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The New York Times (1/21, A18, Dillon) reports, "Thousands of public schools stopped teaching foreign languages in the last decade," according to survey conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics. However, "another contrary trend has educators and policy makers abuzz: a rush by schools in all parts of America to offer instruction in Chinese." According to the Times, "No one keeps an exact count, but rough calculations based on the government's survey suggest that perhaps 1,600 American public and private schools are teaching Chinese, up from 300 or so a decade ago. And the numbers are growing exponentially."

The Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion (1/21, Paradise) reports that the Chambersburg school district in currently considering school uniforms as a solution to the problem of students bullying other students over clothing. "According to information from" NAESP, the Public Opinion adds, "about 20 percent of public schools currently have a school uniform or uniform policy, with the majority of those being in metropolitan areas." Recently, however, "the trend" has been "creeping into rural areas as well."

The Palm Beach (FL) Post (1/21, Duret) reports that "as rescue crews are ending their searches for survivors at...collapsed school buildings" throughout Port-au-Prince, "educators are struggling to figure out what to do with thousands -- if not hundreds of thousands -- of school-aged children who no longer have a school to attend." Bernard Augustin, director of St. Jean school, said, "We are all powerless in front of what has happened here." He "wonders not only when, but also if" his school will be rebuilt. The Palm Beach Post adds, "Even if administrators could manage to hold classes outside in what used to be the school's courtyard, the debris hanging from the building and the growing stench from the dead bodies trapped below would make learning impossible here."

Pennsylvania's Times-Tribune (1/20, Hall) reported that through a unique pen-pal program taking place in Susan Mancus' class at Frances Willard Elementary School in Scranton, PA. "The project is based on the 1964 children's book "Flat Stanley," in which [a] boy is flattened by a bulletin board but then realizes he can visit friends and relatives by mailing himself in an envelope." Mancus' students sent "Flat Stanleys" to relatives and family friends. "When a Stanley was returned, the students learned about where he had visited, calculated how many miles he traveled and then wrote about the experience."

Pennsylvania's Times Leader (1/20, Seder) reported that this week, fourth graders "from the State Street Elementary School in the Wyoming Valley West School District" participated in a program at Wilkes University in which they learned science lessons taught by university professor Jeffrey Stratford "and a half-dozen other professors." Debra Chapman, "a biology professor who started the program" eight years ago, said the program offers "the equipment and personnel you don't find in an elementary school." The project this week "included [an] owl pellet observation, a crime scene investigation exercise, testing food samples for simple sugars, starch, fat and proteins and finding out the effects of exercise on heart rates."

The Tampa Tribune (1/21, Whittenburg) reports that according to Florida Chancellor of K-12 public schools Frances Haithcock, the state "satisfying [the state's] graduation requirements -- but not exceeding them -- prepares high school students for ...remedial coursework at a community college." Said Haithcock, "We are not transparent to our parents about what a diploma in Florida means." He asserted that "Florida's math and science standards in particular are too vague and too low." Of the four required high school math courses, "the most challenging course is Algebra I," said the chancellor, adding, "There are science courses -- three of them -- not defined. That is unacceptable." The Tampa Tribune notes, however, that state lawmakers are in the process of revising the standards to make them more challenging for students.

The Arizona Republic (1/20, Kossan) reported, "In an effort to win a share of the largest federal education grant ever awarded, Arizona is offering, among other things, to base up to 50 percent of a teacher's job evaluation on his or her students' academic progress each year." Also, the state "to shut down more chronically failing schools and to expand its data system so researchers can track each student's progress from preschool through college." These were proposals were among many submitted by the state for "the Obama administration's $4 billion Race to the Top grant." On Tuesday, "Gov. Jan Brewer's office released a copy of the 300-page application." Chuch Essigs of Arizona ASBO said that "when schools look at the Race to the Top grant," they'll see that they will "have to do most of it anyway, so why not get the extra money to do it." The Arizona Republic lists Some "key proposals" included in the application.

        Colorado Promises To Adopt Teacher Merit Pay. The AP (1/20, Slevin) reported that amid a push for Race to the Top funds, Colorado "vowed Tuesday to expand merit pay for teachers, change how educators are evaluated, and hire more Teach for America national service recruits as it tries to win $377 million in federal funding for schools." Colorado's Race to the Top bid "was backed by more than two-thirds of Colorado's public school districts, which account for 94 percent of its 802,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students, along with the teachers union."

        WSJ: Only Reward True Reformers With Race To The Top Funds. Wall Street Journal (1/21) urges Secretary of Education Arne Duncan not to award Race to the Top grants to states that show mediocre education progress or allow political considerations to influence grant decisions. The Journal urges Duncan to award more grant money to fewer states with outstanding applications, rather than less money to more states in order to spread the grant money around to include states governed by both Republicans and Democrats.

The AP (1/21, Woodward) reports that education reform may benefit from the results of the Massachusetts Senate race, which left Democrat lawmakers one Senator short of "the necessary 60 votes" needed to pass legislation. "Congress is overdue to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, and Obama shares a number of goals in this area with Republican lawmakers," the AP says. Meanwhile, labor unions are seen as being at a disadvantage by the new distribution of Republican versus Democrat Senators. "Just last week, unions worked out a deal with the White House to soften the impact of taxes on union health plans that would help pay for health care reform. Whether that deal can survive is now in question."

New Hampshire's Union Leader (1/20) editorializes that Manchester "Mayor Ted Gatsas and Superintendent Tom Brennan wrote to the state Education Department last week asking that the 'English as a Second Language' (ESL) students be exempted from state testing for two years," saying, "We believe the requirement to include immigrant/refugee students in the NECAP testing process as it is currently designed to be an unrealistic expectation." The Union Leader asserted, however, "NCLB is full of unrealistic expectations." Still, it added, "the kids still must be tested. NCLB mandates testing for ESL and special-needs kids because districts used to pad test scores by excluding them." Schools must educate "all kids, not just the advanced ones." If ESL students are not tested, the Union Leader says, "They would get left behind and never catch up." It is up to the city "to figure out how to educate these children," it concludes.

The New York Times (1/21, A32, Rivera) reports, "More than one third of Manhattan's public school buildings have hazardous code violations, including many that have gone unresolved for years, threatening the safety of children and teachers, according to a report by the Manhattan borough president's office." According to the Times, the report, scheduled for release Thursday, "offers a cutting assessment of the New York City Buildings Department, the much-maligned agency responsible for building safety, which has been stung by charges of corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency."

The Christian Science Monitor (1/20, Wood) reported that on Wednesday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "met with the California congressional delegation and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius" in Washington, DC. He was in the city to present his case for $6.9 million in additional federal funding for California, including $1 billion for education. The governor's case "rests on arguments that California gets unfair treatment from Washington." Many political experts, however, doubt that Schwarzenegger will secure the funds. "US Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D) of California told KQED Public Radio Wednesday, 'The whole premise that somehow California is being disproportionately treated is just false.'"

The Dallas Morning News (1/21, Unmuth) reports, "The Irving school district plans to build an energy-efficient eighth middle school that will produce as much energy as it uses." Dubbed "net zero," the building model features "solar panels and wind turbines [that] will help provide power," extra "insulation, and high-efficiency windows." To add to the roughly $24.7 million the district already had "set aside in bond funds for construction of the 150,000-square-foot school," Irving also "wants to raise more funds from other sources." Said Superintendent Scott Layne of net zero, "It's going to be a completely different type of school. ... The kids will actually experience the types of technology that are being used to power the building." The Dallas Morning News adds, "Construction could begin as soon as late March, with the school opening in fall 2011."

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