Education News: July 7, 2006

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending July 7, 2006.

Student testing graded
(Source: Hartford Courant, 07/07/06) According to the Education Department, 34 states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, have serious problems with the implementation of the standardized tests required by the No Child Left Behind Act. Two states, Maine and Nebraska, had their testing systems rejected entirely. Problems in the states included a lack of exams for disabled students and for those with limited English-language abilities. Many of these states have also yet to prove the exams are technically sound. The states risk losing somewhere between $40,000 and $1 million if they do not quickly make improvements.

Homeland security enters classroom
(Source: The Baltimore Sun, 07/07/06) Jappatowne High School in Harford County, Maryland, is opening the nation’s first magnet program focused on homeland security. State education officials approved the program based on the expectation that the area will have many jobs to offer in this field, especially once the nationwide consolidation of military bases takes place. Students in the program will study topics like cybersecurity, public safety, border control, threat identification, and religious ideology with teachers who have military or emergency-response backgrounds.

Horne sues Education Department
(Source: The Arizona Republic, 07/07/06) Arizona state schools chief Tom Horne is suing the federal government over the way the Education Department counts the scores of English-language-learning students. According to Horne, federal education officials had agreed not to count the scores of students learning English until after their third year in the state. The scores, however, are being counted after the students’ first year. If the state does not win the case, 100 additional Arizona schools will be designated as failing, which will require costly corrective measures.

Teachers allege improper grade changes
(Source: The Miami Herald, 07/06/06) Five teachers in the Miami-Dade school system have accused the principal of Charles Drew Middle School in Liberty City of changing hundreds of D’s and F’s to passing grades without consulting them. Each of the teachers found out by chance that Principal Gwen Coverson had changed the grades after the fact. Coverson is now under investigation by school district officials.

Family-like program opens brave new chapter for black L.A. students
(Source: The Los Angeles Times, 07/06/06) The Village, a program for African American students started at Cleveland High in Reseda, California, is as controversial as it is successful. The program seeks to create a community of trust, learning, dialogue, and mentorship among black students and teachers. Three years in, participants in the Village at Cleveland High have seen dramatic increases in their test scores. Attendance at the optional meetings remains high. The Village is now being expanded into other schools with mixed reactions and successes. The original founders of the Village caution that the opt-in element must be emphasized, so students don’t feel that they are being singled out and disciplined, and that the right leaders must be found to run the programs.

More than 2,500 in Ohio apply for school vouchers
(Source: The Plain Dealer, 07/04/06) Last year, the Ohio state legislature expanded the voucher system by budgeting funds for 14,000 renewable scholarships. Eligibility was initially limited to schools in a state of “academic emergency,” but it has been expanded to include schools on “academic watch.” Students at these schools can receive up to $4250 per year for private elementary school or up to $5000 per year for private high school. So far, 2500 students, 6% of those eligible, have applied.

NEA to challenge ‘No Child Left Behind’
(Source: The Washington Post, 07/03/06) The National Education Association voted at its annual meeting to aggressively lobby Congress for reform of the No Child Left Behind Act. While expressing approval of the law’s general aims, the union delegates agreed that the fiscal punishment of “failing” schools and the overemphasis on testing were harming education. The union will lobby the government to increase its $23.5 billion schools budget, decrease class sizes, institute a minimum wage of $40,000 per annum for teachers, and move away from testing as sole indicator of a school’s well-being.