Tax-credit-supported scholarships are fast outpacing vouchers as a state policy tool for promoting private school choice, the author of a new book on the topic said this week. Whether that growth is good news or bad depends on whom you ask. Ed Week
In choosing Arne Duncan as his nominee for U.S. secretary of education, President-elect Barack Obama signaled ... that his administration intends to take what both men see as a pragmatic, nonideological approach to improving the nation’s schools. Ed Week
N Y Times: After years of what they call backhanded treatment by the Bush administration, whose focus has been on the testing of older children, many advocates are atremble with anticipation over Mr. Obama’s espousal of early childhood education. In the presidential debates, he twice described it as among his highest priorities, and his choice for secretary of education, Arne Duncan, the Chicago schools superintendent, is a strong advocate for it. Photo: Ozier Muhammad
American Council on Education: A coalition of 30 higher education associations today called on Congress to make higher education a critical part of the economic stimulus package currently under consideration. The group is proposing a series of federal investments in student aid and campus infrastructure that will not only provide immediate benefit in terms of employment and training, but also work as a long-term investment in the research and innovative infrastructure of institutions to increase economic and research productivity.
WSJ: Barack Obama has chosen Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan to be his Secretary of Education. As scarred veterans of the school-reform wars, we applaud the choice with great caution.
Newsweek: High-achieving high-school graduates nationwide are increasingly putting four-year institutions on hold and enrolling at community colleges for part of their education. According to a survey from the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, nearly one-fifth of private colleges and universities reported a smaller than anticipated freshman class this fall. At the same time, the American Association of Community Colleges reports that community-college enrollment rose 8 to 10 percent.
The Board of Trustees of the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System (KTRS) unanimously voted yesterday to adopt investment reforms recommended by Gov. Steve Beshear’s bipartisan Public Pension Working Group, chaired by Finance and Administration Cabinet Sec. Jonathan Miller. These recommendations were made in response to the group’s findings that Kentucky’s public pension systems had significantly trailed the average investment returns of their peers, to the tune of approximately $5 billion over the last decade. The Gov
Chronicle of Higher Ed: President Bush is leaving the White House with a mixed record on higher education. His administration catapulted conversations about holding colleges more accountable for their performance into the national spotlight, and it pressed for some increases in federal spending on student aid and research. At the same time, Mr. Bush faced criticism from many scientists in academe, who said the president's decisions about science were too heavily influenced by politics.
The loud boom from the cannon at Highlands High School football games has become a potent symbol of pride in the school and in Fort Thomas. Whether it will be heard again after an accident Friday could depend, at least in part, on what the school's insurance carrier determines, school officials said. Ky Enquirer
Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman is one of four finalists for national superintendent of the year. His selection was confirmed Tuesday morning by the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, which named Silberman last week as Kentucky's 2009 Superintendent of the Year. H-L
By honoring books that are too complex for most young readers and that deal with difficult emotional or social issues, the annual Newbery Medal children's literature award may be failing to help attract more young readers, some high-profile critics say. "I can't help but believe that thousands, even millions, more children would grow up reading if the Newbery committee aimed to spotlight books that are deep and beautiful and irresistible to kids," said Lucy Calkins, founding director of the Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University's Teachers College and a professor of children's literature. The Washington Post
The IRS has fined the Bryan Station High School baseball booster group $61,000. It is the latest in a series of tax audits aimed at Fayette County parents who raise money for extracurricular activities. With a 2008-2009 budget of $44,000, it is money the Bryan Station baseball group doesn't have, said club vice president Jimmy Boling: "It's a travesty." The Henry Clay band boosters paid a $30,000 fine this year, and the Lafayette High School band boosters have appealed a $9,000 fine. H-L
H-L: A former Beaumont Junior High School science teacher was indicted Monday on sodomy and rape allegations by two students dating back to the late 1970s. Jack Russell Hubbard, 61, was indicted on four charges of first-degree sodomy and a count of first-degree rape in connection with accusations made by former students Thomas "Beau" Goodman III and Carol Lynne Maner, respectively. KSN&C Backstory
Ohio, Kentucky and most other states will change how they count high school graduates over the next several years to accommodate new federal rules. Enquirer
Research conducted at the University of Kentucky in Lexington found that when Fayette County high schools delayed their start time by an hour, the percentage of students getting at least eight hours of sleep per night jumped from 35.7 to 50 percent. CNN
San Diego's High Tech High not only eschews many traditional classroom staples like textbooks and single-discipline classes, it houses its own integrated credentialing program and graduate school of education. Teachers and leaders are trained on-site to keep the focus centered on students' learning. Edutopia magazine
As states and districts cut back on extracurricular activities, more children may be left at home while their parents work to make ends. Such unsupervised children and teens may be at greater risk for getting into trouble, potentially leading to higher crime rates, extracurricular advocates say. USA TODAY/The Associated Press
The National Education Association and nine school districts' attempt to challenge NCLB as an unfunded mandate on Wednesday went before a full federal appeals court in Ohio. "States and school districts are prisoners of this law," said Robert H. Chanin, NEA's general counsel. "There are obligations that are placed on them by the No Child Left Behind Act, but the money is not enough to implement those requirements." Federal lawyers said the law does clearly mandate how states spend money on NCLB. Education Week
Louisiana's teacher-training programs offer a model that should be followed in other states, according to a New York Times editorial. The state's programs, which were ranked in a recent study, are not "diploma mills," and assess the quality of teacher preparation based on the abilities of new graduates to improve students' math, science and reading scores.
Some college students are using YouTube as a source of help with complicated math problems, saying the free tutorials are easy to understand and can be replayed for those needing additional review. Salman Khan, who created the YouTube math lessons, said his conversational videos have become so popular that he has even received requests for him to create videos on certain topics. Google/The Associated Press
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