February 4, 2011
Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist wants to push back the deadline for more rigorous high school graduation requirements, and is backing off her proposal that Rhode Island establish a th ree-tier diploma system. Gist now says the date on the requirements to get a high school diploma should be pushed back two years, to 2014, […]
February 4, 2011
School districts across the state are grappling with budget shortfalls. This coming July, the hole in their bucket is about to get bigger. As eligibility guidelines for the state’s Personal Care Assistance (PCA) program become more stringent, Minnesota schools will lose, by conservative estimates, an additional $10 million dollars in funding. "These are not state […]
February 4, 2011
Schoolwide bonus pay for teachers in New York City’s now-suspended program didn’t seem to boost student achievement as a general rule—and in schools with many teachers, it may have diluted individual incentives for teachers to boost achievement growth. But in those schools with high levels of teacher collaboration and a sm all staff, such programs […]
February 4, 2011
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon released an additional $10 million in transportation aid for public schools Thursday, citing improvements in state revenues since he reduced funding seven months ago. When Missouri’s budget year began last July, Nixon cut $70 million of the $153 million lawmakers had allocated for school busing. He said then the cut was […]
February 3, 2011
The results of a nationwide survey of school board members show a shift in focus toward student achievement and away from the nitty-gritty district management issues known as the “killer B’s:” buses, buildings, books, budgets, bonds, and similar issues. But today’s school board members appear not to be as interested in issues many policy observers […]
February 3, 2011
Salt Lake City School District is ditching the year-round calendar. Next year, the district’s six year-round elementaries — Bennion, Franklin, Meadowlark, Parkview, Rose Park and Whittier — will switch to a traditional school year. The change means all elementary and secondary schools will have a common calendar, sharing start and end dates and breaks. As […]
February 3, 2011
Senate Republicans have proposed sweeping changes to North Carolina’s charter school law that would eliminate a 100-school cap and create a new commission to oversee them. Bill sponsor Sen. Richard Stevens of Wake County told the Senate education committee on Wednesday a panel separate from the state Board of Education would ensure charters are treated […]
February 3, 2011
The House and Senate education committees Wednesday got some slightly reassuring – but by no means definitive – news about state support for schools in the current 2010-11 budget year. Joint Budget Committee member Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, told members of the two panels that the JBC is recommending that the state cover a $23 […]
February 3, 2011
In the decadelong quest for students to master basic math and English, Uncle Sam has dictated beefed-up instruction in schools not meeting his standards. The focus on basics has worked; test scores are up. But while students sit through double periods of math, English or sometimes both, electives — those favorite classes such as drama, […]
February 2, 2011
After six hours of public testimony, the Panel for Educational Policy voted early on Wednesday to close 10 city high schools and open a new charter school in the heart of the Upper West Side. The panel’s 13 members were deeply divided, and their decisions came after heated debate, punctuated by catcalls and jeers from […]