Education News: May 19, 2006

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending May 19, 2006.

More schools could go year round
(Source: The (North Carolina) News and Observer, 05/19/06) In response to increasing school enrollment, one North Carolina district is experimenting with creating more year-round schools. The school would run on a 4-track schedule, where only 3 tracks would be in the building at any one time. Although the school board is in favor, parents have raised much opposition to the idea. The proposal’s future will be determined by an upcoming vote.

2 states to experiment with No Child changes
(Source: The Washington Post, 05/18/06) North Carolina and Tennessee were the only states approved to use a “growth model” to review students’ progress. This pilot program is different because it assesses students individually as opposed to by grade level. These two states were picked out of the 13 that applied because of their previous success in calculating their schools’ yearly progress.

Odd math for best high schools list
(Source: The New York Times, 05/17/06) Educators nationwide are complaining about the results of Newsweek’s Best High School list. The magazine calculated the scores of the nation’s 25,000 high schools by dividing the number of Advanced Placement test taken by the number of high school seniors. Their rationale is that good schools push all students, not only the top students, to reach for the highest accomplishment. Some schools on the list received high marks although they were deemed failing according to their states’ standards. The creator of the list acknowledged its’ creation as a moneymaker.

Immigrant students, lag but less so in the US
(Source: The San Francisco Gate, via the AP 05/15/06) According to the Program for International Student Assessment, immigrants from around the world score less than their native-born counterparts. The study found that Australia and Canada had the smallest gaps in education citing good language support programs. PISA cited that the cause for major difficulties was that the language of instruction was not spoken at home.

Small schools changing shape of nation's largest school system
(Source: USA Today, 05/13/06) New York City, among other school districts nationwide, has embraced a small school model. In NYC, 200 new 6 -12 schools were created within 5 years. Each small school has a different theme such as career in sports, violin, human rights, or aerospace. The schools usually inhabit the building of former larger failing schools. Some educators are worried that the schools only reflect a new reform trend without sufficient research that show their success and worry that the schools do not offer a broad enough curriculum as shown by the lack of AP courses, extracurricular activities, and elective courses. More optimistic observers counter that the basics are the priority for struggling students that usually attend the smaller schools; therefore they do not need a broad curriculum.

Anti-drug overdose?
(Source: The Los Angeles Times, 05/15/06) A growing body of research finds evidence that the oversimplified “don’t do drugs” message learned in school sponsored anti-drug lessons could do more harm than good. One reason is because the lessons do not coincide with what is learned in the real world: such as prescription drugs can be used correctly or that it is safe to drink alcohol in moderation. The research finds that the inconsistencies between the lessons and the real world cause students to disregard the beneficial message within anti-drug lessons. All sides agree that the solution is not to eliminate anti-drug campaigns but to make their message more realistic.