Education News: June 30, 2006

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending June 30, 2006.

NYC graduation rate improving, schools chancellor says
(Source: NYTimes.com, 06/30/06) New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced that the graduation rates of the city’s 15 new small high schools was 73%, a figure markedly higher than typical citywide graduation rates. Fourteen of the 15 new schools receive financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Open Society Institute.

Tuition offered to top students
(Source: TwinCities.com, 06/28/06) Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has made an offer he hopes will both boost college enrollment and encourage achievement in high school. Through a new plan called ACHIEVE (Academic Competitiveness Highlighting Individual Excellence and Valuing Education), the state will allow students who graduate in the top 25% of their class or score well on college entrance exams to attend any Minnesota public college tuition-free for the first two years. Math and science majors will attend tuition-free for the third and fourth years as well. The state will accomplish this by making up the difference between each student’s financial aid package and the remaining tuition and fees.

Troubled charter schools can just swap sponsors
(Source: Cleveland.com, 06/27/06) Ohio charter schools have the option of switching sponsors, a possibility that concerns many education officials when the privilege is used to switch from a sponsor with rigorous requirements to one with a more relaxed manner of operation. Sponsors can be nonprofit groups, public universities, school districts, or education service centers. In exchange for administrative oversight, the sponsor receives three percent of the school’s public dollars.

Storms blow out money for schools
(Source: Nola.com, 06/26/06) As a result of substantial changes in enrollment figures, schools in the New Orleans area will lose over $200 million in funding. The cuts come as a result of a new financing formula adopted by the state Legislature. Other school systems throughout the state will face cuts also, but as the number of students returning to various areas for the new school year is largely unknown, the effect of the cuts cannot yet be determined. Approximately 70,000 students left the school system statewide.

Study casts doubt on the ‘boy crisis’
(Source: WashingtonPost.com, 06/26/06) A new study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress indicates that the widespread reports that American boys are in the midst of an educational crisis are not true. The study says that others have misinterpreted data showing that girls were making gains more quickly than boys as bad news for boys when, in fact, it is merely good news for girls. The study also indicates that while Black and Hispanic boys are in trouble in terms of educational statistics, the issues are more associated with race and class than with gender.

Veterans take charge in US classrooms
(Source: Boston.com, 06/25/06) U.S. veterans are becoming teachers in greater numbers, both through a federal program called Troops to Teachers and on their own. Troops to Teachers was created in 1994, but was inactive until Congress reauthorized spending for it in 2001, hoping to attract the “highly qualified” teachers required by the No Child Left Behind Act. Military-personnel-turned-teachers say the military’s discipline and emphasis on teaching peers helps them in the classroom.