State accountability plans approved

The plans, required by the No Child Left Behind Act, spell out how each state will make sure all students achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) in reaching academic proficiency for all students, including disadvantaged students.

The law requires states to have annual assessments in math and English for all students in grades 3-8.

The plans also describe how states will close the achievement gap, measure AYP for various subgroups of students, increase the graduation rate, and prepare report cards to inform the public about school and district progress.

Public Agenda gauges teachers' views

• Most teachers love their work but feel they are unfairly being held accountable for raising student achievement when so much that affects learning is beyond their control.

According to Public Agenda's new survey, Stand by Me: What Teachers Really Think About Unions, Merit Pay, and Other Professional Matters:

• 76 percent of teachers feel they have become "scapegoats for all the problems facing education."

• 87 percent of teachers believe students should pass a standardized test to be promoted, but 53 percent say standardized tests are "seriously flawed."

• 70 percent support financial incentives for teachers in tough neighborhoods with low-performing schools. But only 38 percent favor merit pay for teachers whose students score well on standardized tests.

• By a 63 percent to 22 percent margin, teachers believe that merit pay would foster "unhealthy competition and jealousy" rather than motivate teachers.

• 81 percent believe that working conditions and salaries would be much worse without collective bargaining. But only 19 percent say the national union "almost always" reflects their values and preferences.

Voluntary deseg plan upheld by court

• A federal district court has upheld a voluntary school desegregation plan adopted by the Lynn, Mass., school system 15 years ago.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner ruled the plan does not violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Noting that the plan has helped the district raise student achievement, she said it was "narrowly tailored" to serve a compelling state interest and was "minimally intrusive."

Under the plan, race is not taken into consideration when students are assigned to schools in their neighborhood. Parents can choose to send their child to a school outside their neighborhood, but the district can deny the request if the transfer would result in increasing the racial or ethnic imbalance at either the sending or receiving school.

The suit was filed by a parent group called Citizens for the Preservation of Constitutional Rights. The group argued that while reducing racial isolation and preparing students for success in a diverse society are admirable goals but they do not rise to a compelling state interest as required of race-conscious policies under the Equal Protection Clause.

Study on McKay vouchers incomplete

• A study by the pro-voucher Manhattan Institute on Florida's McKay voucher program finds that participating students "are better served by McKay schools at no additional cost to the taxpayer and no or little additional cost to their families."

The McKay program provides vouchers to children with disabilities ranging from about $4,500 to $21,000, depending on the disability.

According to the study, 92.7 percent of participants are satisfied or very satisfied with their McKay schools, and McKay schools had smaller class sizes and fewer behavior problems than public schools.

Marc Egan, director of NSBA's Voucher Strategy Center, notes that 98 percent of all voucher-eligible students in Florida are not participating in the voucher program. And that could indicate "overwhelming parental satisfaction with the special education services provided by the public schools, or shortcomings with the voucher program."

He also says private schools in Florida don't have to report test scores. For an NSBA analysis of the report, see www. nsba.org/novouchers.

Judge rules Dallas desegregated

• U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders ruled June 5 that the Dallas Independent School District is no longer segregated and is no longer subject to federal oversight. The judge commended the district for reducing the achievement gap.

The ruling means district officials can now make decisions on such matters as school boundaries, school construction, and distributing funds to schools without seeking approval from the court.

The school board approved 13 covenants in November that call for the district to maintain certain programs, such as magnet schools and learning centers, that had been established under the desegregation order; maintain strong early childhood programs; and provide supplemental funding for at-risk students.

Sanders' decision ends the lawsuit filed in 1970 by Sam Tasby, an African-American, whose children were forced to attend "black" schools that were farther from his neighborhood than "white" schools.