Wednesday, July 7, 2010

How Schools Can Achieve Obama's Lofty Education Goals - US News and World Report

How Schools Can Achieve Obama's Lofty Education Goals

Three positive trends offer big lessons on making America more educationally competitive by 2020

By RICHARD WHITMIRE , ANDREW J. ROTHERHAM

Posted: May 18, 2010

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Richard Whitmire, author of Why Boys Fail, is coauthor of the recent New America Foundation report, "Pathway to the Baccalaureate." Andrew Rotherham is a partner at Bellwether Education and writes the blog Eduwonk.com.

Finding depressing education news is easy. The recession, combined with the waning of federal stimulus money, is about to trigger hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs—an "education catastrophe," warns Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

The layoffs will play out against a background of flat national reading scores and mediocre showings on international education rankings. Looming behind everything: the country's much-debated school reform law, No Child Left Behind, has fallen into disrepute.

None of this can be sugarcoated; yet dwelling on the negatives masks some significant education breakthroughs that promise to pay dividends for years to come. Together they represent the country's best shot at achieving President Obama's ambitious goal of pushing

Gym Makes Students Smarter

Education Fights Also Ugly at the Local Level

Almost 3,000 N.J. students are not allowed to graduate after failing alternate exit exam Education - NJ.com

Education - NJ.com

Almost 3,000 N.J. students are not allowed to graduate after failing alternate exit exam

Published: Wednesday, July 07, 2010, 8:50 AM Updated: Wednesday, July 07, 2010, 8:58 AM

Kristen Alloway/The Star-Ledger
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Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerAngela Martinez smiles as she walks with her classmates to the school football field to begin the Pleasantville High School Graduation commencement. Martinez is not eligible to graduate until she passes the state's high school exit exam. (Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)N.J. students not allowed to graduate after failing alternate exit exam gallery (7 photos)

Pleasantville High School senior Angela Martinez donned her cap and gown, hugged her family and marched in her graduation ceremony. Like most seniors, she has plans for the future, including college and a career as a nurse.

What Martinez does not have, however, is a diploma.

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Though she was allowed to participate in the ceremony, Martinez is one of about 2,900 New Jersey high school seniors who did not graduate last month because they did not pass the state’s alternate high school exit exam, known as the Alternate High School Assessment.

The state Department of Education changed the exam this year and what was once a test nearly everyone passed became a high hurdle to graduation for many. Students in about 65 districts were affected, including Paterson, Jersey City, New Brunswick, East Orange, Newark and Union City, according to the education department.

The changes sent high schools scrambling to help high school seniors find other ways to prove they are worthy of a diploma, and it touched off renewed debate about high-stakes tests.

"It’s so complicated. I passed all of my classes. I want to graduate," said Martinez, 18. "I would like to go on."

The Department of Education retooled the alternate exit exam this year, changing how it is given

N.J. audit finds Lakewood school district kept poor records, routinely overspent

By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

July 06, 2010, 10:15AM

LAKEWOOD — A state audit found that the Lakewood school district kept poor records between 2006 and 2008 and had shoddy oversight of officials, resulting in routine overspending of accounts, under-budgeting, and other examples of wasted spending, a report on APP.com said. The audit found that the district spent $2.5 million more on salaries than what was budgeted, and... Full story »

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N.J. school districts avoid cuts in special education in budget crisis

By Dan Goldberg/For The Star-Ledger

July 06, 2010, 6:02AM

Officials say growing demands of programs force slicing into general education Full story »

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Diminishing state aid prompts Glen Ridge officials to consider converting schools to private, charter

By Philip Read/The Star-Ledger

July 04, 2010, 8:30AM

GLEN RIDGE — Faced with burdensome mandates and diminishing returns from Trenton, one of the state’s top public school districts is considering a path that could make it the first to effectively secede from New Jersey’s public education system. The Glen Ridge school board will enter largely uncharted waters when it gathers at a retreat this month to discuss... Full story »

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NorthJersey.com: Tax cap deal making progress; Oliver backs 2% growth limit

Tax cap deal making progress; Oliver backs 2% growth limit

Wednesday, July 7, 2010
LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY JULY 7, 2010, 7:29 AM

BY MATT FRIEDMAN

STATE HOUSE BUREAU

A bipartisan plan to cap property tax growth at 2 percent per year moved a step closer to reality Tuesday with Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver breaking more than two days of silence to say she generally supports it, and with a conditional veto by the governor on an earlier version of the bill.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver took issue with how the compromise was reached, saying the Assembly was left out of the process.

In delivering that conditional veto, Governor Christie gave lawmakers a framework to change legislation they passed last week with a higher cap. Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, announced the compromise cap and its exceptions Saturday after marathon talks.
Oliver, who did not join those talks and has said her house needs to discuss the particulars, Tuesday said she was onboard with the broad strokes of the plan.
"I think that the political reality in New Jersey is that taxpayers want to see some effort made by the Legislature to control property taxes," said Oliver. "So I don't think that the General Assembly would stand in the way of that."
If both houses of the Legislature approve the changes in Christie's veto and the

Bronx Principal Francisco Cruz may lose job after he bid-rigging an after-school program

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, July 7th 2010, 4:00 AM

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A Bronx principal could lose his job for steering the contract for an after-school program to a business he was involved in, officials said.

Principal Francisco Cruz was removed from Community School 50 in the Bronx after city Special Commissioner of Investigations Richard Condon found Cruz had helped rig the bids.

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010