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Education News for Thursday, July 6

`No Child’ Law Leads States to Weaken Student Tests, Study Says – U.S. states are "dumbing down" their grade-school tests, where high failure rates could bring penalties under the federal “No Child Left Behind” law, University of California researchers reported. (more)

Changing NCLB Is Top Topic at NEA Convention – (edweek.org–registration required) A majority of the 8,200 delegates at the National Education Association’s July 2-5 annual convention overwhelmingly approved a plan that would push for aggressive changes to the federal No Child Left Behind law, which is up for reauthorization next year. (more)

L.A. schools dispute becomes data battle – The high-stakes public relations battle over Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s bid to take over Los Angeles public schools has escalated into a duel as much over statistics as over politics. (more)

Kati Haycock ‘Takes Five’ – An interview in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel with Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, on closing the achievement gap. (more)

Revolution in the classroom? – A look at the parents and educators behind the first charter school in Ventura, California. (more)

Family-Like Program Opens Brave New Chapter for Black L.A. Students – A look at the Village, a program that follows the African proverb "It takes a village to raise a child." (more)

Teachers’ union seeks No Child revisions – An overwhelming majority of delegates from the nation’s largest education union approved a plan this week to aggressively lobby Congress for reform of the No Child Left Behind Act. (more)

Check back later for more education news.   

UPDATE:

Teachers matter – NYT editorial – The No Child Left Behind education act, passed by Congress four years ago, was intended to correct the corrosive inequality that has plagued public education from the start. (more)

Morgan Brown Named Head of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education– USDOE news release – The Assistant Deputy Secretary coordinates the implementation of the public school choice and supplemental services provisions of the president’s No Child Left Behind Act. (more)

Ed Week: Federal funds might be withheld from states for failing to meet NCLB testing provisions – (subscription required) The U.S. Department of Education has notified 10 states that it intends to withhold a portion of their state administrative funds under the Title I program for failing to comply fully with the testing provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act by the end of the 2005-06 school year. Those funds would instead be diverted directly to school districts. (more)

Ed Week: As deadline looms, report says states showing little progress in addressing teacher quality – (subscription required) By tomorrow, all states must submit revised plans to the federal government detailing what they plan to do during the coming school year to meet the teacher quality requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. (more)

UPDATE:

California Schools Could Lose Aid over ‘No Child’ Law – California has until Aug. 15 to come up with a plan to allow more students to transfer out of low-performing schools in its largest school districts. If the state fails to meet that deadline, the U.S. Education Department has threatened to withhold part of the $700 million it provides California for high-poverty schools. (more)