Daily EducationNews.org
Friday, February 03, 2006
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Arizona Republic
ASU uses podcasts, blogs to inform
From iPods to blogs, higher education is increasingly turning to technology to try and reach students, and experts say the students in the long run may benefit

Associated Press
New exam administered at some U.S. high schools tries to measure students' 'technology literacy'
JUSTIN POPE
Rice Memorial High School Seniors Courtney Shea, left, and Dustin Thomas, right, work on Educational Testing Service's Information, Communication and Technology Literacy Assessment during a pilot test at the ...

States Urged To Streamline Data On Education
Schools nationwide must do a better job collecting data about their students' performance before experts can create programs to improve education, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings told a conference ...

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Q&A /PETE WRIGHT: 'Kids are . . . teaching-disabled'
Patti Ghezzi - Staff
Parents of special education students know of Pete Wright. They know his Web site, wrightslaw.com. They know he once represented a South Carolina special education student whose parents wanted the school district to reimburse them for her private school tuition. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the family.

Funding plan won't meet students' needs
Here's a pop quiz for Georgia parents: If a local school system wants to improve the test scores of its high school students, what should it spend its money on? New books for the school library, or new uniforms for the football team?

Austin American-Statesman
Students get lessons on college financial aid
The Sallie Mae Fund Paying for College Bus Tour will be in Austin through Saturday as part of a national campaign to educate minority high school students and families about college financial aid options.

Baltimore Sun
Schaefer backs English-language programs
Comptroller William Donald Schaefer created a flap two years ago when he vented his frustration about fast-food workers who don't speak English well. Yesterday, he made a pitch for state Department of Education programs that help people learn the language.

Boston Globe
Mo. school considers mandatory drug tests
Behind the turreted brick walls of Christian Brothers College High School is a clean-cut student body of about 1,000 boys in collared shirts and dress pants.

Charlotte Observer
CMS board backs new focus
Approval expected for mission emphasizing academic achievement
Heralding "a new day" of leadership, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board unanimously endorsed a new mission Friday that emphasizes student achievement and parallels recommendations from a high-profile task force.

Chicago Sun-Times
Lane Tech assemblies not faith-based, board says
Lane Tech Principal Keith Foley did not cross the line between church and state by allowing two character education assemblies last week, according to a Chicago Board of Education investigation sparked by a student complaint.

Contra Costa Times
School district sees enrollment, funding decline
By Shirley Dang, CONTRA COSTA TIMES
A new audit confirms that the small John Swett school district is in decline, both in enrollment and finances. Superintendent Michael Roth, still carrying the memory of June's narrow parcel tax defeat, recommended Wednesday another trip down the campaign trail to shore up future funding.

Deseret News
Tuition bill heads to House
After refusing to hear testimony from Latino leaders, business leaders, students and others packed into a hearing room, a House committee voted Thursday to repeal a law that allows undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition for college.

Detroit News
Student group claims some professors have discouraged black students from completing advanced degrees.
A group of black students at the University of Michigan has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights alleging racial discrimination at the school.

Herald Tribune
School principals give FCAT bonus an 'F'
TALLAHASSEE -- Although Gov. Jeb Bush is recommending the state spend $263 million next year to reward schools for performance on the FCAT, a majority of Florida school principals responding to a survey say they don't like giving schools extra money based on their test scores.

Houston Chronicle
Bilingual classes to get second look
By JANET ELLIOTT
Texas education officials are ready to hear pros and cons of English immersion
AUSTIN - The State Board of Education will consider the controversial topic of English-immersion instruction as an alternative to the state's bilingual programs at its meeting next week.

Indianapolis Star-Tribune
House votes to move ISTEP tests to spring
Education chief will try to kill plan in Senate
Hoosier school kids came closer to taking their mandatory exams in the spring after the Indiana House voted 52-47 Thursday to reschedule the ISTEP-Plus tests now given each fall.

Inside Higher ED
An Agenda Begins to Emerge  
Better access for needy students and more "transparency" about colleges' performance top federal commission's early goals.

A Call to Arts  
Amid signs students are paying more attention to culture when picking a college, institutions respond with ambitious plans.

Exito Calculado  
UT-Austin graduates more Hispanic students in mathematics than any other college - and not just because they're in Texas.

Las Vegas Sun
The ouster of Carol Harter
The tension between UNLV President Carol Harter and her boss, university system Chancellor Jim Rogers, had been building long before a lunch meeting Dec. 20 at the Stirling Club  ... 

Ledger
Survey Reveals FCAT Discontent
TALLAHASSEE -- Although Gov. Jeb Bush is recommending the state spend $263 million next year to reward schools for their performance on the FCAT, an overwhelming majority of Florida school principals say they don't like the policy of giving schools extra money based on their test scores, a new...

Los Angeles Times
'It's Like You're Climbing Everest'
Eleven boys thought they'd leave high school as they entered it -- together -- on graduation day. It wasn't that simple.

Students in the U.S. Could Use New Formulas
By Tanya Caldwell
The nation's children aren't the best and brightest in the world when it comes to math, according to the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Even among industrialized countries, the United States ranked ninth out of 12.

Miami Herald
After-school care faces cuts
After cutting about 1,000 children from subsidized after-school care, the Early Learning Coalition wants help in covering a deficit that could force hundreds more to be cut off.
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
About 1,000 low-income children will be cut off from publicly funded after-school care next month, and thousands more could follow as Miami-Dade's Early Learning Coalition struggles to avoid a budget deficit.

Belén Jesuit Preparatory to limit student admissions
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
The archbishop of Miami has approved a controversial policy that would limit admissions to one of South Florida's most prominent religious schools.

Newsday
Prom goes on for Garden City
The prom will go on at Garden City High School this June, with changes to ensure there is no repeat of a disorderly dance in December, school officials said yesterday.

New York Times
Immigration Issue Plays Out in Arizona Education Fight
By JOHN M. BRODER
Arizona's Democratic governor and its Republican-controlled Legislature are locked in an election-year stalemate over the teaching of English.

Plans for a Public School Upset Brooklyn Hasidim
By ELISSA GOOTMAN
Education officials want to place a public school in a nearly empty school in Brooklyn but community leaders say yeshivas need the space more.

Orlando Sentinel
High schools too dull, not tough enough, leader says Education secretary: Beef up math and science

Ahead of the curve on math, science
In Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Bush announced new programs to strengthen mathematics and science education in the nation's K-12 schools.

Palm Beach Post
State's juvenile attitude putting public at risk
By walking out of a meeting Wednesday with local officials seeking improvements at the Palm Beach County Juvenile Detention Center, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice chief of staff Chris Caballero reinforced the state's uncaring approach to kids in trouble

Philadelphia Daily News
Principal's order stirs a fuss
By MENSAH M. DEAN
Last week Richard Mantell, principal of Frankford High School, handed down a slew of security directives to his staff and police officers.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Fact-finder's report shows Pittsburgh board, teachers part ways on pay
A fact-finder's report released yesterday says the financially troubled Pittsburgh Public Schools still can afford raises for teachers. 

Rocky Mountain News
DPS board gets revised reform plan
A second draft of the strategic plan to reform Denver Public Schools tackles head-on the issue of achievement gaps among the different student groups attending the city's schools, including gaps by race, gender and poverty.

Saint Paul Pioneer Press
Drug testing forum planned
Board to create committee to feel out public opinion, research issues, suggest policies
BY ALEX FRIEDRICH, Pioneer Press
Parents of Forest Lake students will get a chance to sound off on random drug testing in schools before the district formally decides whether to adopt a policy, the school board decided Thursday.

San Diego Union Tribune 
The science of education funding
Somehow it's socially acceptable, even funny, to write off a lack of math or science knowledge with a casual defense: "I'm not a numbers person," or "I'm no rocket scientist."

Star Tribune
Student files suit when essay gets him sent to psych ward
After a creative writing essay landed him in a psychiatric ward, a Cook County teenager files suit. David Riehm and his mother, Colleen Riehm, are seeking more than $440,000 in damages for the 2005 incident.

Washington Post
D.C. Schools Promise to Cut Space
The D.C. Board of Education agreed to eliminate 1 million square feet of excess space by 2007 and 2 million more by 2008 in a plan that will consolidate and close schools.

Catholic Schools Try to Get Their Word Out
With prayers and a couple of tosses of holy water, a Roman Catholic bishop this week blessed a roomful of children and a new computer laboratory containing 30 Dell desktops.

Group Offers $300,000 for Preschool Education:  Aim Is to Improve Quality of Fairfax Workforce

Military Recruiters Protested At School:  Half-Dozen Decry Visit by Army Van

Wichita Eagle
Group offers suggestions to improve high schools
BY AMANDA O'TOOLE, The Wichita Eagle
Wichita high school students need more individual attention and higher expectations, a group of 65 teachers, parents, students and administrators agreed Thursday.

International Articles

The Arab News
English, Computer Courses for Saudis Planned
Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University is finalizing arrangements to offer courses in English and computer sciences to Saudis. Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al-Razin, dean...

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Prescott 'to back schools deal'
John Prescott is expected to back Tony Blair's controversial school plans amid reports of a potential compromise.

Free childcare 'reducing choice'
Employers say more state childcare could actually reduce the choice available to parents.

Trusts 'can deliver black power'
The Schools White Paper plans could help black pupils, the chair of the Commission for Racial Equality says.

The Globe and Mail
School debate
Waterloo, Ont. - Barb Howard (An Apple For The School-Basher -- Facts and Arguments, Feb. 2) is one of the lucky parents whose children are thriving in their public school.There are many parents like this.

The Guardian 
Schoolgirl's religious dress case to go before Lords
Education: Three-year legal battle over Muslim girl's right to wear traditional dress to go before House of Lords.

The Independent (UK)
Britain's greenest school
Not so long ago, the site of Liverpool's newest secondary school was a disused rubbish tip - strewn with syringes, condoms and junk.

New doubt over benefit of schools reform plan
Government-commissioned research has dealt a major blow to Tony Blair's education reforms by rejecting links between greater school choice and improved standards.