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Education News for Wednesday, June 21

Big city schools struggle with dropout rates – Students in a handful of big-city school districts have a less than 50-50 chance of graduating from high school with their peers, and a few cities graduate far fewer than half each spring, according to research released on Tuesday. (more)

US dropout rate high, but how high? –  The national dropout rate is notoriously hard to pin down, and the latest effort to do so – showing alarmingly low graduation rates in some parts of America – is likely to intensify the statistics wars. (more)

Report on Dropouts Boosts Villaraigosa’s School Takeover Effort – New study shows a 44% graduation rate for L.A. Unified. Villaraigosa refers to the report while promoting his school takeover effort. (more)

NYT: A third of U.S. dropouts never reach 10th grade – More than a third of high school dropouts across the nation leave school without ever going beyond the ninth grade, according to a report released here on Tuesday. (more)

Newark’s school choices grow bleaker –  As the school’s sole guidance counselor, Ms. Ameiorsano hadr particular reason for gratitude. Every one of her 35 seniors had been accepted to college, the third year in a row she had posted a perfect record. (more)

Check back later for more education news.

Update:

The holes of a voucher system– School choice advocates really want one thing — they want us to reimburse them for the costs of sending their kids to private schools, in many cases, religious schools. In this case we have a rant by Israel Teitelbaum, who is described as co-founder of a "grassroots" organization. In fact, in Morris County, there is little grassroots support for the breakup of our excellent public school system. (more)

Capturing Our Future –  The tide may be running in favor of Democrats in much of the country – though President Bush’s free-fall in the polls appears to have ended – but in Michigan, Governor Granholm, tabbed as a Democratic star only four years ago, is in deep trouble. (more)

Governor, GOP leaders procure their pets – We just have to pause for a moment to consider this startling fact from the proposed new state budget adopted early Saturday morning by the Arizona Legislature. (more)

Ohio Moves to Stem Abuse of New Vouchers– The Ohio Department of Education this month put school districts on notice that some parents have sought to game the state’s new voucher system for students in low-performing schools. (more)

Helping Children Move From Bad Schools to Good Ones – In May, the U.S. House of Representatives began hearings on the federal No Child Left Behind Act, with an eye to reauthorizing the legislation next year. Given the enormous gaps in achievement between income and racial groups, the central question is how the federal government can better support states in reaching the law’s lofty goal: making all public school children, poor and wealthy, black and white, “proficient” in reading and math by 2014. (more)

District pursues prekindergarten grant – The School Board Tuesday night approved an application for a grant for the program, which is expected to cost about $68,000. The money is awaiting the district’s completed application for the program for 24 pupils, district officials said. And by adding a small amount of money, the district hopes to open the program to more than 24 students and offer morning and afternoon sessions. (more)

Graduation Rate Exception: Hispanics – Connecticut has one of the best high school graduation rates in the nation but lags behind when it comes to graduating Hispanic students, according to a national study released Tuesday. (more)Graduation rates tell of two Minnesotas- Fewer than half of Minnesota’s black high school students end up getting their high school diplomas, according to a new study by Education Week magazine. That’s a graduation rate for black students that’s one of the lowest in the country, further evidence that a big achievement gap exists between Minnesota’s white students and students of color. (more)

Graduation rates tell of two Minnesotas– Fewer than half of Minnesota’s black high school students end up getting their high school diplomas, according to a new study by Education Week magazine. That’s a graduation rate for black students that’s one of the lowest in the country, further evidence that a big achievement gap exists between Minnesota’s white students and students of color. (more)

Ed. Dept. to Weigh NCLB Subgroup Issues – The Department of Education plans to re-evaluate how many students’ test scores districts and schools will be permitted to exclude when determining whether they’ve met annual educational goals under the No Child Left Behind Act. (more)

Education dilemma pushes many outside  -Now that they are expecting their first child, the Cuchras reluctantly are weighing a move to the suburbs, where they expect to find better public schools. (more)