Va. Backs Off, Michigan Restructures Schools, and Too Few of the Wrong Kids Transfer (NCLB in the News)

Once again, a state legislature fails to move decisively against NCLB: Bill Imperiling U.S. School Aid Killed by Va. Panel (Washington Post), Virginia Still a Part of NCLB (WHSV).

Looking just a little down the line everyone's soon going to be traveling, the Center on Education Policy looks at MI's experience "restructuring" low-performing schools: School Restructuring in Michigan (PDF). Keep an eye out for an upcoming report from the Piton Foundation in Denver about other cities' experiences with closing and reopening schools.

Meanwhile, NC and MI policymakers face tough decisions about whether to make tests harder or easier: North Carolina School Board Won't Adjust Sixth-grade Test Scores, Senate votes to toss high school MEAP (Detroit Free Press)/MEAP leaves some behind (Flint Journal); PA makes it easier to be highly qualified: Pa. Releases Regulations for Teacher-test Alternative (Philadelphia Inquirer); and WA ponders keeping things as they are: Washington state group maintains WASL standards (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

Some of this week's articles focus on low numbers of transfers: Few parents opt to transfer from failing schools (Los Angeles Times), Sharp decline in transfers to new schools (New York Times). Others focus on who might be leaving and the impact on those left behind: High Achievers Leaving Schools Behind (Washington Post), and the general effect of disrupting kids: Midyear moves affect academic life (CNN). Up in Boston, Supt. Payzant thinks BPS should be able to keep tutoring: Boston's Superintendent Cautions about NCLB's Mandated Tutoring.

Editorial: Utah needs a better alternative to NCLB The Salt Lake Tribune
Schools left behind Boston Globe
No Child Left in the Cold Los Angeles Times
NCLB Could Alter Science Teaching Education Week
NCLB: The Test (Rethinking Schools via PEN's Newsblast)