Parents Sit Overnight for Kids' Bilingual Program
He got into the Grateful Dead, the Police and the Rolling Stones without waiting in line overnight, but to get into North Beach Elementary, Eric Sachs camped out. ''If you're in the loop, you know about this,'' said Sachs, one of nearly three dozen people who waited in line 20 hours on Sunday and Monday to ensure their children a coveted spot in the Miami Beach's school's bilingual education program. Similar bilingual programs are offered at 68 other Miami-Dade elementary schools and are being expanded further, but none has quite the same community prestige -- or the same overnight lines. North Beach boasts excellent academic credentials -- it has received an A grade from the state every year since 2000.
Miami Herald, Apr. 12, 2005

Suit Seeks to Let Kids Take Tests in Native Languages
He's watched kids burst into tears, or feel like someone is picking on them. Denis O'Leary teaches in the Rio School District. His classrooms are filled mostly with Hispanic students still mastering the language. Yet when they take tests the state uses to gauge if a school is failing, all the questions are in English. So each year, O'Leary sees smart kids think they tested well, only to learn they did not. Each year, students ask if they can test in Spanish so they know the answers."As a teacher, what do you say?" O'Leary asked. "It's very depressing." O'Leary is joining a lawsuit against the state asking for English-learning students to be tested in their native language under the No Child Left Behind Act.
Ventura County (CA) Star, Apr. 8, 2005

Facing State Protests, U.S. Offers More Flexibility on School Rules
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings offered greater flexibility to states on Thursday in meeting the requirements of the Bush administration's education reform law, calling the changes a major policy shift. In her first national response to growing resistance among state officials to the law, known as No Child Left Behind, Ms. Spellings sought to set a new, more cooperative tone. She compared the law's tempestuous first years to those of an infant's experiencing "the terrible 2's." "This is a new day," she said. "States that show results and follow the principles of No Child Left Behind will be eligible for new tools to help you meet the law's goals." It was unclear whether Ms. Spellings's proposals went far enough to assuage state officials' concerns, though several state superintendents expressed approval, as did both national teachers unions and several members of Congress.
New York Times, Apr. 8, 2005

Official Warns Texas on School Testing
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings had tough words for Texas on Friday: Get with the program on testing special education students – or else. Ms. Spellings said that under President Bush's controversial No Child Left Behind Act, Texas education officials cannot continue to exempt 9 percent of the state's pupils – or nearly 500,000 children – from federal testing rules. "I intend to take a very strong approach to Texas," Ms. Spellings, herself a Texan, told reporters Friday in Washington, noting that she has authority to withhold a portion of federal education funds from the state. That could cost the state up to $12 million next year.
Dallas Morning News, Apr. 8, 2005

Connecticut to Sue U.S. Over Cost of Testing Law
The State of Connecticut will sue the federal government over President Bush's signature education law, arguing that it forces Connecticut to spend millions on new tests without providing sufficient additional aid, the state's attorney general announced yesterday. Although a handful of local school districts, in Illinois, Texas and other states, have filed legal challenges to the law, known as No Child Left Behind, Connecticut would be the first state to do so. Its suit would open a new chapter in a struggle between states and the federal government that has seen legislatures lodge various protests over the law, and at least one state education commissioner, in Texas, issue an order this year that appeared to directly contradict a federal ruling.
New York Times, Apr. 6, 2005

Educator Calls for More Funding, Better Teachers
To really "leave no child behind," we must give low-income and minority students better resources and better teachers, rather then simply depend on high-stakes tests and punitive sanctions, a nationally known educator says.
That pointed assessment of the federal No Child Left Behind Law from Linda Darling-Hammond set the theme for a three-day conference at Bryn Mawr College on "Educating All Children: Challenges, Possibilities, and 'No Child Left Behind.' " When provided with good teachers and comparable curriculums, she said, minority and white students do equally well. But "we have systematically structured what is now an apartheid school system... we have schools that might as well be in South Africa."
Philadelphia Inquirer, Apr. 4, 2005

A Lucrative Brand of Tutoring Goes Unchecked
Propelled by the No Child Left Behind law, the federally financed tutoring industry has doubled in size in each of the last two years, with the potential to become a $2 billion-a-year enterprise, market analysts say. Tutors are paid as much as $1,997 per child, and companies eager to get a piece of the lucrative business have offered parents computers and gift certificates as inducements to sign up, provided tutors that in some cases are still in high school, and at times made promises they cannot deliver. This new brand of tutoring is offered to parents by private companies and other groups at no charge if their children attend a failing school. But it is virtually without regulation or oversight, causing concern among school districts, elected officials and some industry executives. Some in Congress are calling for regulations or quality standards to ensure that tutors are qualified and that the companies provide services that meet students' needs.
New York Times, Apr. 4, 2005

Federal Data Show Gains on Language
The U.S. Department of Education’s first-ever evaluation of how states are meeting requirements for English-language learners under the federal No Child Left Behind Act can be looked at two ways. One view of the report, which was released to Congress last week, is that states have made great strides in laying the groundwork for schools to teach English-language learners. That’s the view of Kathleen Leos, the associate deputy secretary and senior policy adviser for the Education Department’s office of English-language acquisition. But another interpretation of the findings in the 503-page evaluation, which covers the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years, is that states have largely failed to meet the law’s requirements to ensure that English-language learners master academic content. “This report certainly accentuates the positive, and to learn the bad news about how the No Child Left Behind Act is working out, you have to read the fine print of a 503-page report,” said James Crawford, the executive director of the Washington-based National Association for Bilingual Education.
Education Week, Mar. 23, 2005

Progress Report on 'No Child' Law Shows Hits and Misses
As the No Child Left Behind Act furthers its influence on classrooms, a report scheduled for release this week sounds concerns about impending problems—from a lack of school choice options to inadequate staffing—that could undermine the law. The third annual report on the federal law by the Center on Education Policy includes surveys of the states and more than 300 districts, charts federal actions on implementation, incorporates the comments of three public panels, and reviews existing research to take a snapshot of the effect the NCLB law has had on achievement and changes in schools nationally. Although the independent Washington-based research group is pleased with the gains in student achievement, there are some warning signs to heed, according to the center’s director, Patricia F. Sullivan. One of the center’s top concerns is capacity, and it warns that many states and districts lack the funding or staff to carry out the law.
Education Week, Mar. 23, 2005

President's Budget Shortchanges Latino Students
With less than 60 percent of Latino students receiving a high school diploma and less than 10 percent a college degree, President George W. Bush is proposing severe budget cuts for educational programs.
These cuts will be extremely harmful to the Latino community. They will affect thousands of students from preschool through college, making it more difficult for our youth to graduate and succeed in a high-tech, information society.
La Prensa San Diego, Mar. 20, 2005

Federal Data Show Gains on Language
If the Legislature has its way, English will become the official language of Arizona. But away from the government offices and school classrooms where this would apply, the business of doing business in the state is quickly transforming Arizona into a bilingual state where English and Spanish coexist everywhere, from ATMs to car sales lots to billboards to pizza places, and even a Swedish furniture company. As the debate proceeds, businesses are capitalizing on the surge in the Latino population and going all out to win over Spanish-speaking residents. "The business world has discovered the Hispanic market is a viable market and is aggressively going after it," said Sergio Carlos, president of Grupo Ñ Advertising in Tempe, and former president and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "Business is going in the opposite direction of what some legislators are trying to do."
Arizona Republic, Mar. 20, 2005

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