District Administration - December 2008 - (Page 10)

Briefings Newsupdate PeoPle Watch PROMISING CHANGE Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States. His education agenda includes a universal pre-kindergarten plan, teacher pay raises tied to test scores, and an overhaul of NCLb to better measure student progress. by Zach Miners NCLB Gets Last Makeover under Bush—but Is It Better? Secretary of education Margaret Spellings issued in october the longawaited final regulations to strengthen the no child Left Behind law, focusing on improved accountability and transparency, improved parental notification for supplemental services and school choice, and a new requirement that states use a uniform graduation rate calculation. under the new regulations, all states will use the same formula to calculate how many students graduate from high school on time and how many drop out. “We haven’t really tackled high school accountability, and this is a giant step toward doing that,” Spellings said in an interview with the associated Press shortly after the announcement. Schools will have to meet annual targets for improving graduation rates, but states will be the ones that set the targets, which will be the same for all schools in that state. according to the education trust, a national nonprofit education group, more than half the states have targets that don’t make schools any better. The uniform graduation rate requirement comes from a 2005 meeting of the country’s governors, during which they agreed to adopt a more accurate graduation rate. at this time only 16 states have such calculations, says the doe. But the governors did not envision such a tracking system being used by federal officials to hold schools accountable, says the national Governors association. The group has not yet said how it views the new rules. Some experts are questioning why the new regulations are being put out right before the end of the Bush administration, saying that it will create huge levels of confusion and uncertainty when there are already budget cuts and pressures facing schools. HIGH HOPES Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey has launched a campaign to address the state’s dropout problem. The plan calls for additional academic requirements and regional conferences to discuss prevention strategies and collect feedback. President Bush with students shortly after signing NCLB into law. UNDER FIRE Dallas schools superintendent Michael Hinojosa says he has no intention of resigning, despite continued criticism of his administration. The district is struggling to rectify an $ 84 million budget deficit, which he promises to fix by year’s end. GIRLS AGAINST BOYS boston schools superintendent Carol R. Johnson’s plan for single-gender academies may be illegal under state law. Johnson may consider splitting male and female students into separate classes within schools, a legally sound alternative. INDIVIDUALIZED LEARNING Clayton Christensen, author and Harvard business professor, has penned a new book, Disrupting Class. The book argues for a more “customized,” rather than standardized, approach to teaching. a panel of doe officials held a media Webcast in late october on the new regulations. When asked why the changes were only being made now, Kerri Briggs, assistant secretary at the office of elementary and Secondary education, responded that because “last year’s reauthorization never took place,” a lot of time has been spent building on Spellings’ work and travels around the country, as well as feedback from educators and policymakers and polling results. “We are hopeful these new regulations will take ncLB to the next step toward sound reauthorization,” she added. doe officials say that if congress decides to amend the education law under the new administration, the new regulations may well be impacted. But the elementary and Secondary education act—the basis of ncLB—“will not go away,” says amanda farris, doe deputy assistant secretary. The new regulations came into effect at the end of last month. However, the individual provisions each have their own timelines, and on the whole, the changes will not be implemented until the 20092010 school year. District Administration 10 December 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - December 2008

District Administration - December 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
News Update
College Preparatory
Security
Technology
District Profile
Administrator Profile
DA Web Seminars
Desperately Seeking Special Ed Teachers
Special Education’s Challenges
Building the Best Auditorium
Leading the Way
Righting the Writing Process
Sharpening a District’s Leadership Model
TCEA
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Problem Solution
Professional Opinion
Research Center
Calendar of Events
Online Edge

District Administration - December 2008