Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, March 18, 2010

EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNewsToday

N.J. aid to schools to be drastically cut

Every school district in New Jersey will see cuts in state aid - some far deeper than local education officials said they were led to expect - according to figures the Christie administration released yesterday.
Full story

District proposes changes in magnet admission rules

Concerned that its top academic schools are not racially and economically diverse enough, Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is proposing major changes in how students are admitted to them. ...
Full story

Student restraint measure stalls

Facing opposition from school administrators and teachers, the prospects for legislation to limit when Wisconsin students could be physically restrained or secluded in time-out rooms appear to be fizzling out in the state capitol. ...
Full story

Testing scandal ensnarls Agassi principal

The middle school principal at Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy has been placed on administrative leave while state investigators look into allegations that she gave five students additional opportunities to complete a state standardized test....
Full story

Education reform: Can poor test scores get a teacher fired?

3.18.10 - In Houston, a controversial education reform measure allows teachers to be fired based on their students' test scores. Some parents back the policy, but teachers unions have reservations. ...
Full story

Decatur teachers face furlough

Decatur city schools are looking to furlough employees for three days next school year to help balance the budget. ...
Full story

Antibullying bill may lose punch

Proponents of an antibullying bill set to be debated in the state House of Representatives today say last-minute changes, made in the House Ways and Means Committee, have removed the heart of the legislation, stripping it of its most vital protections. ...
Full story

Jay Mathews: Daring new high school rating system

3.18.10 - I never thought anyone would try such a daring concept, judging schools by how much their students' analytical abilities improve. If your high school’s seniors didn’t score much better than your freshmen,...
Full story

A Setback for Educational Civil Rights

3.18.10 - THEODORE M. HESBURGH - When President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked me to become one of the founding members of the newly formed U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, African-Americans drank at separate water fountains and our schools were segregated. A decade later...
Full story

Ads appear on school websites

School districts in Virginia and Arizona already have ads on their official sites, while officials at districts in South Dakota, Wisconsin and California say they are planning to place ads soon....
Full story

Ads appear on school websites

School districts in Virginia and Arizona already have ads on their official sites, while officials at districts in South Dakota, Wisconsin and California say they are planning to place ads soon....
Full story

Mr. Obama and No Child Left Behind

President Obama has some good ideas for reworking No Child Left Behind. Now Congress must strengthen the law. ...
Full story

Literacy program for low-income students faces cuts

3.18.10 - Reading is Fundamental, which provided 15 million books to low-income children last year, is slated to have its $25 million a year in federal funding cut in President Barack Obama's proposed budget for the 2011 fiscal year. ...
Full story

Court Says Parents Can Block ‘Sexting’ Cases

A federal appeals court ruled that parents could block the prosecution of their children on child pornography charges for appearing in photographs found on classmates’ cellphones. ...
Full story

States relieved by school plan

One state at a time, the push for common school graduation standards has been gaining traction. In just five years, the number of states with such standards for college and career-readiness has increased from three to 31. ...
Full story

Poison soup plot foiled at public school

Kitchen assistant held after staff detect 'diesel' in the tomato soup at £6,000 per term Stowe public school ...
Full story

Schools chief on way out

Grossmont Superintendent Robert Collins will leave his post at the East County high school district at the end of June to take a top position with an international education corporation. ...
Full story

Teach for America has record year for applications

Teach for America saw a record number of applications for its 2010 corps of teachers for some of the nation's poorest schools. The organization is launching a program in San Antonio this year....
Full story

Seismic review under way for schools, despite Legislature's caution

Utah lawmakers balked once again at legislation to inventory Utah public schools to see how they would weather a strong earthquake. As an alternative, they plan "to study whether to require a school district or charter school to conduct a seismic evaluation" of its buildings. ...
Full story

Bigotry impedes school choice

“The Irish are perhaps the only people in our history with the distinction of having a political party, the Know-Nothings, formed against them,” wrote John F. Kennedy in his 1958 book, “A Nation of Immigrants.” Today, the Massachusetts Constitution maintains two amendments that still enforce mid-19th century Know-Nothing bigotry....
Full story