The Long Last Week Before School Starts
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NCLB News
Conservative Scholar Opposes Multiple Measures
Bush Administration
NCLB "Coming Through," Says Departing Rove
Karl Rove Still Spinning The News On His Way Out The Door
Urban Education
Next Stop For Unionized Charter Schools Might Be Chicago
Media Watch
Reading Recovery Coverage: A Scandal Going On All Around Me
School Life
Exploding Playground Wood Chips ... And More
There's a scandal going on all around me. Or at least that's what Kevin DeRosa at D-Ed Reckoning says (Edweek Spins Reading Research). His post argues that EdWeek's story on the WWC report is way too pro-Reading Recovery, and that the requirements for WWC are substantially different from Reading First. And you think I'm too intense and argumentative sometimes. Check it out. Let me know what you think.
School officials defend tapping e-mails Boston Globe
No crime was committed when e-mails between Ottoson Middle School principal Stavroula Bouris and technology teacher Chuck Coughlin were intercepted by a school district technician, Arlington officials say.
Do School Cafeterias Make the Grade? USNews
Third graders gobbling down footlong hot dogs and extra-large burgers?
Who decides which children will be tried as adults? Slate
Last week, two 15-year-olds were arrested in connection with the execution-style murders of three college students in a Newark, N.J., schoolyard. Local authorities want to prosecute them as adults. Who decides which minors will be tried as adults?
Porn date leads to teacher's resignation MSNBC
Biagini, who uses a wheelchair, was interviewed on the radio show after returning home, and told the Valley Independent in Monessen that he was ridiculed for his disability and offended by how he was portrayed on the show.
Meanwhile, Yahoo News dredges up this overview of where other Texans from the early Bush years have gone (Departures diminish Texas flavor at White House). Who's next?
Teachers Grapple with Attaining Education Law's Goals PBS NewsHour
John Merrow's series looks at how some of the country's best teachers are dealing with the No Child Left Behind law.
Reading Curricula Don't Make Cut for Federal Review EdWeek
None of the most popular commercial reading programs on the market had sufficiently rigorous studies to be included in the review by the clearinghouse. [Reading Recovery did.]
ACT participation hits record USA Today
Most striking, perhaps, is the sharp increase in the number of minority students who take the ACT: 17.6 percent more black students and 23.4 percent more Hispanics than in 2003.
Not that letters from academics usually make much difference, especially when they're on the other side ideologically from the folks making the decisions, but here's a letter from Hoover Institute researcher Erik Hanushek from last week that was sent along to me, in which he tells Chairman Miller what a bad idea multiple measures, writ large, are for school improvement. PDF here. Keep sending those letters and secret memos in.
Mike Antonucci thinks that that the NEA may be censoring its own blog (The Mystery of the Missing Link).
Scott Elliott addresses the age-old achievement gap question: Is it racist to track minority group scores?.
The BoardBuzz likes the ACT news: Good news for American high schools.
Eduwonk reminds us that there's a good NYT column to read today: Dillon On Barber.
The AFT Blog derides the notion that the Newark kids might have been saved by vouchers: And vouchers will cure the common cold, too.
Joe Williams has pennant fever: Baseball and Education Reform.
Ed Sector's Elena Silva goes long: School Time Update.
Sherman Dorn slices and dices reauthorization: Multiple issues in multiple measures.
The Hall Monitor tells us about exploding wood chips: Something new to worry about.
Forced to Pick a Major in High School NYT
A high school in New Jersey is requiring students to declare a major as freshmen.
School Districts Find Loopholes in No Child Left Behind Law PBS
School districts are getting around certain requirements of the No Child Left Behind law by setting the bar measuring student progress low in the beginning. PLUS: Failing San Diego Schools Work to Meet Standards PBS
Grants Given for Nonexistent Students Washington Post
The D.C. school system received almost $4 million in federal funds for educating migrant children when it did not have any, city and federal officials said yesterday.
Colleges rant, rail against magazine rankings MSNBC
Colleges are having a hard time quitting the magazine’s annual beauty contest.
Today is Katherine McLane's last day as Press Secretary for the EdSec, she says. Heading back to Austin to work for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is the given reason. Time to go may be the implicit one. Interim press secty will be Samara Yudof. Mclane was in the job just over a year, according to this press release. Want to know more? Check out her astrology reading from Capitol Weekly. Congrats, condolences to McLane and Yudof.
UPDATE: This guy doesn't like the sound of the book at all.
As States Tackle Poverty, Preschool Gets High Marks WSJ
It took a well-orchestrated campaign to put pre-K on the top of political agendas -- and new tactics that didn't rely on do-gooder rhetoric.
Dodd Outlines K-12 Education Plan EdWeek
Democratic presidential hopeful Chris Dodd planned to unveil his ideas Thursday morning at the National Education Association of New Hampshire meeting in Bartlett, N.H.
Same-Gender Cleveland Schools Slow to Get Applicants Cleveland.com
The highly touted single-gender academies opening later this month in Cleveland haven't made much of a splash yet with parents.
District's Ex-Charter Schools Chief Admits Fraud Washington Post
Brenda Belton had some gall, by her own admission.
The irrepressible David Denis Doyle is now blogging (The Doyle Report) and it's already clear that one of his strengths is finding and posting video snippets like this music video whose refrain is "Test The Kids!":
Catchy. Welcome to the blogosphere, Denis.
Joanne Jacobs points to another district, in Arizona, that's trying something similar to what they're planning in NYC (see "Paying Kids..." below). Are there any places that have tried this and it hasn't worked, I wonder? Or where it's worked but they've run out of money for it like with teacher bonuses?
Gerald Bracey points out in this Huffington Post post (Nothing Will Happen with NCLB) that adding more tests (ie, multiple measures) is no guaranteed solution because it could well overwhelm the testing infrastructure. It's an interesting argument, in part because I hadn't heard it before and mostly because it puts Bracey in the position of arguing against multiple measures.
UPDATE: I'm not the only one who took note of this piece. D-Ed Reckoning says US News got it all wrong on the phonics thing.
12th Graders Show Better Grasp of Market Forces Than Expected NYT
The nation’s high school seniors performed significantly better on the first nationwide economics test than they did on other recent national exams in history and science.
State Colleges Prepare To Measure Their Own Performance WSJ
Participating schools will use one of three tests to gauge the performance of students with similar entering SAT scores at tasks that any college grad ought to be able to handle.
NCSL Declares Opposition to National Standards Ed Week
The NCSL today took a hard-line against any form of national academic standards, declaring that any attempt to unite school curricula across states would be unacceptable until perceived flaws in the federal No Child Left Behind Act are fixed.
Dade Schools Chief Crew on Guard after Threats Miami Herald
Threatening phone calls and voice-mail messages are prompting Miami-Dade schools Superintendent Rudy Crew to take extra precautions with his safety as police investigate the intimidation, officials said Tuesday.
Principal Tried ‘Magic' To Cure School NY Sun
A principal who took an unusual approach to improve her TriBeCa high school — allegedly hiring a "black magic" practitioner to cleanse evil spirits through a ceremony involving sprinkled chicken blood — is being forced out a month before the school year starts.
Hard times for centrist Democrats when NCLB reauthorization is lurching left and all the candidates go to YearlyKos in Chicago and no one shows at the DLC confab. So much for claims that left-right politics were a thing of the past -- during primary season at least.
So last night everyone continued to work hard to seek union endorsement. Forbes quotes HRC with this gem: "We need growth models for students. We need broader curriculum. We need to make sure that when we look at our children, we don't just see a little walking test. We've got to have a total change in No Child Left Behind." There's an overview from the Washington Post here.
It's no real surprise, despite the fact that they have in the past toyed with some not-so-labor-friendly ideas. Kerry did the same thing, as this Boston Globe article points out. Time magazine has a nice explainer on why the unions are holding off on endorsing anyone. Clinton seems like the frontrunner when it comes to NCLB-bashing (and in the polls), but who knows what happens in the next few months.
Serve Breakfast in Class, Advocates for Poor Urge NYT
Advocates said that the practice of serving breakfast in cafeterias failed to attract most of the children who need it.
Marketing Tricks Tots' Taste Buds EdWeek
Anything in a McDonald's wrapper tastes better, youngsters said in a recent study.
Foundation Gives $20 Million to Fight Obesity in Schools EdWeek
The program is designed to promote healthy eating and exercise in schools in 17 states.
Quotes From the Democratic Debate Forbes
On NCLB: "It was an unfunded mandate. And part of it is that the Department of Education under President Bush did not absolutely enforce it..."
Schools losing Texas teacher bonuses Dallas Morning News
More than half of the 1,150 Texas schools rewarded in the first year of the landmark teacher pay-for-performance plan have fallen out of the program this year. Via EdNews.org.
Shuttle Endeavor to Carry Teacher into Space PBS
Teacher Barbara Morgan joins the Endeavor crew for a planned Wednesday launch. She was selected as the backup candidate to Christa McAuliffe in the ill-fated 1986 Challenger mission. Idaho Public Television reports on her story.
Sparse Foreign Language Instruction Cincinnati.com
Despite the increasing demand, foreign language instruction before seventh or eighth grade remains sparse, available in less than one-third of U.S. elementary schools, according to the Center for Applied Linguistics. Via DA Daily.
High school reading lists get a modern makeover Christian Science Monitor
Find out what recent bestsellers are taking their place next to classics at schools across the U.S.
Mom, I’m at the Gym Doing Homework (Really!) NYT
The latest hangouts for teenagers are health clubs that cater to them.
Margaret Spellings' Summer Reading List NPR
Spellings says that she just finished this novel, which she found "reflective and thought provoking." Gibert's spiritual memoir follows her recovery from a messy divorce as she battles depression and loneliness.
Disney Acquires Web Site for Children
Racing to solidify its dominant position in children’s entertainment on the Internet, the Walt Disney Company said Wednesday that it had acquired a subscription Web site aimed at preteenagers, Club Penguin, in a deal that could total $700 million.
A letter signed by dozens of civil rights groups -- but not by the Education Trust, Citizen's Commission On Civil Rights -- shows just how divided the broader civil rights community is on whether to include other tests and evidence of performance in the AYP school rating system of NCLB.
"Today's letter -- signed by many more organizations, several with large grassroots membership bases -- demonstrates, among other things, that those two groups [Ed Trust and CCCR] do not represent the views of the broader civil rights community on NCLB," says Bob Schaeffer of the FEA.
There's nothing particularly new about this divide. See below for the press release from the pro-multiple measures umbrella group known as the Forum on Education Accountability. See herefor the Ed Trust's statement, which calls these changes a giant step backwards.
CIVIL RIGHTS, DISABILITY ORGS. CALL FOR “MULTIPLE MEASURES”
IN “NO CHILD” OVERHAUL LEGISLATION;
FORUM ON EDUCATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY PRAISES GROUPS’ LETTER
AND REP. MILLER’S LEADERSHIP ON THIS ISSUE
Nearly two dozen major civil rights and disability advocacy groups today called on Congress to include “multiple forms of assessment” and “multiple measures or indicators of student progress” in legislation currently being drafted to overhaul the controversial “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) federal education law. In a letter delivered to members of the Senate and House education committees, the groups wrote, “If education is to improve in the United States, schools must be assessed in ways that produce high-quality learning and that create incentives to keep students in school.”
Signers of the letter included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Learning Disabilities Association of America, National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE), ASPIRA Association, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Alliance for Bilingual Education, National Urban Alliance, Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Civil Rights Project, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Indian School Board Association and ACORN,
The groups’ letter continued, “A number of studies have found that an exclusive emphasis on (primarily multiple-choice) standardized test scores has narrowed the curriculum. An unintended consequence has been to create incentives for schools to boost scores by keeping or pushing low-scoring students out of school. Push-out incentives and the narrowed curriculum are especially severe for special needs students, English language learners, and students without strong family supports.”
Among the arguments made for including multiple measures:
* attention will be given to a comprehensive academic program and a more complete array of learning outcomes;
* higher-order thinking and performance skills can be assessed;
* checks and balances will be added to ensure that emphasizing one measure does not come at the expense of other important educational goals; and
* schools will be encouraged to attend to the progress of students at every point of the achievement spectrum, not just those near a test cut-point labeled “proficient.”
The letter concluded, “A multiple measures approach that incorporates a well-balanced set of indicators would support a shift toward holding states and localities accountable for making the systemic changes that improve student achievement. This is a necessary foundation for genuine accountability.”
The Forum on Educational Accountability (FEA), a group formed to advance the proposals made in the Joint Organizational Statement on NCLB (now signed by 138 national education, civil rights, religious, disability, parent, civic and labor organizations), praised the letter and cited a recent National Press Club speech by House Education Chairman George Miller as indicators of the wide support for making multiple measures of achievement an important part of any federal education law.
“Clearly, there is an emerging consensus that judging our schools largely on the basis of simple-minded reading and math tests undermines educational quality and equity," said FEA Chair, Dr. Monty Neill.
Two of the Joint Statement's principles explicitly support the use of multiple measures:
* “Provide a comprehensive picture of students' and schools' performance by moving from an overwhelming reliance on standardized tests to using multiple indicators of student achievement in addition to these tests.”
* “Help states develop assessment systems that include district and school-based measures in order to provide better, more timely information about student learning.”
The full list of organizations that have signed the letter: ACORN, Advancement Project, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, ASPIRA Association, Civil Rights Project, Council for Exceptional Children, Japanese American Citizens League, Justice Matters, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Learning Disabilities Association of America, National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., National Association for Asian Pacific American Education, National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA), National Coalition of ESEA Title I Parents, National Council on Educating Black Children, National Federation of Filipino American Associations, National Indian Education Association, National Indian School Board Association, National Pacific Islander Educator Network (NPIEN), National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA).
What happens next with NCLB won't be determined by what position editorial pages take on the issue of multiple measures, but it's interesting to note that several, including at least two more today, have decided that it's worth taking a moment to talk about what direction the law is going to go and warning against a retreat on NCLB:
A Vote for 'No Child' Washington Post
To let states wriggle out of accountability on the basics would betray the mission of No Child Left Behind.
No Retreat From No Child Dallas Morning News
The last thing that students need is for Washington to turn school accountability into the educational equivalent of mashed potatoes.
If there are editorial pages out there coming out in favor of multiple measures, I'd be happy to show them, but so far at least I haven't come across any.
Bridge Hero Gets Offer: Paid Tuition NYT
A full scholarship has been offered to Jeremy Hernandez, a struggling former student who kicked open the back door of a tipping school bus with 50 children.
NCSL Panel Fails to Reach Consensus on National Standards EdWeek
The committee had been poised today to endorse a policy taking a firm stand against any national standards.
Numbers Not Adding up for Prospective Teachers in New Jersey AP
The state Board of Education is considering raising the minimum passing score on tests for new teachers, despite knowing it might cause even more to fail, The Press of Atlantic City reported in Thursday's newspapers.
Your Own Personal Blackboard Jungle Village Voice
Fresh from the frontlines, New York Teaching Fellows tell all. Via EdNews.org.
"If your child attends a successful school in a well-to-do neighborhood, chances are the curriculum hasn't narrowed," points out this excellent USA Today editorial that the USDE ever so kindly sent out an email about (An illusion gains credibility)."And if your child attends a school in a high-poverty neighborhood, chances are the school needs to zero in on basics." Most importantly, the editorial acknowledges that some schools have gone too far, but there are well-respected programs being used around the country that don't require the exclusion of other subjects. Like the editorial says, "it doesn't have to be that way."
Bored out of your mind at an interminable summer workshop? Not sure what to do with your kids between summer camp and the start of school? Students complaining that school is "just like jail?" Do what these Phillipino (filipino?) prisoners did -- stage a full-scale re-enactment of Michael Jackson's famous video, Thriller, in the prison yard, featuring a cast of 100s.
If they can do it, so can you. Remember to tape it, though, and send it in.
Anti-Bureaucrat Charter Schools Get Centralized NY Sun
A funny thing is happening with some anti-bureaucrats: They are bureaucratizing, building central offices that function like miniature school districts overseeing between four and 40 schools.
Judge: No New Assignment Plan Needed For Ky. Schools EdWeek
A federal judge told the Louisville school district it can use whatever method it likes to assign students to schools—as long as race isn't considered.
Ironing out policies on school uniforms USA Today
As the new school year approaches, more schools are requiring students to wear uniforms or otherwise restricting what they may wear — and parents are objecting. Lawsuits! Via EdNews.org.
Wisconsin: Sentence in Shooting of Principal AP
A 16-year-old was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in the shooting death of his high school principal.
NCLB News
More Folks Like NCLB Than Like Their Local Schools, Says New Poll
Putting Freshmen In The Spotlight, Putting NCLB Under
Is Miller Breaking Up With Pro-NCLB Groups?
What Testing Guru Bill Sanders Really Meant About Multiple Measures
Teachers And Teaching
Report Praises Chicago Transfer Policy, Slams Evaluation
"Tough Liberal" --Friday Reading For Steve Barr & Others
Unions & Teachers & School Improvement
Urban Education
The War Within The Charter Movement: Quality Vs. Choice
Schoolchildren Narrowly Escape Bridge Collapse
Parents, Pedophiles, & Places For Their Kids
Media Watch
Job Opening In Dallas
Inane "I Like Turtles" Video Goes National
Scribbled Notes On A Cocktail Napkin: DFER Happy Hour
Once in a while, I actually do some reporting, and today I happened to talk Prof. William Sanders, the testing guru whose recent letter to Congressman Miller was leaked to the press and seemed (according to an Ed Daily story) to put Sanders squarely against Miller's proposed use of multiple measures in AYP.
Well, it turns out that Sanders is against the use of portfolios and classroom observations that are often called multiple measures, but not against end of course tests, college entrance tests, and the like that he thinks Miller is talking about. "Those things have a place," says Sanders, who points out that they are already part of the growth model projections that he has developed and are being used in some pilot states.
His main accountability concern, however, is not so much that the current AYP relies on "a single test" (a description he says irks him and ignores the fact that there are three years of tests and hundreds if not thousands of test item responses that go into each year's AYP calculations), but rather that it encourages too much focus on lower-performing kids rather than "early high-achieving kids" who get ignored. He proposes a rating system that evaluates schools not only on reducing the achievement gap but also on helping already-proficient kids do even better -- apparently a part of the Tennessee pilot and perhaps what Nevada is trying to do here.
From NACSA:
I want to make sure you have the chance to read the article from this week’s New Orleans Times-Picayune, “Charter schools lead the way on LEAP.”
http://www.nola.com/education/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-3/118594810616750.xml&coll=1
Louisiana’s bold commitment to charter schools is showing strong positive results for children.
In the weeks and months that followed Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana leaders made a remarkable commitment to use charter schools to rebuild New Orleans’ public schools. NACSA has been working closely with state officials since then, designing a charter school accountability framework, establishing oversight policies and procedures, and evaluating many dozens of applications to start new charter schools.
In the application review process, we set high standards for quality. We recommended against some proposals that everyone assumed would be approved. We were publicly criticized but we took a stand, along with Louisiana’s tough state board of education. There can be no free passes to start a school.
We surprised others by recommending a proposal from an inspiring group of educators from a previously struggling New Orleans public school. We saw the potential these educators had – if they could be set free from district control. And the students are now benefiting from that decision. As the article reports, the King elementary school “has continued to surge since becoming a charter school.”
Across the city, the results are now coming in. New Orleans public schools that converted to charter status made strong improvement compared to their own school’s prior scores. “In scores released this week, charter schools such as Wright posted higher scores at every grade level,” reports the Times-Picayune, “some showing vast improvement over their Pre-Katrina, pre-charter performance under the Orleans Parish School Board.”
In addition to strong test results for the charter schools themselves, New Orleans is now telling another story. At the same time that a set of new charter schools opened, the state’s Recovery School District opened and operated twenty schools of its own along a traditional district model. Opening at the same time, operating side-by-side, serving the same communities, we now have a nearly perfect case study of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the “charter model” and the “district model.”
“In the first test scores offering meaningful a comparison between charter schools and traditional public schools in New Orleans, charter schools clustered near the top of the rankings,” reports the Times-Picayune. “Traditional schools – particularly those run by the state-run Recovery School District – in some cases had more than half of their students fail the test.”
About one-third of New Orleans’ students are in district-run schools. As someone who worked closely with new RSD Superintendent Paul Vallas in Chicago, I know that Paul will quickly right this ship, improving schools that remain under RSD control and converting some RSD schools into charters.
The coming years will hold more lessons. So far New Orleans is teaching us that the charter school model empowers educators to deliver better results for children and that smart authorizing is an important component of that success. Along with hundreds of dedicated educators, thousands of New Orleans students and families, and bold Louisiana public officials, NACSA is proud to be a part of this success.
For Schools, What Does Progress Mean? Las Vegas Sun via DA Daily
None [of the 8 growth model states] is going as far as Nevada is proposing: to add points for schools where already-proficient students improve.
Tennessee Steps in at 17 Memphis Schools Commercial Appeal
The Tennessee Department of Education is playing a stronger role in the operation of 17 Memphis schools that have not met state performance standards for the past six years. PLUS: Stricter Standards Cause Drops in Hundreds of Texas' School Ratings Houston Chronicle.
In Alaska, school equality elusive Christian Science Monitor
The state must improve education in rural areas before requiring students to pass the state exit exam, a judge recently ruled. Via EdNews.org.
Mayor spent millions on school board races LA Times
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spent $3.5 million on behalf of three candidates who recently won seats on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, breaking the record set eight years ago by then-Mayor Richard Riordan, another politician who installed a board majority, according to reports filed Tuesday.
Over at The Quick And The Ed, Kevin Carey points out that one of the main concerns about multiple measures isn't just that it would take the focus off of core subjects like reading and math but also that it would put accountability back in the hands of schools and teachers whose performance is being measured (and who, previous to NCLB, often declined to publish achievement gaps or rate schools rigorously). Carey also asks "What's the law going to look like if there's one version for each of the nation's 14,000 school districts, or 90,000 schools? A lot like having no accountability at all."
Meanwhile over at The Gadfly, Mike Petrilli has a new post that calls Miller's speech a lurch to the left that could could delay reauthorization.
What no one's figured out -- or said out loud at least -- is how far Miller is going to go with these alternatives, or what it will take (if anything) to get new Democrats on board with a NCLB that is any better than the old one.
Reactions to the Miller speech continue to trickle in, including a story in yesterday's Ed Daily (subscription required) that reiterates Miller's intent to prevent multiple measures from turning into an "escape hatch" (as if there aren't already enough of those) and tensions with ranking member Buck McKeon, who has threatened to block the bill if necessary.
There's also mention of a letter from testing expert Bill Sanders that calls multiple measures into question: “Most of the measures usually advocated under the banner of ‘multiple measures’ have so little reliability that any attempt to use them in summative assessment is certain to provide results so untrustworthy that essentially no distinction among schools can be made."
Will multiple measures turn into a big "do-or-die issue," or will it be worked out in a way that gives the NEA credit for changing NCLB without gutting the already-loose NCLB accountability framework? I don't exactly know. But my guess is that something will get worked out that allows the reauthorization to move forward even if it doesn't really help the functionality of the law.
According to this article at EdWeek ( New Orleans Charters Fare Well in Testing), the first wave of tests results look good for some schools. Charter school students did relatively better than students in the state-run Recovery School District that Paul Vallas recently took over. In response, Vallas says he's implementing longer class days and better PD for teachers. There could be as many as 40 charters in New Orleans within the very near future, according to the article.
A Study Finds Some States Lagging on Graduation Rates NYT
Dozens of states accept any improvement in high school graduation rates as adequate progress, and several set a goal of graduating fewer than 60 percent of their students, according to a study released yesterday by the Education Trust in Washington.
Doubts Cast on Math, Science Teaching Lures EdWeek
Those who have studied financial incentives say evidence is scant that they are attracting substantial numbers of college students and career-changers to math and science teaching, despite years of investments in those programs. PLUS: Teachers Tell Researchers They Like Their Jobs.
Gates Foundation's Education Chief Controls Billions NPR
With more than $3 billion in grant money to give away, [incoming education chief] Phillips arguably has one of the most powerful K-12 jobs in the country.
Textbook Watchdog Norma Gabler Dies NPR
Norma Gabler, who, along with her husband Mel, exerted huge influence over the U.S. textbook industry as a watchdog for material they considered anti-family, has died.
Right on schedule, CQ Today has a piece about how the Dems are focused on helping the freshmen keep their seats (Democrats Put Freshmen in Spotlight). Doing so makes obvious sense for the Dems, but not so much for NCLB supporters given the newbies' understandably skeptical views of NCLB. It's not entirely wishful thinking to say (as some do) that the freshmen ran against Iraq and -- to a much lesser degree -- NCLB.
Not everyone's holding their tongues and waiting to see what the Miller reauthorization bill looks like. This commentary from Scripps News Service is an example: Diluting the No Child law. "As attractive as these indicators might sound, they would dilute the purpose of the law to where ultimately the standards become the usual educational mush."
Perhaps there's some way to thread the needle and come up with a bill that avoids creating mush and gives Congressional Democrats enough of the fig leaf they think they need to get re-elected. After all, many would argue that the growth model idea, which could have created just such a confusing morass, has seemed to have been just such a success. And others would observe that, with all its confidence intervals and subgroup minima and safe harbors and all the rest (attendance and graduation indicators), the current NCLB isn't as clear and simple as it seems on the outside.
But I'm not particularly hopeful, and remain somewhat dismayed and -- perhaps I'm alone -- surprised at this turn of events. After five years of defending NCLB, ducking and weaving all the way, Miller seems to be telling us that multiple measures are to be the price of a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Acceleration Under Review Ed Week
As more high school students enroll in programs that award college credit, policymakers are asking questions about quality.
UC's online-only charter high school closes after 1 year San Diego Union-Tribune
Heather Brooks, 17, an incoming senior at Mar Vista High School, and Erik Chavez, 17, who just graduated, practiced handling cargo on the Navy tanker Henry J. Kaiser as part of the students' paid summer internship.
Wis. teen told police he 'freaked out' AP
A boy on trial in the shooting death of his principal told investigators that he "just freaked out" and pulled the trigger three times, but that he didn't mean to kill the man.
A school musical in their own words USA Today
Grovelin' for grades each day...Buildin' our GPA...Tryin' to stuff more stuff in our resumé.
