Education News: May 6, 2005

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending May 6, 2005.

Education Department’s PR Records Released
(Source: CNN.com , 5/4/05)
New records show that the U.S. Education Department has spent more than $9 million on public relations in recent years. The money went to a variety of expenditures, including promoting President Bush’s school agenda, creating the National Assessment of Educational Progress, formally releasing test scores, and issuing public service announcements. Most of the expenses were routine, but some were controversial, and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has pledged to monitor spending more closely.

Teachers, Scientists Vow to Fight Challenge to Evolution
(Source: The Washington Post, 5/4/05)
Teachers and scientists around the nation are mobilizing to build e-mail lists, raise awareness, and lobby lawmakers to combat the challenge to evolution that is currently taking place in Kansas. This week, hearings on the place of evolution and “intelligent design” in classrooms began at the Kansas State Board of Education. The activism on the part of teachers and scientists is a new phenomenon as proponents of evolution had heretofore dismissed the theory of intelligent design as a fad.

Probe Finds 4 Houston Schools Cheated on TAKS Test
(Source: The Houston Chronicle, 5/5/05)
Following a four-month investigation into possible cheating on state tests at two-dozen schools in Houston, school officials have announced that cheating occurred at four campuses. The incidents primarily involved teachers either giving answers to students or helping them with the test. Several teachers and administrators have been fired or demoted as a result of the findings.

Judge Tells State To Reimburse CalSTRS
(Source: The Sacramento Bee, 5/5/05)
A judge has ordered the state of California to repay the California State Teachers’ Retirement System a $500 million contribution that the Legislature had withheld two years ago as part of a large effort to alleviate the state’s budget crisis.

U.S. Won’t Yield on Test Waiver
(Source: The Hartford Courant, 5/5/05)
U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings denied Connecticut’s request for testing waivers and funding this week. The state Department of Education had asked for funding to cover the cost of compliance with the No Child Left Behind law, as well as permission to forego adding standardized tests in grades 4, 6, and 8. The U.S. Education department proved inflexible on these requests, however.

English Teachers Group Criticizes SAT’s New Essay Section
(Source: The San Francisco Gate, 5/5/05)
The National Council of Teachers of English, which represents 60,000 teachers, has released a report criticizing the new writing portion of the SAT, claiming that it acts as a poor predictor of students’ college performance and that it could encourage “mediocre, formulaic writing.” The new essay section of the SAT was included in the test for the first time last month.

Lawsuit Filed Over Sex Education Policy
(Source: CNN.com, 5/4/05)
Two groups filed a federal lawsuit this week to block a sex education curriculum that would allow educators to discuss homosexuality with eighth-graders and to show an instructional video about condoms to sophomores in Montgomery County in Maryland. The groups, Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, argued that the new curriculum would not adequately emphasize abstinence and would not allow for individuals the groups describe as “formerly gay” to present their views.