Education News: July 4 & July 10, 2008

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending July 4 & July 10, 2008.

AG: School Bible Course Passes Constitutional Muster
(Source: The Houston Chronicle, 7/10/08): Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott approved a Bible course that will be offered on a voluntary basis for high school students in the 2009-2010 school year. The Attorney General said that the course does not violate the First Amendment, which protects religious freedom, but he refused to outline any specifics of the curriculum.

School Cafeterias Struggling to Keep Food on the Table
(Source: USA Today, 7/9/08): Due to the rising cost of food and other economic issues such as high gas prices, more and more school cafeterias are dipping into reserve funds in order to put food on the table. School directors are considering job cuts and raising the cost of meals for paying students just to deal with the lack of funds.

Undocumented Students Have a Degree of Anxiety
(Source: The Los Angeles Times, 7/8/08) A 1982 Supreme Court ruling ensured that illegal immigrants could be educated in the public school system through high school, but it did not guarantee access to public universities. In those states that do admit illegal immigrants to its public colleges, many of these students are choosing to stay in the higher education system for as long as possible so they do not risk deportation or have to face the challenge of finding employment as an undocumented worker.

Illegal Immigrants Face Threat of No College
(Source: USA Today, 7/6/08): In a growing number of states across the country, children of illegal immigrants are being denied access to a public college education, despite having grown up and having been educated in these same states. Some states, such as Arizona and Georgia, are denying illegal immigrants in-state tuition, while other states, such as Arkansas and South Carolina, are barring illegal immigrants from public universities altogether. Critics of the policy argue that these children should not be punished for the choices their parents had made in entering the country illegally, but should be given the same opportunities for higher education as all other children.

Teacher Pay Set By the Results
(Source: The Baltimore Sun, 7/6/08): In response to calls for improved schools and higher test scores, various school districts across Maryland have begun implementing pay for performance policies on a limited basis. Educators and superintendents have been working closely to devise plans that would generate monetary rewards in a fair and objective way. Despite opposition from local union leaders, teachers and administrators can now earn bonuses for taking on extra assignments, such as mentoring a new teacher, or, more commonly, for improving test scores.

In Schools, How Tight Must School Discipline Be?
(Source: The New York Times, 7/6/08): As a result of the actions of two students in Westchester County, New York, a debate has begun about how to conduct disciplinary proceedings by both parents and educators. In one case, the child of a trustee was seen as treated too lightly in light of his violent remarks and actions. In another case, a high school senior flashed the audience at a graduation ceremony, causing the school to call the police. In both cases, the community and its schools are questioning where to draw the line between simply inappropriate and worthy of suspension or slightly illegal and worthy of more serious consequences.

Reaping the Rewards of a Solid SAT Study
(Source: The Washington Post, 7/6/08): In Prince William County, a Northern Virginia school district, raising SAT scores has been a high priority for the school board and schools superintendent. The school district has introduced free SAT reviews and paid PSAT classes in recent years and has reevaluated its curriculum so that it is better aligned with the content found on the College Board examinations. Recently, the school system has seen a drop in averages scores, but in at least one high school, scores are phenomenally improved and have set an example for other schools in the area.

Italian American Groups Speak Up to Save AP Language Test
(Source: The Washington Post, 7/3/08): A March announcement by the College Board that it would eliminate the Advanced Placement test in Italian due to inadequate funding and insufficient interest resulted in an outcry by Italian heritage and language groups across the country. The program has not seen much popularity in its three years of existence; in the 2007-2008 school year, only 2,000 students took the AP Italian exam. Other AP programs that face elimination include French literature, Latin literature, and computer science.

Free-college Programs Multiply
(Source: USA Today, 7/2/08): Inspired by a program originally begun in Kalamazoo, MI, many more cities across the country are offering free in-state college tuition for students who were educated in the local public school system. As an effort to boost public K-12 and university enrollment, the program has been largely successful in Kalamazoo. Funding has been difficult to achieve in some places, but has been most successful when it is by private donors.

Villaraigosa and His Set for School to Start
(Source: Los Angeles Times, 7/1/08): Frustrations with sub-standard management at local Los Angeles schools has caused teachers from ten different schools to take themselves out of the influence of the LA United School District and join Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's experimental education plan in year-round schooling. New year-round programs began on July 1st at two of the lowest performing schools in the area with a mandate to help more than 18,000 students. Mayor Villaraigosa has also launched massive fundraising programs in partnership with local agencies, hoping to increase spending at the schools by at least 5%.

Bringing Potential Dropouts Back From the Brink
(Source: The New York Times, 6/29/08): The New Horizons Alternative Education Program, launched in 2003 by a small school in the Long Island school district, has since helped to provide education to many low-income students who were in danger of dropping out. The New Horizon classes meet in late afternoon and early evening, after the regular high school students have left, in order to allow the participants to hold jobs during the day. The program also emphasizes small classes to help the students catch up with their peers and earn high school diplomas within the same time frame. Other programs similar to New Horizons exist throughout the New York region. 

High Costs, Flat Funding Strain School Districts’ Budgets
(Source: The Dallas Morning News, 6/29/08): Local property taxes are no longer enough to support some school districts in Texas, local finance officials say. With rising gas prices, tough competition for quality teachers, and state-mandated finance changes, funding for public education is beginning to dry up. New legislation passed by state lawmakers was meant to ease prices for homeowners while maintaining the status quo, but neglected to take into account higher labor costs and soaring gas prices. Some schools districts face such desperate situations that they’ve been forced to request additional funding from local homeowners.

Universal Preschool Students Perform Better
(Source: USA Today, 6/27/08): A large-scale study was recently conducted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where universal pre-school has been offered for nearly a decade. This study showed that children who had attended the state-funded program had better reading, writing and math skills than those who had not attended preschool at all or those who had attended Head Start. Previous studies have also shown that high-quality preschool pays off, especially for low-income children, but this study went further in that it showed that universal programs benefit children from any socio-economic background. Researchers say this success might be due to the excellent teacher training and the small teacher-student ratio.