Education News: August 24, 2007

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending August 24, 2007.

Hebrew Charter School Spurs Dispute in Florida
(Source: The New York Times, 8/24/07): The Ben Gamla Charter School, a new K-8 school in Hollywood, Florida, that focuses on Hebrew language instruction, has generated substantial controversy. Critics say it will be impossible to separate Hebrew instruction from religious content, while supporters say it is a valuable addition to the country’s growing collection of bilingual schools.

Heat Wave Sparks Drive to Start School After Labor Day
(Source: USA Today, 8/23/07): An intense heat wave in Middle Tennessee has breathed new life into an effort to push school start dates into September. Two years ago, a bill that would have prohibited start dates before August 25 failed, but now that the sweltering heat is causing schools to shorten their hours, there appears to be more public support for such a measure.

Kids to Cram into Wake Schools
(Source: The (Raleigh, NC) News and Observer, 8/23/07): An unexpected consequence of year-round schools has caused overcrowding in traditional-calendar schools in North Carolina's Wake County. The original purpose of converting some schools to year-round schedules was to reduce overcrowding (as school buildings are constantly in use), but so many parents removed their children from the year-round schools that the others have become overcrowded.

College Board Quits the Loan Business
(Source: The New York Times, 8/23/07): The College Board has announced that it will no longer participate in the student loan business. Since the mid-1990s, the non-profit maintained partnerships with lenders like Sallie Mae and Citibank and received a fee for acting as a “gateway” for students seeking loans. New regulations regarding relationships between lenders and colleges would have restricted the College Board’s ability to hold events with university officials had it not decided to discontinue the loans.

Grade 8.5 Offers Half a Chance
(Source: St. Petersburg Times, 8/22/07): Florida's Pinellas County School District has created Grade 8.5 for the 100 or so students who are not quite ready for 9th grade. Grade 8.5 will allow the students to learn new material, rather than simply repeat a year of school. Students who perform well will advance to 10th grade next year, while those that don't will advance to 9th grade.

Patterns: Weight May Influence School Attendance
(Source: The New York Times, 8/21/07): A new study has found a significant link between children's weights and school absences. In a group of 1,069 4th-6th graders in Philadelphia, underweight children missed the fewest days while obese students missed the most. The study's lead author believes that psychosocial factors, rather than physical ailments, caused the increased number of absences.

Rhee Racing Clock to Fix School Woes
(Source: The Washington Times, 8/21/07): New D.C. superintendent Michelle Rhee said that school district employees are working ‘around the clock’ to remedy administrative issues and other problems before school starts on August 27. One of the biggest problems, according to Rhee, is that the central office has nearly four million pages of personnel documents that have yet to be filed.

More Than Half of Minority Teacher Applicants Fail Test
(Source: The Boston Globe, 8/19/07): In the decade since Massachusetts implemented its state licensing exam for teachers, over half of black and Hispanic teaching applicants have failed the test, prompting education experts to wonder if the exam is culturally biased. A state task force has been created to explore the reasons for this persistent problem.