02/24/04 -- Use of 2000 Census will cause funds to shift
• Millions of dollars in Title I funds will shift from some states and school districts to others as the U.S. Education Department will begin to base its funding formulas on the 2000 Census.
Some members of Congress from states that are expected to lose funding are unhappy about the change. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the ranking minority member on the Senate Education Committee, calls it "unnecessary, irrational, and unfair."
An analysis by the Congressional Research Service shows 10 states would face cuts for the next school year and 18 others would get smaller increases than expected, for a total loss of $208.7 million in Title I funds. That money would be redirected to the 22 other states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Education Department plans to release final numbers this spring.
Parents have mixed feelings on NCLB
• Most parents who know about No Child Left Behind like the concept but oppose implementation of its punitive measures in their own child's school, concludes Results for America, a project of the nonprofit Civil Society Institute.
According to survey results released Feb. 11, 34 percent of the parents who have heard of NCLB see it as "punishing schools for failure instead of rewarding them for success." Forty-six percent associate NCLB with "improving learning."
Fifty-two percent of parents would prefer that any additional federal funds be spent on smaller class sizes, while only 10 percent would favor using such funds for enforcing or implementing NCLB.
These survey results indicate that parents' support of the concept of NCLB "melts away significantly when they are asked to consider what this could mean specifically in the context of their child's school," says Wayne Russbaum, senior research manger of the Opinion Research Corp., which conducted the poll.
The complete results are available at www.ResultsForAmerica.org.
More meaningful diplomas proposed
• The American Diploma Project (ADP) released new graduation benchmarks Feb. 10 that call for students to master more English and math to complete high school.
ADP, sponsored by Achieve Inc., the Education Trust, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, says high school graduation requirements should be linked more closely to the demands graduates face and that employers should reward graduates who meet those requirements.
ADP's report, Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma that Counts, calls upon higher education, employers, and policymakers to tie admissions, placement, and hiring decisions to solid new 12th-grade high school exit standards.
The ADP benchmarks for math reflect content from algebra I and II, geometry, data analysis, and statistics. In English, they demand strong communication skills, as well as the analytic and reasoning skills typically associated with advanced classes.
ADP recommends that all students be required to take a college and workplace readiness curriculum. It says states should give standards-based high school exit exams and that "readiness should be assessed in ways that go beyond statewide, paper-and-pencil tests."
It calls upon postsecondary institutions to use high school assessments for admissions and placement and provide feedback to high schools on the college performance of their graduates. It also says colleges should be held accountable for the academic success of the students they admit.
Principals more positive than parents
• Principals, teachers, and parents believe the primary goal of school leadership is motivating students and teachers to achieve, reports the annual MetLife survey released Feb. 5. The report also reveals a disconnect between this goal and reality.
Principals have a more positive view of school atmosphere and relationships than do parents, teachers, and students. For example, 89 percent of principals say their school is welcoming to parents, but only 61 percent of parents feel this way.
Less than half of students (46 percent) describe their school as safe, compared to 89 percent of principals, 67 percent of teachers, and 57 percent of parents.
Nearly all principals (97 percent) are satisfied with their relationship with the teachers in their school, while only 71 percent of teachers are satisfied with their relationship with the principal.
Vouchers defeated in New Hampshire
• The New Hampshire House narrowly defeated a school voucher bill -- by a vote of 172 to 171 -- on Feb. 4. If the measure had passed, it was likely the state Senate would have passed it, too, says Dean Michener, director of governmental relations and school finance at the New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA).
The bill would have created "education certificates" that could be used for parochial or other private schools. That would have raised legal issues, Michener says, because the state Constitution bans public funding for religious schools.
NHSBA is "very pleased with the outcome of the vote," he says. "The issue has been put to rest for a few months," but he expects voucher proponents will try again.