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Kindling Flames
The Blog of GWU Education Policy Students

Ed Policy Update- August 7, 2006

Tuesday, August 08, 2006


All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.”

-- Aristotle


August is the time for Congress to recess, lazy Sunday afternoons, summer vacations to the beach, and……for gearing up for another year of (graduate) school! While school is still technically a few weeks away, I thought it would be good to start getting back into the flow of ed policy…or at least have an excuse to go to happy hour:)

IN THIS ISSUE

Hot Topics
Blog Update
In the News
Announcements

HOT TOPICS
  • Is this the beginning of a beautiful relationship?
    The Department of Education recently announced a new partnership to provide more support to states for the English Language Learning population (they actually use Limited English Proficient (LEP) as the official term, but I personally don’t agree that children are “limited” anything just because they haven’t learned a language yet….we don’t say that kids in Spanish class are Limited Spanish Speakers (LSS)). The partnership kicks off with a conference in two weeks convening the 23 “in need of support” states. It will be interesting to see how this will actually help ELLs…keep watch on this one. Not everyone is optimistic

  • Be Careful Who You Ban…
    The Massachusetts Department of Ed was successfully sued by the ACLU for banning Alfie Kohn from speaking at their conference because he’s anti-high stakes testing. Apparently, it was a violation of civil rights and free speech. We, as educators, should be able to all be in a room together and share ideas, and agree to disagree. Once we begin banning each other because we don’t see eye to eye is when progress will end…no?

  • Private=Public?
    New report has everyone up in arms debating whether public schools are just as good as private ones. Instead, maybe we should be focusing on what’s working...not who’s better.

  • The Year of the Grad Rate
    This past year, the nation has debated graduation rate issues ranging from errors in calculating rates to blaming particular forces, to a myriad of solutions… As we are maybe getting closer to having a common way to calculate grad rates, we have a long way to go.

BLOG UPDATE

Thanks to all who have contributed to our blog with comments! (I know I keep nagging, but I really believe that having a dialogue on ed policy issue via a blog can be very educational for all of us and it is an important skill set to be able to articulate your thoughts and be persuasive in a short amount of space... so please, take the time to read, comment, and post. If you want help or have questions, feel free to email me.)

IN THE NEWS
  • Public Schools on Par With, Outperform Private Schools in Some Areas, Federal Study Says (EdWeek)
  • President of the Education Commission of the States Plans to Step Down (EdWeek)
  • 'Best Practices' Distilled From Studies of More Than 250 Schools (EdWeek)
  • Math, Science Take Center Stage at SREB Conference on High Schools (EdWeek)
  • Choice Advocates Seek Vouchers as Remedy for N.J. Students in Low-Performing Schools (EdWeek)
  • College Board Calls for ‘Drastic Improvements‘ In Teacher Salaries and Working Conditions (EdWeek)
  • Commentary: The Cracks in Our Education Pipeline (EdWeek)
  • Schools go on health kick as federal law takes hold (CNN)
  • Backstory: 'Ringing' in the school year. New York City fights over whether to allow cellphones in schools, echoing a debate nationwide. (CSM)
  • School security remains questionable (Washington Times)
  • Public vs. Private School Report Spurs Controversy (NPR)
  • Ravitch Opinion: Bill Gates, the Nation's Superintendent of Schools (LA Times)
ANNOUNCEMENTS

Look for an email for a happy hour for next week. Please email me what days work best for you!
**Comments and questions can be emailed to emilyc@gwu.edu

9:52 AM :: ::

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