The Education Blog

Good news (via USA Today):

A wide-ranging higher education bill designed to protect college students from aggressive lenders and rein in soaring tuitions won congressional approval Thursday.

The passage marks the first time in a decade that Congress has reauthorized the main federal law overseeing higher education and the third time in less than a year that it passed legislation to make college more affordable.

The Houston Chronicle reports on litigation that has captured the attention of bilingual education advocates across the nation:

A federal judge’s ruling that Texas is not living up to its obligation to properly educate students who struggle with the English language gives hope to many of those children with dismal academic achievement, a civil rights lawyer said Monday.

The state of Texas is not complying with the federal Equal Education Opportunity Act, in that public schools are failing their obligation to overcome language barriers, Senior U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice said in a 95-page ruling on Friday.

“The failure of secondary (limited English proficient) students under every metric clearly and convincingly demonstrates student failure, and accordingly, the failure of the (English as a Second Language) secondary program in Texas,” Justice wrote in the opinion, which reversed his 2007 ruling in the case.

From Reuters:

The Higher Education Opportunity Act is expected to reach the House and Senate floors by Thursday, lawmakers said on Tuesday night after meeting on the bill. Each chamber previously passed its own version of the measure.

The bill would require lenders and colleges to adopt strict codes of conduct. It would also expand scholarship aid to students and increase funding for graduate study at institutions that primarily serve minorities.

In addition, the bill would boost college aid and support for veterans and military families by creating new scholarship programs and support centers for veterans.

USA Today reports on the continued impact of high fuel prices on public school budgets.  One survey cited in this article found:

15% of districts are eliminating bus routes and either eliminating or modifying extracurricular offerings or sports.

• 15% are considering moving to a four-day school week.

• 44% are cutting back on field trips.

• 29% are eliminating or modifying teaching positions.

The NT Times reports on the growing phenomenon of online ‘textbook piracy.’

The NY Times reports on the debate raging over the effect of new media, such as Web sites, on literacy among young readers.  For a scholarly (and ‘pro’) take on this issue, I recommend the work of James Gee, a linguist at Arizona State.

At least since the invention of television, critics have warned that electronic media would destroy reading. What is different now, some literacy experts say, is that spending time on the Web, whether it is looking up something on Google or even britneyspears.org, entails some engagement with text.

Few who believe in the potential of the Web deny the value of books. But they argue that it is unrealistic to expect all children to read “To Kill a Mockingbird” or “Pride and Prejudice” for fun. And those who prefer staring at a television or mashing buttons on a game console, they say, can still benefit from reading on the Internet. In fact, some literacy experts say that online reading skills will help children fare better when they begin looking for digital-age jobs.

Some Web evangelists say children should be evaluated for their proficiency on the Internet just as they are tested on their print reading comprehension. Starting next year, some countries will participate in new international assessments of digital literacy, but the United States, for now, will not.

Clearly, reading in print and on the Internet are different. On paper, text has a predetermined beginning, middle and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision. On the Internet, readers skate through cyberspace at will and, in effect, compose their own beginnings, middles and ends.

Young people “aren’t as troubled as some of us older folks are by reading that doesn’t go in a line,” said Rand J. Spiro, a professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University who is studying reading practices on the Internet. “That’s a good thing because the world doesn’t go in a line, and the world isn’t organized into separate compartments or chapters.”

Donald Leu, a U. of Connecticut professor quoted in this article, has posted links to various new media-related studies on his Web site.

The Washington Post profiles several educators who teach online K-12 courses:

Educators who supplement or replace their day jobs with online teaching for local public schools are discovering that the perks of working at home come with hurdles: grappling with awkward or confusing lines of communication with their pupils; gauging student performance without seeing facial expressions; and struggling to withstand the urge to check e-mails from students during weekends.

Online courses, mostly in high schools, have proliferated in recent years despite debate about their effectiveness compared with face-to-face instruction. The number of times students enrolled in distance education courses connected with public schools (using Internet, two-way video or other technologies) rose from about 317,000 in 2002-03 to more than 506,000 in 2004-05, the National Center for Education Statistics reported in June. That’s a 60 percent increase. In at least 66 percent of the cases, the report says, students earned credit with a passing grade.

Such students could be taking advanced courses unavailable at local schools, fulfilling graduation requirements or pursuing online schooling for other reasons. Prince William’s Virtual High, for instance, is open to all students enrolled in a regular high school and rising ninth-graders; it also accepts some home-schooled students.

USA Today reports on new research published in the journal Science:

[Janet] Hyde and her colleagues [at the U. of Wisconsin] looked at annual math tests required by the No Child Left Behind education law in 2002. Ten states provided enough statistical information to review test scores by gender, allowing researchers to compare the performances of more than 7 million children.

The researchers found no difference in the scores of boys versus girls — not even in high school. Studies 20 years ago showed girls and boys did equally well on math in elementary school, but girls fell behind in high school.

USA Today reports on the growing enrollment — and influence — of the US’ community college system.

Community colleges train 80% of the country’s police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians and more than half of its new nurses and health care workers. They are the go-to destinations for displaced workers and immigrants seeking language and cultural skills. Community colleges are where people most often go when they need to brush up on math or English before pursuing a college degree. And they have become increasingly attractive to families who can’t afford to send their kids to a four-year school.

This NY Times article provides an overview of a major debate raging in higher eduction – how to increase access to students from low-income families, especially in a time of dimishing federal financial aid.