U.S. Department of Education, October 4, 2005

Office of Innovation and Improvement
Nina S. Rees, Assistant Deputy Secretary

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced that Louisiana has been awarded a $20.9 million grant through the Charter Schools Program to help reopen charter schools damaged by the hurricanes, help create 10 new charter schools, and expand existing charter schools to accommodate students displaced by hurricane damage. (Sept. 30)

Secretary Spellings sent a letter to all Chief State School Officers outlining temporary options for complying with accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) regarding assessments and adequate yearly progress during this time of hurricane recovery. States may choose one of two options: they can exercise existing natural disaster provisions of NCLB or, when reporting accountability data, they can establish a separate subgroup for displaced students. (Sept. 29)

Secretary Spellings testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce about closing the achievement gap. She stressed the importance of ensuring that students displaced by hurricanes receive quality education and announced some flexibilities, including allowing those schools and districts to report the results for hurricane-displaced students as a separate subgroup of students when reporting test scores under No Child Left Behind. She added that seriously affected states may exercise the delay provisions of No Child Left Behind without seeking a waiver from the Department. (Sept. 29)

American History

The latest newsletter from the National Coalition for History includes a description of some of the national response to Constitution Day, and remarks at Shepherd College (WV) from Senator Robert C. Byrd, who authored the Constitution Day legislation. Institutions across the country celebrated Constitution Day in various ways: one college baked three large cakes with the Constitution and Bill of Rights written in icing. Many colleges and universities also held lectures and "Jeopardy-style" games to test students' knowledge. (Sept. 23)

Thinkport an OII-supported, online resource of interactive lesson plans and training for Maryland educators, families, and community members, is helping to ensure that the Constitution is taught not just on September 17, but year-round. For example, Thinkport offers excerpts of a conversation between U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer that concern the Constitution, federalism, and the separation of powers. Another offering is the video, "Shh! We're Writing the Constitution," about the 1787 Constitutional Convention, which was developed for elementary school students. (Sept. 27)

Charter Schools

Authors Lance T. Izumi and Xiaochin Claire Yan profile seven charter schools that are surpassing the academic achievement results of their traditional public school counterparts in a new book. Free to Learn: Lessons from Model Charter Schools, from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), identifies common elements of "highly improving" schools, which include: rigorous teacher accountability and the elimination of teacher tenure, teachers who have in-depth content knowledge, business-minded principals, strong fiscal management, and high expectations for students and staff, among other characteristics. Free to Learn also contains tips and resources for parents. (Sept. 7) (offered for sale)

Public charter schools are showing stronger student achievement gains as compared to traditional public schools in California, according to a new examination of the state's accountability system from the California Charter Schools Association. Leading the gains were 63 Charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. These schools demonstrated a growth of 29.9 points on standardized tests, compared to 20.6 points for the non-charter public schools. In addition, one in four charter schools showed significantly high growth rates (50 points or more) on the state's accountability system, compared to one in ten non-charter public schools. (Sept. 21)

Innovators

The first Arthur H. White Making a Difference Awards recognize four individuals who are affecting social change from organizations based in Los Angeles and San Jose (CA), Hartford (CT), and Boston (MA). Cash prizes of $3,000 were awarded to each honoree, two of whom are administrators at magnet schools: Marilyn Bliss, Coordinator for the Medical Magnet Program at Andrew Hill High School (CA) and Stephen Perry, Director of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School (CT). The other two are Pablo Alvarado, National Coordinator for the National Day Labor Organizing Network (CA) and Neil Silverston, President and Co-founder of Worksource Partners (MA). The award was created by Arthur White, who, for over 40 years, worked with corporations, government agencies, nonprofits, and other groups to bring about positive change in their respective arenas. (Sept. 19)

Leadership

A new report from Education Week shows that superintendents are playing a more assertive role in shaping classroom instruction. Leading for Learning: A Report on District Leadership finds that nearly three-quarters of superintendents state that the No Child Left Behind Act has brought district leaders into this larger instructional role. The report also indicates that large numbers of district leaders are making greater use of data to drive instruction. (Sept. 14) [free registration]

Teacher Quality

To mark the start of the new school year, clothing company, Jones Apparel Group, Inc., is offering T-shirts designed by artist Ryan McGinness to support the efforts of teachers. All profits from the sale of the T-shirts will go to "Jones New York in the Classroom," a nationwide program to improve the quality of education through the recruitment, retention, and support of public school teachers. Jones Apparel Group is committed not only to funding the program, but also to giving employees paid time off to donate their time to the initiative. Jones New York in the Classroom grew out of extensive market research with customers and employees to determine what issue was most important to them. Children and education were the top priorities.
(October 3)

Technology

Televisions, iPods, radios, cell phones, computers-the average American spends more time using devices such as these than any other activity while awake, according to The Middletown Media Studies 2 (MMS2), from Ball State University. The study also shows that about 30 percent of all media time is spent exposed to more than one medium at a time. A research team shadowed about 400 individuals for several months, collecting and analyzing data on 5,000 hours of media use in Muncie and Indianapolis (IN). (Sept. 26)