Top Stories and Commentary for Tuesday, September 30, 2008
U.S. education budget roiled by financial crisis
By Alyson Klein/Ed Week
The result of the presidential election will likely help determine how much money education programs receive in the 2009 federal fiscal year, which begins this week. But a multi-billion-dollar federal plan to assist the […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Thursday, September 25, 2008
New effort aims to test theories of education
By Javier C. Hernandez/New York Times
Roland G. Fryer Jr., a Harvard economist, has often complained that while pharmaceutical companies have poured billions of dollars each year into studying new drugs and Boeing devoted $3 billion to develop the […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Pasadena Unified overhauls its middle schools
By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC
Increasingly, California school districts are rethinking instruction at their middle schools. Weak test scores and new research about what works is jump-starting some of the changes. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez reports that one Southland school district is […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Schools fail to meet No Child Left Behind goals
By Nanette Asimov/San Francisco Chronicle
If the system mandated by No Child Left Behind to fix thousands of failing schools were subjected to its own rigorous standards, it too could fail. That’s the conclusion of the first […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Monday, September 22, 2008
California’s new 8th-grade algebra rule gets some poor marks
Critics warn that the requirement will be bad both for students with solid math skills and the unprepared. By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
The new state policy of requiring algebra in the eighth grade will […]
Note: This edition includes Weekly Recap below
Top Stories and Commentary for Friday, September 19, 2008
Wary eyes monitoring Wall Street
School officials assess risks posed by turmoil. By Linda Jacobson/Ed Week
School business officials kept a close watch on the financial markets this week—and on district investment portfolios and teacher-retirement funds—as stock […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Thursday, September 18, 2008
Schwarzenegger vows to veto Calif. budget
EdWeek
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, frustrated by a budget plan he intends to veto, says California’s political leadership has been operating in the same state of denial as Wall Street speculators who are now watching their financial empires crash around […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Spellings creates education index
Ed Week
The latest unemployment rates, inflation rates, and other economic indicators are staples of TV and radio newscasts. If Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has her way, newscasters will be giving annual updates on leading education indicators. Ms. Spellings has created […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Tuesday, September 16, 2008
California court ruling slaps illegal immigrant students
By Susan Ferriss/Sacramento Bee
The 3rd District California Court of Appeal issued a decision Monday that challenges a state law allowing some undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition. The appeals court reversed a decision by Yolo Superior […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Monday, September 15, 2008
California lawmakers reach compromise on budget
The proposed state spending plan involves no new taxes. Votes on the plan are scheduled for Monday. By Evan Halper/Los Angeles Times
Legislative leaders announced Sunday that they had reached a deal on a no-new-taxes state spending plan, bringing the […]