|
Welcome!
What is
Urban Edge?
Urban Edge is a service that provides CUBE districts
with relevant information to help your awareness of education issues around the
country. We will glean news sources, blogs, research studies, and NSBA's wide range of expertise for timely information that guides CUBE districts in making sound decisions. Around
the nation
Texas
seeks help for math and science teachers
School districts in Texas may get some help for new
math and science teachers, if a bill passes that
will offer undergraduates scholarships if they
commit to teaching those subjects once they
graduate. A study at the University of Texas
says that Texas schools will be short 11,000
teachers in math and science by 2012, but if the
bill passes, it would give students up to $5,000 a
year for up to four years, "as long as they
promise to work in schools that have the greatest
need." Once they teach for four years,
the terms of the loan are forgiven, according to
state Senator Dan Patrick, who is proposing the
bill.
Link
to Houston Chronicle
3/24/09
Milwaukee
update
The school voucher situation in Milwaukee has
been watched very closely since its inception in the
1990s. More news landed this week that has
shown little differences in achievement between
students who were in schools receiving vouchers
versus traditional public schools. In one
summary, the Brookings institute said, "We
conclude that while charter schools overall may help
the education of urban youth, our study of Milwaukee
indicates that they should not be expected to be the
silver bullet that some reformers seek."
Link
to Brookings Institute Executive Summary 3/30/09
Link
to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 3/26/09
Counselors making changes
Washington, D.C. area schools, including CUBE
district Alexandria City Schools, are seeking new
ways to utilize counselors in the difficult
financial times. Using data-driven methods to
impact student achievement, counselors in the area
continue to seek out ways to help teachers and
students do better academically. Elementary
school counselors seem to be stretched thin compared
to high schools, and the elementary counselors have
some creative ways to reach students when
short-staffed.
Link
to Washington Post
(free registration) 3/23/09 Urban
Institute testifies on improving early childhood
education
A representative from the Urban Institute
testified to a Congressional Subcommittee on an
topic that CUBE districts are familiar with, the
impact of federal policy on improving early
childhood education. With so much attention
being put on high school graduation rates, many
experts believe that the focus should be on the
younger children in America. While pre-school
is outside the traditional public school realm, the
recommendation from the Urban Institute is to look
carefully at the importance of tackling early
childhood education as a comprehensive issue, not a
all-for-one solution.
Link
to Urban Institute 3/19/09
NSBA
Legal
News
NSBA's
legal staff has been busier than ever, filing Amicus
Briefs, dissecting what the Supreme Court has been
deciding lately regarding educational law, and
keeping tabs on the important cases in courts around
the country. Below are a few of the
highlights, which will likely impact urban districts
nationwide. For weekly legal updates, check
out NSBA's Legal
Clips e-alert.
Student
assignment plan in Lynn, MA, survives challenge
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (MA,
ME, NH, RI, PR) has ruled that the U.S. Supreme
Court’s decision in Parents Involved in
Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1,
551 U.S. 701 (2007) (PICS), overturning
student assignment plans in Seattle, Washington and
Jefferson County, Kentucky, could not form the basis
for striking down a student assignment plan in Lynn,
Massachusetts that considers race as a factor.
Berkley student assignment plan does not violate
California constitution
A California state court of appeal has ruled that
Berkley Unified School District’s (BUSD) student
assignment plan, “which aims to achieve social
diversity by using neighborhood demographics when
assigning students to schools,” does not violate
article I, § 31 of the California Constitution,
also known as Prop 209. Prop 209 prohibits
discrimination against, or granting preferential
treatment to, any individual or group on the basis
of race. BUSD’s elementary student assignment plan
attempts to make the student body at each elementary
school reflect the overall racial and socioeconomic
diversity of the total elementary school population
by assigning a “diversity category” to
geographic “planning areas” of about 4-8 city
blocks, based on the percentage of students of
color, the level of parent income, and the level of
parent education.
Link
to NSBA's recent cases site (includes more details
on both of these stories)
Arizona Supreme Court strikes down voucher
programs
The Arizona Supreme has ruled unanimously that
two state voucher programs that pay private school
tuition for disabled students and for foster
children violate Article 9, section 10 of the
Arizona Constitution, the so-called “Aid
Clause.” Because the court decided the case on the
“Aid Clause” question, it did not address
whether the programs also violate Article 2, Section
12, the constitution’s so-called “Religion
Clause.”
NSBA's
page on Cain v. Horne
Link
to Arizona Republic story 3/26/09
Blog
Watch
Teacher
education being questioned
Last week in President's Obama's virtual town
hall meeting, a question came in about teacher
quality and the problem with ill-equipped teachers
staying in the classroom. As he answered a
question about easing bad teachers out of the
profession, he said
"some people aren't meant to be
teachers." U.S. News and World Report
posted a blog entry by Eddy Ramirez about graduate
education schools changing their ways. As the
director of Harvard's teacher education program
said, "the dirty little secret about schools of
education is that they have been cash cows for universities
for many, many years..."
Link
U.S. News blog 3/25/09 CUBE
Award
The CUBE Annual
Award application has been mailed to you,
and a webinar will be held on April 15 at 3pm
(eastern time) to help any
district interested in applying. The award is
a chance to show how your district has progressed
over a period of time and offers ALL of CUBE
an opportunity to self-assess your governance team,
as well as showcase the good things happening in
your district. For more
information about the award, click here.
Interested in participating in the webinar? E-mail
Kevin Scott for more information.
Meetings
Minute
Unable
to attend NSBA's Annual Conference in San Diego?
NSBA's 69th Annual Conference kicks off in San Diego
with CUBE early bird programming tomorrow. If
you can't make it to the conference, but want to
learn more about what was discussed, CUBE's web
site has conference materials following the
conference. Check back for more information,
including presentations and press coverage.
Also,
NSBA's blog team will be keeping record of what's
happening in San Diego and you can check things out
from wherever you are. The BoardBuzz Annual
Conference edition can be found here.
Coming
to your mailbox soon...
CUBE's Issues Seminar will focus on urban education
reforms and how they are shaping federal
policy. We head to Chicago June 25-28 to
look at some of the reforms Chicago has developed
recently and how they may provide guidance to the
rest of the country as Secretary of Education Arne
Duncan proposes his ideas on a federal level.
For more information, see the brochure
or email cube@nsba.org.
Program
Note
Did
you know that all previous editions of the Urban
Edge are available on CUBE's web site? If
you missed an issue, wanted to go back to find a
link to a research study we referenced, or need some
information about what other districts are doing,
click here.
Disclaimer
Links
on the Urban Edge are subject to change or
become inactive after a period of time. Please
be aware that CUBE has no control over links to
other organizations or entities.
|