Education News: November 9, 2007

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending November 9, 2007.

Parents, Activists Rip School Board
(Source: The Chicago Tribune, 11/9/07):  Parents, students, teachers, free-speech advocates, and anti-war activists confronted the Berwyn school board on Wednesday to demand fair treatment for the students who participated in an anti-war protest in their school cafeteria on November 1.  Despite the fact that the protest was peaceful, the students were charged with “gross disobedience and mob activity,” and some may be expelled from their Cicero, Illinois, high school.

Student Money Vanishes, but Few Are Punished
(Source: The Washington Post, 11/9/07):  An investigation by The Washington Post has revealed that money in student activity funds in the D.C. school system is often stolen, misused, or lost.  Poor record-keeping throughout the system makes it difficult to catch offenders and put a stop to the problem.

Limited-English Kids Face a Tougher Test
(Source: The Chicago Tribune, 11/9/07):  Federal education officials have ordered Illinois to give students with limited English skills regular, grade-level state achievement exams rather than the specialized tests they had been using.  The change will take effect next year.

Abstinence-only Approach Less Effective Among Teens, Study Finds
(Source:  The Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/8/07):  A new report by the National Council to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies found that comprehensive sex education programs can be effective while abstinence-only programs are generally not.  The report, which was actually a review of 115 separate studies on the subject, concluded that programs that emphasize abstinence as the safest choice but still provide safe-sex information yield the best results. 

Vouchers Go Down in Crushing Defeat
(Source: The Salt Lake Tribune, 11/7/07):  Utah voters rejected a proposed school voucher program that would have been the nation’s largest and most comprehensive.  The program, which was supported by state Republican leaders, would have subsidized private school tuition for children from families of all incomes.  The Utah Education Association led a multi-million dollar public opinion campaign against the proposed program.

Schools Push Phys Ed to Combat Obesity
(Source:  The Miami Herald, 11/7/07):  The Broward and Miami-Dade school districts in South Florida have joined the national trend of improving and expanding physical education in schools in an effort to combat childhood and teenage obesity.  Area schools have added classes like yoga, spinning, and kickboxing to increase interest and participation among students.

For a Key Education Law, Reauthorization Stalls
(Source: The New York Times, 11/6/07):  Despite plans to revise and reauthorize No Child Left Behind, education committee leaders in the Senate and the House are indicating that there is no longer enough time to reauthorize the bill in 2007.  The fact that the bill will now be up for reauthorization during an election year means that it will likely take a long time for a revised version of the law to gain approval.

Metco Is Deemed Set for Legal Test
(Source: The Boston Globe, 11/6/07):  Despite a recent Supreme Court decision that seemed to ban most school racial integration efforts, the state of Massachusetts has decided that the Metropolitan Council for Opportunity program (Metco) is constitutional and legal.  Metco is a 41-year-old program that buses minority inner city students to schools in wealthier suburbs on a voluntary basis.