Taking Root-In Some Places (NCLB News)

There are two big overviews of the state of play in re NCLB this week: Taking Root (Education Week), and More schools pass -- and fail -- No Child tests (Stateline.org).

Despite complaints and wishful, thinking, Washington insiders (and yours truly) predict that NCLB opponents have better things to do than hold their breath waiting for an NCLB rollback: Moving Past NCLB (Scholastic Administrator).

The rest of this week's NCLB news can be divided into four easy categories: (a) good "we can do it" news, (b) bad "it'll never happen" news, (c) tutoring, choice, and school improvement news, and (d) doom and gloom.

Good news:
Ohio Urban Districts Outpace State Test Gains Education Week
Maryland Honors Schools For Closing The Achievement Gap
Aggressive response lifts scores
Opinion: See? If Pushed, Kids Deliver USA Today
New Research Shows Some Math Practices Help Minority Pupils
Schools' ratings remain steady

Bad news (see also "Showdown in Chicago"):
New Jersey must double the number of students it tests New Jersey Journal
Feds reject Utah criteria for "highly qualified" elementary teachers
The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
Missing the grade Salt Lake City Weekly
School gets mixed reviews Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Federal, state report cards vary widely on Oregon schools Philadelphia Inquirer
Oregon's school ratings at odds
ISTEP scores stagnant as 1 in 3 fails test Indianapolis Star
''No Child'' rules: Utah's school plan doesn't include information by a subgroup as mandated by federal law The Miami Herald
State must devise tests to comply with No Child Left Behind Newark Star Ledger

Tutoring, choice, and school improvement:
Federal Law Spurs Private Companies to Market Tutoring Education Week
Online Tutoring Targeted at Rural Areas Education Week
Commentary: Outsourcing the Tutor’s Job Education Week
See also "Showdown in Chicago"
Suburbs get more pupils from Detroit CNN
Education Needs to Provide Additional Technical Assistance and Conduct Implementation Studies for School Choice Provision GAO (PDF)
Flawed instruction seen at state's failing schools Boston Globe
KIPP Tapped to Run Failing Denver School Education Week
Can State and Federal Government Better Support Low-Performing Schools and Districts?
Makeovers, Facelifts, or Reconstructive Surgery: An Early Look At NCLB School Restructuring in Michigan
Off with their heads!: A cure for underachieving schools
Washington Post

Doom and gloom
The Perfect Law: No Child Left Behind and the Assault on Public Schools From Dissent
The Perverse Incentives of the No Child Left Behind Act NYU Law Review
Over Ruled: The Burden of Law on America's Public Schools From Common Good