Education News: December 14, 2007

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending December 14, 2007.

Principals Called Key in Failing Schools
(Source: The Baltimore Sun, 12/14/07):  Maryland’s lowest-performing schools are, in many cases, the same schools that have inexperienced principals and high principal turnover, according to a new study by Advocates for Children and Youth.  The report’s authors concluded that strong, sustained leadership is necessary for school improvements and recommended creating incentives and bonuses to improve principal recruitment and retention.

School Recess Gets Gentler, and the Adults are Dismayed
(Source: The New York Times, 12/14/07):  Increasingly, schools are changing the rules of recess to reduce injuries, hurt feelings, competition, and liability—much to the dismay of many parents.  Banned activities at some schools include tag, dodge ball, and keeping score.

Judge Says State Will Pay Millions to Schools
(Source: The Charlotte News and Observer, 12/14/07):  A Wake County judge has said that the state of North Carolina owes the state’s schools $768 million, which would be used to buy new computers for every school district.  State law requires that the funds raised from certain parking tickets, fines on overweight trucks, and specific other sources be used for school technology, but the schools had not received the funds.

Goal: Expand Teacher Cancer Study
(Source:  The Sacramento Bee, 12/13/07):  For the past twelve years, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System has cooperated with breast cancer researchers on a health study involving 133,000 California teachers, most of whom are now in their 50s and 60s.  The size and duration of the California Teachers Study has made it a ‘gold standard’ of research studies, according to experts.  Now, the researchers are working to expand the study to include younger teachers, as well.

Report Finds Better Scores in New Crop of Teachers
(Source:  The New York Times, 12/12/07):  The teaching profession is attracting better-qualified individuals than it was several years ago, according to a new study by Educational Testing Services.  Average SAT scores and college GPAs of prospective teachers taking state licensing exams have both risen in recent years.  The demographics, however, have not changed.  New teachers are mostly white women, as has long been the case.

Cash-short Schools Scrimp on Textbooks
(Source:  The Detroit News, 12/11/07):  A deepening funding crisis for Michigan’s schools can be seen in the deteriorating state of students’ textbooks.  Texts that were once replaced every six or seven years are now being replaced every nine or ten years, and students are often not allowed to take textbooks home with them.  In many cases, schools must make difficult choices between projects like building repairs and buying needed textbooks.

Texas Aims to Close Students’ Skill Gap
(Source:  The Houston Chronicle, 12/10/07):  With over 50% of Texas college freshmen requiring remedial work, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has drafted a set of standards outlining what the state’s high school graduates should know before entering a four-year college or university.  If the standards are adopted, students who don’t meet them would be directed to a community college for remedial classes, which would cost both the students and the state less money.  The standards include such topics as quadratic equations, thermodynamics, and literary analysis.