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Education News for Thursday, April 20

A bar raised for all – In the first of a series, the Christian Science Monitor examines a Maryland school’s efforts to close student achievement gaps. (more)

L.A. Schools Plan Splits Capitol – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger backs Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s takeover proposal, which faces a battle from teachers unions, some legislators and other cities in district. (more)

Parents confident, teachers dubious about expectations – An AP-AOL Learning Services Poll found that Virginia teachers are far more pessimistic than parents about getting every student to succeed in reading and math as boldly promised by the No Child Left Behind Act. (more)

Doubts on New York City teacher incentives – Educators across the country said yesterday New York City is right on track with new housing incentives for hard-to-find teachers – but doubted that longtime veteran instructors would be swayed by the offer. (more)

Federal loophole excludes minority test scores under NCLB – Arkansas’ schools are not counting the scores of one in 14 students when they report the progress of racial groups, a study by The Associated Press has found. (more)

Check back later today for more news.

UPDATE:

Report questions severity of nation’s dropout crisis – Dueling reports offered sharply conflicting claims this week on the number of high school students, especially minorities, who drop out of school and fail to earn a diploma. (more)

AP-AOL poll finds parents confident about NCLB – Almost eight in 10 parents are confident their local school will get all students up to state standards in reading and math by 2013-14 (more)

GOP split could doom Missouri tax credit proposal – The measure – which calls for about $40 million in state tax credits for student scholarships – may hit the state House floor within the next few days. (more)  

Wisconsin NCLB performance data available to public – Even though Wisconsin public schools don’t face No Child Left Behind sanctions for the performance of subgroups smaller than 40 students, much of the data on the performance of those subgroups still can be viewed by the public. (more)

Denver Post editorial: All students should be counted – In Colorado, 32,416 students’ scores were not reported in separate ethnic categories in 2003-04. (more)

Thousands of Illinois students’ scores not included – Nearly 1,600 students in Rock Island County schools had test results not counted toward their school’s minority subgroups under a provision in the state law that critics are calling a loophole to "game" the No Child Left Behind Act. (more)

New Hampshire vouchers a recipe for chaos? – Giving tax credits to businesses that help pay for private school vouchers would be “a recipe for chaos,” the state’s top tax official said.. (more)

Nevada Democrats propose merit pay for teachers – State Democrats called for merit pay for teachers, full-day kindergarten classes in all schools and a state lottery to fund classroom supplies as part of a package of school reforms they’ll take to voters in the 2006 campaign. (more)

New Jersey state assemblyman blasts state funding – State Assemblyman Joseph R. Malone III has alleged that if the state doesn’t do something about school fnding, only "the filthy rich and the obscenely poor" will be able to live in New Jersey. (more)

New York offers housing subsidy to attract teachers – New York City will offer housing subsidies of up to $14,600 to entice new math, science and special education teachers to work in the city’s most challenging schools…. (more)

The 65 percent revolutionary – Patrick Byrne is the 43-year-old man behind the education spending plan storming the nation… (more)

Arizona governor says AIMS test hurdle still in place – Gov. Janet Napolitano said high school students shouldn’t read too much into a class-action lawsuit that tries to block use of the AIMS test as a graduation requirement. (more)