District Administration - April 2006 - (Page 46)

RIGOROUS PROGRAMS and Sen. Mike Enzi R-Wyoming , He cited the State Scholars Program yearly progress under No Child Left chairman of the Senate Health, Edu- that encourages states to push for Behind, he adds. The law as written cat ion, Labor and Pensions Commit- increased rigor in their schools. He appears to include them if they meet tee, wrote to Spellings in February added that the Pell Grant program also the requirements of the grants, he says. to make clear that this proposal aids the kinds of students lawmakers GETTING TOUGH continues to preserve the role of state were hoping to produce through the and local authorities in making all new competitiveness grants. A number of states already are decisions over school curricula. So essentially they are taking a toughening their curricula through T hey cited existing federal law significant amount of money and put- existing or new programs and the t he General Education Provisions t i ng it into a program that is redun- number is going to be climbing Act, Section 438 which provides da nt of programs already out there dramatically in the next year, says that No provision of any applicable that they could support and grow John Kraman, senior policy analyst program shall be construed to autho- with the same money, Carr says. with Achieve, Inc., a bipartisan r i ze any department, agency, officer nonprofit organization that helps WHO'S ELIGIBLE? or employee of the U.S. to exercise states raise academic standards. any direction, supervision, or control The new program will prove to be a In conjunction with the National over the curriculum ... of any school positive policy shift in the long term, Governors Association, it hosted a or school system... We believe this language prohibits the secretary from They can implement something the day after establishing any curriculum in any school, public or private, Boehner tomorrow if they have to, but it will be like an and Enzi wrote. The secretary's role is merely to recognize that the state airplane taking off with all the overhead bins educational agency, local educational open. Stuff will be flying all over the place. agency, or school has established what a rigorous secondary school program of study means for that Terry Hartle, senior vice president, American Council of Education state, district or school. CHARTER CONCERNS National Education Summit on High says Ross Wiener, director of policy for T he lawmakers also sought to allay Schools in Washington last winter. The Education Trust, a Washington- concerns by some that the program As the Department of Education based research and advocacy group. may exclude students attending pri- tries to figure out how to make the What we used to think of as vate, charter or home schools. We new competitiveness grant program a college prep curriculum has rel- again want to be perfectly clear that work in practice, education orga- eva nce for people today no mat- the intent of this language is to offer n i zat ion s in Washington are pre- ter what their plans are after high competitiveness grants to those stu- pa r i ng to provide their own input. school. Kids who go straight into the dent s who qualify by completing a We have a responsibility to raise workforce are going to be better off rigorous course of study, regardless the questions and force the issue at if they have taken that rigorous aca- of the school they attended, Boehner every turn, says Hunter. Our only dem ic curriculum, Wiener explains. and Enzi declared. hope now is to raise the questions A n immediate question, he contin- A week after Congress enacted the when the regs come up and then to ues, is how to make this work fairly legislation containing the new program, see if sometime in the next year or and efficiently in the short term. House Republicans elected Boehner to two we can get a repeal. Many current students might need be House majority leader, succeeding We have indicated to department to add courses in high school to be Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas. Rep. Howard staff that we stand ready to work eligible for the new grants and you P. Buck McKeon of California was with them to implement this program would hope there would be a way to expected to succeed Boehner as Educa- as quickly and efficiently as possible, make sure that as many students as tion Committee chairman. says Ward. However, for all the rea- possible have the opportunity to take In some ways, Carr says, the new sons stated above, we think the task advantage of this expanded fi nancial ahead is formidable. DA competitiveness program is quite a aid, Wiener says. bit redundant because other existing They should include students in programs already do the same thing. schools that fail to make adequate Alan Dessoff is a contributing editor. 46 April 2006 District Administration highperforming.w.indd 46 3/20/06 10:50:27 AM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2006

Contents
Editor's Letter
Letters
Update
Inside the Law
Curriculum Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Measuring Value
Budget Talk
Underfunded
Are Your Schools Competitive?
Back from the Brink
Rigorous Expectations
Getting Connected
How to Get Your Bond Passed
The Online Edge/Odvard Egil Dyrli
Speaking Out/Gary Stager
Research Corner
Problem/Solution
Leadership Books
New Products
By the Numbers

District Administration - April 2006