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Education News for Wednesday, July 5

Union moves to lobby Congress for change – With a thundering shout of ”aye,” an overwhelming majority of delegates from the nation’s largest education union approved a plan Monday to aggressively lobby Congress for reform of the No Child Left Behind Act. (more)

More than 2,500 in Ohio apply for school vouchers – 2,568 students statewide have applied for the new Ohio EdChoice voucher program. (more)

Analyst: Boys in `real trouble’ – An economist and editor in New Mexico disagrees with a recent study downplaying the so-called "boy crisis" in America. (more)

Florida system ensures schools fulfil their role – An Australian columnist takes a look at Florida education reform. (more)

‘Academic Redshirting’ Is Getting a Mixed Report Card – The popular practice of delaying schooling is not necessarily helpful, researchers say. (more)

Public benefit – Editorial: Leaders of both the city of Los Angeles and the L.A. Unified School District seem to have lost sight of an important fact as they squabble over funds: The money belongs to the public that both government entities serve. As such, the two bureaucracies should be on the same side. (more)

National Education Association does not help teachers – Letter to the editor: Educators are blamed for all the lame politics of the school board while the NEA stands idly by. (more)

Check back later for more education news.   

UPDATE:

The good news about K-12 education in Balitimore – Sad news abounds about Baltimore City public schools, including students’ shockingly low test scores and notice that Bonnie Copeland, CEO of the school system, will depart this week. But happy news does exist about effective schooling alternatives for low-income local families. (more)

Full speed ahead for Children’s Scholarship Fund – The Erickson Difference” is the mantra of Bob Erickson’s flagship retirement community Charlestown in Catonsville.  But this past Wednesday, Bob and Nancy Erickson were making a difference of another kind. (more)

Will, not money, brings improvement – Let’s look at the recent "Nation’s Report Card," published annually by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Nationally, in reading, only 13 percent of black fourth-graders and 11 percent of black eighth-graders score as proficient. (more)

More facts to belie myth that schools are beyond repair – THE POLITICIANS have been so busy arguing over whether to give up on our public schools that most people failed to take proper note of how busy those schools have been climbing to the top of some pretty impressive national rankings. (more)

Teachers Unions and Public Schools: Who Needs ‘Em? – It’s healthy at moments such as this, when powerful forces clamor for quick and sweeping reform, to reconsider tenacious ideas, even those that the collective wisdom has deemed insane if not satanic. (more)

School choice offers much – Polling indicates that 90 percent of Arizonans approve of school choice and the Legislature was apparently paying attention. (more)

Voucher theft defendants to get new trial – Three Christian school employees accused of stealing thousands in school voucher money will be retried after a Polk County jury deadlocked to end a seven-week trial. (more)

Wheels of education reform start to turn today – Education policymakers are busy figuring out how to implement a complicated education reform bill that takes effect today, although students won’t notice the difference until this fall. (more)

Maine in violation of No Child Left Behind – The federal government says parts of Maine’s educational assessment system, including giving all 11th-graders the SAT, don’t comply with the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act and is giving the state 20 days to show it’s making improvements. (more)

Educators Send Message on No Child Left Behind Act – A few educators surveyed by the nation’s largest teachers’ union would like to throw out the entire No Child Left Behind education act. (more)

Disabled girl wins round in ed funds fight  – A family whose quest for special education services was championed a decade ago by President Bill Clinton has taken their latest battle to the federal courts, where a judge gave them a temporary repr
ie
ve. (more)

Bronx Sixth Graders Master Mysteries of the Biology Regents – New school for applied math and science has 11 and 12-year-olds scoring well on high school biology exams. (more)

Blame game topic: failing schools – Threats from Florida’s education commissioner to crack down on low-performing schools could lead to a showdown with Miami-Dade’s superintendent. (more)