K-12 Education and Technology in the News

Math Education in the News

HOT:  March 13, 2008: The National Mathematics Advisory Panel, created by President George W. Bush in April 2006, released the results of its study to the President and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on the best use of scientifically based research to advance the teaching and learning of mathematics.  The report, Foundations for Success: Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, contains 45 findings and recommendations for improving mathematics achievement for all U.S. students.  Its numerous topics include curricular content, learning processes, teachers and teacher education, instructional practices, instructional materials, assessments, and research policies and mechanisms. 

Of particular relevance was the development of a list of major topics in school algebra (see p. 16) and the critical foundations in K-8 math education for algebra: whole numbers, fractions (including decimals, percents, and negative fractions), and aspects of geometry and measurement (see p. 17). "School algebra is a term chosen to encompass the full body of algebraic material that the Panel expects to be covered through high school, regardless of its organization into courses and levels. The Panel expects students to be able to proceed successfully at least through the content of Algebra II" (Executive Summary, p. xvii).

Other HOT News:

HOT:  September 12, 2006: In response to the call for a more coherent curriculum, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics released Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics: A Quest for Coherence (NCTM, 2006a).  In its press release on September 12, 2006, NCTM indicated that this document identifies three important topics for mathematics at each grade level preK-8 and presents "a vision for the design of the next generation of state curriculum standards and state tests" (NCTM, 2006b, para. 3). 

HOT: April 5, 2007: The U.S. Department of Education released its report for Congress, Effectiveness of Reading and Mathematics Software Products: Findings from the First Student Cohort.  It received immediate reaction from leaders around the country concerned about the effectiveness of technology in education and results of this study.  A key finding noted in the Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. press release indicated, "On average, after one year, products did not increase or decrease test scores by amounts that were statistically different from zero."  Read this full report available at http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20074005/ 

HOT: 2007. Results are in for the National Assessment of Educational Progress: Nation's Report Cards: Mathematics and Reading 2007.

Mark Schneider, Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics, provided the following results in a press release webcast of September 25, 2007.  Tests were given in reading and mathematics from January-March 2007 to a sample of 390,000 students in grade 4 and 310,000 students in grade 8.  Results are available for the nation, each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense school system.  NAEP reported results as average scale scores and the percentage of students at or above basic, proficient, and advanced achievement levels.

At grade 4 overall findings from 2005 to 2007:

• Average reading and math scores increased.
• Higher percentages of students at or above Basic and at or above Proficient in both subjects.
• Scores up for White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander students. 
• White-Black score gap narrowed in reading, but not in mathematics.

 At grade 8 overall findings from 2005 to 2007:

• Average reading and math scores increased.
• Higher percentages of students at or above Basic in both subjects.
• Higher percentages of students at or above Proficient in mathematics, but no change in reading.
• Scores up for both White and Black students in both subjects and up for Hispanic students in mathematics.
• White-Black score gap narrowed in mathematics.

While it is not the role of NAEP to explain results, some who read the report might attribute gains to an effort to teach mathematics in a more rigorous way, an emphasis on use of precise language, and developments in continuous and coherent curricula.  Perhaps one explanation for a rise in grade 8 math achievement could be the rise of the percentage of students who complete algebra 1 in grade 8 from when NAEP was first administered in 1990.  Some might attribute gains to No Child Left Behind’s focus on reform, particularly at the elementary levels, or the more wide-spread use of data-driven decision-making for school improvement.

However, not every state made gains and much remains to be done to improve achievement of the many students performing at or below the basic and proficient levels.  Results must also be considered in light of the large demographic changes in the country over the past 15 years.  For example, there have been large increases in the Hispanic population in schools.  There is an increase in the number of English language learners and students with identified special needs.  For those states that did not do as well as expected, policy makers and the public need first to look at any demographic and economic shifts within their state before turning to education groups for possible explanation of results and examination of practices (e.g., inclusion rates).

Associate Commissioner Peggy G. Carr also commented about the results in her Q&A session StatChat.  Excerpts include:

• "NAEP's design is not capable of establishing a causal connection between teacher background and student performance."
   
• "...the scores reflect the performance of the current demographic distribution...The inclusion rates do vary over time and vary across states. Because the representation of samples is ultimately a validity issue, NCES [National Center for Education Statistics] has investigated scenarios for estimating what the average scores might have been if excluded students had been assessed."
   
• "IES is again planning to release two separate reports on American Indian/Alaska Native students [Spring 2008]. The first report will focus on student achievement in reading and mathematics. This year we will have results for 11 states with high American Indian/Alaska Native student populations. ...There are some mathematics and reading results for these 11 states (based on just their public school data) available now on the NAEP Data Explorer, which can be accessed at (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/)."
   
• If state testing results differ from NAEP, consider: "...there are many possible reasons why results from two tests may look different from each other. If you are looking at the percentage of students who have reached a level of proficiency on two different tests, it really depends on how proficiency is defined on the two tests and where the 'cut score' (or passing score) is set on each. You may be interested in a report we released on this topic earlier this year entitled "Mapping 2005 State Proficiency Standards Onto the NAEP Scales."
   
• "...a higher score in one subject than another does not necessarily mean that performance is better in that subject. In NAEP, scores for different subjects are not comparable. The score scales are set independently for each subject. So, for example, a score of 215 in reading does not necessarily reflect the same performance level as 215 in mathematics."
   
• "NAEP allows students with disabilities and English language learners to use most of the testing accommodations that they receive for state or district tests."

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Assessment and No Child Left Behind

The purpose of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is to "close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind" (107th Congress, Public Law 107-110, 2002, 115 STAT. 1425).  It requires states to assess students in math and reading each year in grades 3-8 and once during grades 10-12 to ensure that they are meeting grade-level content and achievement standards.  States should have annual math and reading assessments in place by 2005-06.  Until then they must administer reading and math assessments at least once during grades 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12.   States are required to begin testing in science once in grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12 beginning in the 2007-08 school year.  They must also participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in math and reading for grades 4 and 8.  A sample of students statewide will be used.  Learning First Alliance describes key provisions of NCLB and provides a timeline for implementation of major provisions of the law in their publication, The No Child Left Behind Act: Key Provisions and Timelines (updated July 2004).

W. James Popham (2004) encourages educators to discover just how appropriate your state's tests are for determining adequate yearly progress (AYP).  An appropriate test that is capable of accurately identifying AYP in students' achievement should have all of the following attributes:

• The test measures only a modest number of curricular aims (only about a half dozen) so that teachers are not overwhelmed by having to promote too many skills or bodies of knowledge.
   

• The skills or bodies of knowledge the test assesses should be described with sufficient clarity so teachers can plan their instruction to meet well-understood curricular aims rather than at particular test items. 
   

• The test contains enough items related to each assessed skill or body of knowledge to determine students' mastery of that skill or body of knowledge, thereby enabling teachers to identify those parts of their instruction that need improvement. 

Read more about No Child Left Behind and what is being done to implement this law:

•   No Child Left Behind: http://www.nclb.gov 
   

• In The Politics of No Child Left Behind, Andrew Rudalevige, assistant professor of political science at Dickinson College, details the context of NCLB and its evolution through Congress.  He stated, "No Child Left Behind was the cumulative result of a standards-and-testing movement that began with the release of the report A Nation at Risk by the Reagan administration in 1983" (2003, para. 2). 
   

• The full text of Public Law 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, is available from the U.S. Department of Education at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html.
   

• The Education Commission of the States (ECS) discusses issues related to NCLB to help stakeholders understand the legislation and its implications at http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/issue.asp?issueid=195.  The ECS also maintains a database on issues related to NCLB at http://nclb2.ecs.org/projects_centers/index.aspx
   

• The Education Trust provides general information on NCLB, adequate yearly progress, teacher quality, and contains a section of resources for making the law work at http://www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/ESEA.  Read the Summer 2004 updated report, The ABC's of "AYP," which addresses the myths surrounding adequate yearly progress.
   

• Robert Linn, Co-Director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, uses an example to walk the reader through the steps for determining adequate yearly progress in his policy brief #6, Requirements for Measuring Adequate Yearly Progress.  He discusses fixing the NCLB accountability in policy brief #8.  These and others are available at http://www.cse.ucla.edu/products/policy.html
   

• Schools that fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals for a third consecutive year must offer parents of low-income (Title I) students a choice of tutoring from among a state-approved list of Supplemental Education Service (SES) providers.  Get more information about state and local education association responsibilities, monitoring requirements and services, arranging for such services, the role of parents, provider responsibilities and funding in NCLB Supplemental Educational Services Non-Regulatory Guidance (June 13, 2005) at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/suppsvcsguid.doc.  Answers to frequently asked questions on school choice and SES are at http://www.ed.gov/parents/schools/choice/choice.html. 

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NCLB News Dates of Interest

January 8, 2002: President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.  Find out what this landmark legislation means for your state: http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2002/01/01082002.html 

February 13, 2002: the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation sponsored a Washington, D.C. conference "Will No Child Truly Be Left Behind?  The Challenges of Making This Law Work."  Papers prepared for the Foundation conference are available for download: http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/NCLBreport.pdf 

June 11, 2002: U.S. Secretary of Education Paige Releases a Report to Congress that Calls for Overhaul of State Teacher Certification Systems.  The No Child Left Behind Act calls for highly qualified teachers demonstrating subject matter knowledge to be in place in every classroom by the end of the 2005–06 school year.  According to this release, "To raise academic standards, the report calls on states to require prospective teachers to pass rigorous exams in the subjects they plan to teach.  Research shows that teachers with strong academic backgrounds in specific content areas are more likely to boost the academic performance of their students in those subjects."  The report also calls for institutions with teacher preparation programs to eliminate many of the rigid certification requirements, such as an extensive number of methods courses, and it examines successes in alternate routes to teaching.  Read this report:

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, Office of Policy Planning and Innovation, Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge: The Secretary's Annual Report on Teacher Quality, Washington, D.C., 2002.   Available: http://www.title2.org/ 

Summer, 2002: Read William Bainbridge's Commentary: Leaving Children Behind in the 2002 summer edition of Technos Quarterly.  According to Bainbridge, who lists among his credentials Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio, "In addition to recognizing the positive aspects of this legislation, however, it also seems prudent to be concerned about what the national legislation lacks. The concern is that measurement alone will not bridge the learning gap that exists between children from homes of various socioeconomic levels."  Bainbridge elaborates on his concern.

January, 2003: The Education Commission of the States (ECS) has developed the No Child Left Behind Database to provide policy makers and the public with an up-to-date status of how state policies are conforming to the requirements of the NCLB Act.  Access additional resources, such as ECS publications and state plans. 

April 9, 2003: The U.S. Department of Education and the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) released The National Leadership Institute Toolkit: States Helping States Implement NCLB.  This toolkit, which is designed to help states implement the technology requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, includes resources and best practices on topics including:

1. scientifically based research

2. technology literacy assessment

3. common data elements

4. effective teaching using technology

5. the national education technology plan.  

Get this toolkit at http://www.setda.org/ 

June 10, 2003: Every state has submitted an accountability plan to the U.S. Department of Education for ensuring that students are proficient in reading and math by 2013-2014.  Each has received a letter noting actions required to become fully approved.  View your state plan, which is posted at the U.S. Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html 

August 18, 2003:  Phi Delta Kappan, the professional journal for educators, posted results of the 35th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.  Conclusions reached by authors, Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup, include that, "The public sees itself as uninformed on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, with 69% saying they lack the information needed to say whether their impression of the act is favorable or unfavorable. Forty percent say they know very little about the NCLB, with an additional 36% saying they know nothing at all about the act."  However, "Responses to questions related to strategies associated with NCLB suggest that greater familiarity with the law is unlikely to lead to greater public support."  The report is available at http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0309pol.htm 

January 16, 2004:  The U.S. Department of Education issued Highly Qualified Teachers: Improving Teacher Quality State Grants, revised non-regulatory guidance to help state and local educational agencies meet NCLB's teacher quality goals.  "This Non-Regulatory Guidance explains how State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and State agencies for higher education can effectively use Title II, Part A funds to ensure that all teachers are highly qualified and effective, a critical component of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" (sec: Purpose of this Guidance, para. 1).  The document also includes clearer answers to the definition of a highly-qualified teacher, what is meant my core-academic subjects, and what is meant by highly-qualified professional development.  The document was revised October, 2006.

January 29, 2004: No Child Left Behind School Information Partnership Web Site Launched at School Matters http://www.schoolmatters.com/ The School Information Partnership focuses on state academic achievement results. The web site assists all states and districts with reporting on school performance as envisioned under NCLB. It also provides a suite of analytical tools from Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services and the National Center for Education Accountability’s Just for the Kids School Improvement Model to help parents, educators and policymakers use the NCLB data to make informed decisions about student learning. Among data are adequate yearly progress results for reading and math. The web site and its tools give stakeholders immediate access to useful information about the performance and demographic makeup of schools, as well as neighboring schools and districts. 

January 7, 2005: The U.S. Department of Education released a national education technology plan:  Toward a New Golden Age in American Education: How the Internet, the Law and Today's Students are Revolutionizing Expectation. The plan highlights seven action steps with accompanying recommendations for states, districts, and individual schools:

1. Strengthen Leadership
2. Consider Innovative Budgeting
3. Improve Teacher Training
4. Support E-Learning and Virtual Schools--

• This action includes among recommendations to "[p]rovide every student access to e-learning" and to "[e]nable every teacher to participate in e-learning training."

5. Encourage Broadband Access
6. Move Toward Digital Content--

• This action includes among recommendations to "move away from reliance on textbooks to the use of multimedia or online information" and to consider the costs and benefits of online content, "aligned with rigorous state academic standards, as part of a systemic approach to creating resources for students to customize learning to their individual needs."

7. Integrate Data Systems--

• The plan stresses, "Integrated, interoperable data systems are the key to better allocation of resources, greater management efficiency, and online and technology-based assessments of student performance that empower educators to transform teaching and personalize instruction."  This action step also recommends leadership to ensure interoperability by considering School Interoperability Framework (SIF) Compliance Certification as a requirement in all RFPs and purchasing decisions.  [Note from CT4ME: the SIF Web site explains more about SIF compliance and provides information about where to find SIF-certified applications.]

February 23, 2005: A special task force of the National Conference of State Legislatures released the results of a 10-month study in which they identified key areas of NCLB that need to be changed so that all learners can reach their potential.  Download the No Child Left Behind Task Force Final Report from http://www.ncsl.org/programs/press/2005/NCLB_exec_summary.htm   Selected recommendations below from this 6-chapter report are quoted from the Executive Summary:

Chapter 1: The Role of the Federal Government in Education Reform:

• Congress should create a revitalized state-federal partnership that acknowledges diversity among states and shifts focus from processes and requirements to outcomes and results.

Chapter 2: Adequate Yearly Progress:

Chapter 3: AYP: Students with Disabilities and Limited English Proficiency:

Chapter 4: Flexibility for States to Address Unique Schools and Districts

• Delegate flexibility authority in Section 9401 to states to allow to allow them to respond to the unique conditions of urban and rural communities.

Chapter 5: Highly Qualified Teacher and Paraprofessional Requirements

• Allow states to establish conditions under which exceptions could be granted to the highly qualified teacher provisions.

Chapter 6: The Cost of Closing the Achievement Gap: Compliance vs. Proficiency

• Substantially increase federal funding for the law. [The report notes that the federal government has dramatically increased spending on education since passage of NCLB, but the federal government's current share of education funding is only about 8 percent.]

July, 2005: Growth models considered.  In NCLB Update: Measuring Student Learning, an EDPolicy Update (volume 4, number 6) from ASCD, we learn that U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings "has insisted states strictly follow the law's requirement of testing students each year in grades 3–8, but new opportunities may open up for states that want to change the way they assess student learning" (para. 1).  "The U.S. Department of Education has convened a series of meetings to review whether states should have a new option to meet NCLB's assessment provisions. This option would allow states to measure individual students' growth from year to year. The current practice compares the performance of students in a particular grade with the performance of students in that same grade the previous year" (para. 2).  Pioneering states, concerns from policymakers and researchers, and additional resources on NCLB are provided.

March, 2006: The Center on Education Policy in Washington, DC released From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 4 of the No Child Left Behind Act (http://www.cep-dc.org/nclb/Year4/Press/). Research for this annual report  on the implementation of NCLB included a survey of all 50 states and a national representation of 299 districts, case studies of 38 geographically diverse districts and 42 schools, analyses of critical issues, and three national forums.  The summary of this report reveals four broad conclusions as to what happened during 2005:

1. NCLB has impacted teaching and learning.  There has been an effort to align curriculum and instruction with state academic standards and assessments.  Schools are making better use of data to assist with planning instruction to meet individual student and group needs.  However, there has been narrowing of curriculum in at least one subject area to accommodate an increase in time devoted to reading and mathematics.  Case studies revealed that teaching is becoming more prescriptive.  There is skepticism among the surveyed state and district officials as to whether the quality of teaching has been improved, even though teachers are meeting the highly qualified conditions mandated by NCLB.

2. According to state and local officials surveyed, scores have risen on state tests in a large majority of states and school districts.  Factors were attributed to the adequate yearly progress requirement of NCLB, but far more attributed gains to school district policies and programs.

3. Although there may be different schools each year, the overall percentage and number of schools identified in need of improvement has varied little. Percentages of eligible students exercising the option of school choice (less than 2%) and participating in supplementary education services (tutoring, around 20%) remains low over the last two years.

4. NCLB is increasingly having the greatest effects in urban districts.  A major reason is due to their diversity.  The majority (54%) of Title I schools identified in need of improvement are in urban districts.  Urban districts are more affected by sanctions because of their size and greater number of low-income students (poverty has been linked to achievement).

April 9, 2007: The U.S. Department of Education released Final Rule 34 CFR Parts 200 and 300: Title I—Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged; Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Federal Register. 72(67), Washington DC: Author. Available: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/finrule/2007-2/040907a.pdf.  The intent of this rule is to "provide States with additional flexibility regarding State, local educational agency (LEA), and school accountability for the achievement of a small group of students with disabilities whose progress is such that, even after receiving appropriate instruction, including special education and related services designed to address the students’ individual needs, the students’ individualized education program (IEP) teams (IEP Teams) are reasonably certain that the students will not achieve grade-level proficiency within the year covered by the students’ IEPs" (sec: Summary).  These amended No Child Left Behind regulations give states the option of developing alternative assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) to be administered to such students. 

December, 2007:  Readers interested in how states are developing AA-MAS as per the April, 2007 Final Rule 34 CFR Parts 200 and 300 should read:  Lazarus, S. S., Thurlow, M. L., Christensen, L. L., & Cormier, D. (2007). States’ alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) in 2007 (Synthesis Report 67). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, National Center on Educational Outcomes. Available: http://cehd.umn.edu/nceo/OnlinePubs/Synthesis67/Synthesis67.pdf.  "In July 2007 six states had an assessment either in place or in development that they considered to be an AA-MAS, but none had as of yet gone through the U.S. Department of Education’s peer review process. This study compiled and summarized information about these assessments" (p. 7), based on publicly available information at the time. State documents used in the analysis were from Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Maryland.

December 12, 2007. Growth models on the rise.  David Hoff (2007) reports that all states that meet federal criteria will now be allowed to take part in the U.S. Department of Education’s 2-year-old experiment with “growth models,”

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Other Education and Technology News Sources

ASCD News and Issues is by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.  Policy news, for example, addresses No Child Left Behind, Testing and Assessment, Teacher Quality, and other news.  You will also find ASCD position statements on key issues in education.  For daily news, subscribe to ASCD SmartBrief.  It's free.

ASCD has devoted a special section of their web site to the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act: ESEA/NCLB Implementation.  Access timely information as implementation unfolds in your state.  This is a landmark piece of legislation that ensures that no child in America is left behind, according to President Bush. 

Council for Exceptional Children provides up-to-date news, issues, information, and resources on special education policy, trends, and other developments affecting the education of children with exceptionalities and the professionals who work with them.

Distance-educator.com, written by experts, is devoted to providing information and resources for distance education. The site includes links to courses, how-to articles and 11 categories of daily news about distance education, among other resources.  News categories contain corporate and higher education e-learning, K-12, governances, and virtual libraries, for example.  A subscription to the Policy Brief Series enables readers to stay informed about intellectual property, faculty development, and student services. 

The Doyle Report is a free weekly publication covering key education reform issues and the technology revolution.

Education Commission of the States (http://www.ecs.org/).  From the Web site: "Policymakers interested in particular education topics generally can find what they need on the ECS Web site or can get more detailed information from the Clearinghouse. For further access to timely education policy news, ECS has two flagship electronic publications: e-Clips, a daily roundup of the nation's top education news and e-Connection, a weekly bulletin highlighting state policy trends, new reports, upcoming meetings and events, useful Web sites and ECS news. ECS also publishes three bimonthly, topic-specific bulletins including: Governance Notes, which takes a look at what's happening in the world of education governance; Citizenship Matters, which examines efforts to improve citizenship education in our nation's schools; and TQ Update, which provides information on improving teaching quality."

Education News Headlines, a weekly newsletter sent to your e-mail address from Education World, will keep you up-to-date with the latest education news. Sign up for this newsletter at http://www.educationworld.com/maillist.shtml 

Education Week (http://www.edweek.org/) provides news, special reports (including coverage of the the latest findings and trends in education research and the impact of technology on education), state information (key players, key statistics, legislative updates, and past stories), and access to Teacher Magazine.  You can sign up for a number of weekly or monthly newsletters, such as NCLB Alert, Curriculum Matters and EdTech Trends.

eSchool News (http://www.eschoolnews.com/) developed for K-12 decision-makers, covers all aspects of school technology news, events, issues, key players, products, services, and strategies. Also learn about the business and political issues impacting school technology.  Watch eSN-TV Tech Watch newscasts and the Visions of Innovation shows at http://www.eschoolnews.com/video/.

Math Forum Internet News (http://mathforum.org/electronic.newsletter/) is a newsletter sent out via e-mail once a week to those who subscribe.  You will get suggestions of good sites to visit for mathematics and key issues in math education.

The National Dialogue was conducted 2001-2003 as a national conversation about standards-based education and making sure that standards live up to the promise of leaving no child behind.  In response to this need two nonpartisan, nonprofit education research organizations (Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL and Public Agenda) teamed up to create and support community dialogues all across the country.  Conversations were then continued online.  Communities addressed accountability, achieving equity, assessment, classroom practice, curriculum, information and data management, leadership, policy, parent and community engagement, standards, teacher development and preparation, and local control and standards.  Read the initial outcomes in:

Goodwin, B. (2003). Digging deeper: Where does the public stand on standards-based education? [Issues brief]. Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. Available: http://www.mcrel.org/topics/productDetail.asp?productID=141

Public Education Network "places education in the headlines, and in the forefront of American minds, through coverage in national publications, press releases, and NewsBlast, PEN’s e-mail newsletter that gives a quarter of a million readers the latest in education news every week.'  Sign up for NewsBlast newsletter--it's free.

School Reform News from the Heartland Institute in Chicago, Illinois, is a national monthly outreach publication for school reformers.

TechLearning News is a weekly feature brought to you by TechLearning.com.  Technology & Learning magazine and Intel Corporation also sponsor K-12 Computing Blueprint, which focuses on one-to-one computing.  You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter.  Research results, funding, leadership, infrastructure, professional development, and curriculum information using mobile devices are provided.

U.S. Department of Education: Education News Parents Can Use is a TV series.  If you miss a show, Education News is available via archived webcasts: www.connectlive.com/events/ednews.

References

107th Congress of the United States (2002). Public Law 107-110: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Available: http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html  [NOTE: The pdf document, also available for download, has 670 pages with the first numbered as 115 STAT. 1425.]

Hoff, D. (2007, December 12). Growth 'pilot' now open to all states.  Education Week, 27(15), 1, 20.  Available: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/12/12/15growth.h27.html

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (2007, April 5). New report released on congressionally mandated evaluation of 15 educational technology products. [Press release].  Available: http://edtech.mathematica-mpr.com/Press/index.asp

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2006a). Curriculum focal points for prekindergarten through grade 8 mathematics: A quest for coherence.  Reston, VA: Author.  Available: http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=270 

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2006b, September 12). NCTM Releases Curriculum Focal Points to Focus Math Curricula. Reston, VA: NCTM News Release.  Available: http://www.nctm.org/news/content.aspx?id=686

National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008). Foundations for success: The final report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel.  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Available: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/index.html

Popham, W. J. (2004). All about accountability: Tawdry tests and AYP. Educational Leadership, 62(2), 85-86. Available: http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.a4dbd0f2c4f9b94cdeb3ffdb62108a0c/ [See archived issues October 2004.]

Rudalevige, A. (2003, Fall). The politics of No Child Left Behind. Education Next, (4), 62-69. Available:  http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/3346601.html

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