News Clips
July 10, 2008 – Washington Post – “D.C. students see big academic gains”
D.C. public school students made significant achievement gains during the past academic year, according to preliminary test data released on July 9. The math proficiency level for elementary school students increased the most, by 11 percentage points. Elementary students' reading scores rose by eight percentage points, compared with one percentage point last year. "We made every one of those decisions because we felt that this is what was needed to happen . . . so achievement can be maximized. I fully believe we will see the upward trajectory as long as we're making the hard decisions," said DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
July 9, 2008 – The Gazette – “Federal law offers schools flexibility in measuring progress”
The federal No Child Left Behind Act was largely viewed as strict when it was signed into law six years ago, but a provision announced this week has given Maryland leniency in the way it assesses its students. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings approved the state for a pilot program that allows it to differentiate struggling schools needing drastic interventions from those closer to meeting mandates of the No Child law.
July 7, 2008 – Business Week – “Charter schools get the test scores up”
Under Deborah Kenny, founder and CEO of the Village Academies charter school, test scores have improved dramatically in a part of New York that historically has had 75% failure rates – Harlem. Village Academies has gone from one school to three, and from several dozen students to more than 500. Nearly all are black or Latino. President Bush visited the schools last year, praising their performance and the impact of the No Child Left Behind education initiative.
July 6, 2008 – Washington Post – “Focus on school reform”
Al Sharpton has joined New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in heading a fast-growing national coalition of educators, politicians and academicians that aims to focus attention on the real issues of education reform. The Education Equality Project avoids the arcane language of policy in framing school improvement as a matter of basic human rights.
