Daily EducationNews.org
Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Arizona Republic
AIMS may hold back students
Time and options are running out for 3,000 high school English-language-learner seniors in Arizona who have not passed the AIMS test and might not graduate.

Boston Globe
Widening Latin's portal
A DRAMATIC and unanticipated jump in minority admissions at Boston's most prestigious high school calls for more than a round of congratulations.

Charlotte Observer
At Hawk Ridge Elementary, baby boom is on
A young boy looked up at kindergarten teacher Jodi Fields one day recently and asked her, "Is Ms. Sheppard going to give everyone a baby?"

Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Tribune 
'White flight' suit filed
Racism motivated two school districts to form separate athletic conferences, says a federal lawsuit.

Christian Science Monitor 
At Duke, hard questions about lacrosse culture
In the wake of an allegation of assault, the university has vowed a deep 'self-study' into a privileged group. By Patrik Jonsson

Cleveland Plain Dealer
Question of balance in juvenile justice
When 16-year-old Rayshawn Alucho was arrested last month on a robbery charge, he was released from detention the same day, only a plastic ankle bracelet securing his promise to stay out of trouble.

Contra Costa Times
Kansas may get abstinence-only sex education
By Suzanne Perez Tobias, KNIGHT RIDDER
Should sex education classes stop at "Just say no"? Some members of the Kansas Board of Education think so, and are pushing for a change that would require abstinence-only sex education across the state.

Des Moines Register
Lawmakers OK stricter rule for athletes
Iowa high school athletes who fail one of their classes next fall will be benched for four weeks the following semester or season under a state rule that takes effect July 1.

Teachers: English learners aren't getting enough help
The three years of English-language instruction paid for by the state isn't enough to help immigrants succeed say some Des Moines teachers. Some Iowans complain about their taxes supporting illegal immigrants.

Detroit News
Graduates chase jobs, culture to big cities
WASHINGTON -- College graduates are flocking to America's big cities, chasing jobs and driving up home prices.

Hartford Courant
Grants To Help Teachers Motivate Classes
The state Department of Higher Education has awarded $814,253 in competitive grants to support seven summer institutes in which college faculty will teach Connecticut school teachers how to make their classrooms more stimulating, particularly in math and science.

Teachers' Union Vote Too Close To Call
Incomplete results late Monday in the race for president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers had incumbent Cathy Carpino 11 votes ahead of challenger Edwin Vargas.

Indianapolis Star-Tribune
Dropout coverage features Shelbyville
Time magazine and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" have teamed up to examine the high school dropout crisis in America, focusing on urban, suburban and rural schools including Shelbyville High School.

Inside Higher ED
Career Prep vs. Liberal Arts  
Placement experts gather to talk about strategies for improving their efforts - despite skepticism from some professors.

Cosmetics and Appearances at Hopkins  
University, embarrassed by charges it was selling its name, changes ties to company pushing upscale moisturizers.

Journalism That Dare Not Speak Its Name  
North Central U. removes editors of paper in dispute over coverage of gay issues and speaking in tongues.

Ledger
Charter Plan For a Middle School on Hold

Los Angeles Daily News
LAUSD chalks up round
Los Angeles Unified's aggressive efforts to staff all 750 of its schools with experienced, qualified teachers persuaded a judge Monday to lift a consent decree imposed 15 years ago.

New York Daily News 
Time for old-school outrage
Errol Louis: In the wake of the recent killing of Broderick John Hehman in Harlem, white and black New Yorkers - especially students at New York University, where Hehman was a junior - ought to be protesting in the streets of Harlem to make the point that it's immoral, illegal and intolerable to allow bigots to make parts of our city off-limits to any person because of his skin color.

New York Post
SCHOOL REBEL PROBE
By DAVID ANDREATTA EXCLUSIVE
Fed up with resistance to its plan to place a charter school in a building that houses gifted public school students in Manhattan, the city Education Department moved yesterday to have the principal leading the revolt investigated for misconduct.

FEDS SEEKING TO RING PERVY PRINCIPAL'S BELL
By KATI CORNELL SMITH The feds are throwing the book at a Manhattan assistant principal who was caught in an online sting trying to lure undercover cops posing as young girls into sex trysts.

New York Times
Lawyers for Duke Players Say DNA Clears Team
By DUFF WILSON and JULIET MACUR
The lawyers called for the investigation to be dropped, but the district attorney said he would not do so.

Corzine Defies Liberal Expectations in Call to Freeze Aid to Needy Schools
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
New Jersey's governor is challenging some parts of a court order that has forced the state to pay additional billions of dollars to 31 needy districts.

School Official Guilty in Sex Sting
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
A former assistant principal at a Manhattan high school has pleaded guilty to the possession of child pornography and to enticing a minor.

Sacramento Bee
Tough classes,eager pupils
Beth Griffiths has a conflict.

San Diego Union Tribune 
Schools struggle with making PE a required class again : At Moore Elementary School, fourth-grader Michael Turri looks forward to 30 minutes of jump-rope at the start of the day.

Building a foundation at SDSU
These are some of mankind's most plaguing problems that San Diego State University researchers are trying to solve, financed by some $130 million annually from organizations as varied as the private Gates Foundation to the public Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

San Jose Mercury 
District won't bypass exit exam
STUDENTS WHO FAIL WON'T GET DIPLOMA
After warnings from state education officials, the West Contra Costa school board decided Monday against giving diplomas to students who fail to pass the California high school exit examination.

Seattle Times 
Seattle ranks as nation's best-educated big city
College graduates are flocking to Seattle, lured by a captivating combination of work and what's available after work. It's the best-educated big...

St. Louis Post Dispatch 
Edwardsville school district survey is scare tactic, group says
A group of Edwardsville residents is incensed about a survey the school district mailed to parents last week that the group says is deceptive and intended to scare parents.

Parents need to counteract the culture of 'stupid girls'
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
Pink has me feeling paranoid. Recently, my wife asked me to watch the pop star's video for her new hit single, "Stupid Girls." The message behind the lyrics haunt me still: "What happened to the dreams of a girl president? She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent ..."

Tallahassee Democrat
Fight is on to get more money for community colleges
To get into a Florida community college, all you need is a high-school diploma.

USA Today 
States sign on to '65% solution' for funding schools Opponents call plan micromanagement
By Greg Toppo
A bid to force school systems to cut the fat by putting 65% of their dollars directly into classrooms has found favor in a number of states and is gaining momentum in others.

It's not about culture, it's about teachers' control
I was disquieted by Jonathan Zimmerman's tale of a young girl from a Muslim country who was reluctant to make a classroom presentation first because of her cultural identity. Regarding the incident, Zimmerman asked what the teacher's response should be when he or she is confronted with such cultural differences. But that's the wrong question ("Culture wars: Beware of presuming sameness," The Forum, March 30).

Students join immigration debate - and get muzzled
Principals clamp down on free speech. An opportunity is missed.
The demonstrations and debates about immigration that continued Monday across the USA have provided what educators like to call "a teachable moment" in the nation's schools. Unfortunately, some school administrators are applying the wrong lesson plan.

First, schools need order A principal's first duty is students' safety, not freedom of expression.
By Daniel Shinoff and Paul V. Carelli IV
Recent events at California's secondary schools have called into question the authority and wisdom of some school administrators who have temporarily limited student expression because of violence and police clashes concerning the immigration issue.

Washington Post
Pundits' Expose the Politics of Research
Group's Claim of Nonpartisanship Is Questioned
by Jay Mathews
In the frequently quarrelsome world of federal education policy, few people have spanned the partisan divide as successfully as former Democratic power broker John F. "Jack" Jennings.

STUDENTS:  Sons and Daughters Connect With Message of the March

Wichita Eagle
Board members sit in on West High classes to learn about reforms
BY ICESS FERNANDEZ, The Wichita Eagle
Members of the State Board of Education walked into James Pugh's engineering class at West High School on Monday and learned firsthand how the Wichita school district was able to keep 16-year-old Curtis Mills in school.

International Articles

The Arab News
Editorial: Parental Abuse
The Kingdom is one of the world's safest societies. Crimes do occur, but those who have lived here know that their lives, homes, women and children are safer here than in the home countries of many...

The Australian
Smart Boards leave chalk in the dust
CHALK dust may soon be a thing of the past in Australian classrooms as educators move to embrace electronic white boards known as Smart Boards.

Teacher denies fiery words were extremist
A PROMINENT Muslim high school teacher condemned Christians and Jews as "enemies" in fiery religious speeches uncovered on the internet but yesterday denied he preached extreme Islamic views.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
National curriculum 'must be cut'
The national curriculum should be reformed to focus on skills rather than specific subjects, a union says.

Creationism 'no place in schools'
Leading scientists warn against the teaching of the Bible-based version of the origins of the earth in schools.

Togo pupils 'beaten by teachers'
Pupils in Togo are routinely subjected to intimidation, beatings and sexual assault, a charity claims.

The Globe and Mail
Nunavut education system in a shambles, report finds
BILL CURRY 
OTTAWA -- Nunavut is facing "a moment of crisis" just seven years into the much-heralded creation of Canada's third territory, suffering from high unemployment, a 75-per-cent school dropout rate and a host of social ills.

The Guardian 
Teachers propose scrapping of national curriculum
Education: Teachers to back radical proposals to abolish curriculum and end all national testing for under-16s.

The Gulf Times
Leadership programme concludes
A CAPACITY crowd attended the recent grand finale of the Youth Leadership Programme conducted at the Skills Development Centre.

Ideal students win top prize in quiz on Kerala
SUJANA Sara Jacob and Treesa Mariya Antony of the Ideal Indian School won the top place in the senior section in a quiz on Kerala organised by Indian children's forum Millennium Kids at the Birla Public School.

The Independent (UK)
Teachers' leaders call for abolition of curriculum tests
Teachers' leaders called for the abolition of all national curriculum tests up to the age of 16 - claiming they had turned a generation of schoolchildren off lessons.