IRP Poverty Dispatch » Education

Census Poverty Data for School Districts

townsend — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Number of subsidized lunches on the rise, By Meranda Watling, November 19, 2009, Lafayette Journal and Courier: “An increased number of Greater Lafayette students are getting lunches on the government’s dime this semester, thanks in large part to the economy, school officials report. Preliminary numbers for this school year show that in Tippecanoe County, only the West Lafayette school district saw fewer students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches under federal guidelines…”
Poverty in CMS hits all-time high: 51 percent, By Ann Doss Helms, November 19, 2009, Charlotte Observer: ” Almost 68,000 students, or 51 percent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ enrollment, get lunch aid for low-income families this year - an all-time high. The numbers announced Wednesday, while hardly unexpected, are bound to fan talk about middle-class flight and the growing swath of urban schools abandoned by affluent families. The school system nudged past the 50-percent poverty mark in the middle of last school year, as the recession worsened and new applications for aid came in…”
Number of poor children rose in Tarrant suburbs, census data show, By Eva-Marie Ayala, November 18, 2009, Fort Worth Star Telegram: ” Fort Worth has seen a drop in the number of school-age children living in poverty, while many suburban school districts have seen significant increases, according to 2008 estimates released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2004 to 2008, the number of such children in Tarrant County school districts grew by 901 to 53,092. The Fort Worth, Lake Worth and Northwest school districts saw decreases, while Kennedale, Grapevine-Colleyville, Crowley and Mansfield had the most significant increases. The shift within the county mirrors housing trends, said Pat Guseman, a demographer who works with Mansfield and other North Texas school districts…”
Southern New Jersey school districts see worst of nation’s poverty, By John Froonjian, Diane D’Amico, Trudi Gilfillian, and Edward Van Embden, November 19, 2009, Press of Atlantic City: “Gladys Lauriello didn’t realize her family was poor when she went to school in Wildwood. But now, as Lauriello works as principal in the same building where she attended class, she recognizes the signs of poverty that characterized her youth. She wasn’t surprised to learn that U.S. Census Bureau data released Wednesday show that 36 percent of school-age children in Wildwood live in poverty. That’s the highest percentage among school districts in New Jersey…”

Self-governed Schools - Minneapolis, MN

townsend — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:58:30 +0000

‘New schools’ to serve poor students proposed, By Emily Johns, November 18, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “The Minneapolis school board will get a chance next month to give its blessing to the creation of up to five autonomous schools in the city. The district hopes the schools, some of which wouldn’t be run by the district, could more effectively educate poor students and be a lab for innovation regarding what works in urban education. ‘There are a number of new autonomous schools across the country that have demonstrated tremendous success with economically disadvantaged children,’ said Jon Bacal, who heads the district’s new Office of New Schools. ‘The end result should be a high-quality learning program for Minneapolis children.’ The Office of New Schools is an effort to address quality issues in the lowest-performing 25 percent of the district’s schools. Converting one of these schools to a “new school” is one method; others include changing leadership, school staff or curriculums…”

High School Career Diplomas - Louisiana

townsend — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:02:18 +0000

La. educators turn to trades to cut dropout rate, By Doug Simpson (AP), November 9, 2009, Washington Post: “Beginning next year, a lot of Louisiana high school classrooms could look like Wes Sebren’s: equipped with welding gear, safety goggles and circular saws. Sebren, a teacher at West Ouachita High School near West Monroe, is at the forefront of public schools’ response to a 2009 law passed by the Legislature that encourages teaching skills that students will need in the work force. The law created a ‘career diploma’ that - in an effort to reduce the dropout rate - will go to students who opt for lower academic standards in math and English, while taking classes such as welding, woodworking and small engine repair. Sebren has been teaching such classes in rural Louisiana for more than a decade. ‘I try to teach them to have pride in their work,’ Sebren said. ‘The finished product needs to be something they’re proud of.’ Roughly a third of the state’s high school students drop out or otherwise don’t graduate. That figure is down since 1996, when 46 percent didn’t graduate…”

Longer School Days and the Achievement Gap

townsend — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:58:21 +0000

Will a longer school day help close the achievement gap?, By Amanda Paulson, November 1, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Going to school from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. may sound like a student’s nightmare, but Sydney Shaw, a seventh-grader at the Alain Locke Charter Academy on Chicago’s West Side, has come to like it - as well as the extra 20 or so days that she’s in class a year. ‘I’m sure every kid at this school says bad things about the schedule sometimes,’ says Sydney, who was at school on Columbus Day, when most Chicago schools had a holiday. ‘But deep down, we all know it’s for our benefit.’ Finding ways to give kids more classroom time, through longer hours, a longer school year, or both, is getting more attention. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan support a lengthier timetable. Many education reformers agree that more time at school is a key step. Charter schools like Alain Locke and KIPP schools (a network of some 80 schools that are often lauded for their success with at-risk students) have made big gains in closing gaps in student achievement, partly through expanded schedules. Other schools have been making strides, too - notably in Massachusetts and in the New Orleans system…”

Promise Neighborhoods Program

townsend — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:24:16 +0000

Program based on Harlem initiative shows promise, By Cassandra West, November 4, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton famously drew on an African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ to explain her vision for American children more than decade ago. Now the Obama administration is looking to another village — local urban communities — to serve the educational and social needs of children in poverty with its Promise Neighborhoods, an initiative modeled on the transformative and widely touted Harlem Children’s Zone. For two days next week representatives from the Chicago communities of Chicago Lawn, Logan Square and Woodlawn will be in New York attending the conference, ‘Changing the Odds: Learning from the Harlem Children’s Zone Model.’ The forum is a first step for advocates and community groups interested in replicating the New York City-based endeavor, which President Barack Obama has called ‘an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck anti-poverty effort…’”

Socioeconomic Status and School Assignments

townsend — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:34:46 +0000

More districts use income, not race, as basis for busing, By Jordan Schrader, November 2, 2009, USA Today: “Struggling to improve schools that have large populations of poor and minority students and under legal pressure to avoid racial busing, a small but growing group of school districts are integrating schools by income. More than 60 school systems now use socioeconomic status as a factor in school assignments, says Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, which studies income inequality. Students in Champaign, Ill.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Louisville have returned this year to income-based assignments…”

Income-based Achievement Gap - Illinois

townsend — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:15:08 +0000

Illinois school test scores: Income-based gap proves hard to close, By Tara Malone and Darnell Little, October 30, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Surrounded by sports fields and suburban lawns, Hadley Junior High School could be the envy of the state. Nine of every 10 students at the Glen Ellyn school passed state exams in reading and math, according to the 2009 Illinois School Report Card made public Friday. But average scores belie a widespread problem the federal government has spent billions trying to fix nationwide: While at least 95 percent of Hadley’s well-off students passed the eighth-grade reading and math tests, about half of their low-income classmates met the same goals, revealing an achievement gap that is as persistent as it is pernicious. Seven years after the federal No Child Left Behind Law ambitiously pledged to eliminate such disparities and invested nearly $6.2 billion in Illinois schools alone, the progress has been modest and isolated. While the performance gap between advantaged and disadvantaged grade school children narrowed in Illinois since 2002 — in math, the margin shrunk by at least 13 percentage points in third, fifth and eighth grades — the divide among high school juniors actually widened slightly in math and reading…”

Report: State Academic Standards and Proficiency Measures

townsend — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:09:58 +0000

Student ‘proficiency’: What is your state’s definition?, By Amanda Paulson, October 29, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “How advanced a student is may have more to do with where he lives than how much he knows. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, states are under pressure to bring more students up to ‘proficiency’ every year. But each state can define what proficiency means differently. A new report shows just how widely these definitions vary. ‘A proficient reader in State A may be very different from a proficient reader in State B - even though those students may have the same academic skill,’ says Peggy Carr, associate commissioner for assessment at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which released the study Thursday…”
Federal researchers find lower standards in schools, By Sam Dillon, October 29, 2009, New York Times: “A new federal study shows that nearly a third of the states lowered their academic proficiency standards in recent years, a step that helps schools stay ahead of sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law. But lowering standards also confuses parents about how children’s achievement compares with those in other states and countries. The study, released Thursday, was the first by the federal Department of Education’s research arm to use a statistical comparison between federal and state tests to analyze whether states had changed their testing standards. It found that 15 states lowered their proficiency standards in fourth- or eighth-grade reading or math from 2005 to 2007. Three states, Maine, Oklahoma and Wyoming, lowered standards in both subjects at both grade levels, the study said…”
Report: States set low bar for student achievement, By Libby Quaid (AP), October 29, 2009, Idaho Statesman: “Many states declare students to have grade-level mastery of reading and math when they do not, the Education Department reported Thursday. The agency compared state achievement standards to the more challenging standards behind the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress. State standards were lower, and there were big differences in where each state set the bar…”

Pre-Kindergarten and Low-income Students

townsend — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:47:22 +0000

Research shows value of preschool for poor, By Joe Smydo, October 23, 2009, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Research released yesterday should end the debate over whether pre-kindergarten classes help level the playing field for the state’s most vulnerable children, researchers and study sponsors said. The three-year study of 10,000 children showed the state’s Pre-K Counts program helped the students improve math, literacy and social skills; helped put them on track for kindergarten; and reduced their need for special-education services…”

Youth Poverty and Unemployment - Detroit, MI

townsend — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:38:31 +0000

Youth face uphill struggle amid Detroit’s troubles, By Corey Williams (AP), October 17, 2009, Washington Post: “Like the rundown houses and shuttered storefronts in his Detroit neighborhood, bleakness abounds in LeRoy Taylor’s future. He is among tens of thousands reaching adulthood in a city where the American Dream appears just outside their reach. Taylor, 20, spends empty hours on basketball courts, zoned out in front of a television or aimlessly pedaling through streets he desperately wants to leave, but doesn’t have the work skills, education or money to do so. ‘I fill out applications. No one will call me back,’ said Taylor, stopping his bike long enough to hustle change for cigarettes near a west side bus stop. ‘It’s useless. It’s real scary.’ Too few jobs are only part of the problems facing youths in this troubled city. Its public high schools are considered among the nation’s worst. Planned budget cuts to the recreation department will reduce hours and slash into staffing. Then there’s crime…”

High School Graduation Rates - Louisiana

townsend — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:30:27 +0000

La. grad rate falls most, By Will Sentell, October 19, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Louisiana suffered the biggest drop in its public high school graduation rate of any state in the Southern region over a five-year period, a new report says. State officials disagree. The study says 13 of 16 Southern states reviewed showed graduation gains between 2002 and 2006, a big reversal from earlier this decade when the numbers were slipping. Tennessee’s rate rose by 11 percentage points, to 71 percent of its public school students graduating from high school on time. Arkansas went up five percentage points, Alabama four and Mississippi three…”

School Voucher Program - Washington, DC

townsend — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:30:26 +0000

D.C. school vouchers have a brighter outlook in Congress, By Robert Tomsho, October 19, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The District of Columbia’s embattled school-voucher program, which lawmakers appeared to have killed earlier this year, looks like it could still survive. Congress voted in March not to fund the program, which provides certificates to pay for recipients’ private-school tuition, after the current school year. But after months of pro-voucher rallies, a television-advertising campaign and statements of support by local political leaders, backers say they are more confident about its prospects. Even some Democrats, many of whom have opposed voucher efforts, have been supportive…”

High-poverty Schools and Teacher Quality - Nashville, TN

townsend — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:21:32 +0000

Teacher inequalities still haunt Nashville schools, By Jaime Sarrio, October 18, 2009, The Tennessean: “Students attending schools at the center of Metro’s controversial rezoning plan are more likely to be taught by inexperienced teachers, despite incentives to attract and retain staff at the high-poverty schools. Teachers at nine select schools affected by the rezoning were offered a 5 percent pay increase or the chance to earn more money through training sessions, but at every school the average level of teaching experience decreased. The problem goes beyond schools involved in the rezoning. Across the district, poor students are more likely to be taught by a new teacher than are their wealthier peers. It’s a trend that has gotten worse in the past year, according to a Tennessean analysis of teacher profile data…”

National Assessment of Educational Progress

townsend — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:44:18 +0000

No improvement for fourth-graders on national math test, By Amanda Paulson, October 14, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “For the first time since 1990, America’s fourth-graders showed no improvement in math - a disappointing finding in the latest release from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as the nation’s report card. In four states, scores for fourth-graders actually declined between 2007 and 2009 - the first time any state has shown a drop since all 50 states began participating in the assessment in 2003. The news is better at the eighth-grade level, where scores did rise by two points since 2007. But achievement gaps between white and minority students stayed the same…”
Math results show racial achievement gap hasn’t changed, By Tom Weber, October 14, 2009, Minnesota Public Radio: “Fourth and eighth graders in Minnesota continue to rank near the top in the nation in math, according to new national test results. But the new report also exposes a key shortcoming for both Minnesota and the nation — the gap between how well white students perform compared to students of color. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Minnesota fourth-graders ranked third in the nation for math, and the state’s eighth-graders ranked second…”

School Districts and Homeless Students - Florida

townsend — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:31:46 +0000

Number of homeless students skyrockets in Central Florida, By Denise-Marie Balona, October 1, 2009, Orlando Sentinel: “The number of homeless children attending Central Florida’s public schools is soaring — further evidence that the weakened economy has hit this part of the state particularly hard. Across Florida, there were 41,286 homeless students in the 2008-09 school year, according to a new report from the Florida Department of Education. That’s a 20 percent jump over the previous year. The tally jumped much higher in Orange County — 36 percent — thanks in large part to the area’s economic and housing crises. It was one of the biggest increases among Florida’s largest counties. In Brevard and Lake, more than twice as many students as last year woke up and got ready for school in motel rooms, shelters, campgrounds and other forms of temporary housing…”

States and Stimulus Funding for Education

townsend — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:57:36 +0000

Report: States using stimulus to replace, not boost school aid, By Libby Quaid (AP), October 2, 2009, USA Today: “An internal watchdog at the Education Department says states are using money from the economic stimulus to plug budget holes instead of boosting aid for schools. President Barack Obama did not intend for state lawmakers to simply cut state education spending and replace it with stimulus dollars. But Congress made that tough to enforce, and the Education Department’s inspector general said in a memo Thursday that some states are doing it. That means instead of getting extra help to weather tough times, school districts and colleges could wind up with the same level of state aid or with cuts, even as local tax revenues plummet…”

Low-income Students and Higher Education - Iowa

townsend — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:27:23 +0000

Fewer poor enrolled at regent schools, By Gunnar Olson, September 20, 2009, Des Moines Register: “Fewer and fewer students from Iowa’s low-income families are being educated by the state’s public universities, despite their mission to educate Iowans of diverse socioeconomic status, U.S. Department of Education data show. Iowa ranked nearly last in the United States for the share of Pell Grant recipients - a common measurement of low-income students - enrolled at its public universities in the 2007-08 school year. Only public universities in the District of Columbia, Rhode Island and Wyoming served lower percentages, although such comparisons are imperfect because factors vary state to state…”

Budget Cuts and Classroom Size - Los Angeles, CA

townsend — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:03:44 +0000

Budget cuts push some classrooms way over capacity, By Mitchell Landsberg, September 20, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “If there had been rafters, somebody would have been hanging from them. As it was, every seat was taken. One young woman plopped on the floor, next to a microwave oven. A young man stood in the corner, shifting from one foot to the other. Three teens scrunched on top of a desk. Everyone’s attention was riveted on the slight, soft-spoken man pacing the small patch of bare linoleum in front of them. It was a scene to warm the heart of any musician or stand-up comic. Alas, John Collier isn’t an entertainer. He is a teacher, and this was his third period U.S. history class at Fairfax High School on the city’s Westside. Forty-five students were shoehorned into a classroom designed for perhaps 30 — and this on a day when three students were absent. The impact of California’s budget cuts has varied from school to school. Because of the patchwork of federal and state funding for education, some campuses have felt the pinch far less than others. But at schools like Fairfax, hard hit by the $6 billion in education reductions enacted by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, this is shaping up to be one difficult year…”

Free and Reduced-price Lunch Program - Wisconsin, Florida

townsend — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:06:08 +0000

State faces explosion of schoolkids qualified for subsidized meals, By Jacob Kushner and Kryssy Pease, September 20, 2009, Wisconsin State Journal: “Nearly four in 10 Wisconsin elementary students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch last school year, and the proportion of such students has climbed every year of this decade, according to state Department of Public Instruction data analyzed by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. The center found the proportion of Wisconsin elementary students eligible for subsidized lunches hit 37.6 percent last year, compared with 30.3 percent in 2000…”
Green Bay district gains most low-income elementary students in state, By Kelly McBride, September 20, 2009, Green Bay Press-Gazette: “The Green Bay School District has gained more low-income elementary school students than any other district in the state since 2000, a new analysis shows. The district’s low-income population grew by 2,398 elementary school students during that time, more than the Milwaukee, Madison or Kenosha school districts, according to a report released today by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that produces regular investigative projects…”
Economic downturn reflected at Southwest Florida schools, By Christopher O’Donnell, September 21, 2009, Sarasota Herald-Tribune: “Hit hard by layoffs and paycuts, more Florida families than ever are turning to federal aid to feed their children at school. Even in Southwest Florida, long seen as an area of affluence, the number of children qualifying for the federal government’s free or reduced lunch program has risen sharply this year. For the first time, more than half of Manatee County students — some 22,000 children — meet income guidelines that qualify them for government assistance…”

Schools and Homeless Students - Oregon

townsend — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:57:09 +0000

Student homelessness soars in Oregon schools, By Betsy Hammond, September 18, 2009, The Oregonian: “Amid the recession, the number of Oregon students who are homeless surged 14 percent in the past year, rising to 18,000 children and teens without a permanent home of their own, the state reported Friday. Schools are required by federal law to help homeless students find security at school during the upheaval in their lives. And many Oregon educators report they are doing a better job helping children remain in the same school, get basics such as food, and find extra academic support. But they said the emotional and practical needs of students who’ve become homeless are huge, and the ranks of students in those straits are still growing…”
In school, but no home, By Anne Williams, September 19, 2009, Eugene Register-Guard: “A report from the Oregon Department of Education on Friday offers yet more evidence of the recession’s toll on Oregon families. The number of homeless students attending Oregon public schools surged to more than 18,000 in the 2008-09 school year, up 14 percent over the previous year and 122 percent over 2003-04, the first year the state took a count…”
Database: Student homelessness rises, By MacKenzie Ryan, September 19, 2009, Statesman Journal: “Two thousand more students in Oregon were homeless last year, a “significant” increase and a troubling trend that reflects the state’s dour economy, rise in home foreclosures and high unemployment rate, state education officials said this week. More than 18,000 students, or 3.2 percent of those in grades K-12 statewide, were identified as homeless last school year. That’s a 14 percent increase from the previous school year, according to education data released Friday…”

Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act

townsend — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:37:04 +0000

Revising student aid formula, house votes to expand federal loans, By Tamar Lewin, September 17, 2009, New York Times: “The House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that expands federal aid to college students while ending federal subsidies to private lenders. By shifting to direct federal lending, the Obama administration said it will save more than $80 billion over 10 years, which will go into higher Pell Grants for low-income students, new investments in community colleges, early-childhood programs and other education efforts. The vote was 253 to 171. The measure, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, now goes to the Senate, where Democratic leaders expect it to pass…”

Child Welfare Education and Training - Louisiana

townsend — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:36:31 +0000

Schools target child welfare, By Sarah Chacko, September 13, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Louisiana universities are taking steps to improve the state’s child-welfare system with a targeted curriculum for students and specialized training for social workers. Federal grant money is helping seven state universities focus their curriculum on areas where child-welfare workers need the most support, such as finding ways to help children who have been abused and neglected, and dealing with their own work-related stress. ‘Louisiana is one of the few states in the country that does not have a specialized child-welfare discipline within its university systems,’ DSS Secretary Kristy Nichols told a state Commission on Streamlining Government…”

Study: Achievement Gap - Oregon

townsend — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:29:52 +0000

Close Oregon’s achievement gap by starting early, study urges, By Kimberly Melton, September 14, 2009, The Oregonian: “A new report from the Chalkboard Project highlights a persistent achievement gap between Latino students and white students in Oregon that starts as early as third grade. It suggests the key to narrowing the gap is to start working with students early. The report, released Monday, echoes the conclusion of an earlier study of the achievement gap between black and white students in Multnomah County that recommended focusing more on prevention than intervention…”
A blueprint for closing the gap, Editorial, September 15, 2009, The Oregonian: “As a new study of Oregon’s achievement gap makes clear, the state should put more effort into early intervention and dig deeper into what works. The stubborn gap in academic achievement in Oregon between Hispanic students and their white classmates used to be somewhat of a mystery. Not any more. The main causes of this gap are well-diagnosed. So are at least some of the solutions, plus the areas desperately needing further research…”

Free and Reduced-price Lunch Program - Mississippi

townsend — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:33:35 +0000

Free lunch common in some Miss. schools, By Gary Pettus, September 5, 2009, Clarion-Ledger: “In Holmes County, where the poverty rate is three times higher than the country’s, Patricia Jenkins’ children get a free weekday lunch for at least nine months of the year. In fact, practically every one of the 3,300 other students in the Holmes County School District qualifies for the free midday meal, as well as for free breakfasts. ‘For me, being a single parent who’s out of work, the meal program is a big help,’ said Jenkins, 42, of Goodman, who has three children in school, ‘but it’s also a big help for parents who are working and still can’t afford these lunches.’ Based on family income, about 58 percent of Mississippi’s 491,000-plus public-school children qualified for a free lunch during the 2008-09 school year, compared with 46 percent for private-school students…”

Report: Cost of High School Dropouts

townsend — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:25:12 +0000

State disputes dropout count, By Loren Moreno, September 8, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “The state Department of Education has disputed the number of Hawai’i high school dropouts recently reported by a national policy and advocacy organization. The Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Excellent Education said last week more than 6,202 students from the class of 2009 in Hawai’i dropped out of school before graduation…”
Tough times for Hawaii dropouts, By Michael Tsai, September 7, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “If she didn’t have so much riding on it, Ginger Rivera never would have even opened the door to room H-103. There she was: a 31-year-old high school dropout getting ready to take a General Education Diploma preparatory class with what she figured would be a roomful of teenagers…”
Report shows negative effects of dropouts on economy, By Lisa Singleton-Rickman, September 7, 2009, Florence Times Daily: “A study by the Alliance for Excellent Education indicates the sobering impact high school dropouts have on the national and state economy. On a national scale, if high school students who dropped out in 2009 had graduated, the economy would have benefited from nearly $335 billion in additional income during the course of their lifetimes, according to the study. If the dropouts in Alabama’s class of 2009 had graduated, it is estimated that the state’s economy would have had another $6.5 billion in additional income during the course of the students’ lifetimes…”
The cost of not getting a high-school diploma is exorbitant for dropouts, governments and the economy, Editorial, Birmingham News: “Here’s a sobering thought for Labor Day in the midst of a recession. What you don’t know really can hurt you, especially in your pocketbook. Not only do high school dropouts earn less when they do have jobs, they are much more likely to get a pink slip during the current economic downturn. Talk about a double whammy. In July, the national jobless rate was 9.4 percent. For high school dropouts, it was 15.4 percent. High school graduates had a rate of 9.4 percent, while people with some college credits or an associate’s degree had a jobless rate of 7.9 percent. Only 4.7 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher were out of work…”

Schools and Homeless Children

townsend — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:15:47 +0000

Surge in homeless pupils strains schools, By Erik Eckholm, September 5, 2009, New York Times: “In the small trailer her family rented over the summer, 9-year-old Charity Crowell picked out the green and purple outfit she would wear on the first day of school. She vowed to try harder and bring her grades back up from the C’s she got last spring - a dismal semester when her parents lost their jobs and car and the family was evicted and migrated through friends’ houses and a motel. Charity is one child in a national surge of homeless schoolchildren that is driven by relentless unemployment and foreclosures. The rise, to more than one million students without stable housing by last spring, has tested budget-battered school districts as they try to carry out their responsibilities - and the federal mandate - to salvage education for children whose lives are filled with insecurity and turmoil…”

Growth of Charter Schools - Los Angeles, CA

townsend — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:29:36 +0000

L.A. charter schools get a chance to grow, but how big?, By Howard Blume, September 2, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “A groundbreaking plan to open 51 new Los Angeles schools and 200 existing ones to possible outside control has Randy Palisoc feeling as if salvation is just steps away. A new $54-million campus he covets is rising a block from where his award-winning charter school operates in a rented church. Palisoc is among many with big dreams since the Los Angeles Board of Education approved its landmark school control resolution last week. The management of about a fourth of all district schools could be up for grabs. As a result, leading charter school operators anticipate accelerated growth for their organizations and better facilities for some current schools. An 11-school nonprofit group controlled by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is eyeing a new high school south of downtown and may bid for more existing campuses. Momentum is building for internal district proposals…”

Budget Cuts and Early Childhood Education - Ohio

townsend — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:06:59 +0000

Budget victims, By Rita Price, August 28, 2009, Columbus Dispatch: At age 3, the boy’s development was so delayed that teachers had to use materials designed for 12- to 24-month-olds to assess his abilities. The staff at the South Side Learning and Development Center on Reeb Avenue worked closely with the child for 10 months to get him caught up. Now, teachers can only wonder how he spends his days. The loss of the state Early Learning Initiative program is a gut punch to centers such as South Side, where enrollment recently plummeted from 86 to 36 boys and girls…”

Flu Preparedness and High-poverty Schools

townsend — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:09:42 +0000

Flu could hit poor schools hardest, By Kristi Jourdan, August 25, 2009, Washington Times: “If the flu outbreak this fall is as widespread as some experts fear, students who stay home should use Web conferencing and podcasting technologies to try to stay current - a federal recommendation that could be too advanced for some poorer school districts to take advantage of. The six-page guidelines issued by the Department of Education on Monday suggest closed-circuit television, DVDs and Internet usage, among other technology, to get information to students in anticipation of high absentee rates and temporary school shutdowns because of a flu outbreak. But some families in inner cities like the District, where the announcement was made, might lack the means to follow the suggested federal guidelines…”

School Lunch Programs

townsend — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:04:54 +0000

Stars aligning on school lunches, By Kim Severson, August 18, 2009, New York Times: “Ann Cooper has made a career out of hammering on the poor quality of public school food. The School Nutrition Association, with 55,000 members, represents the people who prepare it. Imagine Ms. Cooper’s surprise when she was invited to the association’s upcoming conference to discuss the Lunch Box, a system she developed to help school districts wean themselves from packaged, heavily processed food and begin cooking mostly local food from scratch…”
N.J. schools bag funds with free lunch, By Ashley Milne-Tyte, August 18, 2009, American Public Media: “New Jersey’s formula now works like this: the state provides about $9,700 to educate each child to meet academic standards. But poor students in poor districts can get an extra $5,000 on top of that. That’s where free lunch comes in…”

No Child Left Behind and School Progress - Minnesota

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:14:03 +0000

Increasing number of schools failed to meet goals, By Emily Johns and Sarah Lemagie, August 11, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “More schools in Minnesota failed to meet state math and reading goals this year, but data released Monday about which schools are falling behind contained some bright spots for educators. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, 1,048 out of 2,303 schools are not making “adequate yearly progress” under the 2002 No Child Left Behind law. That number is up from 931 last year and 727 in 2007. But compared with last year, fewer high schools and junior highs are falling behind. The list of struggling schools grew partly because of elementary schools that didn’t meet targets, which get tougher every year…”
Minnesota fails to keep pace with No Child Left Behind standards, By Doug Belden and MaryJo Webster, August 11, 2009, Pioneer Press: “About half of Minnesota schools failed to make sufficient progress under state testing guidelines in 2009, roughly the same results as last year. ‘There are no surprises,’ state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said Monday. With each passing year, Minnesota and other states fall further behind schedule on the federally mandated goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014, but Seagren said Minnesota is ‘making really strong progress in many areas.’ The number of high schools hitting the targets grew, for example, from 210 last year to 242 this year, she said. On the other hand, the number of elementary schools measuring up dropped from 592 to 523. Monday’s release of the “adequate yearly progress” list is step two in the state’s annual high-stakes data dump…”

States and Cuts to College Financial Aid

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:06:26 +0000

States cut aid to college students as demand booms, By Ryan J. Foley (AP), August 12, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Struggling with budget shortfalls that reach into the billions, several states are making deep cuts in college financial aid programs, including those that provide a vital source of cash for students who most need the money. At least a dozen states are reducing award sizes, eliminating grants and tightening eligibility guidelines because of a lack of money. At the same time, the number of students seeking aid is rising sharply as more people seek a college education and need help paying the tuition bill because they or their parents lost jobs and savings during the recession. Many of the affected programs are need-based grants that provide money that complements financial aid offered by schools and the federal government…”

Promise Neighborhoods Program

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:26:41 +0000

Harlem program singled out as model, By Robin Shulman, August 2, 2009, Washington Post: “On a recent Saturday morning in Harlem, a few dozen pregnant women in a parenting class made resolutions for life after the baby’s birth. Avoid cursing. Provide healthy foods. Develop a sleeping routine for the infant. “I want my son to be perfect,” said Naquell Williams, 22, who is unemployed and pregnant with a child whose father is in prison. This is the starting point for the Harlem Children’s Zone: the womb. Geoffrey Canada’s nonprofit has created a web of programs that begin before birth, end with college graduation and reach almost every child growing up in 97 blocks carved out of the struggling central Harlem neighborhood…”

Rhode Island Pre-Kindergarten Program

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:15:22 +0000

R.I. to offer its first public pre-K program, By Jennifer D. Jordan, July 27, 2009, Providence Journal: “For the first time, the state Department of Education is venturing into early childhood education by launching a small, high-quality pre-kindergarten program designed to level the playing field for low-income children who now start school at a significant disadvantage compared with middle- and upper-income students. Until now, Rhode Island has failed to support the notion of public early childhood education. It is one of just 12 states that does not offer public pre-K…”

Report: High School Graduation Rates

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:46:56 +0000

State’s high school graduation rate in ‘crisis’, By Gracie Bonds Staples and D. Aileen Dodd, July 23, 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Georgia’s dismal high school graduation rate has reached a ‘crisis’ level, according to a national report released Wednesday. The authors recommended immediate federal action. Entitled ‘Graduating America: Meeting the Challenge of Low Graduation-Rate High Schools,’ the report puts Georgia among 17 states with the lowest overall graduation rates in the country…”
Report: State poised to lift graduation rates, By Kathleen Lavey, July 23, 2009, Lansing State Journal: “Michigan is one of 17 states in a ‘make or break’ position as the U.S. strives to improve high school graduation rates, according to a nationwide report released Wednesday. But the report also says the state - along with Ohio and California - is in a good spot to boost graduation rates if local school districts take advantage of federal stimulus money and other resources as well as tailoring solutions to their individual needs…”

Funding for Community Colleges

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:30:49 +0000

UW-Madison profs help shape bold initiative for community colleges, By Todd Finkelmeyer, July 20, 2009, Capital Times: “A report released in May and co-authored by UW-Madison professors Sara Goldrick-Rab and Douglas Harris argued that community colleges are in need of significant government investment if the United States is to help more of its people get a formal education and better compete with others from around the globe for the best jobs…”
Community colleges’ new clout, By Derrick Z. Jackson, July 18, 2009, Boston Globe: “For decades, American presidents lauded the working stiffs and immigrants who fill our community colleges, but then stiffed them during budget time. That ended this week when President Obama made one of his most welcome proposals of his first year, a $12 billion, 10-year plan to boost community colleges…”

National Assessment of Educational Progress

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:55:04 +0000

Achievement gap still splits white, black students, By Libby Quaid (AP), July 14, 2009, Washington Post: “Despite unprecedented efforts to improve minority achievement in the past decade, the gap between black and white students remains frustratingly wide, according to an Education Department report released Tuesday…”
Black-white achievement gap smaller in Va. than Md., By Nick Anderson, July 15, 2009, Washington Post: “The achievement gap between black and white students is smaller in Virginia than in Maryland, according to a federal analysis released yesterday that illuminates how states compare on a key measure of academic disparity…”
Young students improve, but later minority achievement gap remains, By Greg Toppo, USA Today, July 14, 2009: “For decades, public schools have focused on closing the stubborn achievement gap that separates African-American children from their white peers. New data out today from the U.S. Education Department show that the effort may have a limited shelf life for kids…”
Racial student achievement gap stands wide in state, By Gayle Worland, July 15, 2009, Wisconsin State Journal: “Wisconsin is the only state in the nation where the achievement gap between black and white students in reading and math in both fourth and eighth grades exceeds the national average, according to a U.S. Department of Education report released Tuesday…”

Homeless Children and Families - New York City

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:13:10 +0000

Summer brings a wave of homeless families, By Julie Bosman, July 6, 2009, New York Times: “As the school year sailed to a close last month, Arielle Figueras crossed the stage in her cap and gown and proudly accepted her fifth-grade diploma. The next day, she was homeless. Arielle, a petite 11-year-old, and her parents, brother and sister packed their belongings and arrived at the intake center for homeless families in the South Bronx. Though they had been fighting with their landlord for months and their gas and electricity had long been shut off, they refused to leave their apartment while school was in session…”
Homeless, and on a college path to independence, By Amanda M. Fairbanks, July 5, 2009, New York Times: “For many college students, survival means keeping up on assigned reading, maintaining an acceptable grade-point average and squeezing in extracurricular activities. But for those at Advantage Academy, a program offered by the city’s Department of Homeless Services and St. John’s University to provide homeless and formerly homeless people with the chance to earn an associate’s degree, survival looks like something altogether different…”

Economic Stimulus and Community Colleges

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:58:57 +0000

Stimulus eases community college troubles, By Kimberly Leonard, July 2, 2009, Stateline.org: “States are digging into their federal stimulus money to help finance community colleges, where rising tuition, soaring enrollment and budget cuts threaten to shut students out of the system. But the $144 billion in stimulus money for state and local fiscal relief won’t make up for budget cuts in every state…“

High School Graduation Rate - Oregon

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:35:41 +0000

One in three Oregon students failed to get a diploma, By Betsy Hammond, June 29, 2009, The Oregonian: “One in three students in Oregon’s high school class of 2008 failed to get a diploma, a much worse showing than the state previously reported. Under pressure from the federal government, the state adopted a more accurate way of tracking how many students earned diplomas…”