Education News: April 8, 2008

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending April 8, 2008.

AP Language, Computer Courses Cut
(Source:  The Washington Post, 4/4/08):  The College Board announced this week that four Advanced Placement courses would be cut from its roster:  Italian, Latin Literature, French Literature, and Computer Science AB.  The cuts, which are due to low enrollments, represent the first major retrenchment of the AP program in its 53-year history.

School’s New Rule for Pupils in Trouble: No Fun
(Source:  The New York Times, 4/4/08):  A middle school in Cheektowaga, New York, is experimenting with a new policy in the hopes of instilling responsibility in its students and raising academic achievement.  The school’s administrators have declared that students with an average below 65 in any class are ineligible to participate in all extracurricular activities, be they dances, sports, or clubs.  Additionally, a new, strict set of rules is in effect—students must walk on the right side of the hall, sit in their assigned seats at lunch, and always carry their identification cards.  While many students are less than pleased, many parents like the new rules and feel that they are, in fact, teaching their kids to be responsible.

U.S. Students Achieve Mixed Results on Writing Test
(Source: The New York Times, 4/4/08):  According to recent standardized test results, approximately one third of eighth graders and one quarter of high school seniors are proficient writers for their grade level.  While this outcome may seem dire, for eighth graders it was the best performance in any subject in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often dubbed “the nation’s report card,” in the last three years.

A Good Grade for Teach for America
(Source:  The Christian Science Monitor, 4/4/08):  A new study of Teach for America indicates that its high school teachers are performing well.  Teach for America is an organization that recruits high-achieving college graduates for two-year teaching positions at high-need schools.  According to the new study, high school students of TFA teachers were found to score better on end-of-year tests than students with non-TFA teachers.  One key aspect of TFA that likely contributes to the high success rate is its selectivity—only 21 percent of applicants were accepted into the program last year.

Playing a Sport with Balls and Bats, but No Pitcher
(Source:  The New York Times, 4/3/08):  This week, New York City became the first public school system in the nation to include cricket as a competitive sport, despite the fact that some say it’s the world’s second most popular sport.  This spring, 600 high school students will compete on 14 teams throughout a 12-game season.  Proponents of the game say it’s a fairly egalitarian sport, requiring neither height, as in basketball, nor bulk, as in football.

Chicago Teens, Officials Hold Rally to Protest Shootings as Teen Fatalities Mount
(Source:  The Chicago Tribune, 4/2/08):  Almost a thousand Chicago students joined public officials in calling for a solution to the growing gun violence problem plaguing the city’s students at a rally this week.  In this school year alone, 22 Chicago public school students have been killed.  Of these, 20 were killed in shootings.  Students and officials agree that tougher gun legislation is a good place to start but that additional interventions, such as presenting troubled teens with alternatives to joining gangs, are necessary as well.

U.S. to Require States to Use a Single School Dropout Formula
(Source:  The New York Times, 4/1/08):   Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has announced that states will have to adhere to a single formula to determine graduation rates.  Previously, states were required to report graduation rates but could use any method to determine them.  This “loophole” meant that states generally chose calculation methods that yielded the highest graduation rates and obscured the nation’s growing dropout crisis.  Spellings said she would publish the proposed single formula in the Federal Register and allow a period of public comment before finalizing the new regulation.