USA Today (10/23, Toppo) reports, “For a study released today, Gary Phillips” of the American Institutes of Research, a Washington, D.C., think tank, “superimposed scores from the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, over those of the most recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study…from 2003.” With the mashup, “educators in a few big cities” will, for the first time, be able to “see how the math skills of their students compare to those of peers worldwide.” Phillips’ study showed that “fourth- and eighth-grade students in six U.S. cities — Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, New York City and San Diego — actually hold their own against international competitors from Singapore, Japan, England and elsewhere.” According to Phillips, “the findings prove that in other countries ‘it is possible to do well and learn considerably under a lot of varied circumstances — in other words, being low-income is not really an excuse when you look around the rest of the world.’”

        Even though “urban districts face persistent challenges that many other school systems do not, including having higher proportions of impoverished students and English-language learners…recent national test results have shown many of those districts making strides,” added Education Week (10/22, Cavanagh).

The Miami Herald (10/23, McGrory, Shah) reports, “Five long-struggling schools into which Miami-Dade and Broward counties have already poured money and energy have just one more chance.” But, “if they don’t earn at least a C grade from the state and improve students’ FCAT scores in math and reading, they face being closed at the end of the year.” That is because “the schools are five of 13 statewide that have been graded F multiple times and whose students haven’t shown enough improvement on state tests over the last five years.” This year, new principals have taken over each of the schools, and at one school in Broward County, “the school day was expanded by three hours.” The school also received “new classroom equipment including computerized, interactive white boards, and students can stay after school three hours — complete with free bus rides home — for tutoring in classes no larger than 10 students.” Meanwhile, Dade school officials are “considering rewarding students for showing up to extra classes on weekends and holidays.”

Alabama’s Times-Journal (10/22, Felkins) reported that “a partnership between HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville and Science in Motion, the high school component of the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative, will launch a pilot project at Fort Payne Middle School and Fort Payne High School.” For the project, each school will have genetic/biotechnology labs, which “will be introduced to meet high school learning objectives relating to DNA, chromosomes and genes. Each lab poses a question a researcher or physician would ask as part of his or her daily routine, such as how are genetic forms of cancer diagnosed, how are infectious diseases identified and how can you tell if foods have been genetically modified, according to a release from HudsonAlpha.” Furthermore, “a case study will mirror each lab activity. Profiles of biotech professionals relating to the lab…will further help students envision themselves as part of this growing segment of Alabama’s economy.”

Education Week (10/22, Cech) reported, “Officials at the New York City-based College Board [yesterday] rolled out” a “test for 8th graders” called ReadiStep. “The test, which will be administered for the first time next fall, to some extent resembles a slightly scaled-down PSAT. It will be given in students’ schools, and is divided into three, 40-minute multiple-choice sections: critical reading, writing skills, and mathematics.” According to College Board officials, “ReadiStep will provide educators with an accurate diagnosis of a student’s academic skills [or] lack thereof.” Some critics, however, say the test is not needed, and that its only purpose is “to boost the College Board’s revenues and market share.” W. James Popham, an assessment expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, “I would be willing to bet future generations of unborn children that it wouldn’t be any different from their other tests.”

On the front of its regional section, the Sacramento (CA) Bee (10/22, 1B, Yost) reported that, for many California high school students, “economics is considered the ‘dismal science,’ boring and tedious. That perception may be changing, however, as the national economic crisis unfolds and polls show a substantial majority of Americans are nervous about the economy.” Some economics teachers are noticing “a new level of interest among students,” as many are concerned about the rising cost of college and student loans. Brian Shank, a high school economics teacher and president of the California Association of Economics Teachers said that his experiences are “reflected in the way he teaches. Recently, his students compared decisions made by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and current Chairman Ben Bernanke. ‘I want them to understand the world around them and the world of decision-making,’ Shank said.

The Dallas Morning News (10/23, Unmuth) reports, “Dallas schools superintendent Michael Hinojosa said [Wednesday] that bilingual teachers were largely protected from recent layoffs because of the district’s student population.” The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) currently has 53,785 “students with limited proficiency.” That is “34 percent of total enrollment.” Only six of the “1,980 bilingual teachers in the district” were on “a draft list of…teachers targeted to lose their jobs” that the Dallas Morning News obtained “before the layoffs took effect.” Special education teachers “were also given special protection.”

The Baltimore Sun (10/22, Gencer) reported, “Baltimore County school employees will be able to choose from among five retirement plan provider options,” after the school board approved the proposal on Tuesday. “The five recommended vendors for 403(b) retirement plans are: AIG Retirement, ING Life Insurance & Annuity Co., Lincoln Financial Group, MetLife Resources and Security Financial Resources & Security Distributors Inc. It is expected that one will be selected as a third-party administrator, school officials said.” The board rejected a single provider, after “hundreds of teachers and other school employees, as well as five district labor groups…protested the idea.” The Globe noted, “The 403(b) plans allow employees to save money for retirement before taxes. As of August, about 5,500 employees participated in the voluntary program, according to a presentation late last month from a consultant.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer (10/22, Lubrano) reported, “A highly regarded Philadelphia schools breakfast-and-lunch program — the only one of its kind in the United States — is being terminated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).” The program is “unique because it doesn’t require students and their families to fill out application forms for free or reduced-price meals. This maximizes student participation.” But, “the USDA said it needed the applications to better monitor the program.” In 2010, the Universal Feeding Program will be terminated. “The change would affect about 121,000 students getting free and reduced-price school meals. It also could cost the district $800,000 annually, and perhaps millions more.” According to advocates of the program, “the lack of paperwork saved the district money. … And another, more subtle problem was overcome: poor children’s stigma over receiving free meals. Studies show that children who are eligible for free or reduced-cost school meals often do not eat them if other, better-off students pay for their own.”

The AP (10/23, Leff, Williams) reports on the debate surrounding California’s Proposition 8, “which would overrule [a] state Supreme Court decision” that legalized same-sex marriages. “The measure’s supporters warn that teachers will be forced to tell young children about gay marriage if the measure fails on Nov. 4.” But “opponents of the measure say that’s deceptive because schools already are required to teach tolerance of gays and lesbians, and the ballot measure won’t change that.” According to the AP, “to combat anti-gay discrimination, California schools have addressed topics such as gay households, homophobia and sexual orientation for years, well before the state Supreme Court” made its decision. “The state education code specifies that marriage should be discussed in sex education classes. But school districts are not required to hold the classes and parents can have their children excused if the course conflicts with their moral values.”

Pennsylvania’s Wayne Independent (10/22, McConnell) reported, “Electronic bullying, cyber bullying or e-bullying is a new manifestation of threat that is recognized nationally by educators. Following the trend, the Wayne Highlands School Board approved an e-bullying policy Tuesday night that sets guidelines for handling this digital phenomenon.” Under the policy, if a “threat is minor, school officials would more than likely meet with parents and the student. If it is a major threat, however, other actions will be taken.” In accordance with state Department of Education guidelines Wayne Highlands, like all Pennsylvania districts, must “adopt its new e-bullying policy by Jan. 1.”

The AP (10/22) reported, “Right now, school officials across the state” of Alaska “are in crunch time. For the 20 school days ending Friday, the number of kids enrolled will ultimately determine their piece of the state’s $1.1 billion in education funds.” As a result, school officials are finding ways to stress the importance of school attendance to parents and students. For example, “in one Fairbanks school, officials are offering prizes, including an iPod, to kids who can get their friends or siblings to enroll. And, in the Interior village of Manley Hot Springs, where the school is on the cusp of closing by not having enough students, a tribal administrator is begging home-school parents to consider public education.” The AP pointed out that in Alaska, “some schools over the years have had to close because a state law mandates that individual schools have a minimum number of students…to receive critical funding.”

NBC 7/39-TV, a California NBC affiliate, (10/23) reports, “With school days on the horizon, The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Parent Teacher Association (PTA) said today that they will work together to distribute funding to clean the air and protect school children from harmful particulate matter by retrofitting school buses.” Each project will be “funded based on qualifying enforcement actions taken by the commission. The amount of funding the PTA can receive is up to a maximum of $5 million per year, and the number of locations and projects may vary.” School districts may use the funding to “install pollution control devices on diesel school buses. These devices reduce emissions of particulate matter, commonly called soot, that can aggravate respiratory problems, asthma and allergies in children who ride the buses. Funding may also be available to replace buses model year 1991 or older with 2007 or newer models.”

Indiana’s Evansville Courier & Press (10/23, Langhorne) reports on Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D), whose campaign to retain his seat in Congress “has been endorsed…by The Indiana Fraternal Order of Police, Professional Fire Fighters Union of Indiana, Veterans of Foreign Wars political action committee, the National Education Association (NEA), and the Indiana AFL-CIO.” Ellsworth told supporters, “America is facing the most serious economic challenges we’ve seen in decades. … It’s the teachers, police officers, factory workers, and veterans who power our economy, and they are the key to solving this current crisis. I am honored to have the endorsements of these organizations and will continue to support common sense policies that put the middle class first and get our economy back on track.”

The AP (10/24) reports students today are “less likely to graduate from high school than” their parents, “and most states are doing little to hold schools accountable, according to” a report released Thursday by the Education Trust, “which advocates on behalf of minority and poor children.” The federal No Child Left Behind law requires high schools “to meet graduation targets every year” that are set by states. “Most states allow schools to graduate low percentages of students by saying that any progress, or even the status quo in some cases, is acceptable.” In North Carolina, for instance, “schools must improve by 0.1 percentage point each year.” And in New Mexico, the state graduation rate goal is 67 percent. The AP notes that “the federal government is poised to raise the bar on graduation rates. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is expected to issue new rules next week that will force states to use [a] common tracking system and will judge schools…on graduation rates.”

Massachusetts’s Wicked Local Waltham (10/24, Gilbride) reports, “If all goes according to plan, Waltham public schools will mail out the first round of standards-based report card to parents of students in second to fifth grade in December, and to kindergarten through first grade in January.” Because public schools in the state “are now grading by a standards-based system,” the new report “cards grade students on four performance categories in various subjects: An E means the student exceeds the standard, M means the student meets the standard, P means the student is progressing toward the standard and a N means the student is not yet progressing toward the standard.” The cards, which reflect “state-based curriculum standards for tests,” also “separate academic from nonacademic grading.” Last week, school officials put “the finishing touches on the new system.” Meanwhile, the district “has been airing” an infomercial about the change “for about a week on the Waltham Channel to inform parents.”

Florida’s St. Petersburg Times (10/24, Matus, Solochek) reports, “Many teachers recoil at the notion that their skills can be measured by their students’ test scores. … But in Florida and across the nation, that idea is picking up steam.” Some education researchers say that “the statistical techniques used to single out a teacher’s contribution to a student’s test score are not accurate enough. They note that “it’s possible that a teacher who is in the top tier one year could end up in the middle of the pack the next.” For instance, in a study of “student learning gains in four Florida school districts,” researchers “found that only about one in four to one in three teachers whose student gains put them in the top 20 percent of teachers one year” retained that position the next year. Florida State University economics professor Tim Sass, one of the researchers for the study, said that such statistics are problematic if testing data are used to determine “high-stakes things like teacher pay or teacher tenure.”

Minnesota Public Radio (10/23, Weber) reported that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) “used a conference of rural educators Thursday to renew his push for a list of proposals for next year’s legislative session. They include a state-run summer school for eighth-graders, along with higher requirements for students wishing to major in education in college.” He also wants to “require all high school students to take at least one class online before graduating.” Gov. Pawlenty pointed to “colleges offering more and more online courses and” said that “K-12 schools should be considering the same for their tech-savvy students.” Meanwhile, the governor “criticized a new funding proposal” expected to be discussed in the Legislature next year that would “add $2.5 billion for education each year.” Pawlenty said that there is “no plan to pay for the entire package.”

Oregon’s Register-Guard (10/24, Williams) reports that Thurston High School students “that are enrolled in a new class called Trade Skills Fundamentals, where they’re learning skills meant to prepare them for careers in construction and manufacturing — and earning college credit.” Some topics that have been covered in class thus far include “safety, blueprint reading, power tools, and hand tools.” This week, students visited the Operating Engineers Local 701 Training Facility. There they operated “a heavy machinery simulator,” called Simlong, “that simulates heavy-equipment operations.” Afterward, “students rode a bus out to an old rock quarry that Local 701 leases for training purposes.” The Register-Guard points out that Thurston “is one of three Oregon schools receiving technical and grant support…from the Bureau of Labor and Industries to support high school apprenticeship preparation programs. The new class is a partnership between local apprenticeship training committees, industry professionals, LCC, Thurston and BOLI.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (10/23, Emerson) reported that on Wednesday, “students at Compton Elementary School in Powder Springs” celebrated “the opening of the school’s drought-tolerant garden, a hardy oasis created by a $57,000 grant and the labor of more than a hundred volunteers.” The grant was provided by “home improvement store Lowe’s. Volunteers from Lowe’s stores throughout metro Atlanta gathered at Compton last month to put in hardscape elements of the garden, such as the meandering brick path that conducts visitors to an outdoor classroom in the nearby woods, and a dry creekbed paved with handsome round river stones.” Educators said that the garden “demonstrates that wise planting can be water-wise, environmentally friendly and attractive,” and it “will provide ongoing lessons” for students.

The New York Times (10/24, A22, Gootman) reports, “An elaborate $80 million data and information system that was supposed to be ready in September to allow New York City public school parents to see things like which courses their children need to graduate, or how their test scores compare with citywide averages, has been unavailable even to school principals so far this fall.” Meanwhile, “the status of the” Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS) “is touching a raw nerve” with educators. James S. Liebman, the Education Department’s chief accountability officer, said that ARIS would be available to teachers in November, “with enhanced capabilities allowing them to compare data for all their students.” Parents should “begin gaining access to the system in December.” The Times notes that “last year, principals who tried to use ARIS said they often experienced glitches like the program freezing.”

UPI (10/24) reports, “Educators say the growing trend of hiring teachers from foreign countries is most evident in poor urban and rural districts in the United States.” The “teachers are being hired to fill shortages in math, science and special education in districts with a high teacher turn-over rate due to low pay, disruptive students and a lack of books and materials,” according to National Education Association (NEA) spokesman Segun Eubanks.

Virginia’s Orange County Review (10/23, Hart) reported that students at Gordon-Barbour Elementary School have “kicked off a bullying prevention program. The program, based on the Olweus Bullying Prevention program, aims to reduce existing bullying problems among students, to prevent the development of new bullying problems, and to achieve better peer relationships at school.” The principle behind the method is that “children who bully are more likely to get into frequent fights, be injured in a fight, steal or vandalize property, drink alcohol, smoke, be truant or drop out of school. They are also more likely to report poorer academic achievement, perceive a negative climate at school or carry a weapon.” The program featured guest speakers, and “fourth and fifth grade students put on skits which featured students bullying and not knowing it. The skits included not allowing a student to sit with them, rolling their eyes at a student, and laughing at a girl who couldn’t spell.”

Education Week (10/23, Gewertz) reported, “The vast majority of parents believe it is important for them to be involved in their teenagers’ high school educations, a study shows.” But, according to a report released this week by the Washington-based nonprofit organization Civil Enterprises, “parents whose children attend high-performing schools said their schools do a far better job reaching out to them than did parents of children in low-performing schools.” Furthermore, “Barely half of parents in low-performing schools reported that they have had good conversations with most of their children’s teachers, compared with 70 percent of parents in high-performing schools.” Conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “The report is based on a nationally representative 2007 survey of 1,006 parents of current and recent high school students, and on focus groups conducted with parents in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and Nashville, Tenn.”

The AP (10/24, Zuckerbrod) reports that “with one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe, the British government is bringing sex education to all schools in England — including kindergarten-aged children.” Schools in the U.K. are currently “only required to teach basic lessons on reproduction as part of the country’s science curriculum. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all have separate education departments and standards. Only Scotland makes sex education voluntary.” The new curriculum is expected to “provide lessons on relationships and contraception, topics not previously required.” For example, “elementary schools can offer lessons in naming body parts, preparing for puberty and relationship feelings.” Meanwhile, students over age 11 — “the age at which kids generally go to secondary school in England — could learn how to develop respectful relationships and how risky sexual behavior contributes to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies.” The “lessons will become more sophisticated as kids get older,” the AP adds.

The Chicago Tribune (10/24, Sadovi, Mihalopoulos) reports, “Mayor Richard Daley seemed to distance himself Thursday from a proposal to build the…city’s first high school aimed at gay students.” Daily told reporters he was concerned “that the School for Social Justice Pride Campus, designed as the city’s first school for gay, lesbian, and transgender teenagers, would unduly segregate these students.” His “comments come after the Board of Education this week put off a final vote on the high school until Nov. 19. Schools chief Arne Duncan recently met with ministers who blasted the proposal.”

        “You have to look at whether or not you isolate and segregate children. … A holistic approach has always been to have children of all different backgrounds in schools,” Daily said, according to the Chicago Journal (10/24, Pupovac). He also “expressed concern over the proposal being too ‘controversial.’” The school “would offer an inclusive curriculum that highlights role models in the [lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender] and other minority communities.”