Schools News Around the Blogosphere

The big "unfunded mandate" is the one the unions demand
Keep the promise to the children - educate them
Providence Journal
Julia Steiny
The big “unfunded mandate” is the one the unions demand, asking to be constantly paid more and more, for the status quo as well as the “extras,” no matter what the academic outcome for the kids.

Fewer Kindergarteners Will Take a Screening Test
Rollback Set in Schooling of the Gifted
New York Sun
Chancellor Joel Klein last year said he wanted to expand screening so that programs often dominated by well-connected and affluent white parents could include a more diverse group of students.

Parents question proposed changes to Pennsylvania's gifted-student regulations
Pennsylvania is taking steps to make gifted education available to more students, but that has done little to quell long-standing tension between parents and school districts over how the state's brightest are educated.

Schools CEO to earn up to $500,000 a year
By Kristen A. Graham
Inquirer Staff Writer
The ink is dry and the details finalized - incoming Philadelphia schools chief Arlene Ackerman will earn a package worth up to $500,000 annually in salary and perks, a review of her contract shows.

Long school holidays 'should end'
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (UK)
Long school holidays should be abolished to prevent children falling behind in class, a think-tank says. The Institute for Public Policy Research said studies suggested pupils' reading and maths abilities regressed because the summer break was too long.

Ohio teacher training: What does it take to make the grade?
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Why teacher training matters: A growing body of research argues that education schools - despite some exemplary exceptions - produce inadequately prepared teachers. Students who have three ineffective teachers in a row will score as much as 50 percentage points lower on standardized tests than those who have three effective teachers in a row.

Educations "Wag the Dog": Geniuses Lost
By Dick Kantenberger
It is like someone shouted "FIRE" in a theater, but nobody moved. Is the theater empty? No, it's full of people, but still nobody moved or even cared. We are losing hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of potential geniuses every year in the United States because we are just not finding them before it's too late, which in most cases is about the time they are suppose to start 9th grade.

Algebra I stumping high school freshmen
Detroit Free Press
Thousands of high school freshmen across Michigan are failing Algebra I, the first of four math courses this class of students must take and pass to fulfill what are among the toughest graduation requirements in the nation.

U.S. Experts Bemoan Nation's Loss of Stature in the World of Science
Washington Post
Some of the nation's leading scientists, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's top science adviser, today sharply criticized the diminished role of science in the United States and the shortage of federal funding for research, even as science becomes increasingly important to combating problems such as climate change and the global food shortage.

Idaho asks the feds for a fresh start on No Child Left Behind
Idaho Statesman
Idaho's State Board of Education wants a fresh start for hundreds of public schools facing sanctions under a tough federal education accountability mandate.