Daily EducationNews.org
Saturday, April 22, 2006

Akron Beacon-Journal
Levy divide is clear
Akron schools, taxpayers both fear
Firestone High sophomore Re'Anna Browne wants you to vote for Akron's levy. The 16-year-old is worried about the visual and performing arts program she's enrolled in being eliminated.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Help boys reach school finish line
Pull out all stops to develop strategies that close gender gap in graduation rates
At high school graduation ceremonies around the state next month, one tradition will be in short supply: boys

Baltimore Sun
Tax cut puts school construction on hold
Budget analysts say prison programs could also be jeopardized

Black studies neglect decried
City schools do little to use curriculum, museum official says

Boston Globe
Spellings to examine 'No Child' loophole
WASHINGTON -- Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says her agency must do more to make sure huge numbers of minority students are not excluded under the No Child Left Behind law. But she rejects any state complaint that the law is hurting school integration.

Prom gown recycling a win-win
EXETER, N.H. -- Jenna Conner spun around in front of a full-length mirror, checking out the effect of the coral prom gown she had just tried on. She struck a pose beneath a basketball hoop, and a half-dozen girls ''oohed" and ''aahed."

Baptists call for public school support
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A group of Baptist leaders called on its members Friday to "speak positively about public education" in response to a conservative movement to pull Baptist children out of public schools.

Charlotte Observer
Which of these students got into UNC Chapel Hill?
Ex-trustee says there's no quota, but school must limit students from big counties to ensure each part of state is represented
Collin Coleman and his girlfriend, Christine Casoria, both ranked near the top of their class at East Mecklenburg High School, scored high on the SAT and applied to attend UNC Chapel Hill last fall.

Chicago Tribune 
Teacher's biting blog stirs storm
The anonymous postings label students "criminals," saying they stole from teachers, dealt drugs and had sex in the stairwells.

Denver Post
Students said threat was a joke
A student at the small-town high school where five teens are accused of planning an attack said Friday that rumors were rampant on the day before their arrest, prompting some schoolmates to tell the suspects: "Whatever you do, don't shoot me."

Herald Tribune
Schools: Same-sex prom dates are OK

Houston Chronicle
Tax bill debate curbed by House
The House voted Friday to strictly limit debate on a series of tax bills to pay for property tax cuts - a move that Democrats said could jeopardize a teacher pay raise and other education spending.

Unacceptable alternatives: House rejection or perversion of Sharp plan would perpetuate public school inadequacy and failure.
House rejection or perversion of Sharp plan would perpetuate public school inadequacy and failure.

Indianapolis Star-Tribune
Nature may nurture the ability to learn
Push to get kids outside aims to improve behavior, attention span The view from Keisha Clanton's home includes busy boulevards, not grass or trees. Much of the Howe Academy ninth-grader's understanding of the outdoors comes from the films she watches in her windowless science classroom.

Los Angeles Daily News
Graduation a sore subject
Nearly 20 percent of the Los Angeles Unified School District's high school seniors have repeatedly failed the state's exit exam and most won't know until June - just days before graduation - whether their last attempt at the mandatory test was successful.

Los Angeles Times
Debate education policy, not race
By David A. Lehrer
SCHOOLS ARE ALWAYS a contentious issue. Parents want the best for their kids, while educators face challenges as diverse as tight budgets and kids with wildly varying skill levels. Solutions are in short supply, and in L.A. as elsewhere, accusations invariably fly back and forth between the stakeholders.

New York Daily News 
Schools in miracle reprieve
Six schools on the Archdiocese of New York's chopping block were given a reprieve - an unexpected decision hailed by parents, students and staffers as a miracle. "Everything is good," crowed a woman on the answering machine at the St. Mary Star of the Sea school.

New York Times
Cornell's Worried Image Makers Wrap Themselves in Ivy
By ALAN FINDER
Cornell has been a member of the Ivy League for decades, but some of its students have Ivy envy.

Palm Beach Post
Boot-camp death spurs rally
Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton among 1,500 marching in protest in Tallahassee

Schools grapple with MySpace
NEW Nasty comments on Web site popular among teens raise legal questions.

Philadelphia Daily News
Children before special interests
By MATTHEW LADNER
OPRAH WINFREY recently used two days of her program to highlight the crisis in American public schools, focusing attention on our appalling dropout problem.
The visuals were quite stunning.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
City teachers accept contract that they rejected 3 weeks ago
In a dramatic turnabout applauded last night by union and school officials, Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers and other professional employees voted overwhelmingly to accept the same contract proposal they rejected three weeks ago. 

Rocky Mountain News
CU 'stir' likely on tenure
Some of the findings in a review of the University of Colorado's tenure system are likely to cause "a stir" among faculty and the public, the leader of the independent inquiry said Friday.

San Antonio Express-News
Adult students get recognition too - in national honor society
Local honorees are studying English or working toward a GED.

San Diego Union Tribune 
Legality of protest penalties disputed :
Representatives of a national lawyers association are calling many of Oceanside Unified's 224 protest-related suspensions potentially illegal because they stemmed from students refusing to return to class when directed by school personnel.

Disagreement seen in tactics for nationwide May 1 boycott : The organizers of a nationwide boycott planned for May 1, who intend to demonstrate the economic power of immigrants in the marketplace and the workplace, are confident that participation will be high even though factions are divided over tactics.

Foundation at SDSU to sell off properties :
Despite a plea from a former alumni association president, a San Diego State-related auxiliary agreed to sell a portion of its real estate holdings yesterday. The liquidation decision by the San Diego State University Research Foundation board, which is led by the university's president and a vice president, calls for selling and trading nine properties near campus to raise enough to pay $25 million in debt.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Preschoolers bear brunt of income struggles
The economics of child care make it nearly impossible to provide quality service at an affordable price, often leaving only the poorest and wealthiest of families well-served.

Seattle Times 
Oregon governor has $6 billion school plan
Today, Gov. Ted Kulongoski goes public as the man with the $6 billion plan. In a speech to the PTA of Oregon, Kulongoski is expected to...

Tallahassee Democrat
'Justice is on trial'
More than 2,000 protesters descended on the Capitol courtyard Friday morning, led by civil-rights leaders Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, demanding justice for the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.

Student protesting exudes selflessness and hope
They throw a better student protest rally today than in the old days.

Students in Tallahassee continue fine tradition: Making America listen
It was 50 years ago next month that two young Florida A&M University students stirred the region's passions by standing up to an injustice.

Washington Post
Public School Eyes Link With Charter
By V. Dion Haynes
An under-enrolled D.C. public school is seeking an unprecedented alliance with a local charter school instead of fighting an uphill battle to compete with it.

Washington Times
Uniform policies fit well for high schools
By Tarron Lively
Four high schools in Prince George's County have reported improved honor rolls, student behavior and attendance since instituting school uniform policies in August.

WorldNet Daily
Effort underway cites discrimination against avowed atheists, homosexuals
Librarians to sever ties with Scouts?
A renewed effort by several members of the American Library Association's governing council would sever all ties with the Boy Scouts of America until the youth organization stops "discriminating" against avowed atheists and homosexuals.

International Articles

The Australian
Writer backs PM attack on teaching
THE celebrated playwright David Williamson, a fierce critic of John Howard, has joined the Prime Minister's attack on English literature study based on postmodern ideology.

The muffled canon
WHAT do the works of Shakespeare and the television talent quest Australian Idol have in common? For most, especially Prime Minister John Howard, who argued this week that teaching of great literature is being destroyed by postmodernism and outcomes-based education, the answer is: nothing.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Who would still sponsor a school?
BBC education correspondent Mike Baker assesses the impact of recent events on schools sponsors.

Bully's mother: 'I'm a failure'
The mother of a boy expelled from school for bullying says she feels outcast and inadequate as a parent.

£2.5m parent backing saves school
Two parents step in with £2.5m to allow an independent school which shut 18 days ago to reopen.

The Daily Telegraph (UK) 
Blue skies, bons mots
Learning a language on a residential course makes sense, says Frances Childs .

The Guardian 
Child obesity doubles in a decade
Junk food and lack of exercise have created 'public health timebomb'.

The Gulf Times
IPC seminar begins at Al Jazeera Academy
THE International Primary Curriculum (IPC) Regional Conference began at the Al Jazeera Academy (AJA) yesterday. The three-day event is aimed at providing introductory training to teachers who wish to discover more about the IPC concept. Delegates from the UK, US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar are attending.

Students feted at VCUQ annual awards ceremony
A LARGE gathering of students, staff, faculty, family members and friends lauded achievers at the annual awards ceremony of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUQ).

US varsity plays host to visitors from Qatar
TEXAS A&M University (TAMU), College Station Texas hosted representatives from Qatari government agencies, the Supreme Council For Family Affairs, the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development, and the Planning Council, to discuss co-operation on research and policy development.

The Peninsula
ABP students conduct debate on gender segregation in Qatar
DOHA: "This House believes that gender segregation in Qatar should be abolished" was the motion up for debate at the first ever student debate held at the Academic Bridge Program of the Qatar Foundation.

IPC regional conference kicks off at AJA campus
Doha: The three-day Al Jazeera Academy-sponsored International Primary Curriculum (IPC) regional conference got off at the Academy campus, here on Thursday.

Mission requests authorities to probe case of Indian teachers
Doha: The embassy of India is referring the cases of three former teachers of an Indian school who have complained that they have not been paid end-of-service benefits, to Qatar's foreign office and the human rights committee.

The Press New Zealand
'My son is not a bully'
By LOIS WATSON

Firm involved in school-work row still getting work

Student's internet use costs employer
A company at the centre of the Christchurch school kickbacks scandal is still being awarded work in schools.