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Read Ed Trust's
Statement on US Department of Ed's Review of
State Plans for Highly Qualified and Experienced
Teachers in Every Classroom
The U.S. Department of Education
released a review of each state’s teacher-equity
plan. The Department concluded that the overwhelming
majority of states must revise and re-submit
their data and plans to address inequities.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
States
fall short on teacher quality Boston Globe
Aug. 17--Department
officials acknowledged Wednesday that equity was
the biggest snag for states. Many states couldn't
provide data on the quality of teachers serving
poor and minority kids. Overall, most failed to
provide all the answers the department asked for.
The
Enquirer - No excuse in leaving kids
behind Cincinnati Enquirer
Aug. 13---In seeking to equalize opportunity for poor and minority students,
NCLB forced school districts and states to consider teacher quality as
an equity issue. For the past three years, it's required states to show
how many teachers have proper certification and what percentage are teaching
classes for which they're actually credentialed.
Jump in ACT Scores Inside
Higher Ed
Aug. 16--Richard L. Ferguson, ACT’s chief executive
officer, stressed the relationship between high
school courses taken, ACT scores, and preparation
for college. “Students who take a challenging
series of core, college-prep course work will end
up with better preparation,” he said.
ACT Scores
Increase, But Concerns Voiced on College
Readiness Ed
Week
Fewer college-bound Iowans take suggested
classes Des Moines Register
Security Through Education Washington Post
Aug. 14---Filling the holes in
America's education pipeline must become an urgent
national priority. Nowhere is strong, unified action
more necessary than at our colleges and universities.
ASSESSMENT,
ACCOUNTABILITY, AND REFORM
Latinos, blacks, poor lag on tests Sacramento Bee
Aug. 17---This year's scores show that African American, Latino, and low-income
students made progress on the standards tests, boosting proficiency
scores seven percentage points in reading and five to seven points
in math since 2003. However, the gap between those students and their
peers persists, and in some cases is actually getting bigger, according
to an analysis by Oakland-based Education Trust-West.
Appeals
court upholds Calif. exit exam Boston Globe
Aug. 13---Superintendent
of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, who helped
write the exit exam legislation while he was a
state senator, said the court's decision validates
California's decade-long attempt to raise standards.
Leaders
join forces to improve education from pre-K
to college Boston Globe
Aug. 17--Tocco
said the committee would focus on college admission
standards, the quality and quantity of state teachers,
and the dual enrollment program that allows high
school students to take college courses.
Some
closing the gap Rocky
Mountain News
Aug.
14---A Rocky Mountain News analysis of state test
results released earlier this month shows
wide achievement gaps by ethnicity still
exist in many Denver schools. District-wide,
white students as a group outperform their
black and Hispanic classmates in every grade
and subject. But pulling apart those
district totals reveals schools - Teller
Elementary in Congress Park near downtown
and Asbury Elementary near the University
of Denver, for example - where all kids are
performing well.
Sandy Kress: Scores prove that students are
making significant progress Dallas Morning News
Aug. 13--The
facts are the punch that knocks out Mr. Murray. And here is what the facts
prove: Accountability works, progress has been made, and all students can
learn when held to higher standards.
LEADERSHIP
School
Reform's Coalition of the Unenthused Los Angeles Times
Aug. 17--If politics is
the art of compromise, then it must be conceded
that Villaraigosa is Picasso.
PRACTICE, POLICY, AND ED THOUGHT
To find the answer to our illiteracy crisis,
Americans must look within USA Today
Aug. 17---Absent dramatic corrective action in America's
classrooms, the fate of our nation is in serious
peril. Not because of what others have done to
us, but because of what we have done to ourselves.
Attempting a Turnaround:
Nontraditional leader moves schools ahead
in Philadelphia Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
Under pressure to right the finances and improve
pupil performance, school directors hired a nontraditional leader who implemented
a new curriculum, enhanced professional development, closed bad schools,
increased the district's use of K-8 schools and launched a project to improve
high schools.
Education
standards ask more of kids Columbus Disptach
Aug. 14--Anyone who has
children in school might have noticed this: Some of the stuff they learned
in high school, their offspring now learn in middle school. And some middle-school
lessons have slipped down to elementary school.
Engineering
a curriculum Boston
Globe
Aug. 15--Through
the National Center for Technological Literacy
at the museum, Miaoulis is determined to devise
the courses and train the teachers necessary to
make engineering an essential and lively part of
the national science curriculum.
HIGHER
ED
Carrying Out the Commission's Ideas Inside Higher ED
Aug. 17---The department’s quick move to schedule
the discussions — and to plan for actual
negotiated rule making beginning in December — sends
at least a preliminary signal that Spellings does
not plan to let the report collect dust on a shelf
in her office.
Assessing
colleges proves challenging Atlanta Journal Constitution
Aug. 14--As
institutions that believe in the transformative
power of information, colleges and universities
ought to be willing to give more of it to the students
and taxpayers who pay the bills.
Scholarship
fund to pay way Cincinnati
Enquirer
Aug. 16---The Strive program - a coalition of primary and secondary educators,
Cincinnati business leaders, the presidents of area universities, and others
- hopes to soon be able to guarantee every schoolchild in Cincinnati, Newport
and Covington tuition money for college - and the preparation needed to
be a success there.
EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
Panel
says U.S. is losing ground in math, science San Diego Union Tribune
Aug. 12---“If we as
a nation have to ask ourselves why our kids aren't
studying science and math and engineering and whether
or not they ought to, a little bit of me is afraid
that we're already lost,” said Michael Griffin,
NASA's chief administrator.
PRE-K
AND KG
Kindergarten Boot Camp Washington
Post
Aug. 11--The school system
reaches out to public housing complexes and parent
resource centers to let people know about the program,
which is free. Enrollment has expanded every year:
There are 342 children this year, up from 237 last
year.
OF INTEREST:
News and Reports
Transforming High School Teaching and Learning Aspen Institute
Aug. 15--The paper draws on the expertise of teachers, principals, superintendents,
policymakers and researchers and offers a framework and suggestions
for a different approach to high school improvement.
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