WEEK IN REVIEW

" More Texas public schools expected to fail progress standard," AP, 9/24/2004

Because federal officials have rejected the state's request to ease requirements for thousands of special education students, more Texas school districts are expected to flunk federal standards for adequate education this year.

The state lost a battle to include the passing scores for thousands of special education students who take a different test, officials with the Texas Education Agency said Thursday. The state has been exempting students with learning disabilities and limited English skills, allowing them to take an alternative test to the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS.

The U.S. Department of Education decision means that nearly 9 percent of Texas students will be counted as automatic failures in calculating whether their schools make "adequate yearly progress."

"There's no doubt there will be a sizable increase in the number of schools that fail to meet AYP this year," Criss Cloudt, associate commissioner for accountability at the Texas Education Agency, told The Dallas Morning News in Friday's editions.[...]

"Big improvements seen in MCAS math," Boston Globe, 9/24/2004

In nearly half of Massachusetts school districts, many more high school sophomores mastered MCAS math on their first try last spring than did the year before, according to a Globe analysis of scores the state released yesterday.

Of the 272 school districts with high school students, 121 boosted their math passing rate by five points or more, while only six declined by five points or more. The scores in the remaining 145 districts did not change significantly.

The statewide results were released earlier this month. As in previous years, the school and district scores released yesterday reflect the so-called achievement gap between racial groups, with wealthy and mostly white suburban districts outpacing city schools with more students from minority groups.

The state uses the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System as a measure of how well students, schools, and districts are doing. The results are also used to evaluate how well schools and districts do under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.[...]

"Bush floats new eLearning plan," E SchoolNews, 9/20/2004

If he is re-elected come Nov. 2, President George W. Bush's education proposals for his second term would include plans to build an eLearning Clearinghouse to promote all the online courses available to students and adults from both public and private sources.

The Clearinghouse, announced earlier this month at the National Republican Convention, would make it easier to find distance education courses, online professional development opportunities, and virtual field trips.[...]

As college students across the country settle into their dorms and class routines this month, many of them are feeling the lingering pinch of an unexpected bill: the high price of college textbooks.

Though the dramatic increase in college tuition in recent years is well known, students and parents are finding that the costs keep coming even after a student is on campus, as many textbooks can cost well over $100. [...]

"Payoff Year Is Beginning for Bloomberg School Plans," New York Times, 9/13/2004

Not since his days at Medford High School in his Massachusetts hometown has a school year mattered so much for Michael R. Bloomberg.

After winning control of New York City's public schools two years ago, Mayor Bloomberg introduced the most ambitious overhaul of the schools ever attempted, altering virtually everything, including the way reading and math are taught, the number of superintendents, even cafeteria menus.

Today, the city's 1.1 million public school children return to class for an academic year that will serve as a crucial barometer of the mayor's education efforts, which are almost certain to be a central issue in his 2005 re-election campaign.

"It's time to see what happens." said Arthur Levine, the president of Teachers College at Columbia University. "This should be a year in which the structures are in place."[....]