Education News Archives

Private-style Public Schools
Arizona public-school districts are creating a new system of schools that operate more like private academies within their districts. Not everyone can get in the door. Potential students must apply and typically must get teacher recommendations, take placement exams and even interview for a spot. Creating these exclusive yet public schools is a way for districts to attract students from across the Valley and turn around their stagnant or declining enrollment. When schools lose students, they lose the education money attached to each of them. In Arizona, that's an annual average of $6,232 per student. View the complete article. (The Arizona Republic 12.06.08)

Voluntary Merit Program Shows High Participation, But Its Effectiveness Still Unclear
It remains unclear whether the merit pay program for teachers in Texas is yielding the results its proponents have advocated – higher student achievement. But a two-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant program released Thursday shows that 90 percent of the eligible schools have participated in the voluntary initiative. That means teachers and schools are interested in the concept, said Matthew Springer, the lead author of the report and director of the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College. The study also found that turnover is lower among teachers who received bonus pay than those who did not. The report said the greatest problem two years into the new system is that too many schools have to discontinue the program too quickly. View the complete article. (The Dallas Morning News 12.05.08)

Survey Finds Growing Deceit Among Teens
In the past year, 30 percent of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64 percent have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are apathetic about ethical standards. Educators reacting to the findings questioned any suggestion that today's young people are less honest than previous generations, but several agreed that intensified pressures are prompting many students to cut corners. "The competition is greater, the pressures on kids have increased dramatically," said Mel Riddle of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. "They have opportunities their predecessors didn't have [to cheat]. The temptation is greater." View the complete article. (The Washington Post 12.01.08)

Lessons From 40 Years of Education 'Reform'
While the economic news has most Americans in a state of near depression, hope abounds today that the country may use the current economic crisis as leverage to address some longstanding problems. Nowhere is that prospect for progress more worthy than the crisis in our public education system. So, from someone who realized rather glumly last week that he has been working at school reform for 40 years, here is a prescription for leadership from the Obama administration. We must start with the recognition that, despite decade after decade of reform efforts, our public K-12 schools have not improved. View the complete article. (The Wall Street Journal 12.01.08)

Obama Faces Fierce Fight to Keep Education Promises
President-elect Barack Obama has made big promises to educators, parents and the nation's nearly 50 million public school students. He vowed to recruit an "army of new teachers," create better tests and give public schools more funding. He also said he would make college more affordable. As the new administration prepares to take over the Education Department, school experts say one of Obama's first—and toughest—jobs must be restoring the broad bipartisan support it took to pass the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, which aims to boost the achievement of poor children. That consensus has splintered, with people on both sides of the aisle souring on the law as it is overdue for reauthorization in Congress. View the complete article. (The Washington Post 11.24.08)

Schools Feel Pinch From Economic Woes
School districts across the United States are tightening their belts in anticipation of a meager fiscal diet that could carry into 2011. As state and local revenue declines, officials are looking for the trims least likely to harm the quality of education. Although some districts have rainy-day funds to tap, concern is growing that students, particularly those who are struggling to learn or who are homeless, are going to feel the pinch. Just over a third of superintendents in a recent national survey said they've already increased the size of classes because of the downturn, according to the American Association of School Administrators, an organization in Arlington, VA, that supports high standards for public education. Thirty percent of superintendents are considering layoffs. Of the two-thirds who said their districts are inadequately funded, 83 percent think it's detrimental to their ability to close achievement gaps for minority groups. View the complete article. (The Christian Science Monitor 11.17.08)

As Tough Times Curb Traditional Field Trips, Virtual Visits Bring the World to Students
Students in Birmingham area schools are traveling as far as San Diego and Spain without ever leaving their chairs. Through Websites, webcams and video conferences, they're seeing works of art, the wonders of nature and historical sites, and interacting with experts around the world. Virtual field trips, as such experiences are called, are becoming increasingly possible—and increasingly popular—as technology becomes more pervasive in schools. They also are providing welcome alternatives to traditional field trips, which educators say are costly in tough financial times and take up valuable class time. View the complete article. (The Birmingham News 11.17.08)

Four-Day School Week Suits Nebraska District
It's Monday morning, and the schools are dark. The yellow buses rest. Students will mow lawns for money, clock in at Pamida or help their fathers with farm chores. Others will sleep in. Some will have baby sitters. Welcome to tiny Murray, NE where school is out on Mondays. "I can save up for college and make my truck payment every month," said Kalby Wehrbein, 18, a senior who works on Mondays. "It's a major thing for me." The Conestoga school district in Murray, a farming town 25 miles south of Omaha, stopped having school on Mondays two years ago in a last-ditch bid to pare expenses and dig out of debt. View the complete article. (Des Moines Register 11.17.08)

Parents Pull Kids from Day Care as Money Tightens
The nation's economic troubles play out one family at a time at the New Horizons Learning Center in this struggling city two hours northwest of Chicago. Some parents have been laid off and must pull their children out of the day care center until they can find a job. Others' employment hours have been cut, so they reduce their kids' attendance to a few days a week. Financial strains prompt one mother to pay with a postdated check. Another chooses to work in the middle of the night—after putting her kids to bed—because of the extra dollar per hour that shift brings. And the stress shows on the faces of the children who can't understand why their friends, without explanation, stop coming. Parents nationwide are telling day care providers they must scale back or abandon their services. Instead, they keep kids at home with grandparents or upend their work-life balance because gas and food prices have become prohibitive and average child care costs outpace rent and mortgage payments—even for those drawing salaries. View the complete article. (USA Today 11.08.08)

An Addition to the Classroom
It might be difficult to remember a time when this question would give you pause: Which number is greater, 43 or 23? But a first-grade class at McNair Elementary School in Herndon one fall morning was batting about .500. Behind the missed answers lay confusion about what "greater than" means and what the 4 in 43 is worth compared with the 3. Students struggled to justify their responses. So teacher Danielle Cimino called in a math coach, armed with two dozen baggies of counting blocks, to help. As pressure mounts to prepare elementary students for high-stakes tests and for algebra in middle school, the focus on instilling math's most basic skills is intensifying. Many elementary schools are turning to math specialists or coaches to add expertise to a teaching workforce dominated by generalists who, studies show, are vastly under-prepared in math. View the complete article. (The Washington Post 11.06.08)

Incentives Can Make or Break Students
The inducements range from prepaid cell phones to MP3 players to gift certificates. But most of them are cash: $10 for New York City seventh-graders who complete a periodic test; $50 for Chicago high school freshmen who ace their courses; as much as $110 to Baltimore students for improved scores on the Maryland High School Assessments. Desperate for ways to ratchet up test scores and close the achievement gap separating white and minority students, school officials from Tucson to Boston are paying kids who put up good numbers. The District joined the list this fall, launching a one-year study of 3,300 middle schoolers who can earn up to $100 every two weeks for good grades, behavior and attendance. On Oct. 17, the first payday for the Capital Gains program, students collected an average of $43. The efforts vary widely in scope and objective. But nearly all trigger passionate arguments about the wisdom of monetizing academic achievement. View the complete article. (The Washington Post 10.21.08)

The Election Choice: Education
Though education has not figured prominently in the campaign, John McCain and Barack Obama have their proposals. Each falls squarely within their respective party's established political framework: Boiled down, Obama believes that schools require more resources and federal support, while McCain wants to introduce to the education system more choice and accountability. View the complete article. (The Wall Street Journal 10.30.08)

The High School Dropout's Economic Ripple Effect
As the financial meltdown and economic slump hold the national spotlight, another potential crisis is on the horizon: a persistently high dropout rate that educators and mayors across the country say increases the threat to the country's strength and prosperity. According to one study, only half of the high school students in the nation's 50 largest cities are graduating in four years, with a figure as low as 25 percent in Detroit. And while concern over dropouts isn't new, the problem now has officials outside of public education worried enough to get directly involved. To view the complete article, click here. (The Wall Street Journal 10.21.08)

Science Evolves in Classroom
In the past six years, science has slipped as a priority in public schools while reading and mathematics have grown dominant. But in coming years, experts say, the same federal law that elevated reading and math could spark a resurgence of science in the classroom. The 2002 No Child Left Behind law required states to test students in science starting in the 2007-08 year, on top of reading and math assessments mandated from the start. Virginia has given science tests since 1998, but the exams are new for Maryland and the District. (Separately, Maryland tests high school students in biology as a graduation requirement.) To view the complete article, click here. (The Washington Post 10.27.08)

Eco-friendly Schools Offer Students Fresh Lessons
On the outside, Great Seneca Creek Elementary School looks in Germantown, MD, much like any other. But inside, it is unmistakably green. This was the first public school in Maryland to receive certification as "eco-friendly" — a concept catching on in schools around the nation. Eco-friendly schools offer ways to save energy, improve air quality and educate students about the environment. Great Seneca fifth-grader Eddie Graves explains it best. "It doesn't use as much water," he says, citing the waterless urinals and motion-activated faucets. He's standing in the library, where a slanted ceiling helps light bounce off the floor-to-ceiling windows. The U.S. Green Building Council, a private group, has certified or is considering certification for more than 1,000 schools around the country, most within the past few years, says the council's Taryn Holowka. Other schools, such as Little Bennett Elementary in Clarksburg, MD have been built green but did not seek certification. To view the complete article, click here. (USA Today 10.19.08)

Experts: Schools Need Billions
Texas schools will need an infusion of almost $5 billion in the next state budget to keep the state out of court, school finance experts said Tuesday. Senators from the education and finance committees were told that the school finance deal that resolved a legal challenge in 2006 after three special legislative sessions has created constitutional problems of its own. Under the 2006 deal, some school districts get much less money per student, through a combination of state funds and local property taxes, than others do. To view the complete article, click here. (The American-Statesman 10.15.08)

Financial Crisis Now Striking Home for School Districts
The crisis besetting U.S. and world financial markets is hitting school districts hard, as they struggle to float the bonds needed for capital projects, borrow money to ensure cash flow, and get access to investment funds locked up in troubled institutions. In Cumberland County, NC, school officials froze plans to build a $20 million elementary school in the 53,000-student district after a neighboring county failed to find buyers for $454 million of its own construction bonds. The state of Maine has delayed 12 major school construction projects totaling $348 million in 11 school districts. In other states, even districts able to borrow money are paying higher interest rates while bracing for yet another drop in property-tax revenue. To view the complete article, click here. (Education Week 10.10.08)

Pizza for Passing TAKS? That's Illegal, Texas Schools Chief Says
The state's education boss is warning school superintendents that pizza parties, field trips and other rewards for students who pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills may violate education privacy laws by inadvertently outing students who fail. At most schools, the vast majority of students pass the test. Honoring them, by process of elimination, makes it easy to identify students who fail, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott wrote in a letter released Thursday to superintendents. Scott said he recognized that motivational efforts are intended to encourage better performances on the test. But he said they have a negative effect on those who are not rewarded. To view the complete article, click here. (The Associated Press 10.10.08)

Urban School Superintendents Hard to Keep
St. Louis is looking for its eighth school superintendent since 2003. Kansas City is on its 25th superintendent in 39 years. Despite good salaries and plenty of perks, a recent study found that the average urban superintendent nationwide stays on the job only about three years — which educators say isn't enough time to enact meaningful, long-lasting reform. "Would you buy Coca-Cola if they changed CEOs every year?" asked Diana Bourisaw, who left as St. Louis superintendent in July after two years in the top job. "The answer is no. I wouldn't." On Friday, Kelvin Adams signed a three-year contract with the St. Louis district worth $225,000 annually plus bonus incentives, a day after his hiring was approved by a state-appointed board that oversees the district. Academic accountability is the new national mantra in public education, and low-performing districts are placing high salaries and higher demands on their superintendents—who find themselves caught between factions of publicly elected school boards, teachers' unions and parent groups. To view the complete article, click here. (USA TODAY 09.28.08)

For Some Busy Kids, It's All Good
A new wave of research into the lives of middle-class children bucks conventional wisdom and concludes they are not the overscheduled, frazzled generation that many believe them to be. It might be only that their parents are on overload, one researcher suggests. Two studies based on data about how children spend their days show that only a minority are heavily scheduled and that organized activities are linked to positive outcomes in school, emotional development, family life and behavior. The children most at risk have no activities at all, the studies showed. That research is augmented by several studies that, together, provide a scientific perspective on childhood activities at a time when they have become a way of life and a cause for concern among educators and psychologists. To view the complete article, click here. (The Washington Post 09.28.08)

Stand-up Desks Provide a Firm Footing for Fidgety Minnesota Students
Fifth-grade reading teacher Pam Seekel thinks maybe she did kids a disservice over the years when she told them to sit still, to quit fidgeting so they could focus. As a teacher, I never sit down,” said Seekel, who works in the School District of Somerset, near the Minnesota border. “I started to think: Why should I make the kids sit down?” This year, many of Seekel’s students are using new, adjustable-height stand-up desks produced by a Wisconsin company, as well as a big, tall table that lets students work in groups while standing and shifting their weight, leaning, stretching, wiggling and generally doing everything but sitting still. As part of a small but growing movement in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota that many teachers say is bound to gain popularity elsewhere, several schools are experimenting with their physical learning environments by incorporating stand-up workstations in the classroom, or, in one school, stability balls instead of traditional school desk chairs. To view the complete article, click here. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 09.21.08)

Dallas Forth Worth Chinese Schools Draw More than Just Asian Students
If such a thing as positive racial profiling existed, Asian students would be the target. The stereotype is rampant: Asian-American kids portrayed as relentless bookworms who work harder and make better grades than their peers in other ethnic groups. But the stereotype blurs the reality of what life is like for children whose parents expect them to attend "Chinese school" on Saturday or Sunday after a five-day week in public school. Go to Web pages such as "Asian Parents Are Too Crazy About Grades" and you'll hear the continuing debate over academic performance and what some students see as excruciating pressure to excel. Chinese schools, little known outside of Asian communities, have become incubators of academic excellence. And they are attracting the attention of white, Hispanic and black parents who want the best for their children. To view the complete article, click here. (The Dallas Morning News 09.21.08)

U.S. States Hire Foreign Teachers to Ease Shortages
The school system in coastal Baldwin County — 60 miles by 25 miles (97 kilometers by 40 kilometers) of Alabama farmland framed on two sides by waterfront towns — was short on teachers, especially in courses such as math and science. So short, in fact, that district officials went around the world last year, with expenses paid by a teacher recruiting firm, and brought back Michel Olalo of Manila and 11 other Filipinos to teach along the shores of the Gulf Coast and Mobile Bay and in the communities in between. That raised some eyebrows in Baldwin County, where nine out of 10 people are white, just one in 50 is foreign-born and, as the county's teacher recruiter Tom Sisk noted recently, "Many of our children will never travel outside the United States." Yet school administrators throughout the U.S. are plucking from an abundance of skilled international teachers, a burgeoning import that critics call shortsighted but educators here and abroad say meets the needs of students and qualified candidates. To view the complete article, click here. (Education Week/AP 09.15.08)

Young, Inexperienced Teachers Recruited to New Orleans
Amid the tag-team commotion of three new teachers prepping a science class for summer school finals one recent morning, one teacher sits alongside a student for what seems an eternity. The exchange is perfectly ordinary, except that in post-Katrina New Orleans, little is ordinary. The student, a young mother forced to move four times in the 15 months after the storm, is 20 years old. Her teacher is 22. For years, a tough state retention policy led schools to hold back students who didn't measure up. After Katrina, many simply stopped coming to school. Meanwhile, state officials in 2006 fired virtually the entire city teaching force, paving the way for recruitment organizations such as Teach For America and teachNOLA to bring in hundreds of recent college graduates and twenty-something career changers, an effort intensified this fall. To view the complete article, click here. (USA Today 09.12.08)

Philly School Rekindles Same-Sex Education Debate
Calling all ninth-grade boys! Raise your hand if this school sounds like fun: wearing jackets and ties every day, staying until 5 p.m., learning Latin and — to top it all off — no girls. Who's in? Turns out, about 270 boys. And 100 more are on a waiting list. Boys' Latin of Philadelphia, one of the city's newer charter schools, began its second year on Wednesday, aiming to be an educational beacon in the financially and academically troubled district. Because it's a single-sex public school — one of four in the city — Boys' Latin faced huge opposition and almost didn't exist. Critics contend it's unfair for taxpayers to fund a prep school curriculum for boys only. New rules implemented by the U.S. Education Department in 2006 allow same-sex education whenever schools think it will expand the diversity of courses, improve students' achievement or meet their individual needs. To view the complete article, click here. (USA Today/AP 09.07.08)

Building Blocks Math From PreK to Grade 2
Outside a kindergarten classroom at Lakewood Elementary School in Rockville, MD, students used a bar graph to show how they felt about returning to school. Students placed green stickers on the graph to indicate whether they felt scared, nervous, okay, happy or thrilled. Across the hall, first-graders traced numerals and updated a tally chart of "The Number of Students Absent." These students will be steeped in numbers and shapes for the next nine months, as teachers set out to instill in them basic principles of mathematics. With math skills at a premium in a technology-driven economy, children are expected to learn more math, and sooner. Algebra is taught in middle school to help prepare students for advanced math in high school. High-stakes standardized tests add to the pressure. The first years are considered crucial for laying a solid math foundation. To view the complete article, click here. (The Washington Post 09.08.08)

Some Parents Struggling with Back to School Buys
Charles Lane-Bey combed through racks of blue jeans at a Salvation Army thrift store and held up a pair with potential to his 8-year-old son, Edward, who swung them over his shoulder with a smile. Forty-seven cents for a sturdy pair with white and red stitching. Not bad if it'll last all school year. "A couple of years ago, I was able to buy everything practically new," said Lane-Bey, a U.S. Postal Service worker who's struggling to make ends meet. "You just have to do some things different to adjust." With cash tight and fuel and food prices high, many parents are eyeing back-to-school lists warily, looking for bargains and buying used clothes. In some cases, they're even thinking about sending their children to school without all the supplies they need. Thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army say more parents and teachers are shopping at their stores nationwide, quickly snatching up school uniforms and supplies. Goodwill sales nationwide were up 6.2 percent for the first six months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, and are also expected to be up for the back-to-school season, spokeswoman Lauren Lawson said. To view the complete article, click here. (The Associated Press 08.22.08)

Bush Education Law: Shift Ahead?
This could be the last back-to-school season for No Child Left Behind. President Bush's signature domestic law took effect in 2002 with bipartisan support. It was a watershed in American education: Suddenly the goal line had moved from all children attending school to all students achieving "proficiency." And by requiring that English and math scores be reported by categories such as income and race, it spotlighted achievement gaps. But the debates over how best to measure proficiency and close the gaps have been fierce – to the point that they've delayed the act's reauthorization, which was due last year. Changes to the law – and perhaps even its name – are now expected to wait until after a new president and Congress settle in next year. Still, dozens of proposals for changes to NCLB have already surfaced on Capitol Hill. Some would tweak individual parts of the massive law, others would incorporate feedback put out by educational organizations, and still others would remove the law's teeth by allowing states to opt out. To view the complete article, click here. (The Christian Science Monitor 08.21.08)

Department of Education: State Directors Going to Lowest Achieving Public Schools
It's the federal measure championed by President Bush that was signed into law in 2002. No Child Left Behind is the driving force behind public education and is a big part of the reason why your child takes so many standardized tests. NCLB does not assert a national achievement standard. Standards are set by each individual state. No Child Left Behind requires schools to meet annual testing goals and demonstrate yearly progress measured by subgroups, including low-income, minority and special-education students. The failure of any student group to meet the testing goals means the entire school fails. Georgia's lowest performing schools - including two in Macon, one in Milledgeville and another in Roberta—will soon have a state adviser moving in. To view the complete article, click here. (The Telegraph Press 08.18.08)

Could Bumpy Economy Lead to Slumping Education?
Harder times and higher fuel prices are following kids back to school this fall. Children will walk farther to the bus stop, pay more for lunch, study from old textbooks, even wear last year's clothes. Field trips? Forget about it. This year, it could cost nearly twice as much to fuel the yellow buses that rumble to school each morning. If you think it's expensive to fill up a sport-utility vehicle, try topping off a tank that is two or even three times as big. At the same time, bills are mounting for air conditioning and heating, for cafeteria food and for classroom supplies, all because of the shaky economy. And parents have their own tanks to fill. The extra costs present a tricky math problem: Where can schools subtract to keep costs under control. To view the complete article, click here. (USA Today/Associated Press 08.16.08)

Outside Educators Pushing for 'No Child Left Inside' Funding
Canoeing trips on the Chesapeake Bay. Endangered butterfly camps for teachers in Rhode Island. A new corral and barn for a nature center in Texas that wants to show kids live bison. Outdoor and environmental educators across the nation are ramping up pressure on Congress and their state lawmakers to add funding for nature learning. The effort dubbed "No Child Left Inside" could mean millions more for environmental education — and a major windfall for nonprofits hoping for more federal help getting kids outside. The resolution, which awaits a vote in the House, would send money to nonprofits and state departments of education for outdoor education aimed at kids who now spend more time in front of computer screens, video games and televisions than playing outside. To view the complete article, click here. (USA Today 08.10.08)

Schools on a Shoestring: Specialized Programs Cut to the Core
Students across Central Florida will learn a brutal lesson in economics when the new school year starts next week. For years, school leaders juggled their budgets to prevent the state's chronic money woes from creeping into the classroom. But they're out of options now and scaling back popular programs for gifted students and troubled kids. Drastic state budget cuts are threatening Orange County's esteemed Advanced Placement program, which serves bright, college-bound students. Officials throughout Florida's 67 districts are scrambling to make do with two-thirds of what they had planned -- by cutting teachers and classes or by charging students to use the expensive textbooks. "Frankly, it's a big hit," said Bill Gordon, principal of Winter Park High School, which stands to lose as much as $500,000 in AP funding. To view the complete article, click here. (Orlando Sentinel 08.11.08)

Costs, Concerns Push Schools to Use Eco-Friendly Elements
Waterless urinals. Geothermal cooling systems. Photovoltaic solar panels. The space shuttle? Try your child's school. Classrooms are slowly going green, prodded by rising energy bills, public health concerns and a general desire to adopt eco-friendly principles. Green schools cost a little more to build — generally 1% to 2% extra — than conventional schools but promise payback through lower utility bills and, some studies suggest, better student achievement. "A school district that might have been thinking 'I can't afford to build a green school' is now saying 'I can't afford not to'," said Rachel Gutter, schools sector manager for the U.S. Green Building Council which certifies school construction projects based on environmental criteria. To view the complete article, click here. (USA Today 08.01.08)