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The Evansville (IN) Courier & Press (2/4, Shields) reports on the Indiana Science Summit held yesterday, which "was designed to highlight the importance of making improvements to science curriculum in Indiana if the state's students are to fill jobs in blossoming industries that depend on a work force with a mastery of science skills." Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said students' test scores in the area "would need to improve," and that inquiry-based education could be a way to achieve this goal. "The next step for us is to continue from a state perspective to work with our partners to again make sure we develop inquiry-based instruction that is truly rigorous and relevant to a child's education and a child's needs so we are putting forward the next great generation of problem solvers," he said.

        Indiana's Paper Of Montgomery Country (2/4) reports, "There is strong research supporting the benefits of inquiry-based instruction, which allows students to explore and problem solve to develop deep knowledge and understanding of concepts-not just in science but every academic subject." The state "will adopt new science materials in 2011, and this presents unique challenges and opportunities to local schools and science teachers. The Summit stressed the importance of community, business, and philanthropic engagement to support this critical transition in the way science is presented and learned in schools across the state."

St. Petersburg Times (1/4, Ritchie) reports, "Nearly 200 people fanned out over the West Hernando Middle School campus on Jan. 23: students, staffers...even visitors from other counties" to help clean "the campus as part of the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day volunteer program." Volunteers can earn "one ticket to Walt Disney World or Disneyland...for at least four hours" of work. West Hernandez Principal Rick Markford saw the incentive as an opportunity to get people to help make the campus "look good" for an upcoming Quality Assurance Review Team visit "during the district's accreditation review." One of the "the challenges was clearing vegetation damaged by recent freezes." But, Markford said, "The biggest job being done is raking leaves and remulching. ... That's being done in every corner of the campus," he added.

William H. Mayes, executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, wrote in an opinion piece for the Jackson (MI) Citizen-Patriot (2/3), "A spokeswoman for the Michigan Education Association told the Huron Daily Tribune this month that when making budget cuts, administration should be one of the first areas examined by school boards." Mayes pointed out "that school administrators make an impact on students." They "make decisions" each day that can "keep students safer, push them to achieve more, and measure how well the system is working -- for everyone." Mayes added that he does agree that school boards should examine whether administrators "are well-qualified to lead." He concludes, "Michigan's school administrators are choosing to fight for creative solutions that serve children well."

The Naples (FL) Daily News (2/4, Donovan) reports on Enhanced Learning Through Music, a "free after-school musical enrichment program" at Pinecrest Elementary School in Naples, FL in which students in grade three through six learn "how to play mariachi music on violins and guitars. ... A Florida Department of Education study shows a correlation between student participation in fine arts courses, higher grade point averages and higher FCAT scores." According to the Daily, News, Judy Evans, director of the enrichment program, "believes that by learning how to play an instrument, the Pinecrest students will probably improve their overall academic performance."

The Providence Journal (2/4, Borg) reports that Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist has "joined state and local officials in" applauding Anthony Carnevale Elementary School in Providence, R.I. "for beating the odds. Carnevale "students here have made double-digit gains in the latest round of state tests: 17.1 points in reading and 15.6 points in math. The school has flourished despite formidable challenges: 88 percent of the children live in poverty, and 25 percent receive special education services."

The AP (2/4, Martin) reports that Indianapolis Public Schools will delay start times on Monday for one hour "to give bus drivers more time to get to work the morning after the Super Bowl." The district wanted to delay the start of school by two hours, "but changed course after the Indiana Department of Education said such delays should only be used for emergency situations." And, because the Super Bowl game "between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints didn't qualify for an automatic waiver for emergency two-hour delays, missed time would have to be made up," according to State Superintendent Tony Bennett.

The AP (2/4, Henry) reports that Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri's (R) state budget proposal "would expand a four-year-old program so it could offer $2 million in tax credits to companies that give money to Roman Catholic, Jewish and independent schools across the state." Meanwhile, the governor "wants to cut funding for public schools to close a ballooning state deficit." According to Carcieri, his plan is "justified since taxpayers would face greater costs if students in private and religious schools attended public school districts." But many state educators do not agree with the plan. Hans Dellith, interim superintendent of Pawtucket schools, said, "If he wants to give money to people who can afford to send their kids to private schools, he should not use my tax money to do that." Pawtucket stands to lose "$3.4 million under the governor's proposal."

Education Week (2/3, Gewertz) reports that at a meeting in Las Vegas, "representatives of the two groups leading the effort to design common standards said that states may not revise them or select only portions to adopt." According to Education Daily, some stakeholders "thought that meant states could craft a set of standards with 85 percent of the common standards and 15 percent of their own." However, officials from the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers "said that states must approve the entire common-standards document verbatim," but they may "choose to add 15 percent of their own material."

University of Virginia Psychology Professor Daniel Willingham writes in an op-ed in the Boston Globe (2/4), "In an effort to improve public schools, President Obama wants to hold individual teachers accountable for student test scores; indeed, states that prohibit the practice are ineligible for the 'Race to the Top' funds." However, "we do not have good tools to measure teachers, and when you hold people accountable with poor measures, things...get worse. The reason is simple: Accountability changes workers' focus from 'do a good job' to 'do a job that looks good according to the measure.'"

The AP (2/4) reports that Kansas state senators "have narrowly approved a nonbinding resolution stating that Kansas school districts should not use state tax dollars to sue the state for more tax dollars." The resolution came "in response to an effort by a coalition of school districts to get the Kansas Supreme Court to reopen a 2006 ruling on school funding."

In a "MisFits" column for the Washington Post (2/3), Lenny Bernstein writes, "With the adoption of new standards in the early 1990s, physical education was to be reoriented toward teaching kids the skills needed to stay fit for a lifetime." However, "it's too soon for any good research to determine whether the new orientation has had an impact." Also, schools may lack the equipment to support the new philosophy, and some "have responded to No Child Left Behind's mandate to raise student test scores by stealing time from PE." In contrast, Lincoln University once required students with a BMI of 30 to take a fitness class to graduate, but "activists pilloried the school for discriminating against the school's overweight students." Meanwhile, "the obesity epidemic continues unabated."

The Dallas Morning News (2/4, Hundley) reports on Hebron Valley Elementary School Teacher Dale Swall, who has been teaching "for more than half a century and has no plans to quit anytime soon." Now, at age 80, Swall teaches fourth grade. His career began in 1954, and he started teaching in the Lewisville, TX, school district in 1997. Throughout "his career, he's been a school superintendent and principal in Peru, a headmaster in Chile and a principal in Colombia, and has taught in Germany and Hawaii." Swall's colleagues "say the energetic octogenarian is dedicated to helping students succeed."

USA Today (2/3, Sarrio, Bazar) reported, "The expulsion of a high school basketball player who posted angry messages on Facebook highlights a growing debate over students' privacy and free-speech rights online. Taylor Cummings, 17, a senior at Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School" in Nashville, TV "logged onto Facebook at home on Jan. 3 and wrote, among other things, 'I'ma kill em all.'" According to USA Today, "School officials decline to discuss the case but say they have suspended and expelled students in the past for infractions that involved social networks, text messaging, e-mail and other technologies."

        Experts: Rights Of Student Expelled From Honor Society May Have Been Violated. The Tampa Tribune (2/4, Blair) reports, "Two Florida experts in First Amendment law" say the rights of Alex Fuentes, a senior at Wesley Chapel (FL) High School "may have been violated when he was kicked out of the National Honor Society over a Facebook page critical of the school." Fuentes said the Facebook page was created as "just a joke at first, though he was also frustrated that he was going to be graduating from a D school. Other students discovered the page and began adding their own comments - sometimes profane - about the school."

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