Education News: June 25 to July 29, 2005

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending June 25 to July 29, 2005.

How to keep those kids in class? Pay them.
(Source: The Christian Science Monitor, 7/29/05)
Some schools are now offering students incentives such as gift certificates, coupons, and cash for attendance and high performance. The trend has developed, it is thought, primarily because of the rigorous standards of No Child Left Behind and the unfavorable consequences that ensue when said standards are not met.

To pump up reading, Florida schools cut back fun
(Source: St. Petersburg Times, 7/29/05)
Many Florida schools are eliminating well-liked elective courses in order to comply with a state-led initiative to stress reading in the upper grades. Education officials say the state may target as many as 257,000 of Florida’s poorest-performing schools for increased emphasis on reading in the coming school year.

Rell backs lawsuit by state
(Source: The Hartford Courant, 7/26/05)
Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell has signed a law that authorizes the pending legal action that the state of Connecticut will take against the federal government. The state is suing the U.S. government over aspects of the No Child Left Behind law.

Almost 9,000 Chicago students are homeless
(Source: The Chicago Sun-Times, 7/20/05)
New figures show that the number of homeless students in the Chicago Public School system has more than doubled since 2000—from 3500 to nearly 9,000. Advocates and educators say the post-9/11 economic slump has contributed to the sharp increase in juvenile homelessness.

Education chief: Hispanics gaining ground
(Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, 7/19/05)
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said in a speech that the “achievement gap is beginning to close” between white and Hispanic students in schools. This progress, Spellings said, is evidence that the No Child Left Behind law works.

45 States target graduation rate
(Source: The Washington Post, 7/18/05)
The governors of 45 states have agreed to develop a common set of standards for determining high school graduation rates as part of their goal to make high schools challenging enough to prepare students for “an increasingly competitive global economy.” The measure will also allow states to compare accurately their graduation rates and target efforts to decrease drop-out rates.

Manhunt: Schools try to attract more male teachers
(Source: CNN.com, 7/14/05)
According to the National Education Association, only 21 percent of U.S. public school teachers are male, which is the lowest proportion of men to women in the teaching profession in 40 years. Educators stress the importance of students encountering role models of both genders, but struggle to recruit men to the profession.

Teachers finding their voice on blogs
(Source: The St. Petersburg Times, 7/10/05)
Increasingly, teachers are turning to blogs to express themselves and air their concerns as teachers, according to a recent story in the St. Petersburg Times. Four years ago, only a small handful of teachers participated in the blogging world. Today, approximately 3,000 U.S. teachers write blogs that vary widely in subject matter and tone.

NEA bolsters gays on policy, practices
(Source: The Washington Times, 7/8/05)
In its four-day L.A. convention, the National Education Association (the nation’s largest teacher union) approved the proposal of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Causus to “develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with the new and more sophisticated attacks on [school] curricula, policies, and practices that support the GLBT students, families, and staff members in public schools.” Caucus chairman Thomas Nicholas told the convention that four of five GLBT students encounter daily verbal or physical harassment, and that a third of GLBT drop out of school due to harassment.

Standards for No Child law eased
(Source: Chicago Sun-Times, 6/29/05)
In accordance with the state’s request, the U.S. Department of Education has relaxed certain standards of the No Child Left Behind law for Illinois. The law originally mandated that each school and each “subgroup” within each school, including ethnic groups, racial groups, and special education students, would have to meet federal testing standards. The new concession raises the size of a subgroup from 40 to 45 so more students will be able to “fly under the radar.”