October 29, 2010
Amid a struggling economy, a raft of foreign-policy headaches, and the tail end of a heated campaign season, President Barack Obama carved out time in his schedule this month to watch students in the State Dining Room demonstrate a solar-powered model car, a water-purification system, and a soccer-playing robot. That might seem like a surprising […]
October 29, 2010
If you need academic help at Rolling Meadows High School, it doesn’t take long to get it. Kids in this sparkling, high-tech high school have 90-minute "seminars" built into their block schedules every other day when they can seek help on their own — or be required to get it. Calming techniques ease tensions, cut […]
October 29, 2010
Richland schools will not be able to maintain current student achievement levels in the coming years, a district official warns. The reason is that special intervention programs face dramatic financial cuts. The programs help the district keep up its test results even as it has faced an influx of ill-prepared students. Erich Bolz, assistant superintendent […]
October 29, 2010
School integration has vexed policymakers for more than half a century. The Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that schools can’t keep kids out based on race. Then in 2007 it ruled that schools can’t bring kids together based on race. After the court struck down two race-based integration schemes in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., attention […]
October 28, 2010
More than half of Illinois public schools — including, for the first time, many of the state’s academic powerhouses — failed to meet test targets this year, raising questions not only about the schools, but also the standard by which they are judged. In Illinois, high schools fared the worst. Nine of 10 high schools […]
October 28, 2010
In the first wave of funding under a revitalized high school graduation initiative, the U.S. Department of Education is betting nearly $50 million that it can help states and school districts find better ways to hang onto students who might drop out and bring back those who have disappeared without diplomas. Twenty-nine states and districts […]
October 28, 2010
A philanthropic watchdog group is hoping to light a fire under charitable foundations that support education by releasing a report Wednesday that points out how few of them focus enough attention on helping the most needy students. The study by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy said that only 11 percent of American foundations devoted […]
October 28, 2010
The federal drive to improve the nation’s lowest-performing schools has created a surge in demand for principals trained and experienced in leading long-struggling schools to success. The scarcity of the so-called "turnaround principal" has led more urban districts to get involved directly with local colleges of education and other training programs, according to a study […]
October 28, 2010
Sharon Murray isn’t saying that pumping money into things like health education classes or more nutritious school lunches would automatically result in higher CSAP scores. That’s too simplistic an answer to a complicated challenge. But Murray, the president of the Rocky Mountain Center for Health Promotion and Education, does point out that states with “health-supporting […]
October 27, 2010
In 2006, Emma Cobbins was ready to transfer her two children out of William T. Sherman Elementary School, a struggling neighborhood school in Englewood, one of Chicago’s poorest and most violence-plagued communities. That summer, Sherman became Chicago’s first official turnaround school. Then-city schools superintendent Arne Duncan developed the turnaround model as an alternative to the […]