to send more school aid to New York City."
KLEIN'S NEW LINE ON NEW YORK CITY CLASS SIZE
Date CapturedSaturday September 09 2006, 8:19 AM
NY Post David Andreatta writes, "Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said yesterday he has the authority to lower class sizes - despite claims of city lawyers this week that Mayor Bloomberg cannot force the school system to reduce them.
Changes in New York state school funding urged
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 11:51 PM
Mid-Hudson News reports, "Sottile (Kingston mayor) said he feels that richer counties are being favored in the current school funding system, funded by property taxes, and that the poorer, and more in need counties are being left in the dust."
New Hampshire State Supreme Court invalidates school funding system
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 11:03 PM
AP reports, "In a strongly worded ruling, the state Supreme Court agreed Friday that legislators have failed to define a constitutionally adequate education, as about two dozen school districts claim."
United Federation of Teachers (UFT) chapter leaders excited, but skeptical, about New York City Empowerment Schools
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 10:52 PM
New York Teacher reports, "Several chapter leaders wondered if the sink-or-swim method of success imposed on the principals — and therefore on the entire school — wasn’t a way for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 'the accountability mayor,' to dodge accountability."
Highly Qualified, Highly Confusing
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 10:41 PM
Gilroy Dispatch (California) reports on NCLB and high qualified teachers, "Here's the sticky part: an intern teacher who has yet to spend a day in the classroom but has passed the CSET is considered qualified under the law, while a woman who spent the past 20 years teaching middle school English, but has a single subject credential in history is not."
$17 Million in Grants Awarded Under the Advanced Placement Incentive Grant
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 10:37 PM
Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the award of 33 grants totaling $17 million to boost participation of low-income students in advanced placement courses and tests. The grant is being provided to states, school districts, and national education nonprofits to help increase advanced placement access rates for economically disadvantaged students.
Secretary Spellings Announces Partnership with 100 Black Men of America, Inc.
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 10:33 PM
According to the agreement, the U.S. Department of Education will seek "to fully engage the African American community and its leaders in the successful implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act as it relates to school choice, charter schools, supplemental services, parent report cards, and all of the benefits and options provided to parents with students in schools in need of improvement."
Part 100 of the Commissioner's Regulations - Basic Regulations Regarding Public and Non-Public Schools in New York State
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 8:56 PM
These documents do not include text for the entire Part 100 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. Copies of other sections and the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York (Volumes A, A1 and B, Title 8, Education) may be obtained from school or public libraries.
Watch Inside Albany
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 7:00 PM
This week on Inside Albany: Patience thin on CFE-Advocates in NYC school aid case say it's time for the state to pay up. Make children a priority-New coalition wants policymakers to pay more attention to kids. (check schedule)
New York school funding reform efforts
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 9:21 AM
Millbrook Round Table reports, "The current public school funding mechanisms are failing. Meeting participants felt that state-wide long-term funding reform is needed. Achievement of long-term reform will require a monumental effort and must be supported by the majority of residents in the state."
Idaho high court closes school funding suit, but questions linger
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 8:44 AM
Idaho Stateman reports, "University of Idaho law professor Elizabeth Brandt thinks closing the case did not end the controversy, but instead signals that the court will let the Legislature decide how to fix the problem — not mandate a funding formula from the bench. 'When they say the case is closed, all they mean is that there's a final judgment,' Brandt said. 'That doesn't mean the court isn't going to enforce its order.'"
Time to reform the New York state school aid formula
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 8:17 AM
Ithaca Journal Op-Ed contributor Ronald Mac Lean writes, "During our [citizens advisory group] initial year, an initiative was created to educate taxpayers of the political aspects of education. This initiative emerged as Political Action Concerning Education or PACE. This fall, PACE will concentrate on promoting school aid reform with our New York state political representatives. Beginning Sept. 9, copies of petitions calling for New York state school aid formula reform will be circulating through out the Trumansburg Central School District by PACE volunteers."
Let Schools 'Look Like America,' Too
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 7:49 AM
LA Times opined, "The administration [Justice Department] is telling the court that school systems that place a priority on diversity violate the 'equal protection of the laws' guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. In his brief, Clement argues that'"the use of a racial classification to achieve a desired racial balance in public schools' is just as unconstitutional as old-fashioned racial segregation."
City schools hire chief of security
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 7:15 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Martin [security head] started with the police department as a dispatcher and rose to detective in 1989. She has worked in juvenile ever since. Martin plans to continue her work with young people in the school system."
More state money sought by Syracuse schools
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 6:12 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "As classroom doors swung open for another year in Syracuse Thursday, elected officials and educators called on the state Legislature to meet the terms of a court ruling and put up billions of dollars to provide poorer school districts with the same resources as wealthy ones."
Making School Choice Work
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 12:46 AM
scoop.co.nz reports, "Schools should be given more management autonomy and greater freedom to open, expand and close, according to a newly released report by Harvard University Professor Caroline Hoxby. The report, School Choice: The Three Essential Elements and Several Policy Options, released tomorrow by the Education Forum and the New Zealand Association of Economists (NZAE), outlines a number of key design requirements if policies aimed at giving parents greater choice over their children’s education are to be successful."
Albany Common Council backs call for education funding reform
Date CapturedFriday September 08 2006, 12:34 AM
Capital News 9 reports, "The Campaign for Fiscal Equity wants New York State to close the gap in education funding. And the Albany Common Council is backing the cause in declaring September 'Act for Education Month.'"
NAACP, school leaders meet in Wayne County, North Carolina
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 10:25 PM
News 14 Carolina reports, "The topic of segregation came up at a state Board of Education meeting Thursday. The board was in Wayne County touring some of the lowest-performing schools in the state that a judge threatened to shut down. It was a chance for North Carolina’s NCAAP leader to tell members that issues of segregation can no longer be ignored."
Reform of California's high school steroids rules has its skeptics
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 7:07 PM
Mercury News reports, "The organization that oversees high school sports in California is poised to adopt a series of measures intended to educate coaches about the dangers of steroids and supplements among the state's 700,000-plus teenage athletes. But despite pressure for reform, many area athletic directors and coaches -- the ones closest to those teenagers -- expressed skepticism that the new policies are needed."
How We Dummies Succeed
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 6:46 PM
Newsweek contributing editor ROBERT J. SAMUELSON writes, "The American learning system accommodates people's ambitions and energies—when they emerge—and helps compensate for some of the defects of the school system."
D.C. Schools Fall Short of Test Goals, Superintendent Says
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 6:29 PM
The Washington Post reports, "The number of District schools that failed to make academic benchmarks increased this year, according to test results D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey plans to release today. At the same time, he plans to cut the equivalent of almost five instructional days to accommodate more teacher training."
NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT UNVEILS NEW SYSTEM TO TRACK AND REPORT STUDENT DATA, SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE NEW TOOLS TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 6:10 PM
Beginning this fall, test results will be delivered directly to schools in an electronic format, giving authorized school administrators and teachers instant access to data regarding individual student performance, performance by groups of students (including breakdowns by race, ethnicity, disability status, gender, English proficiency, economic status, and migrant status), and overall performance by school and school district. This electronic system will give schools interactive reports on all this information. Parents will receive more detailed printed reports explaining their children’s performance on the tests. The reports will not only give the overall score but will also give a more detailed breakdown of a student’s performance on several indicators of achievement. All individual student information will be protected during every phase of data collection and reporting.
New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) on charter schools
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 2:25 PM
Letter from NYSSBA executive director Timothy Kremer to New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Robert Bennett on charter schools accountability, "Article 56 off the Education Law compels the Board of Regents to review 'the educational effectiveness of the charter school approach and the effect of charter schools on public and nonpublic schools systems.' Regrettably, the State Education Department’s recently released annual report on the status of charter schools fails to illuminate whether this strategy is working."
Families relocate gang members to save them
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 11:21 AM
USA TODAY Kevin Johnson reports, "At a time when gang-related violence is boosting crime rates in Durham and many other cities, a few clergy, parents and even police in troubled communities across the nation quietly have been helping to relocate youths in last-ditch efforts to extricate them from gang life."
Certification and Private School Teachers' Transfers to Public Schools
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 10:25 AM
This Issue Brief was authored by Emily W. Holt, Mary McLaughlin, and Daniel J. McGrath of the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI). "In three out of four time periods, higher percentages of movers who held state certification in year two of the time period only switched to public schools than did those without regular state certifications in their main assignment in either year of the time period. In all four time periods for which data were collected, higher percentages of movers with regular state certifications in both years of the time period moved to public schools than did their peers without the certification. However, regardless of certification status, 11 percent or fewer of private school teachers changed schools during any 2-year period."
State called on to comply with court ruling on New York City school funding
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 9:05 AM
The Business Review (Albany) reports, "Elected officials in Albany, N.Y., and Schenectady will hold events Thursday designed to pressure the state into complying with the court ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case."
Local New Jersey NAACP reacts to racial school probe
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 8:59 AM
Asbury Park Press reports, "The ACLU contends there was a pattern of segregation in how Lakewood refers special-education preschoolers to out-of-district schools."
Arizona State School Superintendent Tom Horne gives local educators his views on state of schools
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 8:40 AM
Sierra Vista Herald reports on NCLB, "Horne said the feds changed the rules in the middle of the game, setting more schools up for “failure” — a word he eschews — in three ways: by giving English language learners only one year to pass the AIMS tests in English, instead of the original three years; by dismissing adaptive assistance to testing of special education students, essentially throwing them out of the count; and by adding more grade levels in computation of total scores."
Four Million Children Left Behind
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 7:26 AM
WSJ Opinion Journal Op-Ed contributor Clint Bolick, president and general counsel of the Alliance for School Choice opined on NCLB, "The Polling Company surveyed Los Angeles and Compton parents whose children are eligible to transfer their children out of failing schools. Only 11% knew their school was rated as failing, and fewer than one-fifth of those parents (just nine out of 409 surveyed) recalled receiving notice to that effect from the districts--a key NCLB requirement. Once informed of their schools' status and their transfer rights, 82% expressed a desire to move their children to better schools."
Beacon bears brunt of district's tax increase
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 6:59 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Ann Marie Quartironi, the school district's business manager, said new construction in Fishkill is one factor in the new school tax rates, but much of the imbalance this year between the three communities is related to new state data. The state data, known as equalization rates, are updated annually but aren't available until after school budgets are approved in the spring."
Two Catholic schools open Newburgh
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 6:36 AM
Times Herald reports, "Both schools are organized around the San Miguel Academy model — a type of Catholic school introduced to American inner cities in the 1970s. As Catholic schools around the country have become more expensive, the San Miguel academies are a return to the church's tradition of educating America's immigrants and the poor."
Curfew education
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 6:29 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opined on curfew, " Teachers should make sure that kids understand the curfew, and also why city leaders feel it is necessary. Eight people under the age of 18 died violently in Rochester last year and more were injured. In July, there were at least 38 shootings and at one point this summer eight people were killed over as many days. As school starts up again, young people ought to be discussing what they can do to end this plague of violence."
California Governor Won't Sign Textbook Bill
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 3:48 AM
NY Times reports, "A bill passed by state lawmakers would have barred school textbooks from using language that is discriminatory to gays, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused Wednesday sign it."
A Not-Quite-New Teacher Starts a New School Year
Date CapturedThursday September 07 2006, 3:34 AM
NY Times reports, "Once the Batavia teacher’s gender identity disorder was diagnosed and she told officials of her intention to continue teaching, the school’s course of action was governed by state law, as well as its own instincts. 'Because it’s a medically diagnosed condition, it fits in as a disability under the New York Human Rights Law,' Mr. Spitz said. 'We have to accommodate the disability and allow the individual to perform the job.'”
School officials tell New Jersey state panel funding has led to efficiency
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 9:36 PM
Press of Atlantic City DIANE D'AMICO writes, "Special education costs are such a large concern the committee plans a special hearing just on that topic."
Los Angeles school board to sue over schools bill constitutionality
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 7:16 PM
LA Times reports, "The district will file suit to overturn legislation giving Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa substantial authority over the city's schools."
Arizona educators see NCLB as good but cumbersome
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 1:17 PM
Eastern Arizona Courier reports, "As a group, the school administrators also conveyed the message that there needs to be better communication between federal and state education agencies and between those agencies and the public schools."
Nevada middle school students get a lesson in High Five program
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 1:12 PM
The Record Courier reports, "Friday's itinerary included two-hour programs with guest speakers on subjects specific to each grade. Students learned about study skills, an FBI agent spoke about Internet safety and officers from Douglas County Sheriff's Office instructed students on 'Laws 4 Youth.'"
Ranking police official to be appointed as chief of Buffalo school safety to curb violence
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 9:56 AM
Buffalo News reports, "The new position is designed to place a person with extensive police experience in charge of security, to streamline and improve communication between schools and the Police Department and to help prevent violence from spilling into schools from the surrounding neighborhoods."
Maryland, Toronto government mergers to be scrutinized
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 9:48 AM
AP reports on New Jersey tax reform, "New Jersey has about 1,400 local governments, and many believe taxpayers can save money if they're consolidated or enticed to share services. Still, three professors last week told the special committee that mergers wouldn't produce major savings and may cost more money."
Louisiana high school keeps parents involved
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 9:32 AM
Daily World reports, "Several years ago, she [Leger, school principal] said, the school installed a voice mail system where parents can call to confirm their child's homework assignments. Leger said teachers are required to have their weekly assignments into the system by 3 p.m. on Mondays. They remain one of the few schools who still maintain the hotline. 'This allows teachers to leave messages on the system, and parents can also leave messages on the system, which keeps parents and teachers in constant communication,' she said. Leger is using computer technology to her advantage. She encourages teachers to exchange e-mail addresses with parents for easier contact."
South Carolina high school considers single-gender studies
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 7:57 AM
The Sun reports, "Offering a high school single-gender program is a fair option for students, he [Chadwell, Lead teacher] said. He said it relieves boys and girls of the added pressures that advocates of single-gender education have said come with integrated classrooms. 'Regardless of the grade level [freedom of expression] is a nice feature of being in a single-gender program,' he said."
Welcome to a new school year of building bridges
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 7:57 AM
Ithaca Journal guest columnist Judith Pastel, superintendent of the Ithaca City School District, writes, "Last year, many ICSD employees worked closely with me to upgrade our internal communications processes, that is, how we communicate with each other. This was the first major step toward a culture of on-going and improved communication. This year, we will build on those initial efforts and make serious headway with our external communication. Community members and the public will read monthly guest columns by district staff. Our goal is to publish a district newsletter during October and during May. Serious review of our Web site is in progress in order to improve accessibility and content. By the end of the school year, I will be asking community members to provide input on our efforts."
NEA head speaks at Ithaca City School District rally
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 7:52 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "Weaver [NEA head] stressed the impact educators have on children and told the district's employees that teaching methods must evolve with the students. 'As times change we have to change too,' he said. 'You can't teach in 2006 the same way you did in 1986.' Weaver, who taught middle school for 30 years, talked about his own efforts to change when in the late 1980s he observed his students' home lives becoming more volatile."
District deserves praise for thinking outside the box
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 7:38 AM
The Troy Record opined on rural school challenges and efforts, "The problems facing this sprawling rural school district, however, remain: decreasing enrollment, inconsistent and dwindling state aid and increased operational costs. Out of this morass of bad news, however, hope has arisen."
Oneida teachers are taught how to reach all pupils
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 6:14 AM
Post-Standard reports on school orientation and in-service program, "Weber [classroom teacher and an education consultant ] said people who live in poverty are focused primarily on basic survival, so those children come to school with nonverbal, sensory and reactive skills. Schools, however, value verbal, abstract and proactive skills."
Regents urged to stop shocks
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 5:55 AM
Times Union Rick Karlin reports, "In addition to shock treatment, the regulations would govern the use of noxious sprays, withholding food, physical restraints and isolation rooms as ways to control mentally ill or disturbed youngsters. Such practices are unregulated by the Education Department, but the agency spends millions of dollars a year to send children to special schools, many of which are out of state, that have used some of these techniques."
New York City parents know the truth about charters
Date CapturedWednesday September 06 2006, 4:45 AM
NY Daily News guest columnist Paula Gavin, CEO of the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence opined, "Opponents argue that charter schools accept only the best students. Not true: Students are admitted through an open lottery. And opponents claim charter schools aren't real public schools. Wrong: They are just as public as your corner PS - but they happen to be run by parents and community groups."
Education system needs reform, not a billion dollars
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 3:56 PM
Las Vegas Business Press contributor Chuck Muth, president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. writes, "A BILLION (!) dollars more for education? That's a lot of dough. But if it comes with spending offsets and serious education reforms that break the government-school monopoly on education, it might be worth considering. The only thing apparently standing in the way is: the teachers unions."
Lower class size push launched on first day of school in New York City
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 3:46 PM
The UFT writes, "Research shows that small classes in all grades lead to higher student achievement. The STAR project in Tennessee randomly assigned 6,000 children to small and large classes in kindergarten through third grade and followed them throughout their school careers. The students in small classes did significantly better in the early grades, held on to those gains through high school and were more likely to go to college."
Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 11:00 AM
This report examines the use of computers and the Internet by American children enrolled in nursery school and students in kindergarten through grade 12. One of the more important findings presented in the report is that schools appear to help narrow the disparities between different types of students in terms of computer use. Differences in the rates of computer use are smaller at school than they are at home when considering such characteristics as race/ethnicity, family income, and parental education. DeBell, M., and Chapman, C. (2006). Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003 (NCES 2006– 065). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Get involved in education: Parents and residents all have a role to play in teaching our young people
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 10:21 AM
The Timberjay opined, "Along similar lines, researchers have found that students benefit when parents attend parent-teacher conferences, support school activities, or help out in classrooms or on field trips. And the earlier this occurs in a child’s educational process, the research says, the more powerful the effects will be."
Charter school lessons
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 10:06 AM
Times Union opined on school choice, "The mixed results show that it is far too soon to declare charter schools a success. More time and more studies are necessary to determine whether this experiment has been worth it. More recent national data suggest that fourth graders in charter schools were, at best, keeping pace with their peers in public schools in reading last year, but lagged behind in math."
Teachers program seeks recruits
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 10:00 AM
Richmond Times Dispatch reports, "The Troops to Teachers program is a favorite among schools looking for experienced teachers to fill tough jobs in urban and rural school systems. But three years into the Iraq war, the program is struggling to find recruits as the military stops highly trained personnel from retiring."
Unprepared for asthma
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 9:47 AM
AP reports, "Schools in Pennsylvania are not meeting the needs of students with asthma, nor are they fully prepared to deal with student asthma attacks, a newly released study suggests."
Ithaca High School Link Crew: Smart idea, perfect time
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 7:19 AM
The Ithaca Journal opined on a new high school program, "Repeated studies by the Education Department and private academic researchers have demonstrated the stress of entering high school has a direct impact on a student's ultimate success. Kids who are less frightened, less confused and more connected with their older peers are less likely to fail and in general perform better academically. Fostering a sense of community and mutual support among teens, well that's just a bonus."
School Bus Sign-Ups
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 6:15 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Looking to trim fat from its budget, the city Education Department will require some 110,000 general education students eligible for busing to register for the service this year, The Post has learned."
Half-Booked HS a Classic: NEW YORK CITY WAS TOO LATE ON ELITE BROOKLYN LATIN SCHOOL
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 6:07 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports on new high school, "But when the bell rings in the new academic year today, less than half of the 125 seats at the Bushwick school will be occupied, because the city did not introduce it to top students early enough for them to apply."
Obtaining people's trust is district aim: Hyde Park looks to build support
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 6:06 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Stung by budget defeats in May and last year, the school board is determined to gain community support for upcoming votes on building upgrades. These are among the eight goals the Hyde Park school board is proposing to adopt for the 2006-07 school year."
Tier districts see cost of diesel fuel triple over 5 years
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 5:58 AM
Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Students may go on fewer field trips, and late bus runs may be reduced as school districts across the Southern Tier grapple with rising diesel fuel costs that have more than tripled over the past five years."
Safety, kids' smiles are key to crossing guard job
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 5:48 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "'The crossing guards are a part of the neighborhood, ... part of the community,' said community services assistant Douglas Averill, coordinator of the Irondequoit crossing guards. Each school year, crossing guards hired by municipalities and police departments in Monroe County make sure children get to school safely."
Exam-free rule for religious holidays in New York City schools
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 4:29 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The law was spurred after statewide English exams for third-graders were scheduled during the Muslim holidays of Eid-al-Adha and Eid-al-Fitr during the last school year."
Summer's bell tolls for kids: New schools, rules as class resumes
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 4:26 AM
NY Daily News talks with NYC Chancellor Klein about school choice, teachers, and cellphones, "We have charters that are ready and we could open in the fall of [2007]. We will continue to work with them in the hope and the optimistic sense that this cap will be lifted."
Back to School in a System Being Remade
Date CapturedTuesday September 05 2006, 3:23 AM
NY Times reports on NYC schools reform, "Chancellor Klein said last week that he was intent on moving the school system 'from a culture of excuse to a culture of accountability.' 'Our parents will come to see that the information they’re getting, the quality education their kids are getting, the sense of what it’s like at the school, is going to change,' he added. 'And I think our parents will insist on sustainability.'”
New Hampshire begins recruiting future special ed teachers
Date CapturedMonday September 04 2006, 11:02 AM
AP reports, "The program is aimed at middle, high school and college students and others who may be interested in a career change. The state is looking for specialists to work with students with disabilities."
Web site draws pleas to revamp New Jersey school funding
Date CapturedMonday September 04 2006, 10:55 AM
Courier News reports, "Lawmakers [New Jersey] created a Web site to solicit suggestions on how the state can ease the property tax burden. The site has received more than 1,000 suggestions since it was created Aug. 14. A common theme from the suggestion box: New Jersey residents are tired of paying high property taxes to fund public schools."
Bus driving more than sitting behind wheel: Special training, annual tests help keep kids safe
Date CapturedMonday September 04 2006, 10:43 AM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Each year, a driver must undergo a physical examination and defensive driving performance review. Also, three bus safety drills must be conducted on each route. Every two years, a driver is required to do a behind-the-wheel road test and a written or oral test, both required by the DMV, and a physical performance test mandated by the state Education Department that involves dragging a 125-pound weight 30 feet. And there are optional advanced courses a driver may take, some of which could lead to a driver becoming a certified driver instructor, for example."
'Twas the night before school and hope sprang eternal
Date CapturedMonday September 04 2006, 10:31 AM
Times Herald contributor Laura Giner Bair , Newburgh Schools teacher, writes "We hope that our children are safe and that they make academic progress. We hope that children are respectful and grow in moral conduct. We hope that teachers are wise and kind and mindful that our children are young and sometimes fragile. We hope that parents are supportive and join us as partners in the education of all our children. We hope that whatever there is that might need to change will change."
Northeastern Clinton Central School estimates costs for facilities improvements
Date CapturedMonday September 04 2006, 10:24 AM
Press Republican reports, "Early estimates show Northeastern Clinton Central School taxpayers' pockets would be harder hit by construction of a completely new consolidated elementary facility than if the existing buildings were expanded and renovated. That's because state aid for the former would come in at about 82 percent versus an estimated 58 percent for a stand-alone building."
D.C. School Superintendent Janey Proposes Year-Round Classes to Aid Ailing Programs
Date CapturedMonday September 04 2006, 9:35 AM
The Washington Post reports, "D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey is proposing year-round classes at five mainly low-achieving schools in an effort to give students more time in the classroom by shortening the long summer break."
County school systems, property taxation equality to be examined
Date CapturedSunday September 03 2006, 10:23 PM
AP reports, "A national school finance expert recently told a special committee studying New Jersey school funding that it should look to Maryland as an example of a state that has balanced fiscal and educational concerns. Smith's committee will also hear from Toronto officials on their government consolidation efforts."
Texas education the elephant in the room
Date CapturedSunday September 03 2006, 2:45 PM
The Houston Chronicle reports, "The new school finance law adopted by the Legislature this spring after five sessions over the past three years will make it harder for school districts to generate revenue because voter approval, not school board action, will generally dictate future school tax increases. And those voters with the most discretionary income will be older whites without children in schools."
More face drug tests for Kansas school district
Date CapturedSunday September 03 2006, 2:38 PM
The Wichita Eagle reports, "The district cites two U.S. Supreme Court cases that it said allow it to do the testing. One case allowed mandatory drug testing among student athletes. The second, an Oklahoma case, allowed for random testing among middle and high school students participating in extracurricular activities."
Data on New Jersey and Pennsylvania school safety lacking
Date CapturedSunday September 03 2006, 9:03 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Many Pennsylvania districts did not report common offenses, such as bullying or fighting. Philadelphia left out thousands of incidents, including those in which no one was caught or the offender was not a student. In New Jersey, one in five districts reported no violence. The state became suspicious when 19 districts, including Camden and Trenton, reported dramatically lower in-school violence. It is conducting an investigation to verify the numbers."
CITY'S SCHOOL-SAFETY MATH PROBLEM
Date CapturedSunday September 03 2006, 8:15 AM
NY Post David Andreatta reports, "John Feinblatt, the city's criminal-justice coordinator, explained that the city depends not only on the NYPD to shape school safety policy but also on random inspections of school security procedures. 'We think that when you combine that with crime data, you have a pretty surefire way of judging the health of a school.' He added that staff reports are important but 'just like I would never ask a police officer to grade a paper, I would never ask a teacher to report a crime according to FBI definitions.'"
Back to school, on to the future ... AND ... with smart new leaders (2 editorials)
Date CapturedSunday September 03 2006, 8:02 AM
NY Daily News opined on New York City schools Chancellor Klein and school reform plans, "Even more ambitious, a new computer system will let teachers and administrators check whether a child has improved by a full performance level, or gone down by half a level, and compare results by classroom, by demographic group and by individual student. Success will become readily apparent, as will failure. Performance will finally count."
Standing by their principals: 'Empowerment' bigs win freedom from educrats
Date CapturedSunday September 03 2006, 7:56 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, ""The thing people are really concerned about is where they go if there's a problem,' said Tim Johnson, head of a citywide parents group. 'There doesn't seem to be a clear path of accountability like there is in the current system.' Empowerment principals say they understand the concerns, but they argue that the consequences of failing will drive the schools toward success."
Rochester district to boost security measures: Two 'dangerous' city high schools take extra safety steps
Date CapturedSunday September 03 2006, 7:51 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "As required by the No Child Left Behind Act, the district sent letters to parents and guardians of the more than 2,000 students in both schools to alert them that students can transfer if they wish. The district received about 60 transfer requests before those letters were sent."
National School Testing Urged: Gaps Between State, Federal Assessments Fuel Call for Change
Date CapturedSaturday September 02 2006, 10:23 PM
Washington Post Jay Mathews reports, "The growing talk of national testing and standards comes in the fifth year of the No Child Left Behind era. That federal law sought to hold public schools accountable for academic performance but left it up to states to design their own assessments. So the definition of proficiency -- what it means for a student to perform at grade level -- varies from coast to coast."
Residents upset by surveillance cameras used by Pennsylvania college
Date CapturedSaturday September 02 2006, 7:29 PM
AP reports, "The recent installation of closed-circuit cameras meant to protect students at Franklin & Marshall College has raised the ire of nearby residents concerned about their privacy."
Costly defeat for LAUSD
Date CapturedSaturday September 02 2006, 10:05 AM
LA Daily News reports, "Los Angeles Unified has spent more than $350,000 in taxpayer money in its unsuccessful bid to defeat Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school-takeover legislation, documents obtained by the Daily News show. The expenses include lobbying and consulting contracts, nearly $10,000 to bus hundreds of parents to Sacramento, and thousands of dollars to house school board members in pricey hotel rooms. They also include more than $2,000 for T-shirts for supporters and hundreds of dollars to fly parents opposed to mayoral takeover in from New York and San Francisco."
New York unsafe schools cited
Date CapturedSaturday September 02 2006, 9:42 AM
NY Daily News Erin Einhorn reports, "The union [teachers] is testing an online system that allows teachers to report violent incidents and crimes into its central computer."
Where's the courage in education reform?
Date CapturedSaturday September 02 2006, 9:07 AM
Scrippsnews contributor Star Parker writes, "According to NCLB, students in failing schools must be notified and permitted to transfer to another school. We have found that 250,000, about 30 percent, of the students in the LA system are eligible for such transfers, yet notification is not being given and there have only been only slightly more than 500 transfers."
New York State English test scores delayed
Date CapturedSaturday September 02 2006, 8:54 AM
The Journal News reports, "Under the federal No Child Left Behind Law, students who score '1' or '2' on a four-point scale are required to receive extra help, called 'academic intervention services' for the following year." Chambers said the district would rely on its own assessments for extra help when school starts, and then readjust its program when the scores are released."
COLOR NEW YORK CITY'S SCHOOLS ROSY
Date CapturedSaturday September 02 2006, 8:47 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA writes, "Beginning this month, high-schoolers will be issued glossy cards outlining the number of credits and Regents exam standards needed to graduate. The cards will be color coded in accordance to the year they entered high school and will date to 2001, for those starting their sixth year of high school."
1,000 New York City schools teachers demoted to subs
Date CapturedSaturday September 02 2006, 8:37 AM
NY Daily News ERIN EINHORN reports, "Klein [Chancellor] said unwanted teachers no longer will be moved around in 'a random and arbitrary fashion.' This school year, no principals will be forced to take on new teachers whom they didn't hire. That's a drastic change from last year, when 2,800 teachers involuntarily moved to a new school by using seniority rules or because their job had been eliminated at another school, Klein said."
Baltimore charter school funding decided
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 11:12 PM
Baltimoresun.com reports, "Public school systems must provide as much money per pupil to charter school operators as they spend on regular public schools, the state Court of Special Appeals ruled Friday, siding with the state in a dispute with Baltimore. The court -- the second-highest in the state -- said the funding must be in cash rather than in-kind services."
Massachusetts charter school facts in
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 10:49 PM
The Boston Herald reports, "In 2001, 19 percent of the [Massachusetts] charter schools performed significantly better than their district schools in English and 26 percent did so in math. From 2002 to 2005, some 30 percent outperformed district schools in both subjects (60 percent performed at the same level)."
Are Public or Private Schools Doing Better? How the NCES Study Is Being Misinterpreted
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 2:27 PM
Shanea Watkins, Policy Analyst in Empirical Studies in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation writes, "The NAEP data are certainly not suitable for establishing whether a specific math or reading achievement outcome is associated with attending either a private or public school. Despite this fact, the results of the NCES study are being interpreted inappropriately to imply that voucher programs, which include private schools, are a bad idea. The research literature that addresses the effec­tiveness of school voucher programs in raising math and reading achievement, based on more sophisticated methodology, is much more convinc­ing and conclusive. Students who attend a private school through a voucher program experience greater gains in math and reading than do their public school counterparts."
For a longer school year
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 11:48 AM
Buffalo News opined on extended school year, "New York retains that old model with the average public school year at 184 days, historically the standard locally and statewide. An increasingly global economy, where places like Shanghai allow an enriching set of after-school programs that involve music, dance, art and science, demands a high level of academic and personal achievement. That's better obtained with additional time in class."
Plan to end Medicaid reimbursements for special education services criticized
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 11:17 AM
Healthcare News reports, "According to Durbin [Sen.] and Davis [Rep.], the plan, part of the fiscal year 2007 budget proposals announced earlier this year by President Bush, would reduce Medicaid reimbursements to schools nationwide by a combined $650 million. In addition, the plan would require school districts to obtain permission from parents to receive Medicaid reimbursements each time they provide medical services to disabled students."
What the Public Really Thinks of School Choice
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 11:07 AM
Andrew J. Coulson, Center for Educational Freedom opined on PDK school choice poll, "Phi Delta Kappan could do its part to remedy that knowledge gap by returning to the original wording of its question. But we needn't conduct a poll to know that that isn't likely to happen. Phi Delta Kappa is an advocacy organization for the public school monopoly, and the last thing a monopolist wants to do is remind people that in other countries, families enjoy real educational choices, and schools have to compete for the privilege of serving them."
Funding formula for Arkansas school transportation to be developed
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 10:59 AM
Arkansas News Bureau reports on transportation and the influx of military family students, "In a letter to the committee, Brig. Gen. Kip Self, commander of the 314th Airlift Wing at the base, said he expects as many as 500 more military personnel to move onto the base in the next few years because of base closings around the country. The school will not be able to hold an influx of new students, he said."
State Education Commissioner Richard Mills to settle flap over charter school funding
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 10:54 AM
Buffalo News reports, "District officials agree they must pay the charter school about $2.4 million - more than $9,000 per pupil. But they also contend state law only requires them to cover 155 of those pupils with about $1.4 million during the 2006-07 school year because that's how many pupils charter school officials projected the new school would draw from the city's public schools in the charter plan they submitted to the state in 2005. The remaining $1 million would be paid in 2007-08."
Contractors fuel Broward School Board campaigns with tens of thousands in checks
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 10:50 AM
Sun-Sentinel reports, "The biggest single contributors to this year's Broward County School Board campaigns are not parents, teachers or activists, but companies and their lobbyists seeking part of the school's $2.3 billion in construction over the next five years."
Get a job or get out
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 10:38 AM
NY Daily News opined on AP positions, "But union boss Jill Levy rejects the thought of empowering the city's school chiefs. Why? Because assistant principals make up most of her union, and she insists on preserving the job security even of lemons that no one wants. In fact, she takes great umbrage at Klein's characterization of her desk jockeys in the making."
Teachers' contracts stall over health care: District standoffs rise 33%
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 10:27 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "New York State United Teachers, the state's largest teachers union, reported Thursday that 209 local teacher unions and 169 NYSUT-affiliated unions -- cafeteria workers, bus drivers, teacher aides, teaching assistants and other professionals -- will work with expired contracts. Overall, 70,000 employees are in those locals. State law requires that teachers eligible for step raises get them even if the contract is expired."
Idaho cuts property tax from school equation
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 9:12 AM
The Oregonian reports, "The bill eliminates the public school maintenance and operations levy. It replaces the money by boosting the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent on Oct. 1, to generate more than $210 million. It also uses about $50 million from the state's $203 million budget surplus and sets aside another $100 million in a rainy-day education fund."
Charters boost Philadelphia's schools' showing
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 9:04 AM
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on charter schools, "Five of the 22 schools run by Edison made the goal, down from seven last year. One Victory school qualified, down from three. Overall, 11 of the 43 schools run by Edison, Victory, Foundations Inc., Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Universal Companies met goals, down from 15. Only Foundations added a school. Vallas said the district would consider the test results as part of an internal evaluation of the outside managers."
New York Teachers union opposes new mandate for English language learners
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 8:30 AM
New York Teacher reports, "Until now, students who have attended school in the United States for less than three years were not required to take the ELA exam. The recent ruling by the U.S. Depart-ment of Education contradicts the state's policy and NYSUT is investigating possible actions."
NO TAKERS FOR 44 ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 8:13 AM
NY Post reports, "'There is one thing perfectly clear: This is not a performance issue,' Gibbons [spokesman for the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators] said. 'Some of the [assistants] were not even informed they [lost their jobs] until this week, and the Department of Education has not yet posted vacancies or tried to place these people.'"
Principals slammed by Klein won 'satisfactory' rankings, union sez
Date CapturedFriday September 01 2006, 8:00 AM
NY Daily News ERIN EINHORN reports, "Klein's letter was his latest effort to undermine and divide the principals' union as it enters its fourth school year without a contract. Some principals were angered by his tactics."
Study D.C. education with kids in mind
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 10:48 PM
USA TODAY contributor Jeanne Allen, Center for Education Reform, Washington writes, "The reason that the Washington scholarship program exists, and the reason that public charter schools are serving nearly 25% of all public school students in the District of Columbia, is because the traditional system has failed so many families for countless years."
Back to better NCLB schools in Arizona
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 10:12 PM
Eloy News, JON KYL, United States Senator, Arizona writes, "I recently had the privilege of honoring one of Arizona's most talented teachers with the Department of Education's American Stars of Teaching award. In its third year, the American Stars of Teaching program is a component of the Teacher-to-Teacher initiative, which seeks to honor excellence in the classroom. This year, Mr. Brian Fuller, of Peoria High School, was chosen to receive this award. Mr. Fuller exemplifies the kind of teachers Arizona schools must attract and retain."
North Carolina to Pilot 'No Child Behind' Program
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 8:07 PM
The Pilot reports, "With the pilot project, schools entering their first year of Title I School Improvement in these seven districts must offer supplemental educational services to eligible students. If these schools continue not to make AYP, they must offer public school choice next year, while continuing to offer supplemental educational services. The piloting districts were selected based on geographic diversity, unique district characteristics and demographics, interest shown by the district and the projected numbers of Title I schools in the district that might be entering year one of Title I School Improvement in 2006-07."
CALIFORNIA API AND AYP SCORES RELEASED TODAY HIGHLIGHT API’S FLAWS AS A SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY MEASUREMENT
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 7:36 PM
California Business for Education Excellence (CBEE) again denounced the state’s Academic Performance Index (API) today as failing to accurately report student academic achievement and hold schools accountable. “The API growth targets are minimal, the scoring is confusing, and worst of all there is no accountability linkage to subgroup API scores making it much more likely that ethnic minority students, disadvantaged students and English Language Learners will continue to fall through the cracks,” said Jim Lanich, Ph.D., president, CBEE.
New Jersey double districts need to be consolidated
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 6:43 PM
Examinter Op-Ed contributor Cy Thannikary, Citizens for Property Tax Reform, Allentown writes on New Jersey's fragmented school system, "This fragmented school system leads to corruption, inefficiency and political power play at the local levels. If we have to achieve any reduction in property tax, we need to address this inefficient system. Many experts, including educators are of opinion that at least some of these school districts, especially the double districts, can be consolidated without sacrificing educational quality of our children."
Edspresso
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 1:02 PM
No cure-all seen in bonus for principals
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 12:26 PM
The Baltimore Sun reports, "In education, principals' positions are becoming harder to fill, particularly in low-performing schools. As hundreds of principals in Maryland approach retirement, the federal No Child Left Behind Act is requiring states to impose penalties on schools that don't make adequate progress on standardized tests. That means principals could be putting their jobs at risk for taking on the toughest assignments."
Class-Action Suit in New Jersey Filed Over Education
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 12:16 PM
School Reform News, The Heartland Institute, Aaron Atwood writes, "A strong partnership between national and state-level school reform activists has already formed in support of the lawsuit. Several national groups--including the Black Ministers' Council, Latino Leadership Alliance, and Alliance for School Choice--have joined forces with a state group, Excellent Education for Everyone (E3), to support the plaintiffs."
On exam, Massachusetts charter schools get edge
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 11:59 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Jeff Wulfson, associate commissioner of the state Department of Education, said the findings show that charter schools outperform regular public schools, even when demographics are taken into account. For example, the study found that students in Boston's charter schools, including black and Hispanics who have scored lower in the past, performed significantly better than students in regular public schools."
Los Angeles School District reform measure likely faces day in court
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 10:44 AM
Los Angeles Daily News reports, "The California School Boards Association, one of the powerful opponents to the legislation, believes there is little doubt the bill is unconstitutional."
Chicago Principal Challenges School System
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 10:41 AM
NPR reports, "Chicago high school principal was fired when he refused to accept additional students in his already overcrowded school."
Exercise Helps Students in the Classroom
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 10:04 AM
NPR reports, "Increasingly, researchers are finding that brain activity and brain development are enhanced by physical exercise. It now appears that exercise can help kids learn at school."
Reminder: School chief serves board
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 9:45 AM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Op-Ed contributor Cynthia Elliott, member of the Rochester Board of Education writes, "All the district goals should be developed by the board in conjunction with the superintendent, and any assurances that our long-term and strategic goals are achieved should emanate from those elected representatives."
MIXED RECORD ON SCHOOL TAKEOVERS
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 9:21 AM
AP reports, "As [Los Angeles] Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa prepares to assume some control over the nation's second-largest school district, education experts in Chicago and New York said Wednesday that greater city involvement there has achieved mixed grades."
Test results similar among San Diego campuses
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 9:11 AM
UNION-TRIBUNE reports, "Where choice programs make the biggest difference is in diversifying school populations to include a mix of ethnicities, races and socioeconomic backgrounds, according to the study. Nonwhite students, especially black students, are generally more likely to participate in choice programs than whites. Usually, these students opt to go to schools that have more white students and are higher-achieving."
Hawaii DOE floats new funding idea
Date CapturedThursday August 31 2006, 8:47 AM
Honolulu Advertiser reports on student-weighted funding, "Creation of a funding formula based on student need is a legislative mandate that's part of the Reinventing Education Act of 2004. The new funding mechanism has become one of the primary education issues in Hawai'i. The goal of the formula is to assure more equitable distribution of money among the state's public schools and, ultimately, improve student performance. And it would affect every regular public school in the state."
$23 Million in Emergency Response Grants Awarded to 26 States
Date CapturedWednesday August 30 2006, 6:04 PM
As part of the No Child Left Behind education reforms, local school districts must provide assurances that they have plans that outline how they are working to keep their schools safe and drug free.
Buffalo Superintendent Williams pushes for longer school year: Plan, which includes longer school day, is supported by Board of Regents chancellor
Date CapturedWednesday August 30 2006, 12:02 PM
Buffalo News reports, "Bennett (chancellor) said he expects similar efforts across the state. Williams said the longer year and extended day are needed to: Give students more time to tackle increasingly demanding course work and state graduation requirements; Allow more classroom periods for vocational education, art and music, which are getting crowded out by the expansion of instruction in English, math and other 'core subjects'; Provide more time for teacher training and preparation. This school year, teachers report to school on Tuesday, then begin instruction on Wednesday; Allow time during the school day for Advanced Placement and honors courses that are being phased back into Buffalo high schools."
Building bigger, better, costlier schools
Date CapturedWednesday August 30 2006, 11:59 AM
The Journal News reports, "As the school year approaches, a flurry of activity is kicking up at schools throughout the region as districts race to finish summertime construction projects. Following a national trend of schools' spending more money on expanding, renovating and repairing their facilities, local schools are building new labs, adding to instructional space and making renovations to save on energy costs. However, some districts are following another national trend, as they find that construction projects will be more expensive than expected. The unanticipated increases can run from the thousands into the millions of dollars."
Citizens must join call for education aid change
Date CapturedWednesday August 30 2006, 11:53 AM
The Ithaca Journal guest columnist Cosimo Tangorra Jr. writes, "As superintendent of the Trumansburg Central School District, I join the Statewide School Finance Consortium in calling on the State to: * Provide an equitable school aid formula that addresses the disparities between wealthy and poor school districts. * Make the new formula easy to understand and manage. * Bring real fairness to school taxes. * Find a new method for funding education that relies less on property tax. * Make school funding more predictable, so school districts can plan long term."
BRONX SCHOOL TO OPEN DOORS
Date CapturedWednesday August 30 2006, 7:43 AM
NY Post reports, "Some 1,300 Bronx schoolkids will have brand-new facilities next week, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday."
Workshop on transgender teacher will go online
Date CapturedWednesday August 30 2006, 7:37 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The meeting with students is the next step for the district, which has already met with parents and trained staff to support a transgendered science teacher who will start the school year as a woman."
Rochester forum looks at troubled students: Duffy, others discuss how to keep kids in school
Date CapturedWednesday August 30 2006, 7:31 AM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The forum drew wide-ranging support from educators, community activists, parents and students. Linking the dropout rate to economic development in Rochester, Duffy [Rochester mayor] said economic growth in the city is made difficult without an educated work force in place."
California education bills spell change for Pasadena schools
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 10:45 PM
Pasadena Star reports, "Among a number of education bills headed to the governor's desk is one that could change how public schools sell property, which could have significance in Pasadena."
NY grads low on SAT, but here more take test
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 8:36 PM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "New Yorkers' scores (SAT) were below the national average. But close to 90 percent of New York's high school graduates take the SAT, the highest percentage of any state, while in many other states only the top kids academically take the college entrance exam."
New California law blocks censorship of college journalists
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 8:24 PM
Contra Costa Times reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Monday that protects college journalists from censorship, giving them the same freedom of speech as high school journalists."
Paying Double: Inadequate High Schools and Community College Remediation
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 7:22 PM
Alliance for Excellent Education Issue Brief, August, 2006, "The nation would realize an additional $3.7 billion annually in combined reduced expenditures and increased earnings if: • more students who graduate from high school were prepared for college, and thus did not require remediation; and • the students who drop out of college because they were not prepared for college-level reading demands were to continue and earn a Bachelor’s degree at the same rate as nonremedial students."
Policing as Education Policy: A briefing on the initial impact of the Impact Schools program
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 12:50 PM
Prepared by Sharon Balmer with Travis Dale, Bethany Aaronson, and John M. Beam. Brief on Impact Schools reports, "In addition to having significantly higher rates of suspension and police incidents and significantly lower attendance rates than most non-Impact schools, Impact Schools were significantly different from other city high schools in a number of ways." National Center for Schools and Communities, Fordham University, August 2006.
Rhinebeck schools, town will share facilities
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 10:34 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The school district will be able to use the town's athletic fields and other outdoor facilities while the town will be able to use the school district's buildings."
Back to School: Performance data driving education now
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 10:17 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on data-driven education, "While the use of data can help to improve instruction, an ongoing problem is getting data quickly enough that it can be used effectively. State test results, for example, aren't available until well after the school year ends."
The Why Chromosome: How a Teacher's Gender Affects Boys and Girls
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 9:34 AM
Thomas Dee, associate professor in the Department of Economics at Swarthmore College and a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research writes, "Adverse gender effects have an impact on both boys and girls, but that effect falls more heavily on the male half of the population in middle school, simply because most middleschool teachers are female."
New Jersey's forsaken school funding formula to be reviewed
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 9:12 AM
AP reports, "About 55 percent of the property tax money collected annually in New Jersey goes toward schools, and about $10 billion of the $30 billion spent every year by the state goes to school operations."
Bush's Education Reforms Falter
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 8:54 AM
Forbes.com writes on NCLB, "Some public policy fields exhibit high rates of technical success and political prestige. However, most public policy innovations enjoy lower success rates because: -- the technical knowledge required for the successful delivery of particular policy outcomes is not available; -- politicians, interested parties and voters typically contest a policy's principles, objectives, instruments, costs, or effectiveness; and -- adoption of all public policies implicitly or explicitly defines some winners and losers. U.S. education policy exhibits all three of these characteristics and is, accordingly, politicized."
New Rochester charter school looks to build character
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 8:38 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "True North [new charter school] will start at fifth grade and add one grade level a year until it becomes a grade 5 to 8 school. Shells and Lemov say the school will stress virtues such as compassion and respect. An ethics curriculum calls for teaching character using examples from real-life scenarios. Students here will have a longer school day — nine hours — from 7:40 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. There's also a homework center that lasts until 5:40 p.m. On average, elementary school students in the City School District have a 6 ½-hour school day."
Hyde Park district appeals special ed ruling
Date CapturedTuesday August 29 2006, 8:18 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The parents, identified under confidentiality rules as Frank G. and Dianne G., disagreed in 2001 with the district's special education committee that the special needs of their son, Anthony, could be met in a regular classroom setting at Ralph R. Smith Elementary School — with the assistance of a full-time aide and other additional services. After writing the district to dispute his placement, the parents in August 2001 placed their son in Upton Lake Christian School in Clinton Corners. The Hyde Park district later refused to reimburse the parents $3,660 in Upton Lake tuition."
More Arizona schools miss performance measure
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 9:56 PM
AP reports, "However, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said the increase is due to new rule changes by the Bush administration, not diminished performance by Arizona students. Horne cited changes in federal rules dealing with English-learning students, accommodations for special education students and the counting of more grades' test results."
Mississippi education drives economy
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 8:36 PM
Delta Democrat Times reports, "Jobs and education are inextricably intertwined. There is no hope for a good economy without strong schools. There will be nowhere for students in Mississippi to work if the state's educational system fails to prepare them to compete in the global economy. All of that takes money. It also takes a commitment from the business community to support public education and a willingness from parents to think differently about what their children will be learning in school."
Audit finds sensitive data vulnerable at Arizona education agency
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 8:20 PM
AP reports on the vulnerable systems, "The systems are used for a variety of purposes, ranging from teacher certification to tracking student attendance that is used to allocate state funding to school districts and charter schools. Confidential information kept on the department's computer systems include teachers' names, birth dates and Social Security numbers and students' names and birth dates, the audit report noted. Many of the security flaws have been noted previously but the audit found that only some of them had been fixed, the department said."
New Illinois law to keep truants off roads; state will check school attendance
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 4:52 PM
News-Democrat reports, "The state [Illinois] now requires school boards to file quarterly reports listing chronically truant students to the office of the Secretary of State. Those students will not be issued instructional permits or graduated driver's licenses until the next report shows they are regularly attending classes."
Bullying remains a problem
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 4:19 PM
Seacoastonline reports, "With the start of the school year, many children nationwide will find going to school this fall to be one of the most unpleasant experiences of their young lives -- nearly 30 percent of U.S. schoolchildren will be bullied or bully other children this year."
Literacy program to expand in Buffalo
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 12:56 PM
Business First of Buffalo reports, "The program will allow Project Flight to establish BookNook programs with on-site libraries and a family literacy resource center, as well as tutors for children, parents and teachers at the two at-risk schools."
Transfers? Columbus, Ohio students’ options few
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 11:19 AM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH reports, "More than half of the Columbus Public Schools will be forced to let students transfer to better district schools this year. That’s good news for parents who want to send their kids to a school with a better track record in reading and math. Just one problem, though: There are few buildings — especially at the elementary level — from which parents can pick."
New Jersey's not alone in its property tax revolt
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 10:19 AM
Asbury Park Press reports, "Property taxes this year have replaced state income taxes as the favorite tax-cut target of legislatures. In New Jersey, after raising the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent in July to help cut property taxes by about $600 million, the Legislature has returned in a special session to find more ways to cut. Among items on the agenda: consolidating local governments and limiting the retirement benefits of state and local government workers."
School test aid could cost Hawaii millions more
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 10:14 AM
Honolulu Advertiser reports, "The Department of Education spent $7.9 million in contracts with three educational assistance providers last year and that amount could rise to an estimated $15 million this year as twice as many schools face the most severe sanctions of the No Child Left Behind Act."
Bottom Line is kids graduate: Rules alone may not cut Boston schools absenteeism
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 10:05 AM
Boston Herald Op-Ed contributor James Alan Fox, Lipman Family Professor of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University opined, "Bottom Line, funded through private donations and grants, each year counsels hundreds of children from immigrant or poor families, assisting them with the college search, the daunting application and financial aid processes, as well as the adjustment to college life. Achieving a remarkable college acceptance rate of 98 percent, Bottom Line is only limited by its own bottom line of fund-raising. Moreover, it demonstrates how creative thinking outperforms rules and regulations in keeping students in school."
A focus on needs of school 'tweens: As classes begin today, Baltimore educators turn to middle school, the often forgotten grades
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 9:32 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "The sweeping changes at the Baltimore County school reflect a growing movement among school systems across the country, which have long sought to boost elementary and high school performance and are now turning their attention to the youngsters in between."
N.Y. school janitors going green: Districts must buy 'environmentally friendly' cleaning supplies
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 8:18 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates human exposure to air pollutants indoors can be two to five times higher than outdoor levels. Some of the culprits are cleaners, waxes and deodorizers. Reducing or eliminating potentially harmful ingredients helps protect the environment and water supply, according to the legislation's sponsors."
Private 'whys' in school consults
Date CapturedMonday August 28 2006, 7:55 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The city's decision to dish out millions of school dollars for financial consultants without public scrutiny is the latest reason mayoral control of the education system must be reexamined, the teachers union boss charged yesterday."
Large Drop in School Enrollment Across Florida Puzzles Officials
Date CapturedSunday August 27 2006, 8:48 PM
St. Petersburg Times reports, "The state's largest district, Miami-Dade, has been sliding for several years, mostly because of a decrease in immigrant enrollment, said district spokesman John Schuster."
BRAC impacts school funding
Date CapturedSunday August 27 2006, 8:26 PM
Military editor reports, "The Impact Aid Program provides money to school systems that have financial burdens and land taken off the tax base by federal activities such as military bases and Indian reservations."
New Jersey school funding, shared services, pensions to get scrutiny
Date CapturedSunday August 27 2006, 8:16 PM
AP reports, "As lawmakers strive to cut New Jersey's soaring property taxes, they will focus this week on the state's unused school funding formula, whether taxpayers can save by merging governments and what retirement plans are available for public employees."
A tally to avoid?
Date CapturedSunday August 27 2006, 9:31 AM
The Journal News opined, "The violence-reporting process is more than five years old in New York, and wrought with problems — challenges complicated by the added federal performance requirements of No Child Left Behind, instituted three years ago. Still, New York remains only in a 'training' phase, with its Education Department continuing to clarify criteria and teach local administrators how properly to report violent incidents. Even the state Comptroller's Office is involved now, looking anew over shoulders because random audits of schools earlier this year found reporting compliance abysmal."
Back to School / 7 trends to watch: From reading to algebra, everything in school is starting earlier
Date CapturedSunday August 27 2006, 9:25 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "Everything is starting earlier and earlier in education. The trend is being driven by a combination of factors: parental anxiety that children will fall behind if not pushed almost from birth; frustration with schools that have failed to boost achievement for disadvantaged students or challenge the middle and top tiers sufficiently; cut-throat competition for college entrance; a growing reliance on high-stakes testing; a sense that America is losing ground in the global marketplace."
Schools hired guns' fat checks: No-bid contract doles out $17M in cost-cutting bid
Date CapturedSunday August 27 2006, 8:31 AM
NY Daily News exclusive, ERIN EINHORN and MICHAEL SAUL report, "Seven of the high-powered consultants hired by City Hall to cut fat from the school bureaucracy are charging taxpayers more than a million dollars each for work over the next 18 months, the Daily News has learned."
Exploding the Charter School Myth
Date CapturedSunday August 27 2006, 8:23 AM
NY Times opined on charter schools, NCLB and teacher quality, "One advantage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 was the wave of education studies it started. They offer hope that Congress will look at the record when it considers reauthorizing the law next year. If it does, lawmakers will back away from the part of the act that offers charter schools as a cure-all. They should instead home in on the all-important but largely neglected issue of teacher training and preparation — which trumps everything when it comes to improving student achievement."
Good news in public education
Date CapturedSunday August 27 2006, 8:16 AM
The PressRepublican opined on school choice, "Private schools have long argued that New Yorkers should have a choice in the schools they attend. They do have a choice, but the law provides a free education in a public school. It doesn't provide subsidies for schools that could drain money from the public system. Nor should it. School choice is a luxury, not a necessity."
Tutoring Glance
Date CapturedSaturday August 26 2006, 7:27 PM
AP reports on No Child Left Behind and tutoring, "School districts: provide yearly notice to parents about how they can enroll their children and which tutors are available; must use clear language."
Arizona Maricopa County faces canceling 84 school races
Date CapturedSaturday August 26 2006, 9:58 AM
The Arizona Republic reports, "In all, 84 races could be canceled: 65 races have only one person running, and 19 have no candidates."
Don't confuse learning with research skirmish
Date CapturedSaturday August 26 2006, 9:35 AM
Times Union Op-Ed contributor JEANNE ALLEN, Center for Education Reform, Washington, D.C. responds to "It's wrong to declare the charter school movement as revolutionary," Aug. 14 Op-Ed, "Mr. Morse closes his letter saying: 'If our government intends to seriously address the root causes of poor performing schools, our elected leaders must look to the origins of poverty, illiteracy and school failure, and not continue to exploit urban school children and their struggles for their own political gain.' We couldn't agree more. And to that we might add that research war skirmishes have nothing to do with parents wanting to send their children to a school that works."
Gov. Jeb Bush helps hand out $157.6M to schools for good grades
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 10:14 PM
AP reports, "The money can be used to give teachers and staff bonus pay, hire temporary help to assist in improving student performance or spend on such things as new educational equipment."
Idaho House approves Gov. Risch property tax cut
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 9:53 PM
AP reports, "If his proposal passes, Risch would pay for the tax break by increasing the sales tax to 6 cents from 5 cents, raising some $210 million, and taking another $50 million from Idaho's budget surplus. His plan also creates a $100 million rainy day education fund. The Republican-dominated House blocked efforts for an alternative pushed by Democrats that would have cut $105 million in taxes on primary residential homeowners, but left the school maintenance and operations levy in place for others. It wouldn't have raised property taxes."
Administration backs white school parents in integration appeal
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 2:40 PM
San Francisco Chronicle publishes LA Times report, "For decades afterward [Brown vs. Board of Education], school districts across the nation adopted policies to bring about racial integration in their classrooms: Some set enrollment guidelines that prevented schools from becoming nearly all black or all white, while others have used magnet programs that consider a student's race. Many of those policies remain in effect. Clement, the Bush administration's chief lawyer before the high court, said such programs should be struck down whenever they involve the use of a 'racial classification' to decide who may enroll."
Utah preschool alternative proposed
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 2:26 PM
Deseret Morning News reports, "It would offer training to day-care centers and existing preschools. It would provide outreach for low-income, immigrant and otherwise disadvantaged families, including home visits, creating small groups and working with public libraries and neighborhood schools, Stephenson [Senator] said. Families also could attend 'learning parties' at public or private schools to acquire such skills and build school community bonds."
Hurricane Help for Schools: Providing Assistance for Schools Serving Students Displaced by Hurricane Katrina
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 2:13 PM
US Department of Education website: Many schools are accepting students who cannot attend their own schools because of Hurricane Katrina. If your school is serving students displaced by the hurricane and if you need books, clothes, or other supplies, please state what you need.
School-integration effort targeted
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 9:33 AM
The Olympian publishes LA Times report, "In the briefs, Solicitor General Paul Clement urged the justices to rule that "the use of a racial classification to achieve a desired racial balance in public schools" is just as unconstitutional as old-fashioned racial segregation."
Two new schools enhance Binghamton University links to community
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 9:19 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin Op-Ed contributor Binghamton University president Lois B. DeFleur writes, "The School of Education also addresses community needs by preparing outstanding teachers and administrative leaders; by conducting educational research; and by developing new partnerships with school districts."
Nonunion labor courts school job
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 9:06 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "Rebbeca Meinking, president of Associated Builders and Contractors, Empire State Chapter, told the Joint Schools Construction Board Thursday that a PLA would discourage local nonunion contractors from taking part and drive up costs, among other problems. Her association represents 'merit' or nonunion contractors."
Catskill will have police at schools
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 9:01 AM
The Kingston Freeman reports, "The officers will maintain a presence in the school, be a resource to students and staff, assist in peer mediation and conflict resolution, and be positive role models, Farrell said. She added that the officers will not be security guards."
Most parents are not in conflict with special education in school districts
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 8:45 AM
Times Union Op-Ed TIMOTHY G. KREMER, Executive Director, NYS School Boards Association responds to Marc Brandt's commentary, "Let's not forget that the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that parents be integrally involved in program decisions regarding their children from the outset. They bring their perspectives and insights to a meeting of the professionals who make up the rest of the district committee on special education. Together they decide on an appropriate education program for the child. IDEA forbids considerations of cost from entering into the decisions despite the fact that special education costs are rising faster than other education costs."
States attack property taxes
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 8:33 AM
US TODAY reports on property taxes, "While local schools and governments collect most property taxes, they work under rules established by state legislatures and constitutions. Property tax limits in California, Minnesota and elsewhere have shifted taxing powers to state governments and away from local government. In the last economic slowdown, some states trimmed aid to local governments below what they had promised in earlier property tax relief."
Soaring property taxes elicit backlash among homeowners
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 8:30 AM
USA TODAY reports "Fallout from property tax cuts is wide and complicated. The changes are shifting public school financing from locally controlled property taxes to state-controlled sales and income taxes."
Agassi Prep offers kids of Las Vegas a reason to learn
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 8:22 AM
USA Today reports on Agassi charter school, "'Picture every year, all the time that you see sort of these evolutions of the children themselves,' he [Agassi] says. 'All of a sudden, they're ninth graders. You think, 'You were third graders. Look at you. You're standing taller than me, speaking better than I speak, having more of a plan for your life than I have for mine.' The kids are the best part of this.'"
POLL CALL FOR CITY SCHOOLS: MASSIVE OPINION SURVEY PLANNED
Date CapturedFriday August 25 2006, 7:37 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA reports, "The questions will focus on school safety, student-parent-teacher engagement and 'the quality of respectful and collaborative interaction' regarding student achievement."
Connecticut Prevention Efforts No Longer Measured In Ounces
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 7:57 PM
The Newtown Bee reports, "She [Zimmerman, executive director of the Connecticut Council on Children] pointed out that every dollar invested in prenatal care saves $3.38 in the cost of caring for low-birth-weight infants; that every dollar invested in preschool in Connecticut produces a return on investment of $18.39; and every dollar spent on quality after-school programs produces a return on investment ranging from $2.19 to $3.22 - not including the significant savings realized from lower crime."
Inside Albany (IA)
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 5:03 PM
This week on Inside Albany: Education Commissioner Richard Mills' list of dangerous schools. (check schedule)
DC Students Face New Learning Standards
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 4:02 PM
The Washington Post reports, "The learning standards, outlining what students should know and be able to do at each grade level, are among many new policies and initiatives slated to be launched this year. The changes, school officials say, are intended to boost student achievement, increase the level of parental involvement in the schools and improve efficiency for teachers and administrators."
American Library Association Warns Buffalo on LIS Program
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 3:31 PM
The Library Journal reports, "The dissolution of the University at Buffalo's (UB) School of Informatics, which means that the Department of Library and Information Studies (DLIS) will become part of the Graduate School of Education beginning this fall, has drawn attention of the American Library Association (ALA)."
University at Buffalo's impact on Western New York communities
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 2:55 PM
UB Reporter writes, "In terms of education, Henderson [vice president for external affairs] explains UB encourages the establishment of a "pre-K through 16 education continuum"—an educational pipeline that sets students on a seamless track from grade school to graduate studies."
Recent Philadelphia high school grads tutor student teachers
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 10:01 AM
Philadelphia Daily News reports, "Fresh and four other recent Philadelphia public-school graduates talked yesterday with prospective teachers about what it takes to connect with city-toughened teens. Their talk was part of a three-day 'Pipeline to the Future' professional-development series intended to prepare rookie teachers for the harsh realities of urban schools."
High school education in New Jersey
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 9:45 AM
El Diario La Prensa editorial writes, "Other than testing to measure failures, the state has yet to demonstrate that it understands or knows how to fix what is wrong in those schools where students consistently fail to meet the current curriculum standards — the standards that were supposed to raise the academic bar. The Education Department will need to better educate itself if it expects to demand more of others."
Where's school voucher 'success' in Washington, D.C.?
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 8:28 AM
USA TODAY Op-Ed contributor Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, U. S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. writes, "Education Secretary Margaret Spellings claimed an administration 'success' with publicly funded private school vouchers in Washington, D.C. There is no factual basis for her claim."
New York City public schools splitting at the seams
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 8:18 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Education Department spokesman Keith Kalb said six schools under construction in Queens will provide about 4,000 more student seats over the next two years."
SMEARING SCHOOLS THAT WORK
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 7:39 AM
NY Post Op-Ed contributor Peter Murphy, New York Charter Schools Association writes, "In the forefront of opposition to charter-school expansion is the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the statewideteachers' union. Most charter-school faculties have chosen not to unionize - a freedom of choice codified by the state's charter-school law - putting them outside NYSUT's monopoly control. Thus far, NYSUT's raw political opposition to charters has prevailed over the schools' academic merits and the demands of thousands of parents of children on charter waiting lists."
. . . AND FAKING CHARTER FAILURE
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 7:32 AM
NY Post editorial opined on charter schools, "Charter schools proliferate in areas where public schools are dramatically worse than the national standard, like New York City and Washington, D.C. In these places, charters generally outperform their public-school counterparts. It shouldn't be surprising that they fall short when measured against a nationwide public-school average."
LOWBALLING SCHOOL VIOLENCE...
Date CapturedThursday August 24 2006, 7:16 AM
NY Post editorial opined on school violence, "Regardless of the actual number of dangerous schools - 14, 140, or otherwise - zero tolerance on violent behavior must be the policy."
NAACP Hosts Back To School Rally In Brooklyn
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 4:23 PM
NY1 reports, "Schools Chancellor Joel Klein advised kids to 'read, read, read every day more than you read yesterday' during a back to school rally Wednesday sponsored by Brooklyn's chapter of the NAACP and the Brooklyn Public Library."
Early, higher education among ethnic-minority parents' top concerns
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 4:03 PM
Whittier Daily News reports on multi-language poll, "Findings show that all African American, Asian and Latino parents interviewed strongly support preschool programs, as well as the state-mandated high school exit exam."
Do Charter Schools Make the Grade?
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 9:45 AM
NPR Elaine Korry reports (audio), "For a decade charter schools have been touted as an alternative to under performing public schools. But a new government survey shows these schools lagging slightly behind public schools in student achievement."
Statement by Secretary Margaret Spellings on Release of NCES Study on Charter Schools
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 9:37 AM
Secretary Spellings, "Charter schools are empowering low-income parents with new educational options and providing an important lifeline for families in areas where traditional public schools have fallen short of their responsibilities."
Kingston school board trustees limit absences
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 9:26 AM
The Daily Freeman reports, "After every absence, teachers are required to call parents or guardians notifying them of the absence. After the fifth absence, a high school guidance counselor will be notified, and will schedule a meeting with the parents. If the parents refuse to schedule a conference, a social worker will be requested to visit the student's home, and a letter will be sent home. After the 10th absence, the student's assistant principal will set up a meeting with the student's guidance counselor, assistant principal, psychologist, and social worker and parents. Again, a social worker will visit the parents' home if they refuse to attend the conference."
Arizona Gov. Napolitano: Raise school attendance age
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 9:20 AM
Arizona Daily Star reports, "State Schools Superintendent Tom Horne said altering the dropout age is not the answer. 'My solution to the dropout problem is to persuade kids that they should be in school with things like outside mentoring, peer counseling, flexible hours and career technical education,' Horne said. 'But if you force kids who don't want to be there to be there, they can be disruptive.'"
3 local Syracuse schools still on state list
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 9:11 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "No local schools landed on the state's new list of 'persistently dangerous schools,' but 17 schools elsewhere in the state did, Education Commissioner Richard Mills announced Tuesday. But three Syracuse schools that went on the list a year ago - Fowler High and Shea and Grant middle - remain there, the state said."
EXCEL building aid may help taxpayers, school officials say
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 9:02 AM
The Daily Star reports, "All districts are eligible for Expanding Our Children’s Education and Learning [EXCEL] funds, with some restrictions, according to the website. The amount is determined by enrollment and is funded through the Dormitory Authority of the state of New York. New York City will receive $1.8 billion, with other districts receiving $800 million, according to the site."
Two Rochester city schools on 'dangerous' list
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 8:55 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Thomas Jefferson High School showed a drop in the number of violent incidents from 87 to 58 in those years. During the same period, the number of violent incidents at Charlotte High School increased from 65 to 68."
State's list of dangerous schools grows: Berkshire Farm, Philip Livingston Magnet among 23 targeted after comptroller's critical audit
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 8:25 AM
Times Union reports, "Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, parents are supposed to be able to transfer their children out of a dangerous school if another school in their district has room to enroll them. Mills said that releasing the data Tuesday, about two weeks before the new school year starts, should give parents time to seek alternatives. For many parents and students, though, alternative schools are filled up. Students attending Berkshire's school are doing so under court order."
CLASS-KICKERS: 'DANGEROUS' SCHOOLS SOAR - AND N.Y. MAY BE LOWBALLING COUNT
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 8:00 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA and LEONARD GREENE report, "'Since the school system no longer shares incident data, no one really knows the true state of safety in our schools,' said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. 'But we do know that having only 14 [city] schools on the 'persistently dangerous' list doesn't make sense.'"
ROSY REPORT ADDS UP TO NONSENSE
Date CapturedWednesday August 23 2006, 7:53 AM
NY Post columnist Ryan Sager writes, "The answer is to give all parents - the people who know whether or not they feel their kids are safe enough at school - a choice. Open more charter schools, give parents vouchers and/or tuition tax credits, open up public-school choice to all families. Then persistently dangerous (and persistently incompetent) schools will be held accountable."
A Summary of the Current Research on California's Effectiveness at Improving Student Achievement
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 7:07 PM
Key Findings: "The available research, presented chronologically below, shows that by introducing high-quality and innovative approaches into public education, California’s charter public schools are having a positive impact on the state’s public school system."
Charter school students score lower in reading and math
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 6:57 PM
AP reports, "The NCES studied fourth-grade math and reading scores at 150 charter schools and 6,764 traditional public schools nationwide. At the time, there were nearly 2,700 charter schools in 36 states. There are now more than 3,600."
Scrap voucher plan, fully fund No Child law
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 5:01 PM
USA TODAY Op-Ed contributor E. Jane Gallucci, President, National School Boards Association writes, "And contrary to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings' assertion that vouchers 'complement' the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, they actually would render the law obsolete because private schools receiving tax dollars at the expense of public schools would not face the rigid public accountability standards to which public schools must adhere."
Majority Of State's Most Dangerous Schools Are In New York City
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 4:35 PM
NY1 reports, "Eleven of them (persistently dangerous) are schools for special education students and city sources say those schools are usually exempt from list."
Rome Free Academy joins state's 'watch list' for potentially dangerous schools
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 4:24 PM
Observer-Dispatch CARA MATTHEWS reports, "Another 17 schools, including two in Rochester, have been added to the Education Department's list of 'persistently dangerous' institutions after recording a large number of serious incidents for two consecutive years, Commissioner Richard Mills announced."
Seventeen New York Schools Named As "Persistently Dangerous" Under NCLB,
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 3:57 PM
As required by NCLB: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUGUST 22, 2006. Persistently dangerous list includes NYC schools, Rochester, Buffalo charter school, and Berkshire Junior-Senior High School. New York State Education Department press release, "An additional 10 schools have been placed on a 'watch list.'" NYC, Buffalo, Rome, Wyandanch, Greenburg-Graham on "watch list."
The 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 10:47 AM
(September 2006) By LOWELL C. ROSE executive director emeritus of Phi Delta Kappa International and ALEC M. GALLUP, co-chairman, with George Gallup, Jr., of the Gallup Organization, Princeton, N.J. "In probing the public’s opinions of NCLB, the PDK/Gallup poll finds that there is widespread support for the law’s goals -- closing the achievement gap between African American and Latino students and their white peers and improving educational outcomes for all students -- but broad disagreement with its specific strategies. When asked whether testing students in only English and math, as currently required by NCLB, can give a fair picture of a school, 81% of the public say no. And 78% are worried that the law’s focus on these two subjects will mean less emphasis on other subjects. The poll finds that two-thirds of those surveyed oppose measuring school success by the percentage of students passing a single statewide test, while 81% prefer measuring the improvement that students make during the year."
A Closer Look at Charter Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 10:34 AM
NCES, "The school sample comprised 150 charter schools and 6,764 traditional public schools. The report uses hierarchical linear models (HLMs) to examine differences between the two types of schools when multiple student and/or school characteristics are taken into account. After adjusting for student demographic characteristics, charter school mean scores in reading and mathematics were lower, on average, than those for traditional public schools. The size of these differences was smaller in reading than in mathematics. Results from the second analysis showed that in reading and mathematics, average performance differences between traditional public schools and charter schools affiliated with a public school district were not statistically significant, while charter schools not affiliated with a public school district scored significantly lower on average than traditional public schools." Braun, H., Jenkins, F., and Grigg, W. (2006). A Closer Look at Charter Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (NCES 2006-460). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
The Future of D.C. Public Schools: Traditional or Charter Education?
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 8:58 AM
The Washington Post reports on charter schools in DC Public Schools, "As charters have proliferated, the number of students attending traditional schools has plummeted from 80,000 a decade ago to 58,000 last school year. Because tax dollars follow the student, charters now claim at least $140 million a year that might otherwise flow to neighborhood schools. That has led traditional schools to cut programs, lay off teachers and, for the first time in nearly a decade, close."
Idaho plan may not be perfect, but its permanent
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 8:48 AM
Coeur d'Alene Press reports on Idaho school funding, "The only plan that will definitely have a hearing is the Republican plan that would shift the cost of about $260 million for public school maintenance and operations to a one-cent sales tax increase. The sales tax increase would bring in about $210 million annually to the state, with a net $50 million overall reduction in taxes. With the state showing a $203 million surplus, the plan also transfers $100 million to an education stabilization fund. The education stabilization fund is a 'rainy day' account -- which currently has about $13 million in it -- designed to protect education funding from any future economic downturn."
Gaps in checking teaching credentials can miss predators
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 8:34 AM
USA Today Greg Toppo writes on school safety, "Schools need to follow up on background checks and notice if a job candidate switches schools frequently, experts say. They also should carefully review applications for inconsistencies or omissions and administer new criminal checks when contracts come up for renewal."
Schools' audit finds corruption
Date CapturedTuesday August 22 2006, 8:20 AM
The NY Daily News reports on misuse of school funds in NYC and Long Island, "Kickbacks. Phantom payments. Using school funds to buy computers and cell phones for private use. Those are some of the more frequent examples of how local educators have mismanaged taxpayer dollars in recent years."
Pathways Academy -- new charter school begins school year
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 9:45 PM
First Coast News reports, "Pathways Academy is operated by Florida Community College. Its program targets students who either dropped out of school or who did not earn the necessary credits to graduate."
California student tracking system receives a failing grade: Millions spent, yet state can't calculate dropouts
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 5:20 PM
Union Tribune reports, "California has fallen far behind other large states with sophisticated student tracking systems, such as Texas and Florida, and cannot accurately calculate a basic fact about school performance: the dropout rate."
The problems with gender separation
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 5:00 PM
Reporter Times reports, "Korth [associate professor at the Indiana University School of Education] said while there is evidence suggesting girls’ brains mature faster than boys’, most of those differences have evened out by the fifth grade. "My personal view is that we still need to figure out, as educators, how to do a good job of teaching boys and girls in the same classroom. ... My ideal image of education does not include separating kids by gender,' she said."
Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa Takes Case to Teachers
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 4:34 PM
LA Times reports, "Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made a passionate pitch for the support of teachers union activists Sunday, as his plan to assume some control of the Los Angeles Unified School District moves forward amid grumbling from some union members."
When it comes to schools, Texas parents know best
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 9:08 AM
Chron.com contributor Dr. James Leininger funds private scholarships for low-income children and advocates enactment of school choice programs in Texas. Leininger writes, "Giving all parents the same ability to find the best school for their child gives power to parents to fulfill to the needs of their children. Under such choice programs, schools are no longer able to take students for granted, but instead must compete to convince parents that they will do the best job in educating their children."
Plattsburgh State requests teacher-education program extension
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 8:30 AM
The Press Republican writes, "Under the Regents amended guidelines, after a college has been reviewed for accreditation and deficiencies have been found, it can apply for an extension by submitting an action plan to the state Education Department, which determines how much longer the school gets."
CUNY'S CLASSY TACT-IC TO TEACH GRACES
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 7:41 AM
NY Post education writer David Andreatta reports, "Believing that the curriculum at the esteemed City University of New York business school is second to none, college officials said the new program focuses on refining students in the social graces inborn to country-club kids attending pricey universities. Workshops on dining etiquette, accent reduction, global affairs and presentation skills are on the agenda. There is also talk of offering students golf lessons to prep them for the inevitable day when they will entertain fat cats on the links."
Free preschool will help Latinos and US
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 7:29 AM
Christian Science Monitor contributor Alexandra Starr, journalism fellow in child and family policy in 2005 opined, "To give all kids a chance to be successful in school, we have to intervene early. Kindergarten is too late. But creating more early education programs isn't enough; states need to proactively reach out to Latinos. If they don't, expanding pre-K could ironically increase the disparities in educational achievement, as more whites and African-American kids enroll in these programs, and Latinos continue to be left out."
OL' COLLEGE PRY: POL PROBES SCHOOL PORK
Date CapturedMonday August 21 2006, 7:19 AM
NY Post correspondent GEOFF EARLE reports, "A powerful U.S. senator is demanding five New York colleges justify millions in federal pork-barrel funds sent to their campuses and reveal whether they've hired political muscle to get more taxpayer money. Among the schools getting a letter from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) are New York University, the State University of New York and Columbia University." Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Charles Schumer boasted last year about getting funds for Cornell University's Center for Grape Genetics.
North Carolina schools: Will smaller lead to better?
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 7:19 PM
New Record reports, "But new research suggests small schools might not offer much academic improvement to the students who need it the most. And opponents say small schools limit the variety in courses and extracurricular activities, such as sports, that often are all that keeps some students from dropping out. Even small-schools advocates admit that breaking down high schools doesn't always work. And that by itself, small is not the answer."
New Hampshire outside school plan too outside the box
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 6:46 PM
The Herald opined on non-traditional for credit courses, "The program would allow students to substitute outside-the-school learning for classroom work to gain high school credit. For example, a student could get high school science credit for taking an Internet course on astronomy or get physical education credit for running in a road race."
Metro Nashville grad rates rise by technicality: Schools count summer finishes for first time
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 6:34 PM
The Tennessean reports, "Metro Schools Director Pedro Garcia said the district has ramped up efforts to reduce dropouts. Some initiatives include help transitioning from middle to high school, support for struggling freshmen and classes that allow students to recover failed classes or pick up basic skills. 'Our grad rate is our number one goal,' Garcia said. Tennessee, along with many other states, was able to get special permission from the U.S. Department of Education to insert a one-year lag in the graduation rates."
The Condition of Education in Brief 2006
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 3:46 PM
Report topics covered "include: public and private enrollment in elementary/secondary education; projections of undergraduate enrollment; racial/ethnic distribution of public school students; student achievement from the National Assessment of Educational Progress in reading, mathematics, and science; adult literacy; status dropout rates; immediate transition to college; school violence and safety; educational attainment; parental choice of schools; expenditures for elementary and secondary education, and federal grants and loans to undergraduate students." Livingston, A. (2006). The Condition of Education 2006 in Brief (NCES 2006-072). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Tennessee scores point to problems in grad rates, special ed
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 2:47 PM
The Tennessean reports, "Recently released test scores show that school systems here and across the state [Tennessee] must focus on getting more students to graduate on time with a regular diploma and boosting the skills of students diagnosed with learning and other disabilities."
Family life key to success in school
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 2:16 PM
The Buffalo News former editor Murray B. Light opined on factors that impact learning, "None of the education studies I've reviewed has factored in one of the most dominant elements in American life - television viewing. It most certainly is a factor in the education and intellectual promise of school-age children. Almost every element of American life is now the subject of polls. I have never been satisfied that poll results are meaningful because the respondents may or may not be responding truthfully. Be that as it may, one cannot overlook the enormous influence television is today."
Funding windfall will go to salaries, programs: North Dakota legislature to consider equity formula; state funds will help some districts
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 1:32 PM
Grand Forks Herald reports, "Devils Lake Superintendent Steve Swiontek has no trouble finding potential uses for his school's expected windfall in state funding for education. 'No. 1, we'll look at teachers' salaries,' he said. 'Our base salary is $23,200, compared to about $30,000 at Grand Forks and Fargo.'"
Rochester city school board TV
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 8:52 AM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opined, "From now on, busy parents and others who care about public education in the city can tune in to RCTV (Channel 15) and watch the Rochester school board's monthly business meetings. That's a step toward greater public accessibility that ought to be emulated."
Texans gambling on Lotto to fund education take note
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 8:20 AM
Chron.com chief of Austin Bureau, Clay Robison, opined on the Texas education lottery, "Most of the lottery money, 60 percent, is spent on prizes. Five percent is set aside for commissions for the retailers who sell the tickets, and another 5 percent is spent to administer the games. Some 2 percent represents unclaimed prize money and is available for general state spending. The remainder, 28 percent, goes to public education, and that now is about $1 billion a year, down from a high point of about $1.2 billion in 1997."
Illinois Students’ 1st task: Prep for March testing -- mounting pressure has area school districts implementing a yearlong focus on standardized exams
Date CapturedSunday August 20 2006, 8:11 AM
Rockford Register Star , “'No Child Left Behind has brought a form of accountability to public education it never had before,' Rockford Superintendent Dennis Thompson said. 'It has forced educators to look closely at what and how I am doing it, teaching it and assessing it. There are many positive points to NCLB, but it does need some tweaking.' For instance, it’s forced more-focused teaching — educational jargon for what can amount to fewer electives. In Belvidere, there’s been a de-emphasis for some students on such courses as art and music as they focus more on the tests’ cores of reading, writing and math."
Albany charter school hires new manager
Date CapturedSaturday August 19 2006, 9:48 AM
Times Union reports, "New Covenant has been plagued with academic performance and accounting problems. This spring, the State University of New York board of trustees placed New Covenant on probation for being chronically tardy with annual audits of its finances. It was the latest in a line of problems for the school. In 2004, the state forced the school to close its seventh and eighth grades, citing poor test scores and chaotic classrooms. SUNY trustees also placed New Covenant on probation between 2000 and 2002 because of concern over finances. That probation limited the school to 400 students."
Charter Schools and a Good Education
Date CapturedSaturday August 19 2006, 8:31 AM
Washington Post letter to the editor by NELSON SMITH, President, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools responding to DC schools superintendent on charter schools, "Mr. Janey [superintendent] was right when he said that we should focus on quality public schools. That's why charter schools are subject to greater scrutiny than other public schools and why competent overseers act on the results, even closing a school that does not reach its goals. Someday all D.C. public schools will be subject to those stringent standards. In the meantime, interrupting the supply of promising new charter schools is hardly the right move."
Looking beyond textbook learning: Upstate educators urged to embrace innovation at Saint Rose institute
Date CapturedSaturday August 19 2006, 8:21 AM
Times Union reports on seminar, "He [Noguera] is considered by many to be one of the nation's most important voices on education reform and diversity. The institute, formed last year with a $1.6 million federal grant, trains educators to better deal with modern issues affecting schools. Much of Noguera's address focused on creating a solid environment for teaching in urban areas, especially when dealing with low-income and special education students, as well as those who do not speak English. Teachers and administrators, especially in urban school districts, must work hard to create strong relationships with students to interest them in learning, he said."
New Hampshire charter school for disabled pupils proposed
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 8:53 PM
AP reports, "Bevill hopes money earmarked for special education services could be pooled to pay for the public school."
New Jersey to look at revising high school standards
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 8:46 PM
AP reports, "New Jersey high school students need more science, mathematics and technology education, even if they plan to go right to work instead of college, state officials said Thursday as they unveiled plans to rework high school requirements."
Report: Minnesota state aid eased property tax
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 8:39 PM
AP reports, "The biggest reason for the slower increase was a large infusion of state aid to schools, which reduced their reliance on property taxes, the report said."
Massachusetts veterans tax plan has MERIT
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 8:34 PM
The Mariner reports, "Known as the Massachusetts Military Enhanced Relief Individual Tax (MERIT) Plan, this bill, which was signed into law on Monday, Aug. 14, gives new tax exemptions and increases already existing tax breaks. For disabled veterans, the property tax exemptions will rise from a range of $250 to $950 to a range of $400 to $1,500 annually. Towns will see state reimbursements for such exemptions increase, with the lowest going from $75-$400 and the highest rising from $775-$1,325."
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to offer seminar for gambling industry execs
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 12:17 PM
Philadelphia AP reports, "The program will apply business concepts to the challenges of the gaming industry. It will offer perspectives in leadership, strategy, marketing, operations, finance and other areas that can be used to manage casinos and other gaming enterprises more effectively and profitably."
Idaho must consider key issues for community college system
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 10:15 AM
Idaho Stateman Op-Ed contributors Gary Michael and Kevin Learned, co-chairs of the Higher Education Committee of the Idaho Business Coalition for Educational Excellence, an organization of nearly 70 top business leaders from across Idaho opined, "The Idaho Legislature has appointed an Interim Committee on Community Colleges "to analyze postsecondary education in Idaho and to make recommendations to the next Legislature." The Idaho Business Coalition for Education Excellence (IBCEE), an organization of current and retired CEO's from throughout Idaho, applauds this effort and looks forward to the committee's recommendations. In our view, a community college network will greatly benefit many post high school students and, ultimately, Idaho employers who depend on a sustained, diverse and well-trained work force."
New Jersey looking to improve education
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 9:20 AM
Courier Post reports, "Truncated summers are an idea that is accepted in a number of overseas capitols but one that in New Jersey would be sure to enrage the teachers' union, the New Jersey Education Association. Teachers here, like students, get summers off."
Seattle school tax initiatives said to violate law
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 9:01 AM
Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports, "The proposal, sponsored by a teachers union and appearing in parts on the September and November ballots, would increase Seattle property taxes from 2008 to 2013. Washington Revenue Department officials say state law prohibits voters from approving tax increases more than a year before they start."
Research ‘sparse’ on reconfiguring schools
Date CapturedFriday August 18 2006, 8:13 AM
The Mercury reports on Pennsylvania local school presentation, "It notes there are a number of factors for the community to consider when pondering any change in configuration. They include costs, the potential to increase or decrease parental involvement, 'the effect on whether the neighborhood schools close or remain open,' the effect on student achievement, 'the opportunity for interaction between age groups' and whether existing buildings can be used. All of these topics were raised during the March meeting with the public."
Kentucky school health centers seek funding
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 6:38 PM
Community Press and Recorder reports, "For parents of low-income families in Northern Kentucky, having a sick child used to mean struggling to get time off work, pulling a child out of school, and finding transportation to a doctor's office. Now, families have an alternative and schools are seeing improved attendance, says Nancy Penick-Woolum, community development specialist for the Northern Kentucky school-based health centers."
After Katrina, School Reforms Make New Orleans Most Chartered City in U.S.
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 10:50 AM
BUSINESS WIRE announces, "One year after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has become one of the most chartered cities in America, with nearly 70 percent of its public school students in schools of choice, according to a new report in the forthcoming issue of Education Next, on newsstands September 1." [Education New York Online will link to the report when available.]
Special education students tax New Jersey districts
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 10:41 AM
North Jersey.com reports, "School districts in North Jersey are increasingly finding creative solutions to reduce the cost of sending special education students out-of-district, mostly to private schools, as the number of special education students grows -- especially those who are autistic."
New Millbrook group to get tutorial on school funding on AUGUST 22, 7 PM in Millbrook
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 10:33 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports on scheduled meeting, "State Sen. Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, and Peter Applebee will speak on school financing and spending in the state [on Tuesday, August 22 in Millbrook]. Saland is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Applebee is assistant director of the Senate Finance Committee."
13 Cincinnati city schools warrant vouchers: Low performance spans 3 years
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 9:45 AM
The Enquirer reports, "Students qualify for vouchers worth up to $5,000 if their school is rated in academic emergency or academic watch, the state's two lowest categories for student achievement, for three years. The first group to take advantage of the state's new voucher program, which allows up to 14,000 students to receive vouchers annually, starts classes this month."
Single-sex classes go public
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 8:54 AM
USA Today editorial opined on gender in education, "Successful single-sex schools have everything to do with adjusting to different learning styles — and nothing to do with predators and prey. That's a lesson for educators and the ACLU."
Bad for both boys and girls
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 8:47 AM
USA Today Op-Ed contributors Emily Martin, ACLU Women's Rights Project and Katie Schwartzmann. ACLU of Louisiana opined, "The most reliable evidence available shows that proven approaches to educational reform — such as smaller classes, teachers with decent salaries and parental involvement — make much more sense than separating boys and girls based on outmoded stereotypes."
Tax break on school expenses
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 8:37 AM
The NY Daily News reports, "Unlike the similar 529 college savings account, the money in your Coverdell is not limited to spending on higher education; you can use it for tuition to any K-12 private school. Other educational expenses such as books, supplies, transportation, tutoring and even computers and Internet service also qualify."
U of Pennsylvania researcher to speak about centers approach
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 8:17 AM
The Mercury reports on proposed grade configuration, "Specifically, he [Harris Sokoloff, researcher] has been looking into a concept now being considered by the school board in which Pottstown’s traditional neighborhood K-5 elementary schools would be eliminated. In their place, students would be taught in 'centers' in which two consecutive grades would be concentrated. Under this concept, all Pottstown’s second- and third-graders would be in a single 'center,' the third and fourth grades in another."
Veto harms state's special education students
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 8:01 AM
Times Union Op-Ed contributor Marc Brandt, executive director of NYSARC Inc. opined "Gov. George Pataki's veto of legislation to return the burden of proof in special education hearings to school districts strikes a heavy blow against New York state's most vulnerable families and their children."
State High School Exit Exams: A Challenging Year
Date CapturedThursday August 17 2006, 7:48 AM
Authors: Nancy Kober, Dalia Zabala, Naomi Chudowsky, Victor Chudowsky, Keith Gayler, and Jennifer McMurrer. Center on Education Policy report finds, "... no state legislature adopted a new exit exam requirement in 2006 although Maryland, Washington, and Oklahoma are following through on plans set earlier to phase in exit exams. Of the four states scheduled to begin withholding diplomas based on exam performance this year, Arizona and California did so only after facing significant legal challenges, while Utah backed down from its earlier plans to do so. Idaho began withholding diplomas in 2006 with less conflict and controversy than other states experienced. Meanwhile, most of the 25 states that currently require or are phasing in exit exams have moved to create greater flexibility and support to help struggling students meet the exam requirements."
Funding public education tops legislative discussion
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 5:10 PM
Mid-Hudson News reports, "Perhaps the hottest issue right now is how the state and local officials plan to address the funding for public school districts."
3 forums scheduled on property tax reform
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 10:43 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Changing the way taxes are collected will be the subject of three meetings sponsored by the Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess. The session Monday will feature Assemblyman Patrick Manning, R-East Fishkill. It will be at 7 p.m. in Millerton at the American Legion Hall. Organizer Vicky Kelly said Assemblymen Joel Miller, R-Poughkeepsie, and Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, will talk about their bills at subsequent meetings."
Poughkeepsie schools chief wants coaching program for teachers
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 10:25 AM
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports on proposed instructional intervention, "The changes come with an estimated price tag of $620,000. Wilson [Superintendent] said America's Choice will charge the district $100,000 to provide training to middle school staff and for other initial staff development. Another $195,000 would fund the three coaching positions and $325,000 would pay for five new teachers at the school."
Critics bash Hawaii weighted student school funding plan
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 9:01 AM
Star Bulletin reports on weighted student school funding, "A pair of education finance experts who analyzed Hawaii's formula earlier told members there is no evidence weighted funding has boosted student performance on the mainland. Despite that, Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said she believes strongly that weighted funding can give schools much-needed extra capabilities. 'Having been in a classroom, I can guarantee you that an ESL (English as a Second Language) student takes a lot more out of you,' said Hamamoto, a former teacher and principal."
Elmira school board to get laptops
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 8:48 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "Most information will now be e-mailed to board members or posted on a Web page protected with a password, according to the district. Each board member will have an e-mail account to allow them to communicate with district employees, parents and community members."
School supervisor is ready to start
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 8:01 AM
Times Union reports on Corinth Central Schools superintendent, Dan Starr, "Of the groups who interviewed him, which included teachers and support staff, Starr said he was most impressed with the students, a feeling that matched his first impression of Corinth's citizens."
Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma prepare for rules requiring more classroom spending [65%]
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 7:35 AM
Texas AP reports, "Experts also said the requirement will be tough for small and rural districts." Efforts are underway in Washington, Arizona, Missouri and Kansas.
POL PITCH FOR 'TEEN' BOOZE LAW
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 7:19 AM
NY Post Kenneth Lovett reports, "A Westchester state senator yesterday said he is drafting two bills designed to curb underage drinking, just days after personally checking out the rowdy Chelsea bar scene last weekend with The Post."
Legislative Investigations Committee to Probe New York’s Liquor Laws and Regulations
Date CapturedWednesday August 16 2006, 7:10 AM
The Committee [NY Senate] will explore a number of issues aimed at determining whether the recent series of problems involving problem premises and underage drinking can be combated through stronger laws, regulation, and enforcement.
Upcoming school year for California state controlled district will focus on student achievement, budget
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 8:17 PM
Times-Herald reports, "Getting tough on truancy, plus more remedial classes at middle and high schools are some of what's in store as the Vallejo school district enters its third school year under state control."
Illinois State achievement tests delayed, board of education says
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 7:34 PM
AP reports, "The test results help schools develop or change curriculum. Schools have preliminary data, enabling them to do some analysis, but they don't have the details many rely on to fully assess their performance, Minton said. A state board of education official sent an e-mail to school administrators Friday saying 'it is very unlikely' they would receive complete results by the start of the school year, Minton said."
The State Education Department and the State Health Department memo and information pamphlet to underscore the potential magnitude of a pandemic on the education community and emphasize the need for preparedness
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 7:21 PM
In a severe pandemic, all employers—including schools —will experience a dramatic reduction in their workforce, as one-in-four employees becomes ill and others remain home to care for sick family members. Many schools may close because of excessive student and staff absenteeism. Available evidence indicates that school closure (perhaps as long as 12 weeks in duration) early in a pandemic may significantly reduce influenza transmission. Health officials will notify school authorities when conditions warrant school closure. In certain instances, school facilities may be asked to function as Points of Dispensing (PODs) for essential medications. We strongly encourage you to work closely with your county/city health department and emergency management officials to increase your district’s pandemic preparedness in the upcoming school year. To assist you in your planning process, we have prepared a pandemic information packet specifically designed for the education community.
Green Cleaning in Schools
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 5:45 PM
Effective September 1, 2006, State Education Law and State Finance Law require school districts to reduce exposure of children and school staff to potentially harmful chemicals and substances used in the cleaning and maintenance of schools by utilizing guidelines to procure environmentally friendly cleaning products. The State Office of General Services, in consultation with other State agencies, has developed final guidelines as well as a list of approved green cleaning products.
GUIDELINES AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE PROCUREMENT AND USE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE PRODUCTS FOR ALL PUBLIC AND NONPUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NEW YORK STATE
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 5:37 PM
New York State Office of General Services, August 4, 2006. These Guidelines and Specifications were developed in consultation with representatives of the Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Health, Department of Labor and State Education Department, as directed by Chapter 584 of the Laws of New York, 2005.
'American ABC:' Back to School in the 19th Century
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 11:54 AM
NPR reports on an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, "The exhibit -- called American ABC -- includes The New Scholar, an 1845 painting by Frances William Edmonds. It shows a scared little boy being pushed by his mother toward the schoolmaster. The boy is right to be afraid -- the schoolmaster is holding a hickory switch behind his back."
South Carolina state charter school district
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 11:40 AM
The State reports on new South Carolina charter school process, "Gov. Mark Sanford and state leaders are working on appointing the statewide charter school district’s board of trustees, who will oversee the district. It’s unclear when the new district will begin accepting school applications."
D.C. School Superintendent Janey calling for new charter schools moratorium, pending evaluations
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 11:34 AM
The Washington Post reports, "Charter schools have proliferated in the District since they were authorized by Congress a decade ago. Last year, they enrolled more than 17,500 students. Enrollment in the traditional public school system, meanwhile, has plummeted from about 80,000 students to about 58,000."
Texas voucher advocate starts ad campaign: Low-income parents urged to seek school choice from Legislature
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 10:56 AM
Houston Chronicle reports, "Texans for School Choice wants a pilot program that allows low-income families in the state's urban public school districts to send children to any school, including a private or religious school, at taxpayer expense."
NO MORE EXCUSES FOR SCHOOL FAILURE
Date CapturedTuesday August 15 2006, 8:43 AM
NY Post op-ed adapted from speech given by Joel Klein, New York City schools chancellor, "OUR reform strategy, which we call 'Children First,' is premised on the core belief that strong school-level leadership will result in high-functioning schools. Our aim is to accomplish three fundamental cultural shifts."
California State Law Limits Funding of Online Charter Schools—A.G.
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 3:46 PM
Metropolitan News reports, "The state may not fund an on-line charter school for the instruction of pupils who reside outside either the county where the school is chartered or an adjacent county, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a published opinion."
Texas children’s museum, Success by 6 team up to help children
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 2:07 PM
The Brownsville Herald reports, "The Children’s Museum of Brownsville and Success By 6 partnered on Aug. 5 to give children between 3 and 6 medical and literacy check-ups prior to starting the 2006-2007 school year. Children were taught pre-reading skills and given dental, well-being and visual screenings."
North Dakota school funding aid
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 12:04 PM
Grand Forks Herald reports on North Dakota school funding reform and the state commission's reform promise, "to greatly reduce disparities, while guaranteeing that no districts will get less than they currently do."
Kansas school districts spent millions to sue state
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 11:57 AM
AP reports, "Kansas school districts have given more than $3 million to a nonprofit organization that funded a lawsuit against the state for more education funding, but it is unclear how the money was spent. Since 1998, 19 Kansas school districts reported contributing $3.2 million to Schools for Fair Funding, a nonprofit that sued the state after the Legislature approved only small funding increases to the education budget."
Prioritize Utah's minority school plan
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 11:52 AM
Deseret Morning News editorial opined, "Utah schools are dealing with a population boom, and unlike previous booms, the student body has become more diverse than ever. The state and local school districts need solid plans to ensure the needs of poor and minority students are met and that children who attend school in lower-income neighborhoods have experienced and well-qualified teachers."
Arizona panel urging better auditing of school figures
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 11:47 AM
AP reports, "A report issued by the Auditor General's Office [Arizona] said limited audits and reviews already conducted indicated the possibility of widespread inaccuracies in attendance figures reported by school districts and charter schools."
Key to Arizona downtown campus will be keeping students happy
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 11:32 AM
The Arizona Republic reports, "State officials project that more students will want to attend college than there are available slots, and ASU is counting on the downtown campus to help it expand. In addition, the new urban university, which officials hope will eventually serve about 15,000 students, is expected to create spin-off development, drawing scores of new jobs and businesses to the area." Retention of students and campus safety are discussed.
Don't pay kids to flee schools
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 10:29 AM
USA Today opined on NCLB and America's Opportunity Scholarships for Kids, "Federal accountability rules snagged struggling schools such as Rockefeller, which means Washington has a responsibility to lend a hand. That requires doing something more effective than handing out vouchers that encourage the most motivated families to abandon those schools."
Foster parents getting organized
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 10:14 AM
USA Today reports on the needs of foster children, "The department [Washington state Social and Health Services] is trying to recruit more parents in places with a lot of foster children so a child, if moved, can stay in the same school, Spears says. 'We're moving toward more involvement from children's families, whether foster parents or relatives,' she says."
Opportunity for all children
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 10:07 AM
USA Today op-ed contributor US secretary of Education Margaret Spellings opined, "President Bush's proposed America's Opportunity Scholarships for Kids would help low-income families whose schools have failed to meet state academic standards for five or more years. Parents could use the scholarship money to transfer their children to a higher-performing public, charter, or private school or enroll them in an intensive tutoring program. For those cities and districts committed to meeting No Child Left Behind's goal of every child reading and doing math at grade level by 2014, this is an additional tool to help get them there."
Cato-Meridian looks at putting cameras in schools
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 9:51 AM
Post-Standard reports, "'It's an option to consider for enhancing safety,' said Deborah D. Bobo, school superintendent."
All Fridays off
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 9:35 AM
Journal News reports on four-day school week, "No one locally has suggested such a thing. In fact, a four-day school week, if it runs between September and June, is illegal, the way New York education law is written." But nearly a dozen states now allow school districts the option to cut their weeks by a day. Those districts that have done so originally did it to save money, and have kept it in place because they like it."
Professors ban in-class Web surfing
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 9:20 AM
The Buffalo News reprints a Chicago Tribune information policy news story, "With universities rapidly installing wireless networks, Internet surfing has taken the place of the crossword puzzle as the most popular classroom distraction. Some professors are so fed up, however, that they're banning laptops or finding ways to shut off the wireless capabilities in their classrooms." University of Chicago law school, professor Randy Picker has no intention of banning laptops or Internet access.
Stanford opens high school for gifted students
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 8:29 AM
San Francisco Chronicle reports on US first online program for ultra-smart, "The new online high school comes as advocates of gifted education say the federal No Child Left Behind Act has unintentionally hurt gifted students in the public schools. They say that because teachers face pressure to make all students proficient, they don't challenge the successful ones who could do more."
'Dangerous' not always unsafe
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 8:23 AM
The Dallas Morning News reports on NCLB school safety label, "Want an idea of how bad incident reporting is? In 2003 and 2004, TEA named 11 Texas schools as persistently dangerous. All 11 appealed their cases. And TEA eventually agreed to take all 11 off the list because of reporting errors."
WELCOME BACK, KIDS - NOW LET THE TESTS BEGIN
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 8:09 AM
NY Post DAVID ANDREATTA reports, "Incoming ninth- and 10th-graders at nearly half of all city high schools will be tested in reading and math during the first few weeks of school next month, The Post has learned."
Security Through Education
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 7:55 AM
Washington Post contributor William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland opined on school reform, "The best way to achieve such transformational changes is through so-called statewide K-16 councils, which bring educational leaders from all levels -- superintendents, principals, university presidents, deans -- together with business and community leaders on a regular basis to develop reform agendas. Such an approach is working in Maryland and a few other states. As a second means of plugging the holes, state governments and higher education need to rethink the way they distribute financial aid."
Mike joins 1st Bro Jeb to propose school fixes
Date CapturedMonday August 14 2006, 7:44 AM
NY Daily News reports on co-authored Washington Post opinion piece, "Florida and New York City are leaders when it comes to accountability in education," they [Bush and Bloomberg] wrote. The two listed several ways Congress should change the act as it faces reauthorization: Make standards meaningful, encourage student gains, recognize degrees of progress and reward and retain high-quality teachers."
Implementing Graduation Counts: State Progress to Date
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 9:52 PM
NGA Issue Brief written by Bridget Curran, Education Division, National Governors Association. (08/07/2006). "In 2005 governors of all 50 states signed the Graduation Counts Compact and made an unprecedented commitment to a common method for calculating each state's high school graduation rate. In addition to agreeing to a common formula for calculating the graduation rate, the governors committed to leading efforts to improve state data collection, reporting, and analysis; reporting additional indicators of outcomes for students; and reporting annually on their progress toward improved high school graduation, completion, and dropout data."
Assemblyman Kevin Cahill on tax reform legislation (video)
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 8:03 PM
Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess (TREND) director Vicky Perry interviewed Assemblyman Kevin Cahill on his proposal to reform New York State taxes and school funding.
Texas schools to offer TAKS online
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 7:11 PM
AP reports, "Texas joins 21 other states this year by offering its standardized test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, online. The test is used to assess skills in math, English, science, reading, writing and social sciences, and teacher pay and school funding is tied to how well students perform."
New Jersey suit aims to allow voucher program
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 2:30 PM
Courier-Post reports, "A lawsuit filed this month by school-choice advocates seeks to give parents in 25 New Jersey districts, including Camden and four others in the tri-county area, control of the money spent per pupil on their children. The money could be used for tuition at the private, religious or public school of their choosing."
Pennsylvania education costs to be studied
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 12:42 PM
Bucks County Courier Times BEN FINLEY reports on Pennsylvania (and Maryland) school funding, costing-out studies, constitutionality, and property taxes, "This school year, Pennsylvania will work out a math problem that many other states already solved: How much money does it take to make sure every student meets the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act?"
Indiana educators question value of school labels
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 12:02 PM
Journal Gazette reports on NCLB and state accountability systems, "The federal system compares grade levels with one another, year after year, and those not meeting the established passing rate – either as an entire school or one subgroup with as few as 30 students – are placed on a list and labeled as not making adequate academic progress. Indiana’s accountability system considers how students performed on the ISTEP+ over time and ranks schools in five categories: exemplary progress, commendable progress, academic progress, academic watch and academic probation. Other states with two systems have run into problems when one system lists the school as a good school and the other lists it as failing."
Residents around Plattsburgh campus tired of their quality of life: Citizen group suggests legislation
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 10:28 AM
Press Republican reports, "Plattsburgh residents are asking the city to adopt specific proposals they hope will end the deterioration of their homes and neighborhoods, largely caused by students in off-campus housing." Albany, Binghamton and Oneonta already have plans in place to deal with this problem.
Business group rips schools, says taxpayers don't get good return on investments
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 10:17 AM
Star-Gazette, Jay Gallagher reports, "The state's test scores are improving but more needs to be done to shift money to poorer districts, said a spokesman [Dunn] for the state Education Department. '... Too few dollars still go to the students and the schools with the greatest need, and class sizes are bigger there. The Board of Regents is urging a major reform of the state aid system. This will help tremendously to close the achievement gap,' said spokesman Tom Dunn."
CLASS $TRUGGLE: LITTLE RETURN ON 13G PER STUDENT
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 9:52 AM
NY Post reports on education return on investment, "But despite the dollars being doled out, student achievement per buck was astonishingly low in New York state - which ranked in the bottom five in the U.S., along with New Jersey, Alaska, Connecticut and the District of Columbia, according to a 2004 report by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research."
New sour note for Harlem choir
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 9:33 AM
NY Daily News ERIN EINHORN reports on NYC schools Promise Academy II charter school facility. "'The [Department] of Education is doing this behind parents' backs,' steamed Diana Boyd, a former member of the Choir Academy parent's association. 'This is being done without our consent.' Parents learned that the charter was coming after a city educrat was seen at the building last week checking out the space."
Keeping kids on a (technological) leash
Date CapturedSunday August 13 2006, 9:21 AM
Jerry McGovern, the Press-Republican's coordinator of Newspapers-in-Education opined on school information policy and safety regarding cell phones, "Whatever childhood is, it's not as loose and free as it used to be. And there is no turning back. Parents want to keep their children on shorter leashes, even if they are technological leashes."
Iowa Gov. Vilsack urges innovation in Iowa schools: Suggests creative solutions, such as mix of ages in classroom
Date CapturedSaturday August 12 2006, 2:20 PM
Des Moines Register reports on Iowa school reforms initiatives to improve international competition, "Multi-age classes are already held at the Downtown School in Des Moines, which also uses other research-based practices such as parental involvement, a longer school year, ungraded classes and small class sizes."
Appeals court upholds California state high school exit exam
Date CapturedSaturday August 12 2006, 2:14 PM
AP reports, "A state appeals court on Friday upheld the state's [California] high school exit exam, rejecting claims by a group of students who argued the test discriminates against poor students and those who are learning English. The three-judge panel said that although all California students don't have access to equal education, eliminating the test as a graduation requirement would harm disadvantaged students more than it would help them."
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce L.A. Chamber of Commerce Endorses Villaraigosa's School District Plan
Date CapturedFriday August 11 2006, 11:57 AM
LA Times reports on support and opposition to LA mayoral control of schools, "The chamber's support was somewhat hedged — the bill in the state Legislature, it said, 'is not a cure' for all of the Los Angeles Unified School District's problems — but it placed a widely recognized and respected business group on the record in support of Villaraigosa's efforts. That could have special weight because the bill is seen in some quarters as being driven by union interests, notably United Teachers Los Angeles, which also has endorsed it."
Tables from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)
Date CapturedFriday August 11 2006, 11:49 AM
"The School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) is a nationally representative sample of regular public elementary, middle, secondary and combined schools. Completed by school principals, the survey asks about school safety practices, school violence prevention programs, and the frequency of school crime and violence."
Arkansas Gov. Beebe proposes property tax cut
Date CapturedFriday August 11 2006, 10:36 AM
Arkansas News Bureau reports, "Beebe suggested raising the state's homestead exemption on property taxes from a maximum of $300 to $350 during a speech to the Association of Arkansas Counties. He said he worked out the proposal in meetings with county officials, particularly with tax assessors and collectors."
Digital lessons: Collaborations helped bring life to new student program
Date CapturedFriday August 11 2006, 8:37 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle editorial opined, "Through the Rochester After School Academy, which is coordinating the 'Rochester Digital Ripple' program, the students are getting a stipend while learning about cutting-edge technology. There's another lesson here, though, for the community at large. All kinds of players came together to make this happen in the year that it took to work out details."
Education Dept. puts night high schools to bed
Date CapturedFriday August 11 2006, 8:15 AM
NY Daily News reports, "About $4 million was spent last year to pay the salaries of night school teachers. That money will be made available to individual principals so they can create evening, weekend and tutoring programs tailored to the needs of their students."
Creating Equitable Public Education in the U.S
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 11:50 PM
Washington Post contributor Elena Rocha, Center for American Progress writes on weighted student funding, "The most dramatic impact of the weighted student formula is its capacity to serve to change the way we think about student populations, and consequently how we serve them; it will create powerful incentives to serve disadvantaged children. Establishing equity in funding will support greater equity in learning."
325 Arkansas schools not meeting NCLB standards
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 11:03 PM
Arkansas News Bureau reports on NCLB, parent involvement and accountability, "James [state Education Commissioner Ken James] urged parents whose children attend a school on the list to ask why the school failed to meet guidelines. 'Parents should always look at what has triggered a school to be in school improvement,' James said. 'While the level should raise some level of concern, there's a difference when the school has failed to sufficiently raise test scores for the entire population in both literacy and math as opposed to one subgroup of students missing AYP in one subject by a narrow margin.'"
APA: ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES ARE NOT AS EFFECTIVE AS THOUGHT IN REDUCING VIOLENCE AND PROMOTING LEARNING IN SCHOOL (READ REPORT)
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 1:10 PM
APA Task Force on Zero Tolerance reports, "By changing the relationship of education and juvenile justice, zero tolerance may shift the locus of discipline from relatively inexpensive actions in the school setting to the highly costly processes of arrest and incarceration. In so doing, zero tolerance policies have created unintended consequences for students, families, and communities." Task Force on Zero Tolerance: Chair: Cecil R. Reynolds, PhD, Texas A&M University; Jane Conoley, EdD, University of California at Santa Barbara; Enedina Garcia-Vazquez, PhD, New Mexico State University; Sandra Graham, PhD, University of California at Los Angeles; Peter Sheras, PhD, University of Virginia; and Russell Skiba, PhD, Indiana University.
At schools, less tolerance for 'zero tolerance'
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 12:10 PM
USA Today reports, "There are growing signs that zero-tolerance policies are steering more teens into the juvenile justice system, says Russell Skiba, an Indiana University educational psychologist. 'Things that used to be handled by principals land kids in juvenile detention,' he says. The report also mentions racial disparities; minorities are expelled more often than whites for comparable offenses."
Panel seeks more aid: North Dakota Commission recommends education budget overhaul
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 11:16 AM
AP reports on proposal abolishing North Dakota's method of redistributing property tax resources among schools, "It includes spending adjustments that would give more money to schools for students in special and vocational education classes, those who need intensive English instruction, and for dropouts who have returned to school to get their degrees."
Connecticut school updating off-school policy
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 11:10 AM
The Connecticut Post reports, "Under the policy, students who get in trouble off school grounds will face punishment from education officials if it is determined that their actions affect the school environment."
West Virginia teacher evaluation law criticized
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 11:05 AM
The Charleston Gazette reports, "A change in state [West Virginia] law that eliminates mandatory teacher evaluations for those with more than five years’ experience is getting criticism from state school board members and county officials."
Hawaii BOE should not lose sight of funding strategy's goal
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 10:56 AM
Honolulu Star-Bulletin opined on Hawaii student-weighted funding, "The revamped formula increases the weight for geographically isolated schools, adds a new one for at-risk students and introduces three funding levels based on language fluency, all reasonable designations. Another recommendation is to create a full-time office to develop, coordinate and assess the formula."
Civil rights leader fights the tide to back Jersey school vouchers
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 10:45 AM
The Star-Ledger reports, "The 52-year-old Jackson said he gradually came to the cause of school vouchers -- he prefers the term 'school choice' -- after he arrived at Orange's St. Matthew's AME Church in the early 1980s. The Black Ministers' Council later filed a brief on behalf of the plaintiffs in the state Supreme Court's Abbott v. Burke school equity cases, but he said he grew disillusioned by the slow gains in the state's most troubled schools."
Breakfast being offered to all students at Lockport High School
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 9:53 AM
The Buffalo News reports, "'We wanted to make sure all kids can have a nutritious breakfast, so we decided to do it. It's an important program because some kids may not get a good breakfast otherwise,' Board member David Nemi said. He added that it will not affect local property taxes because the state reimburses the district with a lot more aid than what it costs to operate the program."
An education in costs: With project half done, Buffalo schools' overhaul is in jeopardy
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 9:33 AM
The Buffalo news reports, "If the project can't be sustained, some students will benefit while others remain in outdated schools that are ill-equipped to meet the demands of 21st century education. That would raise issues of equity that school officials are determined to avoid."
Manhattan: School's Discipline Code Criticized
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 9:23 AM
NY Times ELISSA GOOTMAN reports on New York City schools Internet use related information policy, "Civil rights advocates criticized proposed changes to the city Education Department’s discipline code yesterday, saying that a proposal to punish students who post 'libelous or defamatory material' on the Internet was unconstitutional."
Auditors reproach California charter schools
Date CapturedThursday August 10 2006, 8:47 AM
AP reports, "A chain of charter schools overcharged the state more than $57 million over three years, reimbursed its top executives for expensive SUVs and paid thousands of dollars for employee parties at Disneyland, a state audit released Wednesday found."
Debate school vouchers without injecting race
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 11:10 PM
USA op-ed contributor Kevin Chavous, Distinguished fellow, Center for Education Reform opined on school vouchers, "Let's also make sure we know the truth, which is that children who have choices do better than those who do not. The research is abundant, as are stories of triumph when America's impoverished families are given the opportunity to choose the schools their children attend."
UCSC shows its growth as a research university
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 9:31 PM
Santa Cruz Sentinel reports, "The $128.5 million in grants the school [University of California Santa Cruz] received during the last academic year continues a trend of research funding and signifies the university's steady evolution as a research institution, university officials said."
Dallas school sued over racism accusations
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 7:59 PM
Chron.com reports, "Attorneys for the plaintiffs opened their case by presenting an e-mail they said was sent by the school's PTA president. The e-mail said only a few Hispanic students would be selected to appear in a brochure intended for residents of Preston Hollow, one of the city's more affluent neighborhoods."
Arrogance unaffordable
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 2:51 PM
The Journal News opined on accountability, "Warning: In the current climate of a growing taxpayer rebellion against high property taxes, particularly in the suburbs, no school board can react to scrutiny of its books with defensiveness. That's just plain offensive — and could lead to contagious doubting of all districts' fiscal management."
Study: California facing child-care crisis
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 11:16 AM
Pasadena Star News reports, "The study, commissioned by First 5 California, UC Berkeley and the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, found that one-quarter of California preschool teachers with bachelor's degrees or higher are 50 years or older and approaching retirement. It also found the turnover rate for early childhood education teachers was twice that of California public school K-12 teachers."
Arizona Maricopa County judge allows AIMS challenge to proceed
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 10:55 AM
The Arizona Republic reports, "A judge has refused to dismiss a legal challenge to the requirement that Arizona high school students pass the AIMS test to graduate, setting the stage for a two-day hearing later this month on the adequacy of funding for Arizona public schools."
California charter school makes efforts to ward off charges of elistism
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 10:28 AM
Santa Cruz Sentinel reports, "Since PCS opened in 1999, it has been dogged with charges of elitism. Its student body is overwhelmingly white and the average student's family often donates more than $1,000 a year, even though it's a public school. Half the students in the county are Latino, but PCS has a Latino population of just 5 percent."
Transfers Threaten Florida Class-Size Balance: State, federal laws collide
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 9:56 AM
The Ledger reports, "Title 1 schools have a majority of poor students and receive federal funding aimed at helping these students catch up in their school work. Title 1 schools face more severe consequences for failing to make AYP because of the additional funding."
NOT A JOB FOR THE SCHOOLS
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 8:33 AM
NY Post opined on schools' plan to restrict Internet use from home, "It's certainly good to see education brass concerned about the need to assure an unintimidating environment for learning. But don't they have their hands full monitoring activity at school, without trying to police behavior at home, too?"
School nurses cut: Targeted 45 schools with special-needs kids, 40% of them on Staten Island
Date CapturedWednesday August 09 2006, 7:17 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The moves are the result of concessions the city gained from two unions that represent school nurses, the United Federation of Teachers and District Council 37. The concessions, which went into effect July 31, freed the city from stipulations that forced it to put a second nurse in schools with even one special-education student."
Texas teachers union calls for TAKS overhaul
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 10:24 PM
Star Telegram reports, "The union is pushing for the state legislature to institute school evaluation methods that account for poverty, high mobility and other factors that affect the learning environment in low-performing schools. It also seeks legislative support for giving individual teachers more control over how students prepare for tests."
Popular single-gender classes at Iowa school being scrutinized by state
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 9:56 PM
The Courier, "A recent report issued by the Iowa Department of Education stated that the single-gender classrooms at the Walter Cunningham School for Excellence are in violation of federal and state civil rights laws that require school boards to take steps to integrate students on the basis of gender."
Consensus driven Taxnightmare.org READER WRITES...
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 3:02 PM
"Everyone knows the problem - - out-of-control property taxes as the major source of school funding. The taxes are destroying diversity, communities, and open space. They are regressive and confiscatory. It's a crisis. Our one goal is to have the state assume the responsibility for funding schools through some means other than property taxes. Period. We will define the candidates by how nearly their agenda approximates our goal .Gioia." (CLICK on blue link for tax group website.)
READER WRITES...
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 2:57 PM
"I would like to know how long can a school be considered to be in this NCLB Program? The school that I just enrolled my daughter in informed me that they are under warning? This is the 2nd year that they have been under this program? This worries me. Please respond to my question. Thanks, TG" (CLICK on blue link for answer)
Bully Police USA
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 12:18 PM
A Watch-dog Organization - Advocating for Bullied Children
Pennsylvania anti-bullying policy might be mandatory
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 12:03 PM
Times Leader reports, "Though the bill would define student bullying to include written, verbal and electronic intimidation, it would allow districts to develop their own procedures and punishments for student bullies."
Mississippi parents group will tackle education
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 11:52 AM
AP reports, "A new nonprofit group is trying to mobilize parents to lobby for full education funding, but a key lawmaker says public school supporters need to be careful not to slam lawmakers who might be their friends."
Los Angeles Mayor's Staff Makes Changes to Protect School Reform Plan: Adds provisions to assure city councils of control and to deflect legal liability
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 10:57 AM
LA Times reports, "New language in the proposed bill, however, specifically keeps the City Council, and other affected city councils, in charge of the purse strings: 'Nothing … shall be construed to require any city to expend city resources on services to the school district.'"
Profs, funds added to Westchester Community College budget to attract students
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 9:32 AM
THE JOURNAL NEWS reports, "To help attract and retain students and to increase the full-time faculty, the Westchester legislature's budget committee added $161,000 to next year's spending plan for Westchester Community College yesterday."
Here's What You'll Get In New York School Tax Rebate
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 9:02 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "The STAR or School Tax Relief provides a partial exemption from school property taxes for owner-occupied primary residences. Almost everyone who owns a home is eligible for the basic exemption. Income-eligible homeowners older than 65 are eligible for a larger exemption. The exemptions vary by municipality. The tax rebate checks that will arrive this fall will vary widely by school district."
Hawaii DOE suggests restoring cuts: Recommendations would alter a system of weighted funding
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 8:46 AM
Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports, "The recommendations would restore much, and in some cases all, of the budget cuts some schools would have faced under the weighted student formula, which shifts funds to schools with more poor, non-English-speaking students or others with learning challenges."
Utica City School District denies request for records on after-school programs
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 8:17 AM
Observer Dispatch reports, "'The regulations issued by the Committee on Open Government, which have the force of law, require that a denial of a request include the reasons,' Freeman [Committee on Open Government] said. 'All records maintained by or for the city school district fall within the coverage of the Freedom of Information Law. From there, the law requires that all records be made public unless an exception to rights of access can properly be asserted. No exception was referenced in the letter addressed to the O-D.'"
School spending called ineffective: New York top in spending, bottom in graduation
Date CapturedTuesday August 08 2006, 7:46 AM
The Journal News reports, "The head of the state's largest teacher union said the findings did not surprise him. 'We do spend a lot on education because we offer a lot,' said Richard Ianuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers. 'In New York state, the cost of living and the quality of curriculum and the toughness of the standards demand a lot.' And he said high standards mean that not everyone will graduate on time."
Florida judges, special education advocates team up for foster children
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 9:51 PM
Daily Record reports, "Cole [Judge] said foster children often switch caregivers and homes frequently. Those changes can pose both emotional and academic problems, Cole said – and cause learning disabilities to go unnoticed and untreated. 'If their residence changes multiple times in a calendar year, you don’t want these children to switch schools multiple times,' said Cole. 'Teachers tell me a mid-year school move is tantamount to losing three months of academic progress.'"
Diocese awards 23 education grants
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 8:37 PM
Business First of Buffalo reports, "Western New York schools and church programs have received nearly $80,000 in grants from the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese. The grants come through the Catholic Education Funding program, funded through endowments and from the proceeds of the annual Celebrate Catholic Education dinner."
NEW YORK EDUCATION STATISTICS SHOW HIGH SPENDING FOR AVERAGE RESULTS
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 11:34 AM
The Public Policy Institute of NYS "Just the Facts" series shows, "New York's per-pupil spending is the second highest in the nation while the state's graduation rate is near the bottom." Additional data on pupil/teacher ratios, class sizes, teacher salary, student performance on math and reading exams and SATs, and other higher education statistics are included.
Study doesn't set back school choice
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 9:22 AM
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel opined, "Leaders of teachers' unions are crowing over the findings, saying they show that public money should not go to private schools, as in Milwaukee's voucher program, since such schools perform no better than do public schools. However, the officials are reading too much into the study, which has little to say to a desperate, low-income Milwaukee parent who feels his or her child is trapped in a bad public school other than that any alternative deserves scrutiny."
Illinois local district merger panel plans low profile during tax-hike campaigns
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 9:09 AM
Liberty Suburban Chicago Newspapers reports, "School parent groups in Darien are rallying troops to campaign for property tax hikes this fall, but one recently formed committee plans to keep quiet. That group was formed by the superintendents of Darien School District 61 and Cass School District 63 in June to study whether the two districts should merge. It could ultimately have a greater impact on the town's public schools than any referendum measure on the November ballot."
Onteora board will mull 'large parcel' law
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 9:00 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "The debate over the issue has been heated over the past three years because reservoir property in Olive was considered by state officials to be overassessed in comparison to other properties in the town. The resulting recalculation has caused significant property tax increases for Olive homeowners."
Cost-saving ratio: Consolidation
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 8:01 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin opined, "There are many differences between Pittsburgh and Broome County -- Roosevelt plans to close 22 schools, in fact -- but the statistics at least show that it's possible for one administration to supervise a collection of high schools. And that's something that tax-strapped Broome County really ought to start considering. It wouldn't mean the end of the Union-Endicott and Vestal football rivalry, or the loss of teachers or schools. But a countywide school district could mean a reduction in administrative costs."
Utica district needs plan for building: Assess how HOPE VI plan fits into district's overall needs
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 7:40 AM
Observer-Dispatch (Utica) opined, "Creating a building plan is something the district should move forward on as soon as possible. The residents of Cornhill, and all district taxpayers, deserve an answer about whether this school is feasible. And input from district residents should certainly be part of the school board's planning process. Regardless of what it says in the HOPE VI plan, the school board is charged with determining what's best for district students and taxpayers, and meeting their needs has to come first."
School districts get more power in suspensions
Date CapturedMonday August 07 2006, 7:20 AM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Previously, local school officials couldn't allow suspended students to return to classes until they served the full penalty, Alesi noted 'This new law corrects that oversight, allowing school districts, the ones who know individual students' needs best, more control in the length of punishment and allowing a student who has voluntarily tried to make amends, to return to school early and continue pursuing their education,' Alesi [Sen.]said in a news release last week."
Gain in Income Is Offset by Rise in Property Tax
Date CapturedSunday August 06 2006, 11:21 PM
NY Times reports, "In the suburbs of New York City, as in many other places across the country, property taxes are the main revenue source for municipal and county governments and, most expensively, their schools. But while property taxes are principally a local government issue, they have major political ramifications in state capitols. And so this sharp reversal in income and property tax growth helps to explain the building murmurs of a tax revolt not only in the New York region but around the country."
Niagara County Community College launches high-tech upgrade
Date CapturedSunday August 06 2006, 4:28 PM
Buffalo News reports, "College technicians will be able to upgrade software in any of the school's 1,000 desktop computers, and discover a software problem on any one of them and fix it without leaving their laboratory. They also will be able to plug security holes in the school's Windows computer operating system to prevent hackers from accessing it."
Texas teachers union slams testing as overkill, urges better system
Date CapturedSunday August 06 2006, 10:19 AM
San Antonio Express-News reports, "The federation also recommended replacing the exit-level TAKS with end-of-course tests aligned with curriculum, compensating teachers for tutoring outside the school day and developing a 'learning environment index' for all schools that would take into account school safety, facility conditions, neighborhood, teacher retention, and financial and professional support. The index could be used to identify and help schools working under greater challenges."
Mahopac group confident it will raise enough money for sports
Date CapturedSunday August 06 2006, 9:54 AM
The Journal News reports, "The 'pay-to-play' system was put together by the MSA, parents, teachers and the Board of Education after this year's second budget defeat, which required that the school board adopt a $95.8 million contingency budget. The board voted to eliminate all extracurricular activities for a savings of $1,037,000."
Let's do more for the libraries
Date CapturedSunday August 06 2006, 9:17 AM
NY Daily News opined, "For students, they are homework centers. For the unemployed, they are job centers. For anyone without a computer, they are Internet access. For small children, they are story time. For immigrants, they are the English language."
New government taking shape in Rochester: Huge city schools upgrade requires vigilant oversight
Date CapturedSunday August 06 2006, 9:01 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle opined, " A school construction inspector general may be needed to help audit these local programs. This is a historic overhaul of the city's public schools. The money is huge. The process must be right."
'Bickering' over state aid crucial to Albany city schools
Date CapturedSunday August 06 2006, 8:50 AM
Times Union contributor and Albany City PTA co-chair MARK S. MISHLER opined, "Albany, in particular, has been made into the laboratory for right-wing opponents of public education who have oversaturated the city with charter schools. Close to 10 percent of the charter schools in New York are here, even though Albany has never been determined by the state Education Department to be a 'district in need of improvement.' Why are the charter schools not all in the 50 districts that have been deemed 'in need of improvement'?"
Kentucky schools and afterschool programs share student database
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 11:21 PM
AP reports, "The Louisville project has caught the attention of educators in other states. It may turn into a national model of how schools can work with community groups, particularly as afterschools take on a greater role in helping students read and do math."
Research Finds Vigorous Exercise Equals Better Academics
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 11:09 PM
Medical News reported on increased academic achievment observed in students participating in sports, "This is noteworthy because in this day of 'No Child Left Behind' and standardized testing, many public school boards think physical education is a luxury they just can't afford."
North Dakota launches Teachers of English as a New Language program
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 10:53 PM
South Bend Tribune reports, "The pilot program is designed for licensed teachers in Catholic schools with at least 10 percent of students for whom English is a new language, and for bilingual teachers (including those abroad) who teach in schools where the primary language is not English. In 2007, the program will be offered to Catholic school teachers nationwide."
National Fresh School Snack program gets boost in New York
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 9:46 PM
EmpireStateNews reports, "Senator Hillary Clinton and Congressman Brian Higgins Wednesday announced that they had convened a bipartisan coalition of New York's Congressional Delegation calling for New York State to be included in a national healthy school food program. The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program provides federal funding to schools to allow them to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers and to provide them as healthy snacks for kids during the school day. Currently there are 14 states participating in the program."
SEEK study: Pump more into Kentucky schools
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 12:21 PM
Cincinnati Post reports, "A long-awaited review of the state's SEEK school funding formula, obtained by The Post Friday, recommends state help for growing districts and the option of raising more from local property taxes." The 47-page report also suggests that the state's overall 'base' funding is inadequate."
PROPERTY TAXES: Giving schools a break: North Dakota lawmakers endorse plan for school property tax relief
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 12:10 PM
AP reports, "North Dakota lawmakers endorsed a proposal to spend $74 million in state funds over two years to finance property tax cuts for local schools. The legislation ended up pitting a handful of Bismarck and Fargo lawmakers against everyone else."
New Jersey committee initiates work on property tax reform
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 11:38 AM
Asbury Park Press reports, "Lawmakers, citing difficult choices and big challenges ahead, pledged to get to work on historic reform, and then mostly listened to a presentation on New Jersey property taxes and how they compare with other levies here and elsewhere."
No Child Left Behind Act: Education Actions Needed to Improve Local Implementation and State Evaluation of Supplemental Educational Services (full study)
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 10:36 AM
GAO-06-758 August 4, 2006. "GAO examined (1) how SES [supplemental educational services] participation changed between school years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005; (2) how SES providers are working with districts to deliver SES; (3) how states are monitoring and evaluating SES; and (4) how the Department of Education (Education) monitors and supports state implementation of SES."
Mount Vernon puts school bus line on warning
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 10:24 AM
The Journal News reports, "Over the past two years, parents and school staff members have registered numerous complaints, according to documents released to the parents under a Freedom of Information request."
English-math emphasis criticized as pushing out other study areas
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 10:19 AM
AP reports, "Across the country, middle school and high school students are being required to spend more class time on English and mathematics as officials try to raise test scores and meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Variations of the double-dose approach are being used in districts in such places as Kansas, Missouri, Texas, New Jersey and California."
Worker evaluations aid schools, taxpayers
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 10:12 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal op-ed contributors Doug Hieter and Stephen Hughes, trustees of the Hyde Park Central School District opined, "School boards generally recognize the public's frustration with ever-increasing budgets and struggle to balance the cost of education with the community's ability to pay. Not all decisions are popular or readily understood with a casual knowledge of the system. In the long run, individual steps a district takes are important in the context of the direction a district is heading and progress toward its goals. Tying pay to performance is fiscally responsible. Evaluating performance is academically responsible. This is the direction Hyde Park is headed."
Hyde Park schools lose special ed suit: Courts say parents should be repaid
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 10:04 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "At a meeting before an Impartial Hearing Officer, the district conceded Smith School was not an appropriate placement for [name omitted], according to the decision. While the hearing officer and a state review officer concluded the district didn't have to reimburse the family for tuition, the district court reversed the decision."
Auburn school social worker plan opens rift : District, teachers union split over whether to take on uncertified social workers
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 9:58 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "John B. Plume, school superintendent, said the benefits of the program, especially social workers in the homes, is worth fighting for. He said the Partnership-hired and trained social workers would be different from the school social workers in that they would work in the homes and after school, which school social workers don't do."
Report: Tutoring part of No Child Left Behind falls short
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 1:48 AM
USA Today reports, "About one in five school districts, most of them rural, didn't offer students any services even though they were required to do so, according to the GAO, Congress' watchdog arm"
LEP/ELL Student Statewide Assessment Policy/Title I Requirements
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 1:34 AM
New York State Education Department press release from Jean C. Stevens reads, "New York has been notified by the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), based upon USDOE’s NCLB standards and assessment peer review process, that NYSESLAT can no longer be used for Title I accountability purposes, except as described below for students newly arrived in the United States. USDOE determined that New York’s use of NYSESLAT for ELA accountability was not consistent with the requirements of NCLB and directed New York to come into compliance with NCLB by the end of the 2006-07 school year. As a result, New York must administer its ELA assessment to LEP/ELL students who, as of January 3, 2007, have been enrolled in school in the United States (excluding Puerto Rico) for one year or more."
More Students in New York Will Take Regular English Test
Date CapturedSaturday August 05 2006, 12:58 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, "Ordered by the federal government to improve its testing of students who speak limited English, New York State said yesterday that all children enrolled in school in the United States for at least a year would be required to take the state’s regular English Language Arts exam. The test is given annually in the third through eighth grades.
Niagara schools superintendent presents report
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 1:53 PM
Buffalo News reports, "During a 16-hour retreat, Granto unveiled a thorough demographic report showing the nine board members everything they probably didn't like to see about the city and the school district - but needed to know. It contained startling statistics, including numbers on poverty, unemployment and single-parent families in the city, as well as the dramatically falling student population, rising costs and the impact the Niagara Charter School will have on district revenue during the next five years."
Adequate education? New Hampshire charter school does it for less
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 10:21 AM
UnionLeader.com reports, "Seacoast Charter provided its highly sought product for an average cost of $6,500 per pupil this past academic year. The average per pupil cost for a New Hampshire public school is $11,200."
A new high-tech take on school group project
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 9:34 AM
Boston Globe reports, "The technology is most commonly associated with Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia written and edited by the public with nearly 2 million registered users . But it has broader uses, and educators are experimenting with wiki textbooks, wiki lesson plans that teachers share, and projects in which students develop wikis as they would write papers."
Louisiana school board drops single sex plan
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 8:41 AM
AP reports, "The movement for single-sex classrooms has grown from four public schools in 1998 to at least 223 this year, according to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. Single-sex classroom supporters argue that boys and girls learn differently, and separating them can help both do better. Critics compare it to 'separate but equal' segregation-era classrooms."
Maryland Gov. consolidates early learning with education
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 8:14 AM
Baltimore Sun op-ed contributor Sandra J. Skolnik, executive director of the Maryland Committee for Children writes, " Consolidating early care and education with K-to-12 education is a move supported by research, logic, and economics, creating a continuum of development from birth through grade 12. And yet, it breaks with decades of thinking that held 'education' in the K-12 silo while state involvement in early care has been largely the purview of social service departments. It required vision from Maryland's governor, legislative leaders, and state school superintendent to make a break with past thinking and with entrenched bureaucratic interests. It remains to be seen whether other states will muster the political will to do so."
NYC Mayor Bloomberg endorses mayoral control of Los Angeles schools
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 7:42 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Bloomberg and Daley [Chicago mayor] said mayoral takeover of the public school system has resulted in more-empowered principals, improved safety and new programs to support struggling students and schools."
The Determinants of Student Achievement in Ohio’s Public Schools
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 1:08 AM
By Matthew Carr, Education Policy Director, Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions. Carr writes, "To capture the changing dynamics of both different academic subjects and students at different ages, this analysis evaluates student performance in five subjects (math, reading, writing, science and citizenship) across grades 3 to 12. This combination gives us 21 separate analyses, or mathematical models. Controls were also included for geography, student socio-economic status, race, and learning disability. This study breaks new ground by also analyzing the factors that influence student performance in charter schools."
Ohio study disputes traditional keys to success in school: Qualified teachers, attendance rated as most important
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 12:41 AM
The Columbus Dispatch reports on study results, "Other things that make a difference: attendance, how often students switch schools and whether students are poor. Spotty attendance, high mobility and poverty have a negative impact on scores, the study shows."
U.S. Issues New Rules on Schools and Disability
Date CapturedFriday August 04 2006, 12:20 AM
NY Times Diana Jean Schemo reports, "In regulations issued today after changes to the law, the federal Education Department said states could not require school districts to rely on that method, allowing districts to find other ways to determine which children are eligible for extra help."
Utah Gov. Huntsman Jr.'s pitches flat tax to educators
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 11:52 PM
Salt Lake Tribune reports, " Robert Spendlove, Huntsman's economist, said a move toward flattening Utah's income tax could create 25,000 new jobs by 2020 and generate an additional $2.6 billion per year of gross state product, creating increases in income tax revenue that would easily outbalance initial tax cuts."
One Million Fathers March Back to School
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 8:51 PM
BET.com reports, "Believing that fathers should take a more active role in their child's education and overall development, a community-based group is hoping to get 1 million fathers to escort their children on the first day of school."
Qualifications of Public Secondary School History Teachers, 1999–2000
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 8:05 PM
This NCES Issue Brief "reports the combination of certifications and majors and minors to which secondary-level history students are exposed and how these qualifications vary across schools with differing levels of student poverty. Data from the NCES 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) teacher and school questionnaires indicate that students in the lowest poverty schools were the least likely to have a teacher with both an out-of-field certification and an out-of-field major or minor."
Federal Grants Promote Character Education in U.S. Schools
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 7:25 PM
AgapePress reports, "For example, McKay[US Dept of Ed) says a growing number of school districts are using character education in their sports programs to teach young athletes perseverance, respect, and cooperation. And, she adds, some of the grants the program has coming out include partnering relationships with faith-based groups or institutions, which cooperate with the schools to design and implement character education programs"
NYSSBA's Opinion - Taylor Law
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 11:08 AM
By Timothy G. Kremer, Executive Director, New York State School Boards Association. Kremer writes on property taxes and the Taylor Law, "The problem is that the Taylor Law contains only a vague definition of bad-faith bargaining. PERB under the current chairman has been even-handed in its rulings, but past PERBS have been friendlier to the unions. The Abbate-Robach bills don’t punish the school board or mayor, but the property taxpayer. And it’s not as if public employees are still underpaid as they once were. A typical teacher earns an average of $53,000 in New York State. Public employees’ health insurance plans and retirement benefits are among the best. That they are somehow being taken advantage of at the bargaining table by cold-hearted local and state governments is pure fiction."
New cars may reward perfect attendance
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 10:26 AM
The Tennessean reports, "High school seniors from 26 Middle Tennessee counties will have a chance to win a new Chevrolet car this school year through a new incentive program called 'The Chevy Drive for Perfection.'"
School health centers seek funding
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 10:12 AM
Community Press & Recorder reports, "For parents of low-income families in Northern Kentucky, having a sick child used to mean struggling to get time off work, pulling a child out of school, and finding transportation to a doctor's office. Now, families have an alternative and schools are seeing improved attendance, says Nancy Penick-Woolum, community development specialist for the Northern Kentucky school-based health centers."
Can New Jersey municipalities save by consolidation?
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 10:02 AM
AP reports, "New Jerseyans love neighborhood schools, town halls, county identities, and local fire departments. The state has 1,389 such governmental entities, and each collects property tax."
Low enrollment threatens school
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 9:46 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "If St. Daniel closes, it would follow the closing in June of four other schools in the diocese. The closing of Cathedral, St. James and St. Patrick schools in Syracuse and St. Ann in Onondaga were blamed on declining enrollment, changing demographics and increasing operating costs. The closings were part of a consolidation that will create three Bishop's Academies at Most Holy Rosary, Holy Family and St. Charles Borromeo schools and one Cathedral Academy at Our Lady of Pompei School this September."
New study identifies significant private school advantages
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 9:26 AM
Bloomberg News reports, "'We don't interpret our findings as proving that private schools are better,' Peterson [Harvard researcher] said. 'What we do show is that how your results are incredibly sensitive to the exact way you do the analysis.'" READ REFERENCED STUDIES ON EDUCATION NEW YORK ONLINE, EDUCATION POLICY PAGE, SCHOOL CHOICE LINK (http://www.educationnewyork.com/EducationPolicy#CATID55).
Plattsburgh city residents still fuming over rude, noisy college students
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 9:19 AM
The PressRepublican reports, "Residents are calling for stricter enforcement of city ordinances and increased accountability by landlords, some of whom seem more than willing to rent slums to students who, in turn, treat them as such."
Study disputes public school advantage
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 9:00 AM
UPI reports, "'When you use participation in federal programs as a measure of a student's family background, you undercount the number of disadvantaged students in the private sector,' said Paul Peterson, a professor of government and one of the study's authors. By contrast, Harvard's study gave a more accurate picture of student performance in both public and private schools, Peterson said." READ REFERENCED STUDIES ON EDUCATION NEW YORK ONLINE, EDUCATION POLICY PAGE, SCHOOL CHOICE LINK (http://www.educationnewyork.com/EducationPolicy#CATID55).
Helping homeless kids get back to school
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 8:10 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The Newkirk Area Neighborhood Association will prepare bookbags for distribution on Aug. 19. Send funds to help fill them to: NANA c/o Flatbush Development Corp., 1616 Newkirk Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11226."
Don't abolish minimum attendance rule, school board is urged
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 6:57 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Parents, teachers, former Board of Education members and several school district residents spoke out Wednesday night against a proposal to eliminate the district's minimum-attendance requirement. The requirement that the Board of Education is considering abolishing mandates that students attend class at least 90 percent of the time to be eligible to pass."
Michigan's Teachers union can't challenge community college's charter schools
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 12:38 AM
Free Press reports, "A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals found the Michigan Education Association could not pursue its claim of potential damage from the operation of schools chartered by Bay Mills Community College because it could not provide evidence that public school teachers salaries would be adversely affected by the opening of charter schools."
In Push to Open Small Schools, a Big Obstacle: Limited Space
Date CapturedThursday August 03 2006, 12:24 AM
NY Times reports, "In the Bronx, 500 students in two high schools are not sure where they will go when classes start next month. The schools were supposed to share a former elementary school, but nonprofit groups that have occupied the building since 1982 refuse to leave and a lawsuit has been filed. The students are likely to end up in trailers outside the building."
Taxnightmare.org
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 9:39 PM
On the Public-Private School Achievement Debate
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 6:28 PM
Paul E. Peterson and Elena Llaudet discuss methodological problems with NCES's study requested by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), "The results from the Alternative Models should not be understood as showing that private schools outperform public schools. Without information on prior student achievement, one cannot answer questions about schools’ efficacy in raising student test scores. The NCES analysis is at serious risk of having produced biased estimates, because its adjustment for student characteristics suffered from two sorts of problems: a) inconsistent classification of student characteristics across sectors and b) inclusion of student characteristics open to school influence. To avoid bias, classification decisions must be consistent for both groups under study. This rule was violated repeatedly in the NCES study." PEPG 06-02. Program on Education Policy and Governance Department of Government, FAS Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Buses won’t roll for 1,384 Ohio students, board determines
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 11:36 AM
The Columbus Dispatch reports, "The Columbus Board of Education yesterday declared 1,384 students 'impractical' to transport to school this fall, prompting charter-school advocates to accuse the district of violating state law."
Flag law will be costly for community colleges
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 11:30 AM
The Arizona Republic reports, "'While we appreciate the Arizona Legislature's obvious good intention in passing the bill, we think there is a better way to improve Arizona students' educational experience: making sure they study American history,' Mitchell said. In 2001, 57 percent of U.S. high school seniors did not have a basic command of American history, according to a study from the National Center for Education Stastistics."
Analyst warns against Los Angeles Unifed School District plan
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 10:50 AM
Daily Breeze reports, "The city of Los Angeles' own legislative analyst has recommended that the City Council oppose Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to gain some control of the Los Angeles Unified School District, saying it threatens the balance of power in local government."
The Battle Over School Choice
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 10:06 AM
Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 9:43 AM
New York Charter School Resource Center
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 9:40 AM
The new learning curve: Technological security
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 8:51 AM
USA Today reports, "Raising awareness among computer users about privacy protection is a never-ending job, especially on college campuses where the student population changes each year."
United Way sets priorities
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 8:32 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Spending on the Strong Start program, another early childhood initiative that gives extra help to children who enter kindergarten with risks of failure, also will expand to three schools from one. United Way will double its funding for the Hillside Work Scholarship Connection, attempting to reach 200 more kids, and increase the number of school-community partnership programs, such as the one at East High and five other schools. By 2008 there'd be a total of 11 schools with these centers for counseling, mentoring and tutoring. Carpino said these programs reduce drop-out rates. United Way will continue to fund after-school programs that keep children safe and off the street, such as Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Rochester and YMCA."
Northeastern Clinton Central Schools considers building new or closing old buildings
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 8:20 AM
The Press-Republican reports, "Sometime in December, Northeastern Clinton Central School District voters may be deciding whether to build a consolidated elementary facility."
Arizona requiring U.S. history weighed for colleges
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 8:09 AM
The Arizona Republic reports, "The debate comes as Arizona school districts and colleges prepare for a new state law that requires the presentation of the U.S. flag in every public classroom, as well as display of the Constitution and Bill of Rights in classrooms for Grades 7 through 12 and college. The measure, approved this session by the Legislature and signed by the governor, takes effect July 1."
Kingston High School attendance policy topic of hearing
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 7:36 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "The current school attendance policy established a minimum standard of attendance whereby any high school student who is illegally absent for 18 days in a full-year course or 9 days in a semester course will be denied course credit. Under the revised attendance policy, 'where a student earns a passing grade, credit will not be denied for the course(s) regardless of the number of absences.'"
Rochester Work in progress: Get Teen Court involved in curfew pilot project
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 7:25 AM
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The city is working toward a curfew like one in Minneapolis, where the city, county and school district jointly support a curfew center that offers violators a support services network that can help them stay on track. A pilot program can help reveal what kinds of services young people who are out on the streets of Rochester most need."
Why school budgets here are inflated
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 7:20 AM
The Journal News letter to the editor writes, "Massachusetts law states that public school districts are allowed only one vote, and if it fails they get a flat 2.5 percent increase. Teacher's unions in New York will try to argue that you get a better education here, as opposed to Massachusetts, but we all know that's not true. We're paying twice as much. Are New York's kids twice as smart? I don't think so."
Hundreds protest 'waste' in North Rockland schools
Date CapturedWednesday August 02 2006, 7:15 AM
The Journal News reports, "More than 200 people rallied yesterday to express their frustration over the North Rockland school district's handling of its budget."
School Choices
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 7:42 PM
Principals Offer Advice for High School Students' Families
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 7:34 PM
Business Wire reports, "Of the respondents, 62 percent said 'Maintain regular communication with teachers and school administrators.' This includes talking or emailing monthly with teachers and school counselors, participating in open houses and parent-teacher conferences, and reading and responding to school communications."
School Choice Lawsuit in New Jersey Raises Much Needed Public Awareness about the Crisis in Education
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 6:52 PM
Hispanic Business reports, “'It is clear that students are not receiving the education the state constitution demands. No student – Hispanic, White, Black or Asian – should be forced to attend a school that violates their constitutional right because of where they live. These students deserve equal protection under the law and must be granted an immediate remedy.' said Martin Perez, Board Member of Hispanic CREO and President of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey."
HISPANIC COUNCIL FOR REFORM AND EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS (CREO)
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 6:49 PM
Maine counters No Child left Behind failure
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 6:20 PM
AP reports, "State officials believe a proposed withholding of federal funds is due primarily to the state's use of the S-A-T as a high school-level assessment tool, and that federal dissatisfaction reflects a lack of appreciation for Maine's effort to promote student advancement."
Nazareth Appoints First Dean of School of Education
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 1:26 PM
Nazareth College announces, "Nazareth College is pleased to announce that Timothy Glander has been appointed to the new position of Dean of the School of Education. Glander returns to Nazareth College after having been a faculty member from 1990-1999."
Current Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2003-04
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 11:47 AM
This NCES brief publication contains data on current expenditures, by state, for public elementary and secondary education for school year 2003-04. It also contains data by state, on median current expenditure per student by school districts, and current expenditures per student by districts at the 5th and 95th percentile. State average current expenditures per student are also included in this report. Johnson, Frank (2006). Current Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2003-04 (NCES 2006-352). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved August 1, 2006 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006352.
Need a crib sheet to explain New Jersey school aid?
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 9:55 AM
AP reports, "Most of New Jerseyans' property taxes go to pay for local schools. The state also helps pay, sending more than 30 cents of every $1 it spends to public schools. The system has led to the highest property taxes in the nation - an average of about $6,000 a year, twice the national average - and to increasing scrutiny of how the state pays for education as city schools continue to receive more aid than those in other districts."
New York Law School Launches $190 Million Expansion and Renovation of TriBeCa Campus
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 9:48 AM
PRNewswire reports, "Financing for the new academic building came from the sale of $135 million in insured bonds issued through the New York City Industrial Development Agency, which was successfully completed on June 30, 2006. The school's securities were given an A3 credit rating by Moody's and an A-minus rating by S&P, both reflective of the school's stable market position and solid financial condition."
Texas Pre-K is open to more students
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 9:41 AM
Star-Telegram reports, "Children in military families are being accepted for the first time this year, after a change in state law. The Texas Education Agency estimates that 5,395 3- and 4-year-old military children live in the state and that about half of them already qualified for pre-kindergarten because of income or language limitations. School officials say it's too soon to tell how many more active-duty families will take advantage of the pre-kindergarten programs, but some parents have already shown interest."
Single-sex classes attacked; ACLU challenges Louisiana school’s gender-division plan
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 9:06 AM
The Advocate reports, "The U.S. Department of Education released guidelines on single-gender education in public schools that outline how to implement such a program. The department is tasked with overseeing the federal education law, which prohibits denying a student access to a program based on gender."
Indiana state to help ease test language gap; To allow dictionaries, reading directions
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 8:54 AM
The Journal Gazette reports, "Statewide, more than 35,000 LEP students attended Indiana schools during the 2005-06 school year – an increase of 364 percent in the last decade. And while the number of students has grown, lawmakers have done little in the way of additional financing to address the this population. Many states recently sought permission for alternative testing for LEP kids – including Indiana – but the federal government turned them all down. That means the LEP students who took a proposed alternative test called ISTAR last year will count as failures for the schools as far as the federal No Child Left Behind accountability program is concerned."
Indiana U to help prep students for a college curriculum
Date CapturedTuesday August 01 2006, 8:47 AM
Journal Gazette reports, "The center will use 'best practices' to help teachers who instruct preschoolers through 12th-grade students. At Decatur Middle School in Indianapolis, teachers and administrators have spent five years working with IU faculty to improve the township’s high school dropout rate."
School's in for Cooper
Date CapturedMonday July 31 2006, 10:49 PM
USA Today reports, "Since 1995, [Alice]Cooper has operated the Solid Rock Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides money to children's causes and college scholarships to Christian students."
Scholarship idea is not a big opportunity for blacks
Date CapturedMonday July 31 2006, 10:18 PM
USA Today DeWayne Wickham opined, "This latest voucher scheme, if implemented, would likely give a small percentage of students in underperforming schools an escape hatch. The rest would serve as guinea pigs for conservatives' argument that such a program will pressure public schools into doing a better job of educating those who are left behind."
Bill Gates, the Nation's Superintendent of Schools
Date CapturedMonday July 31 2006, 11:55 AM
LA Times contributor Diane Ravitch, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of education at New York University opined, "In light of the size of the foundation's endowment, Bill Gates is now the nation's superintendent of schools. He can support whatever he wants, based on any theory or philosophy that appeals to him. We must all watch for signs and portents to decipher what lies in store for American education."
Buffalo schools' influx of state aid may give taxpayers a break
Date CapturedMonday July 31 2006, 11:43 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Some of that cash is now available, thanks to EXCEL aid, a onetime revenue funded by state taxpayers. Many local districts are considering using the EXCEL money - which stands for Expanding our Children's Education and Learning - to trim local taxpayers' share of renovations, additions or even new buildings."
Tennessee Gov. Bredesen says he would consider 5-year high schools
Date CapturedMonday July 31 2006, 11:09 AM
AP reports, "Gov. Phil Bredesen says creating five-year high school programs that bundle together a diploma with a community college degree could help stem the state's dropout rate."
Educators, unions question vetoes
Date CapturedMonday July 31 2006, 7:55 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "Robert Lowry of the New York State Council of School Superintendents said there is a lot of concern about school property taxes, and the pro-labor bills would not have helped. 'If they want school districts to restrain costs, this is not the direction they ought to be headed in,' he said."
Pataki vetoes special-ed measures; Burden-of-proof legislation was meant to empower parents
Date CapturedMonday July 31 2006, 7:44 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "Gov. George E. Pataki shot down an effort last week to give families of students with disabilities more power in dealing with schools and vetoed a measure to give special- education school districts more financial flexibility."
FIGHTING POVERTY; WHAT N.Y.C. NEEDS TO DO
Date CapturedMonday July 31 2006, 7:35 AM
NY Post contributor Richard D. Parsons, chairman & CEO of Time Warner Inc. and co-chair of Mayor Bloomberg's Commission on Economic Opportunity writes, "We know that poverty rates decrease when education rates increase. That is why the mayor and city schools Chancellor Joel Klein have worked so hard to bring accountability to our public schools and improve high-school graduation rates. While much progress has been made, much more needs to be, and can be, done at all levels. We need to give particular focus to preschoolers, and we need to make it easier for more of our young people to go to college."
New Jersey special interests mobilize for tax reform fight
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 9:15 PM
Northjersey.com reports, "Public school teachers will be summoned by their union to attend a one-week "boot camp" to teach them how to lobby lawmakers to protect their benefits."
Utah school choice finally getting a hard look
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 8:55 PM
Deseret Morning News reports, "In case you hadn't noticed, Utah's largest school districts are in danger of breaking up. Thanks to a new law, any city with at least 65,000 people can now form its own school district, and any smaller city can join with a neighboring city to do the same. It may not be a revolution, but at least people now have a way to voice their dissent."
School district protest organized
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 12:19 PM
The Journal News reports, "One issue, he [Cole-Hatchard] said, was that when members of the public ask the school board questions during their meetings, no answers are provided. He said even if the answers need to be researched, the school board should provide a response at their next meeting, or on the district's Web site."
One year brings two views of Buffalo schools superintendent Williams
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 11:46 AM
Buffalo News reports, "After 13 months on the job, Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams gets broad credit - from critics and supporters alike - for pinpointing the massive problems facing city schools and launching efforts to tackle them. At the same time, many people charge that he's damaging his chances of boosting student achievement by moving too fast, failing to include key players in the decision-making process and alienating teachers, parents and even some Board of Education members with a blunt, in-your-face style."
Property Tax Reform Task Force
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 10:53 AM
Tax Defense Alliance
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 10:49 AM
The Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess (TREND)
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 10:31 AM
New York State Assembly School Funding Bill Summary - A08590
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 10:27 AM
Establishes the school property tax elimination act; provides a method whereby school districts may opt into an alternative method of school financing as provided in the article whereby funds are raised through a school income tax in addition to a property tax on "non-primary residence" property.
Reform unites residents, Groups are formed to press for change in taxation system
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 10:12 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "In recent months, community groups focused on school tax reform have been popping up across Dutchess and Ulster counties. Regional groups now exist in northern, southern, eastern and central Dutchess. Most revolve around lobbying legislators at the state level in an effort to change the way schools are funded."
Grant to support diversity education
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 10:07 AM
Post-Standard reports, "Among the highlights are a youth mural project; a trip to the Onondaga Nation; a diversity education session for youth workers - followed by practical application; and a Unity Day Fair, with homegrown examples of diversity, including food, crafts and dance."
Rochester schools project in $1 billion class
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 10:01 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "The project's scope is massive. Eight brand-new schools would be built, neighborhoods around schools would be improved and every school in the district — 50 buildings — would be affected in some way."
Nip problem in bud with early education initiatives
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 8:44 AM
Indianapolis Star op-ed writes, "We need a comprehensive strategy similar to the P-16 Plan for Improving Student Achievement, adopted three years ago by business and education leaders on the Education Roundtable, but since shelved. The P-16 Plan wisely addressed a continuum of educational policies that ranged from the developmental needs of children in prekindergarten programs (the 'P' in P-16), to the skills needed by high school graduates, and the need for collaboration between secondary and postsecondary education."
Phasing out ASL course was difficult but needed
Date CapturedSunday July 30 2006, 8:33 AM
Star-Gazette guest contributor Raymond Bryant, superintendent of the Elmira school district writes, "The primary factor in the elimination of [American Sign Language] ASL is the district's difficulty in finding teachers certified to teach it. No Child Left Behind requires a qualified teacher in every classroom, yet of the three teachers teaching ASL in the district this past school year, only one was certified to teach it."
All work & less pay for school nurses
Date CapturedSaturday July 29 2006, 6:33 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Due to a summer payroll glitch, the Department of Education says that 30 occupational and physical therapists at Public School 37 in Staten Island and 65 nurses working at schools around the city were not paid for hours worked in July."
Teachers explore Hudson Valley's challenges
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 7:56 PM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "'School teachers can contribute by helping to build 'a new civic culture, one of engagement,' Nolon said. Teaching the Hudson Valley awarded eight grants to schools from Albany to Westchester county this summer in an effort to give more students more opportunities for field trips to Hudson River parks and historic sites."
Kansas Chief Justice Kay McFarland unprecedented announcement preceding Kansas school funding lawsuit decision
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 3:13 PM
Kansas Chief Justice Kay McFarland stated: “'This case is not about winners and losers -- it is about the children of Kansas. They will be better educated and better prepared to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing society. Kansas will be the ultimate beneficiary.”
Kansas Supreme Court decision in Montoy v. State
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 3:08 PM
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF KANSAS, No. 92,032, RYAN MONTOY, et al., Appellees/Cross-appellants, v. STATE OF KANSAS, et al., Appellants/Cross-appellees.
Kansas Supreme Court upholds school-funding plan
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 2:56 PM
Wichita Business Journal reports, "The Kansas Supreme Court dismissed the challenge to the state's school-finance plan to give the Legislature's latest funding system a chance to work."
Judge dismisses Oklahoma school funding challenge
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 2:52 PM
Reuters reports, "A district court judge on Friday dismissed a constitutional challenge to Oklahoma's school financing system that sought substantially higher funding. Oklahoma County District Court Judge Daniel Owens dismissed the case with prejudice, blocking it from being refiled."
Inside Albany (IA)
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 11:31 AM
This week on Inside Albany (IA): Suozzi vs. Spitzer -Excerpts of what could be the only debate in the Democratic gubernatorial primary include candidates' exchange over the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) lawsuit, New York's ongoing school funding court case. Check schedule.
U of New Hampshire study finds drug testing in schools slow to take off
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 8:53 AM
Union Leader reports, "Small and rural school districts nationwide are embracing random drug testing far faster than their larger urban peers, according to a University of New Hampshire study."
Government requiring New York immigrant kids to take regular English test
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 7:47 AM
The Journal News reports, "New York was faulted over its testing of English learners and disabled students, two groups given special attention under NCLB. The state must submit a plan by Aug. 2 on how it will fix the problems. At stake is $1.2 million in federal school aid."
Yonkers charter school expands for September
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 7:33 AM
The Journal reports, "Charter school leaders are hoping to rebound from a year that saw substantial staff turnover and about 90 fewer students than LaGuerre had planned to enroll. Enrollment started in September at 250, but dipped to 162 by year's end. More than half the teachers who began in September had left by February."
All teachers hit top at 5 Mid-Hudson school districts
Date CapturedFriday July 28 2006, 7:26 AM
Times-Herald reports, "Only five of 35 districts in Sullivan, Ulster and Orange counties had all teachers designated as highly qualified. The districts that hit the mark are Minisink Valley, Warwick, Greenwood Lake, Marlboro and Ellenville. With one exception, the rest of the school districts have 90 percent or more of their teachers at the highly qualified level. The other district is Tri-Valley, which had 89 percent of its teachers make the grade."
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Date CapturedThursday July 27 2006, 9:36 PM
"The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are 'eligible students.'" parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31): School officials with legitimate educational interest; Other schools to which a student is transferring; Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes; Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student; Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school; Accrediting organizations; To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena; Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law. Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.
Maine revised eligibility guidelines for special ed raise concerns
Date CapturedThursday July 27 2006, 10:50 AM
AP reports, "The changes were sought in response to U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby's ruling that a western York County school district must provide special services to a girl who had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and depressive disorder."
New Jersey parents' lawsuit: Failing schools violate our kids' rights
Date CapturedThursday July 27 2006, 10:44 AM
The Jersey Journal, "The parents, backed by the Black Ministers Council, the Latino Leadership Alliance and Excellent Education for Everyone - a pro-school voucher group - say they're acting on behalf of more than 60,000 students attending schools in which 50 percent failed two of the state's tests, or at least 75 percent failed one test."
Salaries down for teachers, up for superintendents
Date CapturedThursday July 27 2006, 10:22 AM
Bloomberg News reports, "The average U.S. teacher salary fell 0.1 percent in the past school year to $46,953, while pay for superintendents rose 1.1 percent, according to a survey by the nonprofit Educational Research Service."
School audit results in
Date CapturedThursday July 27 2006, 9:03 AM
The Press Republican reports on Saranac Lake schools audit, "What criticisms the auditors did have were focused on the district's fixed-asset policy — how it accounts for what it owns, especially computer hardware and software. The district has about $1.3 million worth of computer equipment."
Montessori board now weighs legal options in bus dispute
Date CapturedThursday July 27 2006, 8:53 AM
The Ithaca Journal reports, "The dispute originated with the ICSD Board of Education's decision to change public school hours in September, which creates a need for new bus routes. Elementary schools' hours will be 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and middle and high schools approximately 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., generally reversing the previous schedule. Consequently, the district is able to provide transportation for nonpublic school students — a requirement in New York state — only by sending them with secondary students to a transfer point at Ithaca High School, Superintendent Judith Pastel has said."
Tech learning is hands-on
Date CapturedThursday July 27 2006, 8:45 AM
Times Union reports, "It's all part of the college's Science and Technology Entry Program -- or STEP -- which introduces minority and disadvantaged middle and high school youth to areas of science, math and technology."
Public, private schools are not so comparable after all
Date CapturedThursday July 27 2006, 8:28 AM
Times Herald-Record contributor Gary Heotzler, principal of Leptondale Christian Academy in Newburgh, NY responds to NY Times, "The news article makes it sound as if there is no difference in the quality of education between private and public schools when, in actuality, there is a world of difference."
Deputy Secretary Simon Announces Benefit to Students with Extension and Expansion of Pilot Programs
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 7:33 PM
US Department of Education announces, "Through these pilots, the Department of Education hopes to gain valuable information that can be shared with other states and districts to improve the quality and delivery of this free tutoring. These pilots will ensure that more eligible students receive SES and that better information is provided on the program's effectiveness in improving academic achievement."
Public vs. Private School Report Spurs Controversy
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 7:26 PM
NPR reports, "The findings counter a popularly held notion, that private schools outperform public schools. But the report has generated controversy due to what some call its overly low-key release, on a Friday evening."
Preschool for all Illinois children — or at least 10,000
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 5:50 PM
The Telegraph reports, "Illinois becomes the first state in the nation to open up preschool to potentially all of its 3- and 4-year-olds, the governor's office said. But with only $45 million for the coming school year, priority will be given to 'at-risk' kids and youngsters from lower income levels."
U.S. Department of Education Awards $15.5 Million to Help Students Develop Strong Character and Good Citizenship
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 4:03 PM
NEW YORK STATE RECIPIENTS: Niagara Falls Niagara Falls City School District ($356,660) Buffalo Buffalo City School District ($533,913) Brooklyn Region 6/District 17 ($352,576) Utica City School District ($494,554)
NYS Education Dept. Office of Professions & Teacher Certification accepting applications for immediate vacancies on the New York State Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 3:42 PM
NYS Education Department: Apply for appointment to the Board if you have an interest in helping to shape teaching policy in New York State and if you qualify for appointment in one of the following categories: Higher Education (President or chief academic officer of a NYS college or university that prepares teachers), Teacher (Either a classroom teacher or pupil personnel service professional in a New York State school) Public (Representative of business, parent group, community organization, etc.) Teacher Education Student (Student matriculated in a teacher preparation program at a NYS institution, full-or part-time). Application information here.
AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT FREE TUTORING SERVICES UNDER THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT IN NEW YORK CITY: A FOCUS ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 11:18 AM
Advocates for Children of New York, June, 2006. "This policy brief examines the status of SES in NYC as of the 2004-2005 school year (the most recent year for which data is available) and compares, where possible, results from the first year of implementation. This report also analyzes the extent to which ELLs are eligible based on their attendance in designated schools, their enrollment in SES, and SES providers’ capacity to serve these students."
Massachusetts school district cell phone search policy on hold
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 10:57 AM
The Boston Globe reports, "The American Civil Liberties Union objected to the proposed policy, saying school officials were acting more like police than administrators."
Hawaii schools formula may be revised
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 10:36 AM
The Honolulu Advisor reports, "Because the foundation grants would amount to about 25 percent of total school funding, that would leave much less to be divided according to student need. Allocating money by student need is the intent of the weighted student formula."
Providence College to no longer require SATs for admission
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 10:15 AM
Providence Journal reports, "Providence College's president, the Rev. Brian J. Shanley, said three factors convinced him to make the policy change: evidence that test scores were not as good an indicator of student performance as grades and the rigor of classes in high school; a desire to increase access to minority and first-generation college students; and a perceived inequity in the current college application process."
Board Pulls Charter for Struggling D.C. School
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 10:12 AM
Washington Post reports, "The D.C. Public Charter School Board revoked the charter of a 239-student school on Capitol Hill yesterday, saying that its history of poor financial management would not improve if it stayed open another year."
Secretary Spellings Announces $19 Million in Library Grants, Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program aims to improve students' reading skills
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 9:58 AM
NY Pine Valley Central School District $300,000, NY Rochester City School District $299,502, NY Yonkers Public Schools $299,473, NY East Ramapo Central School District $290,350, NY Mount Morris Central School District $186,969. NY Jamestown City School District $296,715 NY Board of Education, Buffalo N.Y. $300,000
School bus crisis: How could this happen?
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 9:16 AM
Ithaca Journal writes, "Under state law a public school district must offer transportation service to private school students within its borders who, like public students, live within 15 miles of school."
Fight crime; restart 'War on Poverty'
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 8:59 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Dr. Peter Mott writes, "Early studies showed clearly that children did better in school because of Head Start and nutrition programs, and that expensive visits to hospital emergency rooms fell dramatically when primary health care was accessible in neighborhoods."
An Unfailing Belief in the Power of Teaching
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 8:25 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN writes, in a story about NYC schools' head of instruction, Dr. Alonso, "He hates it when students are referred to as 'at risk,' icily noting that they are at risk only when educators fail. He denounces failed teaching techniques the way a preacher condemns sin. His speeches are dense with jargon."
Demanding vs. Doing
Date CapturedWednesday July 26 2006, 8:17 AM
NY Times editorial writes, "One of the law’s most critical provisions requires that all public school teachers in core academic courses be 'highly qualified' by this year. But as The Times’s Sam Dillon reported yesterday, not a single state has met the deadline."
Colorado schools teaching immigrant parents how to be more involved
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 10:54 PM
KUSA reports, "Often, immigrant families don't get involved with school. Some blame the language barrier. Other say they don't trust the education system."
The End of "Ozzie and Harriet" School Funding
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 9:42 PM
Chris Braunlich, former Fairfax County School Boardmember and vice president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy makes the case for student weighted funding, "The idea is simple: Determine a dollar value for each student. Make it higher for students requiring more help. Drive those dollars down to the school level, empowering school-based leadership to decide how best to spend the funds educating the students."
Maine law banning funding of religious schools is appealed
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 3:08 PM
AP reports, "An estimated 17,000 Maine students from 145 small towns with no high schools are subject to the voucher program. School districts in those towns offer tuition for students to attend high schools of their choice, but religious schools are not on the list."
Education studies show: $$ wasted on them
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 10:42 AM
Boston Herald op-ed contributor Star Parker, president of Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) writes, "Choice, competition and freedom are core values that define what we are about as a nation. The Bush administration proposal to appropriate $100 million in opportunity scholarships for poor kids in failing schools is a needed program. Let’s use our limited taxpayer dollars to enhance education freedom and not on superfluous research."
Judge: Pennsylvania school can't cut women's sports
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 10:19 AM
AP reports, "Slippery Rock University must reinstate two women's sports it cut for budget reasons because the school is not complying with a federal law requiring equal opportunities for female athletes, a federal judge ruled."
Texas schools help migrant students adjust
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 10:07 AM
The TELEGRAPH reports, "'Our goal is to put children in the schools and keep them there,' Warren said. 'We make the families aware of school requirements, attendance policies, bus routes and the graduation requirements if the children are high school-aged.'"
Their summer is no vacation
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 9:46 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "While coaches cannot mandate attendance, summer training sessions are common in high school football, with teams using varying approaches to encourage participation."
2 schools secure high marks from education commissioner
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 9:18 AM
Buffalo News reports, "There may be nothing better school principals can experience than the state education commissioner telling them how great their students and staff are doing. Lockport High School Principal Frank Movalli and Emmet Belknap Middle School Principal Gary Wilson are no exception."
Oswego to have Universal Pre-K
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 9:07 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "The short-term benefits are readiness for kindergarten, a smoother transition to school and exposure to literacy and numeration. Research shows pre-kindergarten participants are less likely to (fail a grade) or be placed in special education. As adults, they are more likely to get better jobs and earn more money."
The "American Dream Initiative"
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 8:34 AM
USA Today reports, "The 'American Dream Initiative' plan calls for:• Higher education block grants — $150 billion over 10 years — to states, based in part on the number of students who attend and graduate from college. States would have to promise not to raise tuition higher than inflation. • $3,000 college tuition tax credits to help families pay for college."
HOPES ON HOLD, ALBANY HAMSTRINGS SCHOOL REFORM
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 8:02 AM
NY Post guest op-ed contributor Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City schools writes, "Charter schools provide high-quality education to some of the poorest communities in our city, giving amazing opportunities to children who are more than 90 percent African-American and Latino."
MYSPACE INVADERS FOR CITY STUDENTS, SCHOOLS TAKE AIM AT NASTY BLOGGERS
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 7:51 AM
NY Post reports, "The proposed changes to the code have yet to be adopted by the city's Panel for Educational Policy, but civil-rights lawyers are already sounding the alarm over the Internet provision. 'What happens on the Internet at a student's home is not the Department of Education's business," said veteran civil-rights lawyer Elizabeth Fink. 'Any person who believes in the Constitution would have a vast problem with this.'"
Schools tackle new threats, from Net to stun guns
Date CapturedTuesday July 25 2006, 7:38 AM
NY Daily News reports, "With some kids using the Internet to harass each other or start fights and others bringing items to school - like paint-ball guns - that no one thought to ban before, city educrats are proposing a host of new rules to keep order in city schools."
Most States Fail Demands Set Out in Education Law
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 11:13 PM
NY Times reports, "Most states failed to meet federal requirements that all teachers be 'highly qualified' in core teaching fields and that state programs for testing students be up to standards by the end of the past school year, according to the federal government."
Let students graduate
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 10:32 PM
USA Today op-ed contributor Monty Neill, executive director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) writes, "Recent studies reinforce the conclusion that graduation tests increase the dropout rate. The harder the test, the more kids drop out. Across the USA, high-stakes tests push at least 40,000 young men and women out of school each year."
A Policy Maker’s Guide to “The 65% Solution”
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 8:46 PM
by Gerald W. Bracey, Independent Researcher. "The 65% Proposal would make changes where schools spend their money, but it provides no new money—on purpose. It claims that bringing more of existing money 'into the classroom' would improve performance and reduce waste. Empirical data available does not support this contention. Its one-size-fits 'all “solution' is at odds with the diverse strategies that schools have used to increase achievement. Its reallocation formula assumes that current funding for schools is adequate, an assumption contradicted by numerous recent 'adequacy' suits concluding that states’ funding formulas were unconstitutional because they slighted some districts."
School districts nationwide gag on 65 percent solution
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 8:06 PM
Edwin C. Dardens writes in New York State School Board Association publication, "Almost uniformly, school leaders across the U.S. say the 65 percent solution is a superficial fix that amounts to an accounting placebo. It looks like 'the real thing' and fools those who might not know better, but ultimately does nothing by itself to improve school performance." Forecast, On Board Online • Volume 7 • No. 11 • June 12, 2006.
Schools tax shift has some worried
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 3:28 PM
The Charlotte Observer writes, "Larger classes? Less ability to add educational programs? Fewer prekindergarten classes?"
Change in education: As Latino students near a majority in public schools, questions arise on how California will address shift
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 2:05 PM
Contra Costa Times reports, "Within three years, California will become the nation's second state, after New Mexico, in which a majority of public school students are Latino, according to state projections."
Black Student Enrollment at UCLA Plunges
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 10:46 AM
NPR reports, "The number of black students at UCLA has been falling for years, partly due to a ballot measure that ended racial preferences in admissions. School leaders now say something has to change."
Public School Leaders Reluctant to Drug Test Students
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 10:01 AM
Newswise reports, "Researchers surveyed superintendents nationwide from school districts ranging from small and rural districts to large, urban districts with more than 20,000 students. Of the more than 200 superintendents who responded, only 25 – about 12 percent -- said their school districts drug tested students involved in extracurricular activities. An additional 10 percent are considering adopting such policies."
California Gov. Schwarzenegger to Propose More School Health Clinics
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 9:26 AM
LA Times reports, "The new clinics would be built on school grounds and offer basic services such as immunizations. Some could also provide mental health or dental services. Bigger clinics could include labs and pharmacies and offer treatment for adults as well as children."
New Jersey school voucher fight tilts to the right
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 9:17 AM
The Record reports, "A lawsuit to apply New Jersey's public-education funding toward private-school tuition has key support from some of the country's most conservative charitable foundations, including those run by heirs to the Wal-Mart and Amway fortunes, public records show."
Grading schools
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 7:58 AM
Times Union opined on charter schools, "It's one thing to provide competition for the public schools. It's another to make it all but impossible for them to compete."
Investors Say Flaws at School Are Deeper
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 7:50 AM
NY Times reports, "The problems at Interboro Institute, one of the largest, fastest-growing profit-making colleges in New York State in recent years, were deeper even than those outlined by the State Education Department last year, according to papers filed late on Friday in a class-action securities fraud complaint against Interboro’s parent, EVCI Career Colleges Holding Corporation."
NBA star to Choir rescue?
Date CapturedMonday July 24 2006, 7:08 AM
NY Daily News reports, "[Kevin]Johnson and the Education Department are expected to announce in the next few weeks their partnership in a rigorous, college preparatory school for middle- and high-school students that will focus on music and community service."
Education Alliance (Brown University)
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 8:59 PM
Center for Education Reform (CER)
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 8:34 PM
Can't wait for state action
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 12:26 PM
The Press Republican opined on registered sex offenders living near schools, "There's been no state leadership on this issue, which many deem important because parents need as many tools as possible to protect their kids."
Do clothes make the student?
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 10:47 AM
The Sun Herald writes, "It's a question that has bounced around the educational system for years: Will a student perform better personally and academically if he or she wears a uniform to school?"
South Carolina businesses aim to alter new tax law
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 10:42 AM
The State reports, "When state lawmakers passed the property tax reform plan in June, they said it would end the war between homeowners and school districts. However, the legislation may have opened a new front — a war between businesses and schools."
Funds would follow child
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 10:26 AM
Columbia Daily Tribune reports, "The 'Fund the Child' plan, proposed by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, got support last month from a bipartisan group of national education leaders, including Rod Paige and two other former U.S. secretaries of education." Under the proposal, federal and state funding would follow a child to his or her public school. More money would be given for poor, special education and gifted students as well as students whose first language isn’t English."
Ohio local school district agreement stresses all be drug-free campus
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 10:09 AM
The Marion Star reports, "The Pleasant Education Association, which represents 83 teachers, has agreed to drug testing as part of its new three-year contract. Pleasant Board of Education President Gary Sims and Superintendent John Bruno said the board also plans to pass a policy that would require administrators to be tested."
Group trying to open school
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 9:53 AM
The Post-Standard reports, "'It's a huge undertaking to grow a nonpublic school,' said Tom Hogan, of the state Education Department. 'You can have a lot of very dedicated, well-intentioned people, but many of these attempts don't make it.'"
School deal idles, the CFE school case should be a focus of ongoing campaigns
Date CapturedSunday July 23 2006, 9:41 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle editorial opined on fiscal equity, "Those on the CFE side have expended most of their energy demanding that new billions be allocated. But school quality is not a money issue alone, or even primarily. It's about leadership at every level, beginning with the classroom, properly trained teachers, involved parents."
Public School Finance Programs of the United States and Canada: 1998–99 (NEW YORK STATE)
Date CapturedSaturday July 22 2006, 10:14 PM
NEW YORK: Funding for public education in New York comes from three sources: approximately 4% from federal sources, 40% from state formula aids and grants, and 56% from local revenues. The descriptive information in this publication is designed to be useful to the education finance research community and fiscal policy analysts whose backgrounds and training are very diverse. Brian O. Brent, Warner Graduate School, University of Rochester. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Public School Finance Programs of the United States and Canada: 1998–99. NCES 2001–309; Compilers Catherine C. Sielke, John Dayton, C. Thomas Holmes, of The University of Georgia and Anne L. Jefferson of the University of Ottawa. William J. Fowler, Jr., Project Officer. Washington, DC: 2001.
Preparing Principals for High-Need Rural Schools: A Central Office Perspective about Collaborative Efforts to Transform School Leadership
Date CapturedSaturday July 22 2006, 8:30 PM
This article presents district administrators’ reflections about (a) the contextual challenges they face in leading a high-need rural school system in Central Appalachia and (b) the change initiatives they implemented to transform the principalship from school management to instructional leadership. The article presents perspectives by the district administrators and leadership educators involved in the district-initiated activities to change the culture of administrative practice. Browne-Ferrigno, T., & Allen, L. W. (2006, February 10). Preparing principal for high-need rural schools: A central office perspective about collaborative efforts to transform school leadership. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 21(1). Retrieved 7/22/2006 from http://www.umaine.edu/jrre/21-1.htm
New York State Charter Schools Act of 1998, Article 56.
Date CapturedSaturday July 22 2006, 7:53 PM
Article 56 Section 2850. Short title; purpose. 2851. Eligible applicants; applications; submission. 2852. Issuance of charter. 2853. Charter school organization; oversight; facilities. 2854. General requirements. 2855. Causes for revocation or termination. 2856. Financing of charter schools. 2857. Notice; review and assessment.
Take a Stand! Lend a Hand! Stop Bullying Now!
Date CapturedSaturday July 22 2006, 1:24 PM
Federal school grant for Yonkers
Date CapturedSaturday July 22 2006, 12:37 PM
Mid-Hudson News reports, "Numerous studies show there is a clear link between the quality of library media programs in schools staffed an experienced school library media specialists and student academic achievement."
Elmira school district takes right approach by postponing decision until next year
Date CapturedSaturday July 22 2006, 8:48 AM
Star Gazette editorial writes, "School uniforms, especially in public schools, are not universally accepted, and district officials, by delaying a decision until 2007, implicitly acknowledged they might be treading in unpopular territory."
NY's Charter Challenge
Date CapturedSaturday July 22 2006, 8:09 AM
NY Post editorial writes on charter schools, "The 1998 charter-school law limits the number of charters - privately managed, publicly funded schools that have greater flexibility in work rules, curricula formation and hours of operation - to just 100 in the whole state. An effort to lift that limit failed to survive the recently completed legislative session."
Education Center Focuses on High-Quality Teaching Using Video and Latest Technology
Date CapturedFriday July 21 2006, 7:14 PM
Newswise reports, "The University of Virginia Curry School of Education has been awarded $10 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to determine if a new method for training preschool teachers results in their students, especially disadvantaged children, learning language and literacy skills better."
2004-05 Annual Report on the Status of Charter Schools in New York State
Date CapturedFriday July 21 2006, 10:49 AM
"This report provides data required by §2857(3) of the Education Law and covers the 2004-05 school year, during which a total of 61 charter schools were open for instruction. Of these 61 schools, 16 were chartered by the Board of Regents, 32 were chartered by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York ('SUNY'), 11 were chartered by the Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools, and two were chartered by the Board of Education of the Buffalo City School District. Twenty-one had management companies as partners."
SMARTER CHARTER KIDS
Date CapturedFriday July 21 2006, 10:42 AM
NY Post CARL CAMPANILE reports, "The just-released study by state Education Department found students in 11 of 16 city charter schools outscored kids in nearby public schools on the state's fourth-grade English and math exams in 2005."
Young Latinas and a Cry for Help
Date CapturedFriday July 21 2006, 10:00 AM
NY Times editorial writes, "About one-quarter of Latina teens drop out, a figure surpassed only by Hispanic young men, one-third of whom do not complete high school."
TC3 grants support variety of school programs; Digital photography, broadcasting and techie ‘real world' applications shared
Date CapturedFriday July 21 2006, 9:48 AM
The Ithaca Journal reports, "The Tech Prep program at TC3 has awarded grants to local education efforts in eight high schools."
Legislators agree to fund North Country Community College
Date CapturedFriday July 21 2006, 8:53 AM
The Press Republican reports, "The allocation is about $40,900 more than the county appropriated this year and includes a $200 tuition increase for students at the school's three campuses, bringing the total annual NCCC tuition to $3,250."
CHARTER CHOOSER
Date CapturedFriday July 21 2006, 7:38 AM
NY Post DICKER and CAMPANILE report on Spitzer's comments in response to a state Education Department report , "'The study results confirm that these schools can play an important role in demonstrating the effectiveness of educational innovations that can be applied to other parts of the school system,' Spitzer said."
When activism masquerades as education
Date CapturedFriday July 21 2006, 7:15 AM
NY Daily News guest contributor, Manhattan Institute's senior fellow Sol Stern writes, "Far too many New York City public schools - including some of the new small schools created by Chancellor Joel Klein and funded with money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - distort education by imbuing social justice into everything they do."
What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 11:30 PM
Support mounts for new school funding model
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 11:20 AM
Thomas B. Fordham Institute reports, "Weighted student funding, a bold new model for public-school finance, is winning remarkable support from a broad spectrum of policymakers, education organizations, parents and school leaders."
The Postsecondary Educational Experiences of High School Career and Technical Education Concentrators: Selected Results From the NELS:88/2000 Postsecondary Education Transcript Study
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 10:19 AM
This NCES report presents information on the postsecondary educational experiences of students from the high school class of 1992 who concentrated in career and technical education (CTE) while in high school, including their postsecondary enrollment, coursetaking, and degree attainment patterns. The report also describes the extent to which high school CTE concentrators pursued the same field at the postsecondary level.
Massachusetts educators wary of cost of state assessment plan
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 8:52 AM
The Boston Globe reports, "The state Department of Education wants local school districts to create a system to monitor student performance on state standardized tests that could force districts, already strapped for cash, to spend more money on staffing."
Eastchester school critics forced to change Web site name
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 8:12 AM
The Journal News reports, "A citizens group critical of the Eastchester school board has changed the name of its Web site to avoid a potentially costly legal battle with the school district."
FREE CHILDREN FROM THESE 'PRISONS'
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 7:57 AM
NY Post columnist Ryan Sager writes, "Let this be clear to everyone: Public schools in New York are prisons for low-income families - and the jailers are the city and state teachers unions."
SMARTER CHARTER KIDS, SCORING ABOVE STUDENTS AT NEARBY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 7:49 AM
NY Post reports, "The academic gap widens in the upper grades, the report said, with kids in five of six upper-grade charter schools faring better on eighth-grade English and math exams."
Kingston High School may drop attendance policy
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 7:30 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Eliminating the attendance policy would allow students to pass a course if they are able to succeed academically, without a minimum of attendance requirement."
Ithaca schools busing dispute meeting called off
Date CapturedThursday July 20 2006, 7:27 AM
Journal reports, "New York state law requires public school districts like Ithaca to provide transportation for students who live within the district but attend nonpublic schools. Like those attending regular district schools, private and parochial students are entitled to the service if they live within 15 miles of their school. A district must provide equal, but not identical, bus service to public and nonpublic schools, according to state law."
DC public schools auditors fault special-ed data
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 9:17 PM
THE WASHINGTON TIMES reports, "Auditors had sought to determine whether foster children were getting the required amount of special education during the 2004-05 school year. They concluded that shoddy record keeping by the CFSA and the school system made the task nearly impossible."
Texas AG: Laptop Computers Not Equivalent To Textbooks ; Money set aside for books can't be used to buy hardware or other equipment, the state attorney general ruled
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 8:17 PM
Information Week reports, "The opinion was published on Tuesday by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in response to a request by Geraldine Miller, chair of the state's board of education. Miller had raised the issue after a bill was introduced in the Texas legislature that would have changed the word "textbook" in state law to 'instructional material,' and would have potentially allowed for the purchase of laptop computers to meet textbook requirements in schools."
Education Law Center sues NJ over access to information
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 6:54 PM
AP reports, "An education advocacy group is suing New Jersey, claiming the state is illegally withholding information about how much it costs to adequately educate a child in the state's public schools."
Why Johnny Can't Read: Schools Favor Girls
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 3:20 PM
LiveScience.com reports, "The problem is partly developmental, 'Kleinfeld said. 'Girls mature more quickly than boys,' she said. 'They enter school with bigger vocabularies and better fine motor skills, so it's easier for them to learn to write.'"
US Charter Schools
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 2:07 PM
Educational Priorities Panel
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 1:09 PM
Florida Pathways Academy: Another Chance for High School Dropouts
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 9:57 AM
First Coast News reports, "Students can earn a high school diploma and get college credit at Pathways Academy. It's a high school on a college campus. Students can earn their diploma two ways."
Bush-suppressed study dispels voucher myth
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 9:33 AM
Palm Beach Post editorial writes, "The U.S. Department of Education, meaning the Bush administration, last week turned an important study comparing public and private schools into a case study on how to bury bad news."
Schools prep for displaced students; Law gives pupils right to stay in home districts
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 9:10 AM
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports, "But while the law is clear-cut, the situations faced by students, their families and the districts that serve them aren't. Many school districts that have been hard-hit by flooding are still trying to determine how many students were affected by the flood and what their legal obligations to them are."
Hawaii charter schools likely to reject weighted student funding formula
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 8:41 AM
Honolulu Star Bulletin reports, "Allowing the DOE to apply its formula on charter school funds could prove unpalatable to charter schools, which only recently earned their funding independence."
Public vs. Private Schools
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 8:36 AM
New York Times editorial writes, "Instead of arguing about the alleged superiority of one category over another, the country should stay focused on the overarching problem: on average, American schoolchildren are performing at mediocre levels in reading, math and science — wherever they attend school."
Just for the Kids Best Practice Studies: Findings from New York Schools
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 8:14 AM
Research teams investigated 10 consistently higher performing and five averageperforming elementary schools to determine the differences in practices between higher and average performing elementary schools.
Republicans Propose National School Voucher Program
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 8:07 AM
NY Times (registration) Diana Jean Schemo reports, "The legislation, modeled on a pilot program here, would pay for tuition and private tutoring for some 28,000 students seeking a way out of public schools that fail to raise test scores sufficiently for at least five years."
'INSPECTORS' TO GRADE EACH SCHOOL
Date CapturedWednesday July 19 2006, 7:17 AM
NY Post reports, "The educational watchdogs will write five-page, 1,500-word "quality reviews" rating the schools based on their two-to-three day observations of classroom instruction, data analysis and building safety."
Mainland universities urged to reform amid fears of student brain drain
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 9:21 PM
People's Daily reports, "China's universities are seeking effective reforms to boost their level of education amid concerns that the most talented high school students are choosing to study outside the Chinese mainland."
Choices for Parents: America's Opportunity Scholarships for Kids
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 7:54 PM
"Parents know what is best for their children. Expanding educational options for parents is one of the hallmarks of the No Child Left Behind Act and it remains one of the President's highest priorities." — Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
A National Voucher Program?
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 5:51 PM
People for the American Way reports, "Every child deserves a quality education. Publicly funded vouchers for private schools will not provide that. Instead they’ll drain precious funding from our school systems and widen the achievement gap."
Arts Instruction of Public School Students in the First and Third Grades
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 10:46 AM
This Issue Brief examines the changes over time from first to third grade in how often young children are exposed to arts education in the general classroom. The Brief also looks at differences in these characteristics by level of poverty and/or urbanicity of the school.
North Carolina strapped school boards study rent-to-own approach
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 10:37 AM
Charlotte Observer reports, "Called lease-purchase or leaseback, it allows school boards to hire private developers to build schools. The districts then lease the buildings and buy them after a set period."
Paterson, New Jersey named in school lawsuit
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 10:26 AM
NorthJersey.com reports, "A lawsuit filed Thursday seeks to allow parents to do just that, arguing that requiring students to attend their local district schools -- even when those schools consistently fail state standardized tests -- violates the children's civil rights."
Arizona charter schools score well
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 9:49 AM
Tucson Citizen reports, "Some of the smartest kids in the state and nation go to a handful of Tucson charter schools."
Pay teachers more and demand results
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 9:07 AM
Morton Kondracke, columnist and executive editor of Roll Call, writes on school reform, "With student performance still dismal 23 years after a federal report proclaimed a 'nation at risk,' it’s just possible that a decisive, bipartisan 'grand bargain' can be struck to improve the public schools."
More college students start businesses
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 8:51 AM
Ithaca Journal reports, "It's the American dream to be the boss and bring in a good income. More than ever, college students are feeling much bolder about taking the leap into business ownership while in school or immediately after graduation."
'Ringing' in the school year; New York City fights over whether to allow cellphones in schools, echoing a debate nationwide
Date CapturedTuesday July 18 2006, 8:03 AM
Christian Science Monitor reports, "At City Hall, several council members are pushing for a legislative solution. If these efforts fail, the issue may end up in Albany."
Secretary Spellings Delivers Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education Commencement Address
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 9:34 PM
Secretary Spellings said, "To keep the system diverse, Catholic schools reach out to low-income, minority, and immigrant communities. To keep academic quality high, they often work longer days and stretch the school year into the summertime. And to keep tuition affordable, they often set tuition rates lower than the actual cost of educating each child."
Lottery Raises Over $600 Million For Education
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 7:08 PM
Eyewitness News reports, "More than $636 million has been generated for education programs in the state since the Tennessee Lottery began selling tickets nearly two and a half years ago."
Private Performance; The New York Times gets excited
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 11:14 AM
Chester E. Finn Jr., Hoover Institution senior fellow and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation responds to NY Times article on public vs private school performance, "Private schools have other advantages, too. They are generally smaller, more intimate — and nearly always safe and well disciplined. Many of them attend to character development, values and moral formation as well as cognitive skills and knowledge."
No Child Left Behind’ well-intentioned by misguided
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 10:56 AM
The Free Press reports, "If we really want to improve education in this country, the first thing we need to do is get serious about education at home. Parents, not teachers, are ultimately responsible for pressuring students to work hard in school."
California military charter school eyes district land
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 9:59 AM
Inside Bay Area reports, "When the Oakland Unified School District was under local control in 2000, it rejected a charter for Mayor Jerry Brown's Oakland Military Institute."
Off-campus U at Buffalo housing plans draw criticism
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 9:22 AM
Buffalo News reports on student apartments, "Since University Village opened last spring across from Sweet Home High School, Amherst police were called to the apartments 183 times for a variety of incidents, ranging from parking violations and nuisance complaints to sexual assaults and larcenies, police said."
Downsizing and the Catholic Church
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 9:03 AM
Richard W. Garnett, Lilly Endowment Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame writes in USA Today, "In and around our nation's big cities, hundreds of Catholic parishes, schools and hospitals are consolidating and closing. Many of these institutions have long provided the foundation — as well as provided for the faith — of urban neighborhoods and immigrant communities."
Charter schools need objective study
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 8:41 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle op-ed by New York State School Boards Association board of directors member Nespeca, "Let's pause, take a breath and take a comprehensive, objective look at the charter school experiment. If they are as successful as the proponents claim, the facts will speak for themselves."
SCHOOL TO BECOME HOUSING
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 7:52 AM
NY Post (registration) reports, "As the city Department of Education awaits a multibillion-dollar court-ordered windfall to ease overcrowding in schools, it has rejected revamping a storied East Harlem school building - claiming the neighborhood doesn't need the seats. "
California’s Newest State University Is Short of Students
Date CapturedMonday July 17 2006, 7:24 AM
NY Times (registration) reports, "To a large extent, university officials say, they have fulfilled their mandate, drawing 29 percent of the 2005-6 students from the Central Valley and anticipating an even bigger number this coming school year."
How Jersey became the land of so many towns -- and taxes
Date CapturedSunday July 16 2006, 7:46 PM
Star-Ledger reports, "Some school districts were formed to ensure racial segregation."
KIPP charter school maintains strict regimen, makes college the end game
Date CapturedSunday July 16 2006, 11:13 AM
Post-Tribune reports, "A charter education network with a reputation for improving achievement in urban youth and gearing them for college debuted its charter school in Gary this week."
Schools money plan faulted
Date CapturedSunday July 16 2006, 8:49 AM
Honolulu Advertiser reports, ""Hawai'i's move to a weighted student formula takes an important step forward in creating a rational system for resource allocation across Hawai'i's schools...'".
Buffalo aternative school's staffing becomes an issue
Date CapturedSunday July 16 2006, 8:44 AM
Buffalo News reports, "When school violence was a hot topic last year, President Philip Rumore of the Buffalo Teachers Federation lobbied relentlessly for a new alternative school for troubled students."
Overview of the 229th Legislative Session
Date CapturedSunday July 16 2006, 8:24 AM
NY Times (registration) reports, "Under significant political pressure from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, lawmakers agreed to borrow $11.2 billion for construction of New York City schools."
Middletown school district awarded federal grant
Date CapturedSunday July 16 2006, 7:59 AM
Mid-Hudson News reports, "The Enlarged Middletown City School District has been awarded a $1.9 million federal grant for a program that will create a safer learning environment, promote healthy childhood development, and prevent youth violence and drug abuse."
League of Women Voters hosts school tax forum in Somers
Date CapturedSaturday July 15 2006, 4:57 PM
The Patent Trader reports, "The 52 branches of the state's League of Women Voters reached consensus on some methods to finance public education, while splitting on others, according to preliminary results of a study discussed at a July 10 Somers forum."
Broad Attacks Villaraigosa's Plan for Schools
Date CapturedSaturday July 15 2006, 4:39 PM
LA Times reports, "Broad, a longtime ally of the mayor, criticized Villaraigosa for striking a deal with teachers unions that he believes would muddle lines of authority in the Los Angeles Unified School District. After months of urging a complete takeover of the district, Villaraigosa struck a compromise last month with United Teachers Los Angeles and the California Teachers Association that would allow him to share power with the elected school board and the appointed superintendent."
College dorm lacked carbon monoxide detectors
Date CapturedSaturday July 15 2006, 4:01 PM
USA Today reports, "There was no carbon monoxide detector in the Roanoke College dormitory where one person died and dozens of teenagers and adults were sickened after a leak of the odorless gas, but the school is considering installing them, a spokeswoman said Saturday."
Charter School Gets Home at Education Headquarters
Date CapturedSaturday July 15 2006, 9:46 AM
NY Times DAVID M. HERSZENHORN reports, "City education officials had wanted the Ross school to share a building on the Lower East Side with the New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math school. But parents at that school, known as NEST, waged months of protests and filed a lawsuit to block the Ross school from moving in. Their most prominent supporter was Sheldon Silver, the State Assembly speaker, who considers NEST a jewel of his Manhattan district." (registration)
N.J. DAD WANTS TO TEACH FAILING PUBLIC SCHOOLS A HARSH LE$$ON
Date CapturedSaturday July 15 2006, 9:38 AM
NY Post columnist Peyser writes, "Though lawsuits have been filed in Illinois and California, parents have so far been unable to wrest education money from the system's cold, dead hands. In New York, courts have ruled that billions must be pumped into schools, in the mistaken notion that more money equals better education. That notion, too, has failed." (registration required)
Charter school gets cozy with educrats
Date CapturedSaturday July 15 2006, 9:28 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Bloomberg and Klein have been strong supporters of charters and have made space for many of them in public schools, but their decision to put one in the Education Department's headquarters has raised some eyebrows."
Weighted funding for kids might be tough sell
Date CapturedSaturday July 15 2006, 9:17 AM
Rocky Mountain News editorial, "Most districts that have adopted weighted funding assign higher weights to factors associated with low performance, including poverty, limited English proficiencies, disability (weighted by severity as well) and previous poor achievement. But it is also possible to weight things a district wants to encourage, for instance returning dropouts, or gifted and talented students. There's no standard model, at least not yet."
Public Schools Perform Near Private Ones in Study
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 11:59 PM
NY Times (registration) reports, "The Education Department reported on Friday that children in public schools generally performed as well or better in reading and mathematics than comparable children in private schools. The exception was in eighth-grade reading, where the private school counterparts fared better."
Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 6:41 PM
This NCES study compares mean 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics scores of public and private schools in 4th and 8th grades, statistically controlling for individual student characteristics (such as gender, race/ethnicity, disability status, identification as an English language learner) and school characteristics (such as school size, location, and the composition of the student body).
School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS)
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 2:32 PM
New York State School Boards Association
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 2:17 PM
New York State Educational Conference Board
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 2:11 PM
Campaign for Fiscal Equity
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 1:30 PM
New York State Association of School Business Officials
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 1:26 PM
Panel releases Los Angeles schools reform study; Recommendations include decentralization, but less mayoral influence
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 9:15 AM
Daily News (LA) reports, "The 54 recommendations presented by the 30-member Presidents' Joint Commission on LAUSD Governance include decentralizing the district and giving greater authority to administrators and teachers at local schools - hallmarks of proposed legislation brokered by Villaraigosa and two powerful teachers unions. But the report also recommends requiring voter approval for any major change in school district governance and giving the mayor only a limited role in the district."
Houston Community College considers adding honors school
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 8:57 AM
The Daily Texan reports, "Texas' largest community college is considering adding a free honors college as soon as fall 2007 for high-achieving high school students with plans of transferring to a four-year college."
Arlington middle school to get security cameras
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 8:37 AM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The cameras will be installed in an effort to prevent theft, fights and other incidents in the cafeteria."
If you want to know all about the new South Carolina property tax law, read on
Date CapturedFriday July 14 2006, 6:45 AM
The next property tax bills that homeowners receive will be the last ones that will include taxes for school operations, and counties, cities and schools will be prohibited in almost all cases from increasing property tax rates by more than the increase in inflation plus population.
America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2005 (EDUCATION)
Date CapturedThursday July 13 2006, 11:18 PM
This section presents key indicators of how well children are learning and progressing from early childhood through postsecondary school.
More money available for UAlbany anti-drinking efforts
Date CapturedThursday July 13 2006, 2:32 PM
Albany Business Journal reports, "The money, in part, is being used to offset UAlbany's reputation as a 'party' school -- a reputation that President Kermit Hall has said diminishes the college's standing among parents, students, potential employers and in the world of academia in general."
Virtual school may open in Illinois
Date CapturedThursday July 13 2006, 9:34 AM
Chicago Tribune reports, "The Chicago Virtual Charter School plans to serve a variety of children, including the gifted, those with learning disabilities and those who find it difficult to settle down in a more structured teaching environment."
Some Maryland charter schools see drop in scores
Date CapturedThursday July 13 2006, 9:26 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "The poor report card for the three schools comes just a few months after the state attempted to put 11 more city schools in the hands of outside operators. It raises questions about whether a state takeover is the best way to improve failing schools."
Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (HCREO)
Date CapturedThursday July 13 2006, 9:12 AM
Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEC)
Date CapturedThursday July 13 2006, 9:09 AM
Parents to Sue Over Schools’ Cellphone Ban
Date CapturedThursday July 13 2006, 7:27 AM
NY Times registration, ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS reports, "The lawsuit, which the plaintiffs said they intended to file today in Manhattan, will argue that the ban jeopardizes the students’ safety by making it hard for them to keep in touch with their parents before and after school."
Ulster schools buses to get pollution filters
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 8:55 PM
Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "The diesel particulate filters are being installed as part of a $478,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency that will reduce pollution from 400 school buses across New York."
Wyoming school board group partially withdraws from school finance lawsuit
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 8:37 PM
Bilings Gazette reports, "Last Saturday, the board of directors of the Wyoming School Boards Association voted to withdraw from the part of the lawsuit that challenged the funding of the daily school operations, according to a news release Wednesday from the organization."
ALBANIA: Project Under Way to Strengthen Education in Albania
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 3:02 PM
Seeurope.net reports, "Efforts to reorganise Albania's education were first launched in 1990, with a proposal to extend compulsory schooling from eight to ten years. The following year, however, a major economic and political crisis in Albania, and the ensuing breakdown of public order, plunged the school system into chaos. Extreme shortages of textbooks and supplies had a devastating effect on school operations, prompting Italy and other countries to provide material assistance."
Bipartisan Congressional Delegation Receives Petition with 7,000 Signatures Equating School Technology with National Competitiveness
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 12:55 PM
PRNewswire reports, "Funding for the EETT is currently proposed for elimination in the pending U.S. House Labor-HHS- Education Appropriations bill, while the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote July 18."
$31 Million Awarded to 19 School Districts to Promote Safe Schools, Healthy Students
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 9:37 AM
More than $31 million in grants have been awarded to 19 school districts in 14 states as part of a joint effort by the U.S. departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Justice to support schools in creating safe learning environments that promote healthy childhood development and prevent youth violence and drug use.
Alliance for School Choice
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 9:24 AM
Action taken by the Board of Regents
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 8:46 AM
The Board of Regents must provide appropriate notification of the chartering process at significant stages to the school district in which the charter school is located and to all public and nonpublic schools in the same geographic area.
No educators left behind?
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 8:18 AM
USA TODAY Greg Toppo writes, "Worried that the USA could lose ground in global competitiveness, a group of academic and business leaders wants to increase the pay of public school teachers immediately by as much as 20% and up to 50% in the foreseeable future."
Principal: Drug-testing students works
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 8:02 AM
USA Today Donna Leinwand writes, "Little research has been done on testing's impact on student drug use because it's difficult and expensive to study, says Lloyd Johnston of the Monitoring the Future study at the University of Michigan, which surveys 50,000 students a year."
More schools test for drugs
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 7:57 AM
USA Today Donna Leinwand writes, "Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that random testing of student athletes and others in competitive extracurricular activities did not violate the students' privacy rights, the Bush administration has made testing middle- and high-school students a priority."
Finish the Test
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 7:47 AM
Post-Standard on Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) lawsuit, "The CFE filed a brief last month asking the court to force the state to obey the ruling or face sanctions. The state responded this week with a counterbrief arguing, among other things, that the court has no business telling the state how to fund education. The ball is back in the Court of Appeals."
Teachers, and a Law That Distrusts Them
Date CapturedWednesday July 12 2006, 7:11 AM
NY Times registration, Michael Winerip writes on NCLB and school reforms, "The question is: How successful can an education law be that makes teachers the enemy?"
Calitornia venture capitalist seeks education revolution; Investment focus is charter schools
Date CapturedTuesday July 11 2006, 8:24 AM
Union Tribune reports, "Federal tax credits, often used to attract investments for housing and retail projects in blighted areas, can be used to attract capital for the construction of new charter schools. Investors receive tax breaks in exchange for providing capital."
Indiana charter schools could go online
Date CapturedTuesday July 11 2006, 8:12 AM
The Courier-Journal reports, "Similar charter schools already are operating in more than 15 states. Pennsylvania, for example, has had "cyber schools" for about five years, and 12 of them now serve about 13,000 of the state's 1.8million students."
Albany's charter's first class farewell
Date CapturedTuesday July 11 2006, 7:25 AM
Times Union reports, "The city has six charter schools, with two more expected to open in the fall. Supporters say charter schools, which are funded by taxpayers, provide choice to parents, many of whom don't have the money to send children to private school. Opponents say charters drain revenue from the city school district without accountability."
U.S. Says Language Exam Does Not Comply With Law
Date CapturedTuesday July 11 2006, 7:21 AM
NY Times registration. NY Times reports, "The federal Department of Education has found that New York State’s methods for testing the annual progress of disabled students and students with limited English proficiency do not comply with the No Child Left Behind law and that the state must correct the problems within a year or risk losing $1.2 million in federal school aid."
Ohio law will make school mergers easier
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 9:24 PM
Pantagraph.com reports, "School district mergers may become easier under a new law signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday. The law allows schools that want to consolidate to do so while protecting the rights of those that don’t."
Generous gift, new name for RIT business college
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 8:45 PM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Rochester Institute of Technology is renaming its College of Business after the donor of a multi-million-dollar gift to the school."
High-Quality Pre-Kindergarten for Hispanic Children is Key to Closing Achievement Gap
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 8:10 PM
PRNewswire writes, "The report notes that Hispanic children are more likely than whites to start school without the foundational math and reading knowledge and skills necessary for academic success. Studies have shown that these disparities persist throughout Hispanics' educational careers. However, pre-k has been shown to improve these skills in all children -- and particularly in Hispanic children."
School choice offers way to improve Arizona schools
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 7:57 PM
Arizona Daily Star guest editorial by Matthew Ladner, Goldwater Institute, "The crisis facing Arizona public schools is not one of resources. Rather, it is a collapse in the productivity of education spending. Arizona public schools have come to resemble a broken-down jalopy. You can pump in all the gas that money can buy, but they still won't run."
Plan would put flexibility in school funding
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 7:52 PM
Columbus Dispatch op-ed, "Any number of ideas are circulating for reforming public-schoolfinance systems, from requiring schools to spend 65 percent of their dollars "in the classroom," to mandating that states provide "adequate" (i.e., vast) sums of money to schools. Some of these schemes may have merit, many do not, but none does what is needed: fundamentally and thoroughly overhaul the basic mechanisms by which public education dollars are disbursed to schools on behalf of their children. Weighted student funding does that."
School Choice Spreads With Tax Credits
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 7:48 PM
Human Events reports, "Across the country, corporate scholarship tax credits have become a popular way to expand school choice."
The Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate for Public High Schools From the Common Core of Data: School Years 2002–03 and 2003-04
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 9:57 AM
Comparing the averaged freshman graduation rate among public school students in the class of 2002-03 to that of 2003-04 in each of the 48 reporting states and the District of Columbia, 32 states and the District of Columbia experienced increases in the rate, 1 state experienced no change, and 15 states experienced declines in the rate over this 2-year period. Note, a previous version of this report included unstable estimates for Department of Defense schools, which have been removed.
Arizona state gives K-12 schools $5.5M for e-learning
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 9:05 AM
Business Journal of Phoenix reports, "A bill recently signed into law will create a task force of technology, business and education leaders to oversee implementation of e-learning measures across Arizona."
New law puts limits on Pennsylvania school districts, tax hikes would need voters' OK
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 8:36 AM
News Journal reports AP story, "Next year, all of Pennsylvania's school boards will have to seek voters' permission to raise property taxes beyond the rate of inflation under a new law that tries to accomplish what an earlier one failed to do -- cut taxes statewide with $1 billion in annual slot-machine gambling revenue."
More Than A Million Didn't Graduate High School This Year; Study also finds only half of American Indian, black students receive diplomas.
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 8:26 AM
MTV reports, "Compared with high school graduates, dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, earn lower wages and have kids at a younger age and raise them as single parents, according to the study."
Pennsylvania study to try to pin down education costs
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 8:16 AM
The Daily Item reports, "It will determine just how much it costs to educate a student to meet Pennsylvania's academic standards."
Texas school reform in state's hands, education chief setting rules for local districts on spending, test scores
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 8:04 AM
Dallas Morning News reports, "Control over public schools is swinging back toward the state as Texas' education chief and her staff write a series of new rules regulating everything from how districts spend their tax dollars to how much student test scores must improve each year."
Minding the school store
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 7:44 AM
Journal News editorial writes, "You can't help but squirm at the tortuous explanation ..."
REGENTS RACKET
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 7:07 AM
NY Post registration required. NY Post editorial writes, "New York state school officials had a problem: Not enough kids were meeting the standard to graduate with a Regents diploma. So what'd they do? They lowered the standard, of course."
825 CITY TEACHERS EXPELLED
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 6:52 AM
NY Post registration required. NY Post reports, "Under a state mandate last year, uncertified teachers are prohibited from working in the city school system unless they are on track to earn their certification."
Museum to offer high-tech programs, partners with schools, colleges, businesses to fill education gap
Date CapturedMonday July 10 2006, 6:36 AM
Star Gazette reports, "The project will focus on getting students interested in high-tech fields starting in middle school, and will build on the Flying Start summer youth camp launched last year by Wings of Eagles Discovery Center. The effort is designed to fill what organizers see as a gap in local education programs."
Pennsylvania education funding should go with child
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 5:33 PM
The Patriot News reports, "It is difficult to catalog in full the deep inequities rooted in Pennsylvania's current finance system."
Fairness for kids
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 5:29 PM
Denver Post reports, "Once a weighted student-funding model is in place, we would urge the district to increase the funding weights for second-language learners and students in poverty."
Rhode Island educators want more high school students to take college classes
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 11:15 AM
Boston Globe reports AP story, "State educators hope to increase the number of minority and low-income students attending college by having them take some classes while still in high school."
United Cerebral Palsy of Central Florida charter school taking registration for 2006-07
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 10:58 AM
Orlando Sentinel reports, "Children without disabilities can also attend the preschool. This gives children with and without disabilities an opportunity to learn and play together."
Yonkers looks to hammer out deal for teaching assistants
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 10:36 AM
The Journal News reports, "The school district and the city's teachers union have yet to strike an agreement on wages and working conditions for an estimated 80 teaching assistants who are scheduled to begin work in September."
Just 1 Staten Island school opting for incentive plan
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 10:29 AM
Staten Island Advance registration required. Advance reports, "A Department of Education source said the lack of participation among Staten Island principals makes it look like borough administrators are resistant to the initiative. 'I am sure the Chancellor is not happy with that.'"
Get adults into college too, Nation, and New York, need a major improvement in university graduates
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 10:24 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Global competition is rapidly increasing and the best way for America to keep up is to educate all citizens, old and young, well beyond high school. But that will take a different perspective on the outlay, and it will take a different funding schematic that better adheres to this nation's changing demographics."
Hazing disregards gender lines
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 10:14 AM
Times Union reports, "Though experts say conclusive data about hazing remains scarce, a number of national surveys have offered some insight into how widespread hazing has become."
OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER DIVISION OF STATE SERVICES STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REPORTING OF VIOLENT AND DISRUPTIVE INCIDENTS BY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 9:39 AM
Report 2005-S-38, "We visited a representative sample of high schools and found that, at a majority of the schools, at least one-third of the violent and disruptive incidents documented in the schools’ records were not reported to SED. At several schools, more than 80 percent of the documented incidents were not reported to SED, and in a number of instances, the most serious types of incidents were unreported, such as sexual offenses and incidents involving the use of a weapon."
HOU$EWARMING WOOS TEACHERS, CITY PAYS OUT TO HELP RECRUITS MOVE IN
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 9:09 AM
NY Post registration required, "NY Post reports, "Each teacher accepted gets $5,000 up front for moving or down-payment costs, plus $400 per month for two years. They must teach for three years at a city middle or high school."
School income tax
Date CapturedSunday July 09 2006, 8:41 AM
The Journal News editorial, "The key is to get Albany, with its vested money interests, to favor a switch from the property tax to income."
Pennsylvania provides $12.5 million more to schools in Pittsburgh, but with strings
Date CapturedSaturday July 08 2006, 9:36 PM
Post-gazette.com reports, "But it gives Superintendent Mark Roosevelt new latitude to reassign and demote administrators, something that he said could aid his efforts to turn around the district's academic and financial problems."
Norwalk Proposes Eviction for Truancy
Date CapturedSaturday July 08 2006, 9:20 PM
NY Times registration required. NY Times reports, "If their children repeatedly play hooky from school, residents of Norwalk's public housing complexes could be evicted under regulations proposed by the Norwalk Housing Authority."
Vermont education chief to hold meetings on school district consolidation
Date CapturedSaturday July 08 2006, 11:08 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Richard Cate plans to hold 38 meetings around the state starting in the fall to determine if there is support for his proposed plan to reduce the number of school districts from 284 to 63."
Buffalo Dissolves Informatics School, Returns LIS to Education
Date CapturedSaturday July 08 2006, 8:34 AM
ALA reports, "The State University of New York’s University at Buffalo announced June 16 that it was dissolving its School of Informatics, with its two components—the Department of Library and Information Studies and the Department of Communication—moving back to their former homes in the Graduate School of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences, respectively."
Mahopac schools set fees for clubs
Date CapturedSaturday July 08 2006, 8:18 AM
The Journal News reports, "In the wake of this year's second budget defeat, the school board voted to eliminate all interscholastic sports and high schools clubs to save $1 million when it lopped $2.9 million from the unpopular $99 million spending plan."
College costs hit 'scary' heights
Date CapturedSaturday July 08 2006, 8:12 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Nationally, the cost of a year at a private four-year school was more than $29,000 in 2005-06, according to the nonprofit College Board, while at a public four-year school, it exceeded $12,000. Those figures don't include textbooks and incidental expenses, which can easily add $2,000 a year."
Education Finance and Accountability Program (EFAP)
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 4:06 PM
This program is part of the well-known, multi-disciplinary Center for Policy Research.
College pennants needed
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 2:44 PM
Nashoba Publishing reports, "The idea is to immerse the students in an environment filled with pennants from the different colleges and universities from around the nation and to encourage the students to look outside McNairy County, Tennessee, to see other possibilities for their lives."
Court: Ontario can stop autism funding once children turn 6
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 2:39 PM
Yahoo.com reports, "The court agreed with health experts that the time period between age two and five provides a unique window of opportunity for such an intensive intervention program, and that children over age five are in school and wouldn't have the time for the 20 to 40 hours needed for the therapy."
Research on urban K-8 schools' performance offers mixed results
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 9:53 AM
Shreveporttimes.com reports, "For at least a decade, urban school systems have moved away from middle schools with sixth, seventh and eighth grades to K-8 campuses."
Massachusetts principals claim right to cell searches
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 9:24 AM
Milforddailynews reports, "High school administrators under a new policy are claiming the right to snatch information stored in students' cell phones when they search for drugs or stolen property at school."
NEST charter doesn’t fly; Is principal’s goose cooked?
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 9:00 AM
The Villager reports, "The department claims it overturned its original, seemingly steadfast, decision to place Ross Global Academy inside the building because it wants to keep stability in the building after the change of the principal at NEST+m."
Yonkers defiant over critical state audit
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 8:39 AM
The Journal News reports, "State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, a Democrat, yesterday released a 20-page final audit that said city, school and economic development officials illegally shuffled money between accounts to help pay for the construction of a new library and Board of Education headquarters."
Plan to sell national forest lands dealt setback
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 12:32 AM
WRICtv reports AP story, "The Bush administration's plan to sell national forest lands, including thousands of acres in Virginia, to help pay for rural schools is drawing widespread opposition and suffering legislative setbacks."
Most states fall short on student testing, government says
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 12:20 AM
USA Today reports AP story, "The Education Department says 34 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have major problems with the tests that were supposed to be in place in the just-ended school year. They will get federal approval only if they correct the problems in the coming year."
Highlights of preliminary conclusions of North Dakota education reform commission
Date CapturedFriday July 07 2006, 12:12 AM
California Schools Could Lose Aid over 'No Child' Law
Date CapturedThursday July 06 2006, 6:31 PM
NPR reports, "This week, the U.S. Department of Education threatened to withhold millions of dollars in federal school aid from California because the state has failed to help students transfer out of low-performing schools."
The Disability Gap
Date CapturedThursday July 06 2006, 2:41 PM
HuffingtonPost.com reports, "Nationwide, under 2% of students have learning disabilities severe enough to qualify for extra time on the SAT. In private school Manhattan, the percentage is substantially greater. And that means dramatically higher scores."
Summer school mandated for 5,000
Date CapturedThursday July 06 2006, 11:04 AM
The Buffalo News reports, "More than 5,000 Buffalo pupils have been assigned to mandatory summer school beginning next week, and Superintendent James A. Williams appealed Wednesday to parents to support that landmark effort to boost achievement and end social promotion."
Rejecting the 65-Percent Solution
Date CapturedThursday July 06 2006, 10:34 AM
A Monthly Column by EFAP Director John Yinger, July 2006. Yinger writes, "The real problem is that children in high-poverty schools cannot receive an adequate education unless their district spends far more than other districts on many items, such as counseling, health, nutrition, safety, and parental involvement."
U at Buffalo Graduate School of Education workshop to examine changes in school leadership
Date CapturedThursday July 06 2006, 10:08 AM
UB Reporter, "In New York State, 'There is a real concern about an impending shortage of school superintendents,' according to Stephen L. Jacobson, professor of educational leadership and policy, and workshop organizer."
Now lower school teachers demand OBE be abandoned
Date CapturedThursday July 06 2006, 9:22 AM
The West Australian reports, "Teachers who have been forced to implement outcomes-based education in lower school say the system is flawed for the same reasons Years 11 and 12 OBE courses were considered flawed and should be scrapped."
Newburgh school plan stalled instate office
Date CapturedThursday July 06 2006, 7:53 AM
Times Herald-Record reports, "The goal was to create smaller, more manageable learning environments. The timetable seemed feasible - until the satellite building plans landed in the state Education Department's facilities planning division."
Tax dollars to fund study on restricting public data
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 11:05 PM
USA Today reports, "The federal government will pay a Texas law school $1 million to do research aimed at rolling back the amount of sensitive data available to the press and public through freedom-of-information requests."
School Bus Drivers, Bus Companies Reach Tentative Deal
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 5:26 PM
NY1 reports, "Union representatives for school bus drivers, escorts and mechanics have reached a tentative agreement with the bus companies they work for Wednesday, averting a possible strike that could have left thousands of summer school students looking for alternate modes of transportation."
Vouchers siphon funds from public schools
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 4:37 PM
Tucson Citizen reports, "Academically, vouchers haven't improved student achievement anywhere. And morally - on the high ground voucher proponents love to claim but cannot reach - vouchers do a disservice not only to children, but also to the very underpinnings of the democratic society whose foundation we celebrate today."
Growth, Diversity Highlight Arlington's 'Wonderful Story'
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 11:07 AM
Catholic Herald reports, "Catholic schools in the Arlington Diocese continue to grow and reach out to minority students in an unprecedented way, Dr. Timothy J. McNiff, diocesan superintendent of schools, told a group of journalists June 28 at a press briefing in Arlington."
Black failure in school – who's to blame?
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 10:28 AM
WorldNetDaily.com reports, "There's enough blame for this sorry state of affairs for all participants to have their share: students who are hostile and alien to the education process, parents who don't care, teachers who are incompetent or have been beaten down by the system, and administrators who sanction unwarranted promotions and issuance of fraudulent diplomas that attest that a student has mastered 12th-grade material when in fact he hasn't mastered sixth- or seventh-grade material."
As Federal Funding Disappears, So Do Computers From Classrooms
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 10:18 AM
MTV reports, "Among the most controversial of the education budget cuts is the phasing out of funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology program. The plan was introduced to equip students with the technological know-how to succeed in our computer-dependent society, as well as to ensure that every student is technologically literate by the end of eighth grade, as dictated by No Child Left Behind."
Coalition for Community Schools
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 9:20 AM
A community school is both a set of partnerships and a place where services, supports and opportunities lead to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities.
Colorado charter agency in jeopardy; Local school boards file suits to maintain authority in districts
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 9:15 AM
Rocky Mountain News reports, "Local boards of education see the institute as an end-run around a portion of the Colorado Constitution they interpret as giving them authority over all publicly funded schools in their districts."
Committing to better education; Nevada now asking for a pledge to be signed by parents
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 9:11 AM
The Nevada Appeal reports, "In the upcoming school year, students, parents and teachers in the Carson City School District will be asked to sign an agreement pledging to improve education."
SUNY is correct to call for a smoking ban in dormitories
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 8:34 AM
Press Republican reports, "Chancellor John Ryan has ordered an end to smoking in dorms next year. SUNY will come up with a plan to enact the ban."
New York's teachers are public workers looking to be treated fairly
Date CapturedWednesday July 05 2006, 8:24 AM
Times Union includes letter to editor from NYSUT president, "The New York State School Boards Association gets an A in creative fiction for arguing that adding equity to the Taylor Law would increase property taxes ("An education in soaring property taxes," June 29). The specter of higher property taxes is a red herring from an organization that has enjoyed the upper hand in contract negotiations for nearly 40 years and opposes a level playing field for teachers and other school employees."
Bipartisan Coalition Backs New School Funding Model; Solution Boosts Spending for Needy Children and Promotes Education Choice
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 7:47 PM
US Newswire reports, "The proposal, Fund the Child: Tackling Inequity and Antiquity in School Finance (visit http://www.100percentsolution.org ), is a 'manifesto' that offers a comprehensive solution to the most pressing problems in American education, including funding disparities on many levels."
Philanthropy Heads In New Direction
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 6:40 PM
CBSnews.com reports Christian Science Monitor article by Mark Trumbell, "Indeed, the very scale of the Gates Foundation exposes it to longstanding pitfalls. Bill Gates has said it's as hard to give money away effectively as it is to make money in the first place. Moreover, some experts see risks in private foundations gaining too much influence through their money and partnerships. The reason: They are not accountable to voters or shareholders."
New Mexico to increase number of charter schools
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 6:13 PM
KOBTV.com reports, "New Mexico has received more than $12 million from the US Education Department to increase the number of charter schools in the state."
'Penguins' pack punch for education reform
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 1:26 PM
CNN.com reports AP story, "They call themselves the "penguins" for their white-on-dark school uniforms, but what 700,000 Chilean high school kids have pulled off in recent days signals the emergence of a new generation in a nation transformed from dictatorship to democracy."
Downtown YWCA to house Buffalo charter school
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 9:20 AM
Buffalo News reports, "The Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School will move to the building in time for the start of its 2007-08 school year. A renovation effort is planned to convert the 54-year-old building for educational use."
Clarkstown schools continue push to shorten DARE
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 8:32 AM
The Journal News reports, "The Clarkstown Central School District is pushing ahead with plans to shorten its DARE program to make room for a new anti-bullying program, despite criticism from the Clarkstown Police Department."
Closing schools, while sad, is not the disaster some parents or students fear
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 8:28 AM
PressRepublican.com reports, "Experience tells us there are few more dispiriting developments in a community's history than the closure of a neighborhood school. It is invariably a change in the area's life that is embraced only by the administrators, who know it is the right thing to do."
Sex-ed bill fails in state Senate
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 8:16 AM
The Journal News reports, "In New York, schools have to teach students about AIDS and HIV, but sex education is not required. Sex-education programs vary greatly among school districts."
Teachers Matter
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 7:59 AM
NY Times registration required. NY Times reports, "To improve student performance, the states need to play a much stronger role in teacher training and certification — and in making sure that qualified teachers are evenly spread across their school districts. Breaking with the bad old status quo won't be easy. But it's the only way for the country to improve the educational picture for the poor and minority students who will make up such a large part of the work force of the future."
Morahan meets with school officials to discuss funding issues
Date CapturedTuesday July 04 2006, 7:36 AM
The Journal News reports, "Other groups — government, students, teachers, taxpayers — will have their chance to talk about the issues at a later date. For this first summit, Morahan just wanted to hear from school decision-makers."
Los Angeles Unified Losing Staff to Charters
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 10:17 AM
LA Times registration required. LA Times reports, "Amid the continuing growth of charter schools in Los Angeles, hundreds of teachers and administrators have left the city's school system to take jobs at the independently run campuses."
Niagara Charter School on its own for transit
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 10:06 AM
The Buffalo News reports, "City School Superintendent Carmen A. Granto said last week that it would be too costly to help with transportation because the district would then have to provide it to everybody attending private schools outside the district."
Teachers Unions and Public Schools: Who Needs 'Em?
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 9:53 AM
Los Angeles Times registration
Costly excuses
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 9:25 AM
Los Angeles schools fight reform with public's money. Dailynews.com reports, "WE'RE not sure what's worse: that the Los Angeles Unified School District is fighting a full-fledged battle to thwart reform, or that it's spending taxpayer money to do it."
Groups clamor to sponsor Ohio charter schools
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 9:17 AM
The Toledo Blade reports on Ohio charter schools, "The nonprofit groups, which include traditional school districts, that monitor and "sponsor" the taxpayer-funded schools are paid up to 3 percent of the tax dollars allocated for each school."
BOYS' PROBLEMS IN SCHOOL NEED ATTENTION, NOT DISMISSAL
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 8:56 AM
How to Educate Young Scientists
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 8:02 AM
NY Times registration required. NY Times reports, "The United States could easily fall from its privileged perch in the global economy unless it does something about the horrendous state of science education at both the public school and university levels."
A yearning for learning
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 7:40 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Charter schools typically have smaller class sizes and more challenging academic regimens than regular public schools. Critics charge that they siphon off the best children in any school district and take money from a system that is already strapped for cash, and do so with little or no accountability."
School funding solution is in a backpack
Date CapturedMonday July 03 2006, 7:32 AM
NY Daily News reports, "In 1945, U.S. public schools received $1,214 per student, in 2002 dollars; by 2002, they received $8,745 per student, and the number keeps growing."..."Rather than simply pumping more gas into this broken down car, it's time to design a much smarter and more effective way to get from Point A to Point B. A reform idea called 'weighted student funding' does just that, making intelligent use of the resources we already devote to education."
Lessons from Boston city school superintendent
Date CapturedSunday July 02 2006, 8:01 PM
The Christian Science Monitor
MyYearbook.com goes online with high school keepsake
Date CapturedSunday July 02 2006, 8:28 AM
Results of school testing are challenged
Date CapturedSunday July 02 2006, 8:20 AM
Federal standards put Florida schools in quandary
Date CapturedSunday July 02 2006, 8:18 AM
School boards gear up for fall
Date CapturedSunday July 02 2006, 7:43 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Beyond Mahopac's mess
Date CapturedSunday July 02 2006, 7:27 AM
Journal News
National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education (NCSPE)
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 8:46 PM
Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 8:43 PM
The School Testing Dodge
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 8:33 PM
NY Times registration required. Read referenced PACE study on Education New York Online EDUCATION POLICY page, NCLB folder.
Politics of Charter Schools: Competing National Advocacy Coalitions Meet Local Politics
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 7:48 PM
2006. Author: Michael W. Kirst. This paper identifies supporters and opponents of charter schools at all levels of government and describes their motivations and behaviors. The author explains that state and local support for charter schools is most often determined by educational needs and material incentives. Different political contexts produce different charter school policies. For example, charter school legislation in Michigan was designed to increase competition among public schools. Legislation in Georgia served to deregulate public education after a period of increased state centralization. The paper concludes that there is no cohesive state or local charter political pattern, given the variations in charter schools and their contexts.
Michigan school funding increased
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 7:21 PM
Closing U at Buffalo School of Informatics is a terrible mistake
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 7:05 PM
FEMA Funding School Repairs, But Officials Wonder If It's Enough
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 9:46 AM
Utah wheels of education reform start to turn today
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 9:36 AM
No school bus strike yet
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 7:31 AM
NY Daily News
Not free any more
Date CapturedSaturday July 01 2006, 7:09 AM
Journal News
States distort school test scores, researchers say
Date CapturedFriday June 30 2006, 10:04 AM
Read referenced report on Education New York Online EDUCATION POLICY page, NCLB folder.
Sen. Morahan holds Rockland-Orange education spending summit
Date CapturedFriday June 30 2006, 8:56 AM
The Journal News (Education New York Online editor correction to Journal News story: Peter Applebee, New York state Senate Finance Committee)
Magnet Schools and Student Achievement
Date CapturedFriday June 30 2006, 8:48 AM
Author: Dale Ballou, Ellen Goldring and Keke Liu. This study estimates the impact of attending a magnet school on student achievement for a mid-sized Southern district, using admissions lotteries to sort students into “treatment” and “control” groups. Study finds a positive magnet school effect on mathematics achievement until add controls for student demographics and prior achievement. This suggests that despite random assignment in the lotteries, treatment and control groups differ with respect to student characteristics that have an independent impact on achievement. The most likely explanation is differential patterns of attrition among lottery winners and losers.
Getting schooled
Date CapturedFriday June 30 2006, 8:12 AM
USA Today
Los Angeles Mayor launches school reform website
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 8:05 PM
View LA Mayor's website at: http://www.excellenceinlaschools.com/
North Carolina Education Lottery Unveils New Scratch-Off Games
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 8:01 PM
Study Shows Pennsylvania Students Benefiting from Targeted Investments in Education
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 1:54 PM
Forum Guide to the Privacy of Student Information: A Resource for Schools
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 10:50 AM
This NCES guide was written to help school and local education agency staff to better understand and apply FERPA, a federal law that protects privacy interests of parents and students in student education records.
Protecting Public Education from Tax Giveaways to Corporations
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 10:23 AM
A study commissioned by the National Education Association (NEA) reveals that local policymakers nationwide are doling out tax breaks and other subsidies to corporations with little or no accountability. Moreover, these tax handouts often come at the direct expense of public schools, with school boards lacking any input in the decision.
New Nevada Funding to Improve School Transportation
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 9:54 AM
‘65 PERCENT SOLUTION’ favored by Blackwell called gimmick
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 9:31 AM
Panel approves Philadelphia charter school for boys
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 9:15 AM
An education in soaring property taxes
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 8:33 AM
Times Union
Northeastern Clinton Central School Board to discuss student transfers
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 8:23 AM
PressRepublican.com
Senate again let youths down on school funding
Date CapturedThursday June 29 2006, 8:14 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Idaho lottery doles out record $33 million dividend to schools, buildings
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 5:46 PM
Illinois rural schools funding changes unlikely
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 4:47 PM
Arizona Gov. Napolitano defends acceptance of school measures
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 4:44 PM
UFT protests the unfair firing of charter school teachers
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 4:31 PM
Arizona legislature of 2 minds on poorest schools
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 12:29 PM
“Does Segregation Still Matter? The Impact of Social Composition on Academic Achievement in High School”
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 10:26 AM
Russell Rumberger with Gregory Palardy. Teachers College Record, 107 (2005), 1999-2045. This article addresses the question of whether school characteristics can be changed by policies to reform schools and funding systems versus policies to desegregate schools.
Homeless Arizona high school students get a helping hand
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 8:44 AM
Confusion instead of Los Angeles school reform
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 8:38 AM
SUNY to ban smoking in dorms
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 8:13 AM
Times Union
Ithaca Central School District ‘zeroes in' on causes of inequity
Date CapturedWednesday June 28 2006, 7:58 AM
Ithaca Journal
Jackson calls for massive rally to support school desegregation
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 11:37 PM
Montana state tells court that school funding lawsuit is moot
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 11:25 PM
North Carolina lottery to make $50 million transfer to education
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 10:14 PM
Fund the Child, 100% Solution
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 10:30 AM
Fund the Child, 100% Solution
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 10:30 AM
Bipartisan coalition backs new school funding model
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 10:28 AM
Fund the Child, Tackling Inequity & Antiquity in School Finance
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 10:18 AM
New school funding proposal by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute offers a comprehensive solution to the most pressing problems in American education, including funding disparities on many levels.
Debunking the fictions that block school reform
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 9:48 AM
Read "The Shape of the Starting Line" on Education New York Online, EDUCATION POLICY link, POVERTY folder.
The Shape Of The Starting Line
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 9:39 AM
Produced By: Tom Sgouros. This report contains a review of some important research findings about the links between poverty and academic success, and research relevant to several popular school reform proposals. It also covers matters relating to professional practice, school conditions, literacy and early childhood education.
'Not it!' More schools ban games at recess
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 8:06 AM
USA Today
For School Equality, Try Mobility
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 7:31 AM
NY Times registration
Panel's Draft Report Calls for an Overhaul of Higher Education Nationwide
Date CapturedTuesday June 27 2006, 7:23 AM
NY Times registration
Arizona University-sponsored charter school ready for students
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 10:30 PM
Florida law moves charter school oversight to state level
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 10:23 PM
School Bus Strike Threatened For Start Of Summer School
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 7:57 PM
NY1
'Buts' are hurdles to Philadelphia charter schools
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 10:47 AM
Naming Rights to Public Schools Sold in Wisconsin
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 10:23 AM
NPR
Charter school sponsored by U of Arizona to open
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 9:03 AM
Measured Progress: A Report on the High School Reform Movement
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 8:53 AM
Studies on the impact of the wide-ranging efforts over the past half-decade to reform the nation's public high schools have produced important—and encouraging—findings, researcher Craig Jerald reveals in a new Education Sector report titled "Measured Progress: A Report on the High School Reform Movement."
Education for entrepreneurs
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 8:37 AM
USA Today
Education debate: Middle school or K-8
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 8:15 AM
The Record
The wrong way to argue for charter schools
Date CapturedMonday June 26 2006, 3:51 AM
NY Daily News
Center for Civic Innovation
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 10:59 AM
Empire Center for New York State Policy
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 10:47 AM
46% of NYC students don't finish high school in 4 years
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 10:36 AM
Staten Island Advance
Spreading Freedom and Saving Money: The Fiscal Impact of the D.C. Voucher Program
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 10:22 AM
By Leon Michos and Susan Aud. This CATO Institute study examines the fiscal impact of the voucher program on D.C. Public School System and the District of Columbia. The program is currently funded by the federal government and creates a net inflow of funds to both the District and DCPS. This study also examines the fiscal impact of the program under several proposed changes to the law. Those scenarios include funding the program locally, making it universally available to all D.C. public school students, and expanding capacity by including regional private schools.
Arizona school vouchers deal angers some
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 10:06 AM
California charter schools increasingly popular with parents
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 9:36 AM
Los Angeles school takeover a big gamble for mayor
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 9:33 AM
Outsiders fund Utah 'school choice' PAC
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 9:21 AM
Do kids need summer vacation? No
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 8:46 AM
NY Daily News
'F' is for full
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 8:42 AM
NY Daily News
Capital Region high-tech school gets a reboot
Date CapturedSunday June 25 2006, 8:05 AM
Times Union
National Middle School Association (NMSA)
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 7:42 PM
New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS)
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 7:18 PM
American Association of School Librarians (AASL)
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 7:06 PM
New Ohio Law: Skip School, No Driver's License
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 6:55 PM
Missouri Gov. Blunt Signs Bill Increasing Higher Education Spending
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 5:46 PM
California Charter School Opts Out of Federal Funds
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 9:11 AM
South Carolina Virtual High School
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 9:05 AM
Mahopac may charge for sports, after-school activities
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 8:26 AM
The Journal News
Legislature Deals Setback to Mayor in Declining to Allow More Charter Schools
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 8:09 AM
NY Times registration
Charter School Will Not Go Into School for the Gifted
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 8:01 AM
NY Times registration
NEST-Y school dispute's over
Date CapturedSaturday June 24 2006, 7:53 AM
NY Daily News
Last Day For Catholic Schools Before Summer Break
Date CapturedFriday June 23 2006, 3:41 PM
NY!
Ohio charter schools oversight criticized
Date CapturedFriday June 23 2006, 10:45 AM
Dems for School Choice?
Date CapturedFriday June 23 2006, 10:22 AM
Cal Thomas
Report finds many community college students do not complete school year, finish their degree
Date CapturedFriday June 23 2006, 9:38 AM
Gov. Pataki plan for charter schools may force a showdown
Date CapturedFriday June 23 2006, 7:51 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Gifted school fails
Date CapturedFriday June 23 2006, 7:38 AM
Times Herald-Record
The Reform Of School Reform
Date CapturedFriday June 23 2006, 7:14 AM
Business Week
South Dakota Sued Over Education Funding
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 11:38 PM
Gov. Blunt Travels State Signing Missouri's Largest Education Funding Bill
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 8:34 PM
Failing System
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 8:26 PM
LI Press (see Education New York Online, EDUCATION POLICY link, SCHOOL FUNDING folder for referenced study)
Council Bill Steps Up Fight For School Cells
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 8:20 PM
queenstribune.com
New Hampshire Chief justice: What education is 'adequate'?
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 8:03 PM
Kansas attorney asks court not to bind state to education cost study
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 3:16 PM
Philadelphia Students May Be Permitted to Carry Cell Phones to School
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 10:57 AM
Fixing Los Angeles schools
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 10:45 AM
Los Angeles mayor, 'It's a great deal for our kids'
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 10:42 AM
Illinois lottery privitization plan panned by tax group
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 10:28 AM
Las Vegas School Could Face Suit for Censoring Christian Grad Speech
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 10:20 AM
Tennessee schools continue challenge of educating ELL students
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 10:15 AM
Timeline of events in 7 year Kansas school finance lawsuit
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 9:53 AM
Kansas school funding suit begins in court today
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 9:51 AM
The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System -- United States 2005
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 8:43 AM
This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study monitors six categories of priority health-risk behaviors among youth and young adults, including behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections; unhealthy dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity. In addition, the YRBSS monitors general health status and the prevalence of overweight and asthma. YRBSS includes a national school-based survey conducted by CDC and state and local school-based surveys conducted by state and local education and health agencies.
Sprint calls off tower
Date CapturedThursday June 22 2006, 7:15 AM
NY Daily News
California Study: Teens Unsupervised After School Drawn To Crime
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 7:41 PM
ACLU files lawsuit over Miami school book ban
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 5:42 PM
NYC High School Graduation Rates Among Lowest In The Country
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 5:30 PM
NY1
Tennessee Gov. Bredesen Signs Budget, Hails Education Improvements
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 5:26 PM
Chronology of New Hampshire education funding decisions spans 15 years
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 4:59 PM
New Hampshire Supreme Court weighing school aid law
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 4:54 PM
Michigan county picks charter school to teach kids in juvenile detention center
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 4:37 PM
Plan To Build Middle School At WTC Site Gets Mixed Reviews
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 3:01 PM
NY1
Kansas Gov. Sebelius hopes school finance plan at least buys time from court
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 12:12 PM
Milwaukee charter school dropping offer of $100 gift cards for top students
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 12:06 PM
US high school dropout rate: high, but how high?
Date CapturedWednesday June 21 2006, 9:28 AM
Christian Science Monitor
Florida's high school graduation rate goes from 49th to 47th among states
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 9:25 PM
Report: NYC High School Graduation Rate Below 40 Percent
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 9:19 PM
WNBC
States Inflate School Graduation Rates, Report Says
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 6:21 PM
NPR
New Lessons in Class
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 5:14 PM
Village Voice
23 States Get Failing Grade on CSPI's School Foods Report Card
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 4:49 PM
School Foods Report Card
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 4:29 PM
To determine the progress states have made in improving the nutritional quality of school foods, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) evaluated the school nutrition policies of all 50 states and the District of Columbia regarding foods and beverages sold outside of the school meal programs through vending machines, a la carte (i.e., foods sold individually in the cafeteria), school stores, and fundraisers. Each state policy was graded based on five key considerations: 1) beverage nutrition standards; 2) food nutrition standards; 3) grade level(s) to which policies apply; 4) time during the school day to which policies apply; and 5) location(s) on campus to which policies apply.
Tennessee Gov. Bredesen Announces $20 Million in New Dollars for Pre-K Funding
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 4:13 PM
Public money shouldn't go to private schools
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 10:16 AM
Pride of Edmonton Isn't Just the Oilers
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 10:04 AM
Parks spring to life from cracked asphalt
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 9:52 AM
Utah's online Electronic High School leads the nation in student enrollment
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 9:08 AM
Second Boca charter school closes abruptly
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 8:50 AM
D.C. Charter School Applications Halted (Washington Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 8:45 AM
Why Students Have No Rights
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 8:37 AM
ANTENNAS ON SCHOOL A HARD 'CELL' (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 8:25 AM
MEMO TO ALBANY: PUT KIDS FIRST (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 7:56 AM
When School Turns Into the Land of 1,000 Dances (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedTuesday June 20 2006, 7:36 AM
School bus scuffle leads board to reassess video access policy
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 9:37 PM
New Jersey school wins award for character education
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 1:31 PM
Wisconsin charter school offers $100 gift cards to attract top students
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 1:19 PM
Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty: Schools in 'silent crisis'
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 1:15 PM
Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa's School Plan Prompts Parent Rally
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 10:26 AM
High school reform: A necessary change
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 9:42 AM
First grads emerge from Pittsburgh charter high school
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 9:34 AM
U of Rochester aims to help at-risk kids
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 8:14 AM
ALBANY'S SCHOOL TEST (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 7:38 AM
Pols dial in votes to veto school cell ban
Date CapturedMonday June 19 2006, 7:18 AM
Charter Schools' Oversight May Shift (Washington Post registration)
Date CapturedSunday June 18 2006, 11:17 PM
Arizona Voucher OK in budget deal certain to ignite legal challenges
Date CapturedSunday June 18 2006, 10:16 AM
Arizona legislature OKs budget with tax savings, school dollars
Date CapturedSunday June 18 2006, 10:03 AM
South Carolina District to Tout Its 'Urban Advantage': School District Plans New Brand to Boost Its Image, Tie into Downtown
Date CapturedSunday June 18 2006, 9:56 AM
Suburban schools safer? Some doubt data
Date CapturedSunday June 18 2006, 9:29 AM
Disruptive elephant in the room
Date CapturedSunday June 18 2006, 8:37 AM
Katrina evacuee test scores won't affect school progress ratings
Date CapturedSaturday June 17 2006, 5:12 PM
Los Angeles Mayor's School Plan in Danger of Collapse
Date CapturedSaturday June 17 2006, 5:09 PM
DOES WHOLE-SCHOOL REFORM BOOST STUDENT PERFORMANCE? THE CASE OF NEW YORK CITY
Date CapturedSaturday June 17 2006, 11:52 AM
Robert Bifulco, William Duncombe, John Yinger. Education Finance and Accountability Program (EFAP). Thousands of schools around the country have implemented whole-school reform programs to boost student performance. This paper uses quasi-experimental methods to estimate the impact of whole-school reform on students’ reading performance in New York City, where various reform programs were adopted in dozens of troubled elementary schools in the mid- 1990s. Two popular reform programs—the School Development Program and Success for All—do not significantly increase reading scores but might have if they had been fully implemented. The More Effective Schools program does boost reading scores, particularly for the poorest students, but only when program “trainers” remain in the school and the students are native English speakers.
EARLY CHILDHOOD.ORG
Date CapturedSaturday June 17 2006, 11:35 AM
This website has been developed by the NYS Council on Children and Families' Head Start Collaboration Project to support professional development and improve the quality of early childhood and school-age programs.
Arizona budget proposal includes tax savings, school dollars
Date CapturedSaturday June 17 2006, 8:14 AM
The Cost of Remedial Education: How Much Alabama Pays
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 11:57 PM
by ChristopherW. Hammons, Ph.D. and Editing by Greg Heyman and Rob Sutherland. Alabama Policy Institute. This study, using data from state and national sources, calculates the financial impact on Alabama’s institutes of higher education and employers when students leave high school without basic skills.
Nashville wants state's first district-run charter high school
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 11:03 PM
Grandparents Poll
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 5:57 PM
The survey found that 55% contribute in some way to their grandchildren’s education, with 21% setting up a fund for college tuition, 5% paying all or part of the tuition expenses, 12% paying for all or part of pre-school through high school expenses, and 24% contributing in other ways. Grandfathers were more likely than grandmothers to set up funds for college tuition (23.8% vs. 19.6%). Younger grandparents (under the age of 70), were more likely than those over 70 to set up funds for college tuition.
College without a High School Diploma
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 12:35 PM
Voucher violation or loophole?
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 9:32 AM
Prep for terrorism
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 9:24 AM
Delaware committee wants more high school credits
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 9:21 AM
Ohio Gov. Taft's plan to expand program for high school/college students raises concerns
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 8:49 AM
Hazing issues not solved by ousting frats
Date CapturedFriday June 16 2006, 8:26 AM
Louisiana Senate committee OKs school funding plan
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 6:26 PM
A Comparable Wage Approach to Geographic Cost Adjustment
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 4:39 PM
Geographic cost differences present many complications when researchers attempt to make systematic comparisons of educational resources, and failure to address such differences can undermine the equity and adequacy goals of school finance formulas.
U at Buffalo Graduate School of Education dean urges action in urban education crisis
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 10:03 AM
Reforms That Could Help Narrow the Achievement Gap
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 9:08 AM
Richard Rothstein, Research Associate of the Economic Policy Institute, outlines a series of reforms, in addition to school improvement, that could help narrow the achievement gap.
Cutting to the core of Ohio's high school curriculum
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 8:52 AM
Iowa Senior High reform to target freshmen
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 8:38 AM
Missouri school districts either satisfied or admit taxes too low
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 8:31 AM
Wyoming superintendent raps charter school plan
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 8:19 AM
Board Approves Alliance Of Public, Charter School (Washington Post registration)
Date CapturedThursday June 15 2006, 8:14 AM
South Carolina Senate sets up panel to study school funding
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 11:05 PM
Kids hurt in shock therapy school
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 7:41 PM
Southern Baptist Convention Leaders Refuse To Back School Pullout
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 7:37 PM
School Cell Phone Fight May Be Heading To Court
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 7:24 PM
'From Teasing to Torment' Documents Student Experiences of Bullying and Harassment in Arizona Schools
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 7:22 PM
Montana Gov. Schweitzer: Taxpayers tired of school funding litigation
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 7:20 PM
Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools Convenes First Advisory Committee Meeting
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 7:11 PM
Housework 'will help boys perform well at school'
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 5:27 PM
New Niagara charter school wants to add third kindergarten class
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 12:42 PM
New Hampshire charter school for deaf to close
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 12:40 PM
Downtown Ohio charter school closes
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 12:39 PM
$21.6 Million in Charter Schools Facilities Grants Announced
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 10:21 AM
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation in New York, N.Y., has been awarded a $8.2 million grant.
Montana school funding still inadequate, lawsuit argues
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 10:18 AM
Will arts partnership boost a sagging Pennsylvania city school?
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 10:14 AM
School choice 'means classroom ghettos'
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 10:12 AM
Tracking Achievement Gaps and Assessing the Impact of NCLB on the Gaps: An In-depth Look into National and State Reading and Math Outcome Trends
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 9:48 AM
By Jaekyung Lee Graduate School of Education, State University of New York at Buffalo. Foreword by Gary Orfield, June 2006. This report compares the findings from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) to state assessment results and concludes that that high stakes testing and sanctions required by NCLB are not working as planned under the NCLB. The findings contradict claims of the Bush Administration and some previous studies that showed positive results under NCLB.
School bosses scoff at single-gender legislation
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 9:05 AM
Defining violence
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 8:33 AM
City program would give PS 31 head more power, 250Gs in funding
Date CapturedWednesday June 14 2006, 7:40 AM
North Carolina Gov. Easley demands high school changes
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 8:11 PM
Plaintiffs: Progress made on Montana school funding, but not enough
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 7:36 PM
Plaintiffs: Kansas school funding plan comes up short
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 5:56 PM
Ohio school funding reform is real joke
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 8:42 AM
Westchester funds eight programs to prevent youth violence and gangs
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 8:39 AM
Missouri law creates ‘virtual school’ to link students and teachers
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 8:08 AM
School options always good for education
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 7:53 AM
North Carolina lottery likely to fall short of forecast education take
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 7:50 AM
Missouri Governor Signs Education Bills Into Law
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 7:27 AM
OFFICIALS CLASH AS CITY SCHOOL VIOLENCE SPIKES (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 7:03 AM
Math doesn't add up
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 6:58 AM
Cut in school jobs - and bureaucracy
Date CapturedTuesday June 13 2006, 6:54 AM
Equity In Education Funding: A Tale Of Two Cities
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 7:52 PM
Louisiana Awarded $23.9 Million No Child Left Behind Grant to Help Create More Charter Schools
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 6:45 PM
Violent and Disruptive Incidents Reported by Public Schools for 2003-04 and 2004-05 School Years
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 11:36 AM
SCHOOL VIOLENT AND DISRUPTIVE INCIDENT DATA MADE AVAILABLE
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 11:33 AM
Education Secretary to announce big charter school grant for Louisiana
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 10:33 AM
Meals unserved: School to pay Feds 469K to settle claim
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 9:10 AM
A lifeline to high school dropouts
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 8:56 AM
Pennsylvania Launches New Statewide Public Cyber School
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 8:16 AM
Education Myths
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 7:52 AM
Statewide property tax reform coalition forms in the Hudson Valley
Date CapturedMonday June 12 2006, 7:38 AM
Delaware bill proposes charter funds
Date CapturedSunday June 11 2006, 8:00 PM
Big Easy taps Windy City aid; Chicago experts to help effort to create unique charter school system
Date CapturedSunday June 11 2006, 10:23 AM
Delaware parents believe in new school's system
Date CapturedSunday June 11 2006, 9:57 AM
Hawaii trying to find fairness in new funding formula
Date CapturedSunday June 11 2006, 9:46 AM
School success
Date CapturedSunday June 11 2006, 8:43 AM
Small schools changing shape of education in Big Apple
Date CapturedSunday June 11 2006, 7:50 AM
Building a Better Elementary School, One Tchotchke at a Time (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedSunday June 11 2006, 7:45 AM
The Toolbox Revisited; Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College
Date CapturedSaturday June 10 2006, 8:03 PM
U.S. Department of Education. The Toolbox Revisited is a data essay that follows a nationally representative cohort of students from high school into postsecondary education, and asks what aspects of their formal schooling contribute to completing a bachelor's degree by their mid-20s. The universe of students is confined to those who attended a four-year college at any time, thus including students who started out in other types of institutions, particularly community colleges
Few graduating college in four years
Date CapturedSaturday June 10 2006, 8:00 PM
read "The Toolbox Revisited; Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College" on education new york online EDUCATION POLICY link, HIGHER EDUCATION/COMMUNITY COLLEGES folders.
6 million pupils go to school hungry
Date CapturedSaturday June 10 2006, 11:17 AM
High Schools That Work
Date CapturedSaturday June 10 2006, 10:07 AM
Northern Cheyenne Reservation school gets $687K from feds
Date CapturedSaturday June 10 2006, 9:37 AM
Arizona pulls plug on classroom spending initiative campaign
Date CapturedSaturday June 10 2006, 9:32 AM
Free Curriculum Supplements for Middle School Teachers As Part of Acclaimed Series
Date CapturedSaturday June 10 2006, 9:14 AM
Classroom spending includes teacher pay; New York tops spending at 68 percent
Date CapturedSaturday June 10 2006, 8:42 AM
Tennessee judge dismisses 18-year-old small schools lawsuit against state
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 6:33 PM
2,450 apply for Ohio school vouchers, 14,000 were available statewide
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 6:26 PM
Public School Tutoring Industy Lacks Accountability, Students
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 2:03 PM
$27 Million in Grants Awarded for Emergency School Repairs
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 11:32 AM
Urban School Superintendents: Characteristics, Tenure, and Salary
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 8:39 AM
The Council of the Great City prepared this report to improve public understanding of employment patterns and demographic trends among the nation’s urban superintendents.
Best Practices of Community Policing in Gang Intervention and Gang Violence Prevention
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 8:29 AM
United States Conference of Mayors Best Practices series publication. Mayors have taken the lead in building and sustaining effective programs against gang crime in their cities, and this publication looks at their success stories.
Reaction mixed as NYS ups pre-K ante
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 7:56 AM
Law might affect year-round school
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 7:45 AM
NORTH DAKOTA EDUCATION: Plan would separate funds for special programs
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 7:40 AM
Students Say Safety Plan Discriminates In Schools
Date CapturedFriday June 09 2006, 7:14 AM
Colorado Catholic Church creates vouchers for low-income students
Date CapturedThursday June 08 2006, 9:56 PM
University of North Carolina receives funding for Early College High School study
Date CapturedThursday June 08 2006, 6:56 PM
Unschooling unpopular, but it's growing trend
Date CapturedThursday June 08 2006, 1:02 PM
Chicago Mayor Daley defends school property tax increase
Date CapturedThursday June 08 2006, 12:58 PM
No funds for New Jersey rural schools till new plan
Date CapturedThursday June 08 2006, 7:40 AM
Audit Disputes $52 Million in New Jersey School Medicaid Claims (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedThursday June 08 2006, 6:46 AM
Oregon Web School Draws Pupils, Critics
Date CapturedWednesday June 07 2006, 8:27 PM
Vouchers abused, Ohio says
Date CapturedWednesday June 07 2006, 10:23 AM
School choice vs. diversity
Date CapturedWednesday June 07 2006, 10:10 AM
Education blooms in school gardens
Date CapturedWednesday June 07 2006, 8:02 AM
$1 million federal grant announced for Sullivan BOCES
Date CapturedWednesday June 07 2006, 7:54 AM
California voters reject tax on the wealthy to fund preschools
Date CapturedWednesday June 07 2006, 7:53 AM
Highlights of new Texas school legislation
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 7:56 PM
New Jersey close to high school steroid testing
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 7:49 PM
An education from Russia, with tough love
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 7:46 PM
Delaware charter school supporters rally
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 10:17 AM
Stanford Graduate School of Business Adopts New Curriculum Model
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 9:59 AM
Group files petitions to divert money to classrooms
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 9:50 AM
Yonkers school district secures federal grant
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 9:20 AM
Court to Weigh Race as Factor in School Rolls (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 8:47 AM
POLS BOOST SCHOOL CELLS (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 8:30 AM
Bus drivers may put brakes on summer school with strike
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 8:13 AM
Don't let Lotto kids lose, sez pol
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 8:10 AM
Marching to their own DRUM
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 8:06 AM
Parents of the Gifted Resist a Call to Share a School Building (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 7:44 AM
Yonkers school board OKs $434.6 million school budget
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 7:40 AM
Uniforms possible in elementary schools, too
Date CapturedTuesday June 06 2006, 7:37 AM
Ten Percent Of City Schools Not Applying For Lottery Scholarship Funds
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 8:50 PM
Teacher of the Year on Turning a School Around
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 7:30 PM
Pulling Strings to Get Into a Top (Pre-) School
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 7:27 PM
Black educators divided on Villaraigosa schools plan
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 6:41 PM
Florida Gov. Bush signs education bill requiring high school majors
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 2:17 PM
Utah Public school funds percentage declining
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 2:10 PM
Michigan school funding guarantee likely headed for November ballot
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 2:07 PM
Mississippi high school students enroll early in college courses
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 1:40 PM
Race-Based School Placements Get High Court Scrutiny
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 11:16 AM
Charter schools are experiment that worked
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 11:06 AM
An A+ Choice
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 11:04 AM
South Carolina educators say funding falls short
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 10:29 AM
Home school for elite
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 10:24 AM
Federal school funds are secure in Delaware
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 10:21 AM
Survey: South needs more research and education
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 9:22 AM
Low New Jersey school vote turnout prompts calls for changes
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 9:10 AM
For richer and poorer
Date CapturedMonday June 05 2006, 8:05 AM
Texas School District Will Offer Bible Study Class
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 8:47 PM
School's out! It's payback time
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 10:05 AM
Massachusetts district may take state to court over school funding formula
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 9:50 AM
New Kentucky law may push away sex offenders
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 9:47 AM
Analysis reveals true performance, School's poverty level is the biggest factor, so eliminating it evens out the playing field
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 9:27 AM
Experts and educators identified key elements that are critical in teaching at-risk elementary school students effectively. READING
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 9:21 AM
Give law enforcement glimpse of school misconduct
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 9:03 AM
Illinois lottery plan puts education to the forefront
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 8:41 AM
Step by step: High school forges path to student achievement
Date CapturedSunday June 04 2006, 8:38 AM
Illinois Gov.'s Education Plan
Date CapturedSaturday June 03 2006, 9:31 PM
New Curriculum Focuses on High-School Entrepreneurs
Date CapturedSaturday June 03 2006, 2:03 PM
Kansas wants school funding suit tossed
Date CapturedSaturday June 03 2006, 9:46 AM
New rules enacted for Utah charter schools
Date CapturedSaturday June 03 2006, 9:29 AM
Michigan charter high school gains needed space
Date CapturedFriday June 02 2006, 6:19 PM
NCES State Education Reforms
Date CapturedFriday June 02 2006, 3:05 PM
Center for the Prevention of School Violence
Date CapturedFriday June 02 2006, 3:02 PM
NYSSBA Academy for Public School Governance 2006
Date CapturedFriday June 02 2006, 2:52 PM
Two convenient opportunities to attend: July 21 – 23, 2006 • September 15 – 17, 2006
Science Journal: Do school systems tilt balance on natural ability?
Date CapturedFriday June 02 2006, 2:30 PM
Harlem, a Test Lab, Splits Over Charter Schools (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedFriday June 02 2006, 8:11 AM
Students dash to save cash on school loans
Date CapturedFriday June 02 2006, 7:43 AM
Illinois School District to Police Student's Online Activities
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 7:44 PM
Many will benefit from Iowa education bills
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 7:25 PM
Nutrition, Physical Activity Boost School Performance; Four-Year Program Improves Test Scores, Discipline, Attendance
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 2:42 PM
Little Rock Arkansas School District Gets Grant For American History Education
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 1:35 PM
Kentucky receives education award
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 1:33 PM
Iowa Gov. Vilsack to sign education bills
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 9:57 AM
Coalition files briefs in New Hampshire school funding appeal
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 9:19 AM
Iowa high school graduation expectations changing
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 9:15 AM
Students rally for funding for Delaware charter schools
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 9:08 AM
Charter schools are innovative, accountable
Date CapturedThursday June 01 2006, 8:03 AM
A look at the Texas school tax package approved by the Legislature
Date CapturedWednesday May 31 2006, 7:08 PM
Louisiana lawmaker drops effort to give Legislature school funding control
Date CapturedWednesday May 31 2006, 4:10 PM
After-School Programs and Activities: 2005
Date CapturedWednesday May 31 2006, 4:03 PM
By Carver, P.R., Iruka, I.U.. This report presents data on participation in after-school activities and programs in the United States. The data are from the After-School Programs and Activities Survey (ASPA) of the 2005 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2005). The data presented in the report are based on a nationally representative sample of students in kindergarten through grade 8. In 2005, 40 percent of students in kindergarten through eighth grade participated in after-school care arrangements that occurred at least once each week.
Learning How To Get Along, Odd alliance of school-voucher advocates in Oregon
Date CapturedWednesday May 31 2006, 12:05 PM
Utah School Districts Struggle With New Legislation
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 10:39 PM
America's Opportunity Scholarships for Kids: School Choice for Students in Underperforming Public Schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 6:12 PM
Black, Hispanic pupils see school as tough
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 5:59 PM
Money Matters
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 5:48 PM
An interview with Eric Hanushek
Florida Charter Schools: Hot and Humid with Passing Storms
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 5:46 PM
read full report on education new york online, EDUCATION POLICY link, SCHOOL CHOICE folder.
Florida Charter Schools: Hot and Humid with Passing Storms
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 5:32 PM
by Bryan C. Hassel, Michelle Godard Terrell, and Julie Kowal, Public Impact
Illinois lottery plan not the way to fund education
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 8:54 AM
Deadline Nears For Ohio School Voucher Program
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 8:38 AM
Los Angeles Mayor Faces School Skeptics
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 8:00 AM
Steadfast partner to Rochester City School District
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 7:52 AM
Cyber school begets an education empire
Date CapturedTuesday May 30 2006, 7:31 AM
Kansas School Board Defends Evolution Stance
Date CapturedMonday May 29 2006, 11:08 PM
More data on school violence coming out
Date CapturedMonday May 29 2006, 2:12 PM
School choice and resegregation in California
Date CapturedMonday May 29 2006, 8:35 AM
Drastic steps for school boards proving beneficial across U.S.
Date CapturedMonday May 29 2006, 8:28 AM
Smaller learning communities initiatives striving to keep kids in school
Date CapturedSunday May 28 2006, 7:51 PM
Public Policy Institute of New York State, Inc.
Date CapturedSunday May 28 2006, 11:11 AM
Just for the Kids - New York
Date CapturedSunday May 28 2006, 10:58 AM
New Hampshire 'Follow the Child' initiative makes learning personal
Date CapturedSunday May 28 2006, 9:55 AM
Don't let them make the choice
Date CapturedSunday May 28 2006, 8:56 AM
With a Push, Schools Win on Budgets (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedSunday May 28 2006, 1:58 AM
Southern Baptists Bypassing Public Schools
Date CapturedSaturday May 27 2006, 8:29 PM
Oklahoma Lawmakers Pass Bill For High School Exit Exams
Date CapturedSaturday May 27 2006, 2:33 PM
Is lottery money really going to education?
Date CapturedFriday May 26 2006, 9:41 PM
TEXAS JUDGE GETS RID OF SCHOOL FUNDING LEGAL THREAT
Date CapturedFriday May 26 2006, 9:05 AM
Manhattan Charter School to Relocate, Union Says (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedFriday May 26 2006, 7:41 AM
Midstate School Finance Consortium
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 5:12 PM
An alliance of over 250 NYS public school districts allied to improve the State's method of funding public schools
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson proposes school reform
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 4:05 PM
The New School Commencement Protest: A Faculty Member's View
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 4:02 PM
Groups line up against a proposed forest sale
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 3:59 PM
Profiles of For-Profit Education Management
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 9:34 AM
Eighth Annual Report 2005-2006 by Alex Molnar, David R. Garcia, Margaret Bartlett, Adrienne O’Neill. Released by the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University, this report, in its eighth edition, found that Education Management Organizations (EMOs) are consolidating and shifting business models to meet the demand for supplemental education services. Large EMOs continue to focus on managing charter primary schools and enrolling relatively large numbers of students in those schools. Fifty-one EMOs operate in 28 states and the District of Columbia, enrolling some 237,179 students. The report is the most comprehensive resource on the for-profit education management industry.
The Issues and Implications of the “65 Percent Solution”
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 9:15 AM
As states consider a proposal to require school districts to spend at least 65 cents of every dollar on classroom instruction, an analysis by Standard & Poor's has found a lack of empirical evidence linking higher student achievement with higher proportional spending levels. The report suggests that the specific ways that schools use their instructional dollars may have as much, if not more, to do with student achievement as the percentage of dollars spent on the classroom.
65 Percent Solution: Gimmick or Gold Mine?
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 9:12 AM
Will Illinois Gov. Blagojevich's school reform plan work?
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 9:08 AM
VOICE FOR KIDS, PARENTS VS SPECIAL INTERESTS (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedThursday May 25 2006, 7:26 AM
California High Court Reinstates School Exit Exam
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 11:25 PM
All Things Considered, May 24, 2006
Clean School Buses
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 9:19 PM
School Bus Pollution Report Card 2006
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 9:13 PM
The School Bus Pollution Report Card 2006 report analyzes the amount of pollution released from the average state school bus. Each state received a letter grade (A B, C, or D) for estimated tailpipe emissions of soot, which warrants the most concern because of its potential to cause toxic “hot spots”—areas of higher exposure for children in or near buses.
Answer to NCLB Failure is School Choice
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 10:34 AM
Spending isn't answer for all problems
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 9:54 AM
The Choice is Ours: Expanding Educational Opportunity for all Twin Cities Children
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 8:40 AM
A new report by the Institute on Race & Poverty (IRP) at the University of Minnesota reveals the disturbing extent of school segregation in the Twin Cities region. The authors of the report envision a brighter future if an already successful school choice program is expanded. The report, “The Choice Is Ours: Expanding Educational Opportunity for all Twin Cities Children,” describes how economic and racial segregation harms children and the region.
Study shows correlation between school segregation and poverty enrollment
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 8:33 AM
Um, ah, well ...
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 7:48 AM
Pol flies POW/MIA school flag bill
Date CapturedWednesday May 24 2006, 7:28 AM
Education Finance Reform and Property Tax Relief
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 2:19 PM
Governor to propose leasing Illinois lottery to fund education plan
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 2:16 PM
Collection of Violent and Disruptive Incidents for the 2004-05 School Year
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 10:54 AM
COMMISSIONER MILLS ANNOUNCES ACTIONS TO IMPROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT REPORTING OF VIOLENT INCIDENTS
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 10:52 AM
Education reform is on right path in state
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 7:04 AM
N.Y. LAWMAKERS MUST LIFT CAP ON CHARTER SCHOOLS (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 6:49 AM
OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER DIVISION OF STATE SERVICES STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REPORTING OF VIOLENT AND DISRUPTIVE INCIDENTS BY PUBLIC SCHOOLS Report 2005-S-38
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 6:44 AM
Violent incidents in New York State high schools have not been accurately reported to the State Education Department (SED) and SED has not done enough to address misreporting problems or to effectively identify schools with serious violence problems, according to an audit released by Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi.
Charter school ads get an F
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 6:41 AM
State will monitor school safety data
Date CapturedTuesday May 23 2006, 6:09 AM
Report cites High Schools for not fully reporting violence
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 9:11 PM
Milwaukee's lessons on school vouchers
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 7:06 PM
Court: Connecticut town not required to transport charter school preschoolers
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 7:03 PM
SCHOOL SAFETY
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 3:42 PM
To address issues of school safety and violence prevention, the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education Act (SAVE) was passed by the New York State Legislature and signed into law by Governor George E. Pataki on July 24, 2000. Project SAVE culminates the work of the Task Force on School Violence chaired by Lieutenant Governor Mary Donohue. The New York State Board of Regents approved Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to ensure compliance with the new legislation. This site provides resources to assist schools in the development and maintenance of safe school environments.
Schools Faulted For Failing To Report Violence
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 3:38 PM
Katrina Students Struggle with Texas School Tests
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 11:38 AM
GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN REPORTING VIOLENT AND DISRUPTIVE INCIDENTS
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 8:46 AM
New York State Education Department school safety glossary of terms.
How safe is your child's school?
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 8:40 AM
Data: School violence by district and school
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 8:39 AM
Top 10 most violent school districts in Hudson Valley, 2003-04
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 8:36 AM
No child left behind here
Date CapturedMonday May 22 2006, 8:21 AM
Sale of national forest land lacks support
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 11:33 AM
SAGE Partners With The National Association Of Secondary School Principals
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 11:11 AM
The state of education in Boston
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 10:48 AM
Arizona budget fight will center on education
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 10:28 AM
North Carolina School Systems Turn To Pay Incentives To Draw, Keep Teachers
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 10:24 AM
Debate over English
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 10:12 AM
Academy aims high
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 9:25 AM
Getting to school can become a crisis
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 9:17 AM
Times Union reports, "The team, led by Sal Villa, a former high school administrator, was visiting the home of a fifth-grader who hadn't been showing up at School 19. The apartment contained almost no furniture, save a set of shelves with a small TV and video game setup. Dishes were piled high in the sink and on the floor was a box of Arctic Pops, which were supposed to be in the freezer."
Suburban schools
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 8:44 AM
Charter school data flunk clarity test
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 8:39 AM
NEW-SCHOOL LOSERS (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 8:30 AM
Phones put on hold
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 8:26 AM
Tell kids to defy school cell phone ban?: No
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 8:23 AM
Tell kids to defy school cell phone ban?: Yes
Date CapturedSunday May 21 2006, 8:17 AM
Study: Inadequate aid a factor in lower graduation rates, higher taxes
Date CapturedSaturday May 20 2006, 10:06 PM
Charter ads rile Assembly majority
Date CapturedSaturday May 20 2006, 10:04 PM
PA Governor Rendell Says His Commitment to Education Stronger Than Ever
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 11:54 PM
California Gov. Schwarzenegger Seeks To Boost Preschool Funding
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 8:24 PM
Mo. Lottery generates $22M in April for education
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 8:21 PM
Improving College Readiness and Success for All Students: A Joint Responsibility Between K-12 and Postsecondary Education
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 5:26 PM
Improving College Readiness and Success for All Students: A Joint Responsibility Between K-12 and Postsecondary Education—Michael W. Kirst and Andrea Venezia
Mississippi education chief proposes revamping schools
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 5:17 PM
U.S. must commit to education
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 9:32 AM
New York State's Dual Crises: Low Graduation Rates and Rising School Taxes
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 9:10 AM
Inadequate state aid to public schools is jeapordizing the future of New York State's two million public school children and driving up local property taxes, according to a new report released today by AQE and the Public Policy and Education Fund.
Alliance report pushes for state to increase spending on education
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 8:55 AM
Underfunding saps progress
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 8:43 AM
Cry for help with charter schools
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 8:20 AM
Group's Study of School Financing Stresses Need for More Aid From Albany (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 8:05 AM
Education must be a priority
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 7:56 AM
Don't ditch education reform, fix it
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 7:51 AM
Pol with an old-school plan
Date CapturedFriday May 19 2006, 7:28 AM
South Carolina decision could force school voucher group disclosures
Date CapturedThursday May 18 2006, 9:58 AM
TEACH JAM AT UFT CHARTERS (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedThursday May 18 2006, 8:46 AM
UFT's dangerous game
Date CapturedThursday May 18 2006, 8:00 AM
New Hampshire school voucher idea seems dead
Date CapturedWednesday May 17 2006, 11:55 AM
Superintendent's reform plans criticized
Date CapturedWednesday May 17 2006, 10:40 AM
Why do boys trail girls in school?
Date CapturedTuesday May 16 2006, 6:00 PM
Boston University School of Social Work receives grant to study post-foster care adolescents
Date CapturedTuesday May 16 2006, 2:39 PM
Oregon school-choice foes, fans set to spar again
Date CapturedTuesday May 16 2006, 11:43 AM
Parker: The NAACP's fight against private school vouchers
Date CapturedTuesday May 16 2006, 11:39 AM
Texas legislature OKs school plan
Date CapturedTuesday May 16 2006, 9:29 AM
Forest land sale does not look likely
Date CapturedTuesday May 16 2006, 9:25 AM
Risks seen in safe-cleanser mandate at schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 16 2006, 8:00 AM
Advocates say New Jersey Gov. Corzine abandoning urban kids
Date CapturedMonday May 15 2006, 10:38 AM
Inside Education: Bullying's not everything you think
Date CapturedMonday May 15 2006, 7:53 AM
School bills are lesson in math
Date CapturedMonday May 15 2006, 7:51 AM
Kindest cut of all in city's schools
Date CapturedMonday May 15 2006, 7:33 AM
States Struggle to Computerize School Records (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedMonday May 15 2006, 7:13 AM
Call a truce in nasty school war
Date CapturedMonday May 15 2006, 7:03 AM
THE CATHOLIC-SCHOOL CRISIS (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedMonday May 15 2006, 6:54 AM
The Harlem Children's Zone
Date CapturedSunday May 14 2006, 8:15 PM
Putting brakes on school tax
Date CapturedSunday May 14 2006, 1:17 PM
Ivy Tech offers high-school grads, college students a 'Late Start'
Date CapturedSunday May 14 2006, 9:35 AM
Schools are lost in space
Date CapturedSunday May 14 2006, 5:08 AM
CUNY course a fresh start for dropouts
Date CapturedSunday May 14 2006, 5:05 AM
Study faults N.J. for not investing more in colleges
Date CapturedSaturday May 13 2006, 12:12 PM
School to check drinking at door
Date CapturedSaturday May 13 2006, 8:42 AM
Question to N.Y. voters: Is 6% hike too much?
Date CapturedSaturday May 13 2006, 8:01 AM
Private School Rankings
Date CapturedFriday May 12 2006, 7:23 PM
Budget Press Release From California Governor's Office
Date CapturedFriday May 12 2006, 7:13 PM
A look at Texas education improvement initiatives approved Friday
Date CapturedFriday May 12 2006, 7:09 PM
School IT Leaders Must Employ Acceptable Use Policies to Educate Parents and Students of Internet Dangers
Date CapturedFriday May 12 2006, 10:51 AM
The Early Reading and Mathematics Achievement of Children Who Repeated Kindergarten or Who Began School a Year Late
Date CapturedFriday May 12 2006, 10:38 AM
This Statistics in Brief examines the association between kindergarten enrollment status (e.g., repeating kindergarten or delaying entry into kindergarten) and children’s first grade reading and mathematics achievement. Based on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K), the statistics in brief reports that in the fall of 1998 5 percent of all children in kindergarten were repeating kindergarten and 6 percent were attending kindergarten for the first time even though they were age-eligible to do so a year earlier (i.e., delayed entry). In terms of children’s first grade performance by kindergarten enrollment status, at the end of first grade, children who repeated kindergarten have lower reading and mathematics knowledge and skills than those who started on time. At the end of first grade, children whose kindergarten entry was delayed, in general, demonstrate slightly higher reading knowledge and skills than those who started on time. In mathematics at the end of first grade, children whose kindergarten entry was delayed kindergarten are behind their classmates who began kindergarten on time.
Parents Leave a Message: Let Students Have Their Cellphones (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedFriday May 12 2006, 4:47 AM
Technical college receives aviation education grant
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 9:09 PM
New Jersey school funding reform proposal
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 6:48 PM
Los Angeles School Struggles to Leave Violence Behind
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 2:50 PM
Pepperdine Business School Welcomes Mothers
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 2:47 PM
Florida deal links new homes, school crowding
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 11:04 AM
New federal rule shifts more tax dollars for disabled to private schools
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 9:04 AM
Court Allows Corzine to Freeze Aid to Poor School Districts (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 8:37 AM
NYSUT: A 'yes' vote on May 16 is more important than ever
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 8:33 AM
Reining in Charter Schools (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 8:30 AM
Two Setbacks for Exit Exams Taken by High School Seniors (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedWednesday May 10 2006, 12:09 AM
Kansas school-funding measure stalls
Date CapturedTuesday May 09 2006, 11:58 AM
Virtual high school offers real diplomas in Washington state
Date CapturedTuesday May 09 2006, 6:39 AM
Manhattan: Battle Over Charter School (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedTuesday May 09 2006, 6:14 AM
Judge inclined to halt California's high school exit exam
Date CapturedTuesday May 09 2006, 5:39 AM
Boston's Success Could Be Lesson for D.C. Schools (Washington Post registration)
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 11:56 PM
California schools call for repealing bill that could affect reimbursements
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 10:29 PM
Alaska Senate passes school funding bill
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 7:25 PM
Test links wealth to school readiness
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 11:46 AM
Texas school reform awaits hearing
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 11:33 AM
Evaluation of the Title I Accountability Systems and School Improvement Efforts (TASSIE)
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 10:22 AM
This report is based on surveys of a nationally representative sample of schools and school districts that are working towards the NCLB goal of student proficiency by 2013-14. The study was commissioned to better understand how states, districts and schools are implementing the Title I accountability provisions of NCLB. SRI findings for 2002-03, the first full year of NCLB implementation, show there were significant gaps between the NCLB vision and the implementation of standards and accountability systems in schools nationwide. While there was broader support for NCLB in 2003-04 than in 2002-2003, the likelihood of reaching proficiency benchmarks varied greatly among states and school districts. The chances that a school would be "identified for improvement" were much higher for schools in districts that were large, urban and poor.
School Reform in Danger (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 10:18 AM
CFE denied expedited ruling
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 8:17 AM
A new army fights charter school war
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 7:58 AM
Quinn pushing full-time pre-K
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 7:54 AM
N.Y. SCHOOL-TAX REBELLION (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedMonday May 08 2006, 7:41 AM
Florida vouchers obscured other issues
Date CapturedSunday May 07 2006, 9:30 AM
Residents call for property tax reform
Date CapturedSunday May 07 2006, 8:12 AM
The News Interview: Schools Chancellor Joel Klein
Date CapturedSunday May 07 2006, 8:10 AM
School on Wheels reaches homeless kids
Date CapturedSaturday May 06 2006, 11:00 PM
Mission accomplished in Yonkers?
Date CapturedSaturday May 06 2006, 12:50 PM
A recipe for excellence
Date CapturedSaturday May 06 2006, 12:46 PM
Bonds would funnel billions to California education
Date CapturedSaturday May 06 2006, 10:04 AM
Florida bill would delay school start
Date CapturedSaturday May 06 2006, 9:12 AM
Gov. Sebelius Signs Bills to Improve Kansas Schools
Date CapturedSaturday May 06 2006, 9:02 AM
Ohio Gov. Taft asks for funds to train teachers
Date CapturedSaturday May 06 2006, 8:57 AM
School Cell Phone Ban Stays in Place
Date CapturedSaturday May 06 2006, 8:40 AM
Texas education improvement initiatives approved Friday
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 8:39 PM
Report: States lag in school data use
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 8:21 PM
Vouchers saved, but Florida Gov. Bush won't get amendment
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 9:31 AM
Vouchers test Cincinnati school choice
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 9:12 AM
Haze Surrounds Aid for Drug Users
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 9:03 AM
Baltimore school reforms set, $21 million effort targets middle grades in city; broader plan to come
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 8:40 AM
Cell phone ban? Klein says hang on
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 8:10 AM
Students Are Concerned by U.S. Plan to Sell Their Trees (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 8:10 AM
Taking the SAT, Graduating Middle School
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 1:03 AM
Susan Fuhrman, dean of Penn's Graduate School of Education to become president of Columbia University's Teachers College
Date CapturedFriday May 05 2006, 12:39 AM
Jewish medical school wins New Jersey state approval
Date CapturedThursday May 04 2006, 10:45 PM
Inside Albany (view schedule)
Date CapturedThursday May 04 2006, 8:37 PM
This week on Inside Albany: Testing, testing... NY Senate probes College Board snafu that misreported low scores on 4,000 SAT exams. Ban soda in school-- New bill targets junk food and sugary soft drinks to fight child obesity.
Changing New Jersey school formula seen as key to tax reform
Date CapturedThursday May 04 2006, 4:52 PM
Arkansas legislators get price tag on facilities costs
Date CapturedThursday May 04 2006, 4:50 PM
Drug testing for N.J. high school athletes clears another hurdle
Date CapturedThursday May 04 2006, 4:46 PM
Swing votes in Florida school vouchers battle
Date CapturedThursday May 04 2006, 7:58 AM
School of the American dream
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 7:41 PM
Should the federal government be involved in school accountability?
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 6:43 PM
This debate between EPI research associate Richard Rothstein and Hoover Institution economist Eric Hanushek, on the role of the federal government in education, was featured in the Winter 2005 issue of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
Rethinking High School Graduation Rates and Trends
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 6:36 PM
Listen to debate between Economic Policy Institute President Lawrence Mishel (co-author of Rethinking High School Graduation Rates and Trends) and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Jay P. Greene, on their differing analyses of graduation rates nationwide. The Center on Education Policy (CEP) hosted the debate on Thursday, April 27, 2006, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
School Report Card Press Conference Presentation: MS PowerPoint File
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 4:13 PM
The New York State School Report Card For School Year 2004-2005
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 4:10 PM
NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL REPORT CARDS SHOW PROGRESS IN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 4:08 PM
New Hampshire private school voucher proposal gets a new life
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 9:41 AM
South Carolina bill could enable online education
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 8:58 AM
Suozzi Unveils Plan to Cut Property Tax and Aid Schools (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 8:19 AM
Poll laments Rochester city schools student behavior
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 7:59 AM
GIVE KIDS MORE CHANCE TO HOPE (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedWednesday May 03 2006, 7:52 AM
Poll Finds Broad Support for Public Charter Schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 7:51 PM
Charter Schools Making the Grade in Urban Areas
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 7:49 PM
Student Achievement at Small California Schools Is Mixed
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 7:41 PM
NMSA Calls Upon Policymakers to Support Appropriate Reform for Middle Schools
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 10:54 AM
Duke Reconsiders Approach to Student Behavior
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 10:37 AM
Poor urban New Jersey schools, state head to court over funding freeze
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 9:15 AM
New Jersey State Supreme Court to hear school funding arguments
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 9:12 AM
U.S. inquiry targets school for blind
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 6:45 AM
TEACHERS SOLD ON CELLS (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday May 02 2006, 6:17 AM
Florida State Senate kills proposed school voucher amendment
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 8:17 PM
Secretary Spellings Delivers Remarks Launching Charter Schools Week
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 7:33 PM
Annual Conference Stresses Importance of Keeping Pennsylvania Schools Safe
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 7:21 PM
Hybrid school buses on the way
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 6:16 PM
Vote looms on Florida voucher program
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 12:14 PM
Separate school facilities are inherently unequal
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 11:49 AM
Research Offers Lessons for Improving Low-Performing High Schools; Studies Address Five Challenges Facing Educators
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 11:36 AM
To read full report see education new york online EDUCATION POLICY page, SCHOOL REFORM folder.
Meeting Five Critical Challenges of High School Reform: Lessons from Research on Three Reform Models
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 11:29 AM
Janet Quint , 2006. Recent MDRC evaluations of three high school reform models — Career Academies, First Things First, and Talent Development — offer hope that comprehensive programs can improve low-performing high schools. This research synthesis for policymakers and practitioners offers practical lessons for creating personalized learning environments, helping struggling freshmen, improving instruction, preparing students for the world beyond high school, and stimulating change in overstressed high schools.
Buildings, But How About Books?
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 10:59 AM
California state to pony up Prop. 49 funding, $600 million will go to after-school programs for kids K-12
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 10:48 AM
Back to school for Rochester city truants
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 9:25 AM
N.J. aid to needy schools hits backlash
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 9:01 AM
Anger Over Charter School’s NEST+m Takeover
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 8:05 AM
Models of middle school success
Date CapturedMonday May 01 2006, 4:44 AM
Resist '65% solution' fad
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 9:55 PM
It's common sense, not a fad
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 9:51 PM
Expect North Carolina lottery changes to affirm education spending
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 6:05 PM
Educators, lawmakers hopeful about South Carolina lottery-funded program
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 5:24 PM
What Makes a Good High School?
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 2:31 PM
Switch the school funding burden to Albany
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 8:07 AM
Getting Schooled
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 8:03 AM
SHARING THE NEST (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 7:40 AM
What Makes a High School Great?
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 12:40 AM
School Districts Go Austerity One Better (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 12:34 AM
What Gives When Stuff Is Taken (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 12:30 AM
Can You Hear Me, Mom? (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedSunday April 30 2006, 12:27 AM
Buffalo boosts school aid by $2.8 million
Date CapturedSaturday April 29 2006, 1:43 PM
SUNY New Paltz’s School of Business wins $34,000 in federal funds
Date CapturedSaturday April 29 2006, 1:40 PM
Go to school in Florida, win a free car: Incentive enough, kids?
Date CapturedSaturday April 29 2006, 9:28 AM
School Newspaper's Immigrant Editorial Sparks Controversy
Date CapturedSaturday April 29 2006, 9:01 AM
see slideshow
Massachusetts House proposes school aid increase
Date CapturedSaturday April 29 2006, 8:55 AM
Improve our schools; Public education's the theme in California political campaigns
Date CapturedSaturday April 29 2006, 8:51 AM
Florida Senate kills class-size proposal
Date CapturedSaturday April 29 2006, 7:48 AM
TEXAS SCHOOL FUNDING PACKAGE WINDING THROUGH LEGISLATURE
Date CapturedSaturday April 29 2006, 7:45 AM
Saturday School for Immigration Protesters
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 9:43 PM
NYS Legislature Saves Education Programs
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 6:16 PM
NYC Mayor Bloomberg Responds to Uproar Over School Cell Phone Ban
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 6:14 PM
Pennsylvania Gov. Rendell's Project 720 initiative
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 3:09 PM
Good school experience less likely for blacks, poor
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 2:29 PM
Parents get real education in cyberspace
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 2:21 PM
Votes on South Carolina tax credits loom
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 1:39 PM
Kentucky coalition calls for more education accountability, school choice
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 9:15 AM
Florida voucher controls within reach after 2 years of slipping away
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 8:29 AM
Editorial: A favorite rerun airs: Pennsylvania property tax reform
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 8:20 AM
Utah ed-funding effort slips
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 8:18 AM
Kansas Senate approves school funding
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 8:15 AM
Illinois law would reform school mergers
Date CapturedFriday April 28 2006, 12:12 AM
Edison Schools Rated Top Education Service Provider
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 1:51 PM
Education commissioner addresses bullying conference
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 9:51 AM
Maine High court bans funding of religious schools
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 9:37 AM
School scenarios for Buffalo city are bleak
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 9:32 AM
Property Taxes Rising Too Fast, Report Warns (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 8:45 AM
Larger class sizes and private school vouchers are Florida GOP priorities
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 8:24 AM
Hundreds rally for Massachusetts school funding
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 8:20 AM
Texas school funding plan doesn't yield enough money for promised tax reduction
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 8:17 AM
Pols defy Pataki's vetoes, OK $113B budget, tax breaks
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 7:30 AM
Chartering a course
Date CapturedThursday April 27 2006, 7:28 AM
Louisiana House rejects plan to set up school voucher program
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 11:35 PM
School Cellphone Ban Is Enforced, and Parents Howl, Too (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 11:16 PM
Former New York City School Board President Praises Educational Initiatives
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 11:05 PM
National Charter Schools Week, 2006
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 10:51 PM
School-Rampage Plans Foiled in Four States
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 7:43 PM
Katrina-Rita recovery has shortchanged education
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 6:13 PM
Nevada Sen. Ensign Encourages Innovation in Education
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 5:50 PM
Lawmakers consider graduation standards but dump school hours plan
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 1:41 PM
High School Dropouts Gain Opportunity to Earn Diploma and College Degree
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 1:27 PM
Massachusetts charter school aid formula called unfair
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 1:18 PM
State funding for Cincinnati city schools cut
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 11:41 AM
Gays and Christians Observe Differences in School
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 11:04 AM
Bush's proposal to sell off land to help rural schools met with negative responses from all sides
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 10:55 AM
Florida House OKs amendment to strike voucher case legal doctrine
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 7:23 AM
Education outlook
Date CapturedWednesday April 26 2006, 6:56 AM
School finance plan bound for Texas Senate
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 9:01 PM
Pennsylvania school board reinstates controversial program
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 1:54 PM
North Rockland school district angered by town official's spending analysis
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 11:33 AM
KIDS CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEARCHES (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 8:55 AM
School leaders harder to find
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 8:35 AM
Rochester city schools get extra building aid
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 8:30 AM
Yonkers schools gain over $18 million in state construction aid
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 8:20 AM
GOV GIVES SCHOOLS $11B BUILD BOOST (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 8:14 AM
Schools deal builds hope
Date CapturedTuesday April 25 2006, 8:05 AM
Richer areas more successful in attracting qualified teachers
Date CapturedMonday April 24 2006, 11:58 PM
Law school verdict's still out: Race vs. ranking
Date CapturedMonday April 24 2006, 11:51 PM
New York State Pledges Billions For School Construction, Repairs
Date CapturedMonday April 24 2006, 10:56 PM
Fletcher won’t veto University of the Cumberlands’ funding
Date CapturedMonday April 24 2006, 10:53 PM
House Mulls Tax Bills in Texas School Finance Reform
Date CapturedMonday April 24 2006, 9:11 PM
Playground fear Sachem educrats dispute safety survey findings
Date CapturedMonday April 24 2006, 7:10 AM
SUNY professors rally to urge veto override
Date CapturedMonday April 24 2006, 6:51 AM
Stanford offers a school for gifted in cyberspace
Date CapturedSunday April 23 2006, 9:35 AM
School vouchers not the answer
Date CapturedSunday April 23 2006, 9:29 AM
Poorer School Districts Practice Higher Math to Pay Leaders (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedSunday April 23 2006, 6:41 AM
Beyond Newark's School Yard (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedSunday April 23 2006, 6:27 AM
League of Women Voters to tackle education issues
Date CapturedSaturday April 22 2006, 7:54 AM
Schools in miracle reprieve
Date CapturedSaturday April 22 2006, 7:45 AM
SCHOOLS GET LAST RITES (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedSaturday April 22 2006, 7:37 AM
Interest wanes in school boards
Date CapturedFriday April 21 2006, 7:30 PM
Education, health care lobbies say overrides needed
Date CapturedFriday April 21 2006, 6:58 PM
Congressman's bill would give tuition tax credits to parents
Date CapturedFriday April 21 2006, 11:45 AM
Kansas judge pulls out of school case
Date CapturedFriday April 21 2006, 8:56 AM
NJ Gov. Corzine to push for property-tax reform
Date CapturedFriday April 21 2006, 8:45 AM
An economist's view of education reform
Date CapturedFriday April 21 2006, 8:30 AM
Texas school finance plans come under attack
Date CapturedFriday April 21 2006, 7:47 AM
Indiana teachers sue state over school funding
Date CapturedThursday April 20 2006, 3:14 PM
Philadelphia school district plans program to draw minority teachers
Date CapturedThursday April 20 2006, 9:00 AM
It's time for state to take over school funding
Date CapturedThursday April 20 2006, 7:59 AM
Funding reform would harm school libraries
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 11:27 PM
Community College Leaders Urge Action to Ensure Higher Education Access for Hundreds of Thousands of Students
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 3:14 PM
High school graduation gap more than racial
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 9:14 AM
New Graduation Rate Report by Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 9:05 AM
This study uses a widely respected method to calculate public high school graduation rates for the nation, for each state, and for the 100 largest school districts in the United States. This study calculates graduation rates overall, by race, and by gender, using the most recent available data (the class of 2003).
Leaving Boys Behind: Public High School
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 9:03 AM
by Manhattan Institute Senior Fellows Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters. Civic Report 48. April 2006
Revisit Ohio school funding rulings
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 8:41 AM
Tennessee Gov. Bredesen touts education efforts
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 8:33 AM
New Hampshire vouchers called a recipe for chaos
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 8:17 AM
CFE sues for school funds
Date CapturedWednesday April 19 2006, 7:27 AM
Texas school finance session begins
Date CapturedTuesday April 18 2006, 10:24 PM
Assembly Senate bills would dismantle LA Unified School District
Date CapturedTuesday April 18 2006, 9:45 PM
California Administration Slow to Hold School Districts Accountable under NCLB
Date CapturedTuesday April 18 2006, 6:49 PM
California School Choice and Supplemental Services: Administration Slow to Hold School Districts Accountable Under NCLB
Date CapturedTuesday April 18 2006, 6:46 PM
New Charter School taking students to prepare for college
Date CapturedTuesday April 18 2006, 6:32 PM
Rochester
Indiana teachers' group to file school-funding suit
Date CapturedTuesday April 18 2006, 4:46 PM
Layoffs May Follow a City Takeover of Los Angeles Schools
Date CapturedTuesday April 18 2006, 11:24 AM
'Lame duck' gov getting last quack
Date CapturedTuesday April 18 2006, 7:20 AM
No escape from troubled school
Date CapturedMonday April 17 2006, 10:59 AM
Local Texas legislators seek elusive school deal in fourth session
Date CapturedMonday April 17 2006, 7:53 AM
Allied front against violence
Date CapturedMonday April 17 2006, 6:56 AM
NYC school grading plan gets an A
Date CapturedMonday April 17 2006, 6:31 AM
School Counselors & School Psychologists: Partners in Promoting Culturally Competent Schools
Date CapturedMonday April 17 2006, 6:01 AM
NJ school budget woes stir calls for reform
Date CapturedSunday April 16 2006, 9:28 AM
A NEW SCHOOL FEAR (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedSunday April 16 2006, 7:27 AM
In New Jersey, Spending Cap Pinches Schools (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedSunday April 16 2006, 12:04 AM
TX Gov. calls special session to deal with school finance dilemma
Date CapturedSaturday April 15 2006, 11:57 PM
Los Angeles Teachers Union Wants Early Say on School Reform
Date CapturedSaturday April 15 2006, 8:59 AM
Wisconsin boosts school vouchers; skeptics ask why
Date CapturedSaturday April 15 2006, 8:45 AM
CO Gov. Bill Owens threatens to veto school funding
Date CapturedFriday April 14 2006, 11:26 PM
CO Gov. Bill Owens threatens to veto school funding
Date CapturedFriday April 14 2006, 11:26 PM
The Adult Lives of At-Risk Students: The Roles of Attainment and Engagement in High School
Date CapturedFriday April 14 2006, 10:03 AM
Jeremy D. Finn, State University of New York at Buffalo; Jeffrey Owings, Project Officer National Center for Education Statistics. This March 2006 NCES report examines heterogeneity in young adult outcomes among students at risk for school failure due to low socioeconomic status (SES). It addresses the question: “Among students at risk due to status characteristics, what are the relationships of high school engagement and attainments with post-high school outcomes?” Two sets of outcomes are considered: entry and persistence in postsecondary education, and employment and income as a young adult.
The Adult Lives of At-Risk Students: The Roles of Attainment and Engagement in High School
Date CapturedFriday April 14 2006, 9:38 AM
NYS School Boards Legislative Conference
Date CapturedThursday April 13 2006, 6:53 PM
NYS School Boards Legislative Conference
Date CapturedThursday April 13 2006, 6:53 PM
Resolution to Protect PA Cyber School Funding
Date CapturedThursday April 13 2006, 12:00 PM
Resolution to Protect PA Cyber School Funding
Date CapturedThursday April 13 2006, 12:00 PM
Gov. Pataki cuts higher education tuition assistance
Date CapturedThursday April 13 2006, 9:14 AM
North Rockland schools encourage public effort for money
Date CapturedThursday April 13 2006, 8:04 AM
Stanford U to launch online high school for gifted students
Date CapturedThursday April 13 2006, 7:42 AM
Albany's School Superintendent Blames Budget Woes on Charter Schools
Date CapturedThursday April 13 2006, 12:16 AM
Defunct trade school faces $57 million in claims
Date CapturedWednesday April 12 2006, 2:10 PM
Budget showdown
Date CapturedWednesday April 12 2006, 8:00 AM
Texas business group endorses school finance plan
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 11:00 PM
Arkansas Gov. Huckabee signs school funding bills
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 10:53 PM
In East Hampton: Protest Against Ross Charter School Planned
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 10:12 PM
In East Hampton: Protest Against Ross Charter School Planned
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 10:12 PM
State Budget: On time, on target
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 4:49 PM
State Budget: On time, on target
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 4:49 PM
Kentucky legislator opposes funding school that expelled gay student
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 4:16 PM
First the Pork, Governor (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 3:25 PM
NC Education Lottery To Introduce Two New Games
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 1:35 PM
NC Education Lottery To Introduce Two New Games
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 1:35 PM
Stanford profs lead CA education inquiry
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 10:58 AM
SCHOOL REBEL PROBE (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 10:07 AM
Tucson students, teachers miss school yesterday
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 9:44 AM
FL to shut down charter school over failing test scores, debt
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 8:23 AM
NJ Gov. Corzine challenges additional billions to needy districts (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 7:20 AM
Pataki Threatens to Upend Spending Bill Over Tax Credit (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedTuesday April 11 2006, 7:11 AM
How to pay for FL schools debated
Date CapturedMonday April 10 2006, 10:11 AM
Suit slams school league breakup
Date CapturedMonday April 10 2006, 9:56 AM
‘Thousands More’ work to change education
Date CapturedMonday April 10 2006, 9:13 AM
Reforming education
Date CapturedMonday April 10 2006, 7:52 AM
Mercury removed from city schools
Date CapturedMonday April 10 2006, 7:25 AM
Pataki Plans to Block $2 Billion in Budget Items (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedMonday April 10 2006, 7:14 AM
What's wrong with America's high schools?
Date CapturedSunday April 09 2006, 3:16 PM
Try a new tack for our schools
Date CapturedSunday April 09 2006, 12:57 PM
Single-sex classes and rising tide of achievement at SC school
Date CapturedSunday April 09 2006, 11:59 AM
Utah charter schools' funds disparity found
Date CapturedSunday April 09 2006, 11:23 AM
Foundations' role grows in public school funding
Date CapturedSunday April 09 2006, 11:19 AM
NH school funding case goes to Supreme Court
Date CapturedSaturday April 08 2006, 4:15 PM
NH school funding case goes to Supreme Court
Date CapturedSaturday April 08 2006, 4:15 PM
Arkansas special session ends with education bill adopted
Date CapturedSaturday April 08 2006, 2:29 PM
SCHOOL SHOUT (NY Post registration)
Date CapturedSaturday April 08 2006, 7:42 AM
Albany schools act to end gap in school
Date CapturedSaturday April 08 2006, 7:28 AM
Start cutting the fat, George
Date CapturedSaturday April 08 2006, 7:20 AM
Interest reviving for charging federal government for western schools
Date CapturedSaturday April 08 2006, 7:09 AM
Principal fights to keep charter school out
Date CapturedFriday April 07 2006, 10:20 AM
NC Gov. Mike Easley proposes middle-school reading, writing coaches
Date CapturedFriday April 07 2006, 10:06 AM
Faso urges rebalanced school tax
Date CapturedFriday April 07 2006, 9:16 AM
Audit Calls Yonkers School System Archaic (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedFriday April 07 2006, 8:52 AM
Bishops press for school tax credit
Date CapturedFriday April 07 2006, 8:49 AM
Education secretary calls for 'school choice' at church school in Jamaica
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 2:17 PM
Sec. Spellings: School System Improves Under Our Bright Light
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 2:07 PM
Local Latino Bar Association Criticizes School, Police Handling Of Protests
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 1:00 PM
PA charter school law like nails on a chalkboard for districts
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 11:39 AM
GA Gov. Perdue signs 65 percent classroom spending legislation
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 11:18 AM
Rigorous high school curriculum proposed by Ohio Gov. Taft
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 10:24 AM
Free school in more woe
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 8:53 AM
More Money for Schools: Some Politics, Some Trading (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 8:43 AM
Chart a new course (2nd editorial)
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 8:25 AM
Bush Enters Fray in New York Over Tuition Tax Credits
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 8:16 AM
Group tackles sex bullying in schools
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 8:07 AM
School violence hot line planned
Date CapturedThursday April 06 2006, 8:05 AM
Federal Program on Vouchers Draws Strong Minority Support
Date CapturedWednesday April 05 2006, 11:47 PM
Secretary Spellings Delivers Remarks on School Choice
Date CapturedWednesday April 05 2006, 11:16 PM
Local Latino Bar Association Criticizes School, Police Handling Of Protests
Date CapturedWednesday April 05 2006, 11:13 PM
Colorado High School Students Say Their Families Are Not Criminals
Date CapturedWednesday April 05 2006, 11:11 PM
School funding must be addressed in Trenton
Date CapturedWednesday April 05 2006, 11:07 PM
Arkansas Senate OKs new funding formula
Date CapturedWednesday April 05 2006, 3:13 PM
AZ early-education initiative backed
Date CapturedSunday April 02 2006, 2:29 PM
Tax increase needed to pay for education
Date CapturedSunday April 02 2006, 2:23 PM
Budget aids parents, schools, hurts businesses, research
Date CapturedSunday April 02 2006, 11:13 AM
Arkansas legislators rally behind education funding plan
Date CapturedSunday April 02 2006, 10:40 AM
$2.6M study of CA schools
Date CapturedSunday April 02 2006, 10:13 AM
Legislature adds $15.3 million for Yonkers schools
Date CapturedSaturday April 01 2006, 8:08 AM
Budget gives homeowners, schools boost
Date CapturedSaturday April 01 2006, 8:02 AM
Arkansas Gov. Huckabee calls special session to address court order
Date CapturedSaturday April 01 2006, 8:01 AM
Kansas Senate Rejects School Finance Proposals
Date CapturedSaturday April 01 2006, 1:11 AM
School bulletin boards cause furor
Date CapturedSaturday April 01 2006, 1:06 AM
Charter schools can help rural school districts
Date CapturedFriday March 31 2006, 3:03 PM
Real fixes for science, math education
Date CapturedFriday March 31 2006, 1:15 PM
Mills applauds efforts to boost graduation rate
Date CapturedFriday March 31 2006, 8:09 AM
School Aid: Meet the New Math, Same as the Old (NY Times registration)
Date CapturedThursday March 30 2006, 11:19 PM
Georgia school displays iPod ingenuity
Date CapturedMonday March 27 2006, 4:32 PM
Note to school boards: You're killing us here (Times-Herald registration)
Date CapturedMonday March 27 2006, 7:30 AM
School chiefs offer a lesson in perks
Date CapturedMonday March 27 2006, 7:18 AM
A Court Without Power (NY Sun subscription)
Date CapturedMonday March 27 2006, 6:47 AM
Improving Assessment and Accountability for English Language Learners in the NCLB Act
Date CapturedWednesday March 22 2006, 5:08 PM
Author: Melissa Lazarín, Mar 22, 2006. This report by the National Council of La Raza examines the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on English language learners (ELLs). It concludes that while the law has not been implemented adequately, it holds considerable promise for closing the achievement gap between ELLs and other students. The issue brief also provides a road map for policy-makers and school administrators for improving the law’s effectiveness for ELLs.
What’s better and what's not
Date CapturedFriday February 24 2006, 6:14 PM
Catalyst Chicago, 2006. What’s better and what’s not. Data on key measures of school improvement under Chicago Mayor Daley.
The incidence and impacts of student transiency in upstate New York’s rural school districts
Date CapturedThursday February 16 2006, 1:58 PM
Schafft, K. A. (2005, December 22). The incidence and impacts of student transiency in upstate New York’s rural school districts. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 20(15). Chronic student mobility, and in particular the mobility of students from low-income backgrounds, poses a serious yet underdocumented problem for rural schools. This article combines analyses of state-level school district data with survey and interview data to examine the patterns of low-income student mobility in upstate New York, and to assess the impacts on, and responses by, schools and other community institutions.
The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College
Date CapturedWednesday February 15 2006, 12:05 PM
Adelman, C., US Dept of Education, 2006. The Toolbox Revisited is a data essay that follows a nationally representative cohort of students from high school into postsecondary education, and asks what aspects of their formal schooling contribute to completing a bachelor's degree by their mid-20s.
BlackBerry suit threatens school service
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 12:45 PM
Kansas school funding discussions have bipartisan tinge
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 10:58 AM
Commission approves $86 million for Arkansas school facilities
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 9:34 AM
Older CO charter students lagging
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 8:57 AM
Hawaii Gov. Lingle asks $18 million for charter schools
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 8:55 AM
CO college President wants Denver institution to join national urban school elite
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 8:34 AM
IL school funding now negotiable
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 8:26 AM
FINAL CHARTER SCHOOLS GET OK (NY Post registration required)
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 7:56 AM
Mike sees red over gov plan for school aid
Date CapturedTuesday January 24 2006, 7:42 AM
Charter, Private, Public Schools and Academic Achievement: New Evidence from NAEP Mathematics Data
Date CapturedMonday January 23 2006, 8:18 PM
2006. Author: Chris Lubienski and Sarah Theule Lubienski. National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Expanded School Mental Health: A Collaborative Community-School Example
Date CapturedSunday January 15 2006, 3:37 PM
Source: Children & Schools. Weist, Mark D; Ambrose, Melissa Grady; Lewis, Charla P. School-based mental health programs are becoming increasingly prominent.
Peaks & Valleys
Date CapturedWednesday December 28 2005, 1:52 AM
PPI | Policy Report | December 20, 2005 Peaks & Valleys Colorado's Charter School Landscape By Todd Ziebarth
The Funding Gap 2005: Low-Income and Minority Students Shortchanged by Most States
Date CapturedThursday December 22 2005, 9:08 AM
Education Trust's Funding Gap report shows that most states significantly shortchange low-income and minority children when it comes to funding the schools they attend.
NCES: Revenues and Expenditures by Public School Districts: School Year 2002-03
Date CapturedMonday December 19 2005, 5:32 PM
This publication contains data on revenues and expenditures per pupil made by school districts for school year 2002-03.
Early Childhood Education: How Important are the Cost-Savings to the School System?
Date CapturedSunday December 18 2005, 1:51 PM
February 2004: cost-benefit analysis by economist Dr. Clive R. Belfield, of Teachers College, Columbia University
Immigrants at Mid-Decade: A Snapshot of America's Foreign-Born Population in 2005
Date CapturedMonday December 12 2005, 2:02 PM
By Steven A. Camarota, December 2005. Center for Immigration Studies. Thirty-one percent of adult immigrants have not completed high school, three-and-a-half times the rate for natives.
School Vouchers: The Research Track Record, Student Acheivement
Date CapturedMonday December 05 2005, 7:59 AM
This research brief summarizes the most recent evidence on the impact of private school vouchers on student achievement, particularly among low-income youngsters.
The Alchemy of 'Costing Out' an Adequate Education
Date CapturedSunday December 04 2005, 12:18 PM
October 2005. Published in: Conference on Adequacy Lawsuits, Harvard University. Author: Eric A. Hanushek. In response to the rapid rise in court cases related to the adequacy of school funding, a variety of alternative methods have been developed to provide an analytical base about the necessary expenditure on schools. This paper reviews and critiques the methodology as broadly applied across states.
"From Districts To Schools: The Distribution Of Resources Across Schools In Big City School District
Date CapturedSaturday December 03 2005, 6:17 PM
Symposium on Education Finance and Organization Structure in NYS Schools, Albany, NY, March 2004. Amy Schwartz (NYU), Leanna Stiefel (NYU) and Ross Rubenstein (Syracuse University).



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