Schools News Around the Blogosphere

Bush Official Seeks Renewed Support for 'No Child'
By Washington Post Published Today Daily EdNews , K-12 , No Child Left Behind Rating:
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings today sought to reinvigorate support for the No Child Left Behind law even as the two major-party presidential candidates have distanced themselves from it. She contended the law has helped improve public education and should be strengthened.

On Obama: Why the Democratic Candidate Is Right About Education
New York Times
By BRUCE FULLER
Barack Obama understands that top-down government regulation is strangling innovation inside schools.

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/on-obama-why-the-democratic-candidate-is-wrong-to-blindly-throw-money-into-schools/index.html?ref=opinion
New York Times
By LANCE T. IZUMI
Common wisdom is that technology in the classroom improves student learning and achievement. But the evidence is far from clear.

District spent $1,116,000 on attorney fees!
School Board Settles Lawsuit Brought by Family of Autistic Student
The Ledger
For the past four years, Bill and Janie Sammons have fought the Polk County School District, contending that their autistic son, Drew, was never given a proper education

New Effort Aims to Test Theories of Education
New York Times
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
A $44 million program called the Educational Innovation Laboratory is intended to infuse education with the data-driven approach that is common in science and business

Denver PS takes hit on bond refinance
Denver Post
Denver Public Schools' pension plan was pulled into the financial crisis on Wall Street this week when a dearth of buyers at a bond sale cost the fund "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in increased interest payments. The DPS fund has reserves to cover the increased interest and neither taxpayers nor pensioners are likely to notice. But the fund's inability to find investors for a week is just one example of how the tightening of credit markets could impact local governments should it continue or worsen