Fast Report
08/23/05 -- Illinois law expands genocide studies
• Illinois public schools are required to teach elementary and high school students about genocide around the world under a bill signed Aug. 5 by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
“As we teach our kids the important lessons of history, we have to be sure that they understand that racial, national, ethnic, and religious hatred can lead to horrible tragedies,” Blagojevich said in a statement.
The measure, which took effect immediately, expands the previous requirement that students learn about the Holocaust to include lessons on genocide in Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Sudan, and the Ukraine.
State Board of Education spokesperson Becky Watts says school districts have the entire academic year to meet the law’s requirement and the state board is currently working on putting together materials to help districts develop classes.
Schwarzenegger sued over school funding
• California state schools Superintendent Jack O’Connell, the California Teachers Association (CTA), and three parents filed a lawsuit Aug. 9 asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to restore $3.1 billion guaranteed to California public schools and community colleges under state law.
That sum “would enable us to keep 100 schools open that are slated to be closed, save class-size reduction in all K-3 programs, and extend that program to the 4th grade,” O’Connell said in a press release.
The suit charges the governor and other state officials with ignoring the state constitution and improperly calculating the funding due K-14 education for fiscal years 2004-05 and 2005-06. It asks the court to order those amounts be recalculated as required by law.
The complaint “is meant to force the governor to honor his word, the will of the people, and to ensure California students get no less than the minimum school funding guaranteed under our constitution. The governor hasn’t just broken a promise, he’s broken the law,” said CTA Vice President David A. Sanchez in a statement.
But a spokesperson for the California finance department says the lawsuit is unlikely to “stand up in court” because the nonpartisan legislative analyst’s office, as well as the legislature, agreed to the 2005-06 budget.
Early childhood effort yields big gains
• Providing poor 3 and 4-year-olds -- 20 percent of all preschoolers nationwide -- with a high–quality early childhood development (ECD) program would initially cost $19 billion a year, but it would have substantial benefits for the nation, says economist Robert G. Lynch in a report titled Early Childhood Investment Yields Big Payoff.
“The marginal cost would be less given that governments already spend over $6 billion annually on ECD programs,” the report says.
Such a program would ultimately reduce costs for remedial and special education, criminal justice, and welfare, and it would increase income earned and taxes paid.
“If we invest in young children, we could also enhance the solvency of our troubled social security system,” says the report.
Students want tougher standards
• Almost nine out of 10 high school students say they would work harder if their high school expected more of them, finds a new survey for the State of Our Nation’s Youth Report.
“The good old times in high schools are being replaced by good old hard work,” says Peter Hart, a researcher who conducted the survey. “There’s a recognition among students that they have to be more ready to compete.”
When given options for improving high schools, 95 percent of students agreed that more real-world opportunities, such as internships, would help at least somewhat.
More than 90 percent also favored earlier counseling in high school on how to prepare for college, and more opportunities to take college-level courses for free.
The nonprofit Horatio Alger Association issued the annual report based on a phone survey of 1,005 students in high school last May.
Exit exams show achievement gaps
• Achievement gaps on high school exit exams remain largely unchanged, despite a major push by states to boost pass rates, according to a study released Aug. 16 by the Center on Education Policy (CEP).
Half of all states use or plan to use tests that students must pass in order to graduate from high school. The exit exams are required in about three subjects and generally measure 10th grade level skills.
Pass rates for all students taking the exams for the first time ranged from 70 percent to 90 percent, but achievement gaps between white students and black and Latino students remain very large, averaging 20 to 30 percentage points in most states.
Gaps are often greater for students from low-income families and students with disabilities, in particular for English Language Learners, who had initial pass rates of up to 30 to 40 points below the student average in math, and often greater gaps in reading.
In the past year, most states have been moving to improve pass rates on exams, pursuing innovative programs and shifting policies aimed at helping more students succeed.
For more information, see www.cep-dc.org.