Education Week - June 10, 2015 - 5

REPORT ROUNDUP

single tribal school flexibility from
the mandates of the No Child Left
Behind Act.
The waiver for Miccosukee Indian School in Florida looks different from the comprehensive flexibility the department has granted
at the state and, in one case, district levels. The waiver will allow
the school to come up with its own
definition of adequate yearly progress. That doesn't mean Miccosukee necessarily gets wiggle room
on other parts of the nclb law.
The school is operated by the Bureau of Indian Education, which
is under the U.S. Department of
the Interior and generally serves
students living on tribal lands. It
serves just 150 students, but it's
the only school dedicated to the
Miccosukee Indian Tribe.

-ALYSON KLEIN

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such as shaking the tablet to simulate
an earthquake, and a "mixed-reality"
version that incorporated physical observation and interactive feedback.
"Students learned five times more
using the mixed-reality game, and
also enjoyed the game significantly
more," said researcher Nesra Yannier.

Per-Pupil Spending Found to Rise a Bit
"Public Education Finances: 2013"
After a three-year dip, per-pupil spending on public prekindergarten-12
education inched upward again in 2013, according to a report released this
month by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The report draws on data collected from responses to the 2013 Annual
Survey of State and Local Government Finances, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau to gather information on government finance activities.
It finds that states vary widely in per pupil spending on schools, ranging from a low $6,555 a year in Utah to a high of $19,818 in New York. On
average, annual per pupil spending nationwide was $10,700 in 2013, up 0.9
percent from 2012. Spending was heaviest in the Northeast, where all nine
states exceeded the national average.
More than 90 percent of the nearly $580 billion that school systems received came from state and local governments, and most of it was spent on
instruction and support services, according to the report. The authors also
cautioned that the data is limited by some inconsistencies, such as state
educational agencies using different accounting handbooks.
-JACOB BELL

PER-PUPIL SPENDING
BY STATE IN 2013
n Less than $8,000
n $8,000 to $9,999
US AVERAGE $10,700
n $10,000 to $11,999
n $12,000 to $13,999
n $14,000 to $15,999
n $16,000 or more

SPECIAL EDUCATION
"Assessment Results for Students With
Disabilities and ELLs With Disabilities"

N.C. Court Rules in Favor
Of Teacher Job Protections
North Carolina lawmakers violated veteran teachers' constitutional rights by passing a law that
would remove job protections they've
earned, the state's court of appeals
found last week. But the court rejected efforts to restore newer teachers' pathway to the protected job
status.
Under the 2013 law, legislators
sought to move from a system that
protected teachers from firing or demotion after they passed four years of
probation and earned "career status."
For more than four decades, veteran teachers were protected from
firing or demotion except for a list
of reasons that included poor performance, immorality, and insubordination.
-AP

RI
CT
DC

Charter School Leaders
Convicted of Bribery
An Ohio charter school superintendent and the school's board
chairman were convicted last week
of taking bribes from an education
consultant in exchange for an unbid
contract at a time when teachers
were taking pay cuts.
Prosecutors said Shane K. Floyd,
the superintendent; Christopher D.

Students with disabilities continue
to score much lower than their peers
on state tests, even as their graduation
rates inch upwards, a new report finds.
In 2012-13, students with disabilities
scored from 32 to 41 percentage points
lower than their peers on state tests,
according to the report, released last
month.
The gap was lowest in elementary
mathematics, and highest for middle
school reading.
The report, by the National Center
for Educational Outcomes at the University of Minnesota, shows that gaps
between students with disabilities and
their peers have barely budged from
2006-07 to 2012-13. -CHRISTINA A. SAMUELS
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
"Analysis of the Impacts of City Year's
Whole-School, Whole-Child Model on
Partner Schools' Performance"

Nev. Restricts Administrators
From Joining Unions
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, a
Republican, last week signed into
law a wide-ranging collective bargaining overhaul that prohibits
school administrators who make
more than $120,000 a year from
joining a collective bargaining unit.
It also makes it easier for superintendents to fire or transfer school
principals during their first few
years of employment.
The measure requires administrators who aren't principals but
are in unions to reapply for their
jobs every five years.
It also doubles the number of
negotiation sessions required
between a teachers' union and
employer before calling in an independent arbitrator to reach an
agreement.
-AP

-AUDREY ARMITAGE

Martin, the board chairman; and
Carl L. Robinson, who ran Global
Eductional Consultants, were convicted of federal-programs bribery
and conspiracy. Mr. Floyd and Mr.
Martin were also convicted of making false statements to the fbi.
The corruption case is tied to the
former Arise Academy in Dayton.
Prosecutors said Arise paid Global
Educational Consultants for a consulting contract in 2008 when the
school was unable to pay other vendors. Authorities said that, in exchange, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Martin
got cash and other benefits.
-AP

CORRECTION
An article in the June 3, 2015,
issue of Education Week on efforts
to develop measures of social-emotional factors for the National Assessment of Educational Progress
incorrectly identified Chris Gabrieli's role in the project. Mr. Gabrieli, an adjunct lecturer with the
Transforming Education project
at the Harvard Graduate School
of Education, is developing such
measures for a separate project
involving a coalition of California
districts.

Schools that participated in City
Year's schoolwide programs in 22 cities
were more likely to see overall improvements on their states' mathematics and
English/language arts tests than similar
schools that did not participate, according to a new report by Policy Studies Associates Inc.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census
Bureau
The study compared state test performance of schools which received
tutoring, after-school enrichment,
mentoring, and other services from City
Year in a whole-school program, with local compariSCHOOL NUTRITION
son schools matched on demographics and other
"Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition
factors.
Status Report"
City Year is a national nonprofit that hires youngadult AmeriCorps to spend a year working and runMore low-income children ate at federally sub- ning programs in high-poverty schools.
sidized summer meals sites in summer 2014, conIn the study, schools working with the program
tinuing a trend of growth in participation that were at least twice as likely as comparison schools
started a few years before, a new report says.
to show overall improvements in language arts in
During July 2014, the Summer Nutrition Pro- 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14, and in mathematics
-SARAH D. SPARKS
grams served nearly 3.2 million children-an in- in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
crease of 215,000, or about 7.3 percent from July
2013-says the report, released by the Food Re- HIGHER EDUCATION
search and Advocacy Center, an advocacy group. The
programs grew to serve 16.2 percent of the children "The Impact of Guaranteed Tuition Polices on
who participated in the National School Lunch Pro- Postsecondary Tuition Levels"
gram during the 2013-14 school year, the report says.
That figure was about 15 percent the previous year.
Illinois' efforts to control costs for college students

-EVIE BLAD
actually led to faster tuition increases, finds a study
set to appear in the August edition of Economics Education Review.
DIGITAL GAMES
Since Illinois enacted its Truth-in-Tuition law in
"Learning From Mixed-Reality Games: Is Shaking a
2004, the annual tuition rates at the state's 12 public
Tablet as Effective as Physical Observation?"
colleges and universities rose 26 to 30 percent more
than increases in other states not subject to a guarYounger students get the most out of digital anteed tuition law, University of Illinois researchers
learning games when the game combines elements found.
of both the real and virtual worlds, finds new reIllinois' increase was 6 percent to 7 percent more
search from Carnegie Mellon University.
over four years than was typical for other colleges
Researchers tested three different approaches to with similar missions and sizes.
teaching simple physics principles through educaWhile the idea behind the law was to help families
tional gaming to a group of 92 students ages 6 to manage costs, colleges often "frontloaded" tuition in8: a screen-based format; one with simple controls, creases to guard against inflation. -CARALEE J. ADAMS
EDUCATION WEEK | June 10, 2015 | www.edweek.org | 5

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Education Week - June 10, 2015

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