Education Week - May 6, 2015 - 4

NeWS IN BRIeF
White House Announces
Library, Digital Initiative
President Barack Obama last
week unveiled a pair of White House
initiatives aimed at increasing students'
access to public libraries and
boosting the ability of low-income
students to use the digital resources
available in those facilities.
The plan, supported by commercial
publishers, would provide more than
$250 million worth of free e-book
content to students from low-income
families, along with a second effort
meant to give all students in 30 communities,
and eventually nationwide,
a library card.
Both efforts are part of the Connected
program, a White House
plan launched in 2013 that has
drawn financial support from numerous
ed-tech providers and private
organizations, with the goal
of improving digital education and
Web connectivity.
-AUDREY ARMITAGE
Nonprofit Starts Campaign
To Push Education as Priority
Common Sense Media, a national
education and technology nonprofit
group, launched a $20 million project
last week aimed at prioritizing
education issues through a range of
legislative and political efforts.
Common Sense Kids Action will
focus on such areas as early-childhood
education, teacher training
and professional development, effective
technology use in schools,
career training and preparation for
students, student-data privacy, and
childhood poverty.
The campaign will push policymakers
in at least a dozen states
to replicate data-privacy legislation
similar to California's. It also
will try to increase broadband access
for students, schools, and lowincome
families.
-A.A.
Little Rock Chief Resigns
Amid Plagiarism Queries
The head of Arkansas' largest
school district has resigned following
plagiarism questions involving
his 2009 doctoral dissertation.
The state education department
said that Little Rock Superintendent
Dexter Suggs was resigning
immediately.
Mr. Suggs has a doctorate from Indiana
Wesleyan University. He told
local media that he had permission
to use a 2005 dissertation from the
University of Oklahoma, and that he
didn't think he intentionally committed
plagiarism.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Illinois Board Member Quits,
Citing Schools Chief's Hire
A key member of the Illinois state
board of education has resigned
over concerns about the way new
state Superintendent Tony Smith
was hired.
Board member James Baumann
said there was no national search
and only one candidate for the
state's top schools position.
Mr. Smith was appointed by the
board of education last month and
took over May 1. He is a former
head of the Oakland, Calif., schools
and has ties to Illinois Gov. Bruce
Rauner. At least two previous superintendents
were hired after a
national search.
Students will be identified using
-AP
Groups Pledge Millions
To Expand AP, IB Access
Education, nonprofit, and business
leaders are giving $100 million to
identify and enroll 100,000 low-income
students and students of color
in Advanced Placement and International
Baccalaureate classes over the
next three years.
The project is led by Equal Opportunity
Schools, a Seattle-based
nonprofit. Other donors and participants
include the College Board,
the International Baccalaureate
organization, and the Jack Kent
Cooke Foundation. (The foundation
helps support Education Week's
coverage of high-achieving lowincome
students.)
Nation's 8th Graders Flatline on NAEP in Social Studies Subjects
The nation's 8th graders have made no improvement
in their knowledge of U.S. history, geography,
or civics since 2010, according to results from the
National Assessment of Educational Progress released
last week.
Fewer than one-third of students scored "proficient"
or better on any of the tests, and only 3 percent
or fewer scored at the "advanced" level in any of
the three subjects.
The tests were administered between January and
March 2014 to a nationally representative sample of
29,000 8th graders at more than 1,300 schools across
the country. Students were last tested in the subjects
in 2010.
The results raised concern among some experts
about their implications for the future of the United
States and its place in the world. Some experts believe
social studies education has become an afterthought,
taking a back seat to more talked-about subjects such
as mathematics, English, and the science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics disciplines.
One bright spot was the improvement in Hispanic
students' performance. More Hispanic students are
taking the test, and the group has made gains in U.S.
history and geography since 2010. Their scores were
flat in civics. White students' scores improved in U. S.
history and civics and remained unchanged in geography.
The scores of black and Asian/Pacific Islander
students remained flat in all categories.
Although Hispanic students' scores improved,
achievement gaps still exist between white students
and black or Hispanic students.
-JESSICA BROWN
"deep data," student grades, and
surveys, in addition to test scores.
-CARALEE J. ADAMS
Three Ex-Atlanta Educators
Get Sentences Reduced
A judge last week sharply reduced
the sentences for three former Atlanta
educators who received the
harshest prison terms in the city's
test-cheating trial.
Fulton County Superior Court
Judge Jerry Baxter reduced the sentences
for Tamara Cotman, Sharon
Davis-Williams, and Michael Pitts.
Each was given three years in prison
and seven on probation. They were
also fined and sentenced to community
service. Originally, each had been
sentenced to seven years in prison and
13 on probation-or more than double
what prosecutors had recommended.
Each defendant also was given
a $10,000 fine, compared with the
original sentence of a $25,000 fine.
-AP
Training Program Offered
To Local School Foundations
A new program will offer the imprimatur
of certification for leaders of
local foundations created to help public
and private P-12 schools, inviting
leaders of those philanthropies to undergo
training on effective management,
networking, and fundraising.
The certification program is being
led by the National School Foundation
Association, a Naperville, Ill.based
organization that provides
training and support for leaders of
P-12 foundations.
The program is not directed at big
grantmaking foundations in education,
but rather small foundations
4 | EDUCATION WEEK | May 6, 2015 | www.edweek.org
KEEPING PACE
President Barack Obama walks
along Pennsylvania Avenue in
Washington last week with 2015
National Teacher of the Year
Shanna Peeples. The 12-year
veteran and instructional coach
teaches English at Palo Duro High
School in Amarillo, Texas. Most of
the school's students graduate,
despite widespread poverty.
formed at the local level with the
goal of helping school systems raise
money, forge ties with the business
community, and advocate on behalf
of local schools.
-SEAN CAVANAGH
Washington State Holds
Special Session on Funding
The Washington state legislature
began a special session last week
that is expected to emphasize how
to alter and increase funding for
public schools.
Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, called
for the session, in which lawmakers
are expected to debate proposals for
reducing class sizes in K-3 and provide
more money for instructional
materials and operating costs.
Last year, the state's supreme
court held the state in contempt for
its failure to adequately boost aid
to public schools in light of a court
ruling in 2012. The court has threatened
penalties if lawmakers do not
do so this year.
-ANDREW UJIFUSA
Miami-Dade Cuts Nearly All
End-of-Course Exams
The Miami-Dade County, Fla.,
district has decided to drop all but
10 of the 300 end-of-course exams
that used to be a state requirement.
Susan Walsh/AP
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Education Week - May 6, 2015

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