Today's News March 23 2006

Voucher supporters using NCLB, more SAT problems, big adolescent literacy grants from USDE, NAACP responds re lawsuit, and more.

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SAT Problems Even Larger Than Reported NYT
The College Board disclosed that after rechecking additional tests, it found 400 more students whose scores were too low.

Voucher supporters look to new ally USAT
Advocacy groups that support taxpayer-financed vouchers are taking a new tack: using requirements of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind school reform law to force the government to pay private school tuitions.

$30 Million in Striving Readers Grants Awarded U.S.D.E.
A total of $30 million has been awarded for the 2006-07 school year to support the implementation of eight Striving Readers Programs across the country, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today.

In Protest, Detroit Teachers Call In Sick AP
Hundreds of Detroit teachers stayed home Wednesday, forcing more than 50 schools to close in what school officials described as a sick-out to protest temporary pay cut.

NAACP Details opposition to NCLB lawsuit Hartford Courant
The NAACP's decision to back the law is an effort to guarantee that poor and minority children are represented in the courtroom argument over how it will be applied in Connecticut, he said. Still, Esdaile stopped short of an all-out endorsement of the law, the centerpiece of President Bush's school reform agenda.

Easy State Tests Sap US Education Bloomberg
As students throughout the U.S. undergo the latest round of tests this month, corporate leaders including Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel Corp., and Edward Rust, chief executive officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., say they're concerned about slipping standards among states. They're exploring whether to renew a decade-old push for national tests.

Tests show learning gaps between low-income students and peers AP (Vermont)
Overall, the results show wide gaps in learning between boys and girls and low-income students and their peers. In all categories, low-income students performed significantly worse than their peers. Less than half of those students were ranked proficient or better in reading and math and only 36 percent reached that level in writing.

~Margaret Paynich