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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (2/8) reports that "for nearly a decade, Atlanta's Kennedy Middle School" has had poor test scores, low teacher morale, and myriad discipline problems. Now, however, the school "is no longer one of 278 Georgia schools failing to meet student achievement standards under the federal No Child Left Behind Law." It "is one of 17 Georgia schools that recently worked its way off the 'needs improvement' list after five or more years." To do this, Kennedy focused "on the students who were struggling most and, in some cases," extended "the learning day to include after-school time and Saturdays." Said Kennedy principal Lucious Brown, "It felt almost like my 16th birthday when I received my first car. ... When you hear those scores and discover you're off the list it's awesome, truly awesome."

WHAS-TV Louisville, KY (2/7, Murphy) reported that "Lincoln County Schools, a district about two hours away from Louisville, still uses paddling as a means to punish students who misbehave." However, parents must first "sign off on the measure" before a principal is permitted to "paddle a student." Also, "two witnesses must be present during the paddling and a student is usually only paddled once during their tenure at a school." Said Dan Story, principal of Stanford Elementary, "Anytime we paddle a child we are treating them just like it's our own child. ... We've just seen it be very effective when other areas like taking away recess or putting them in detention may not work as a last resort." WHAS noted that according to "a study by the Center for Effective Discipline...22 states still participate in corporal punishment."

The Indianapolis Star (2/6, Becker) reported that during football season, third-grade students in Chad Wallace's class at Allisonville Elementary School "Indianapolis' Washington Township" wore their Jerseys each Friday. Wallace used "Colts game statistics to create word problems for his Go Blue Math curriculum." For the activity, students formed "their own problem-solving teams with fun names, such as Manning's Math Magicians, named after quarterback Peyton Manning." After Wallace read the "word problems relating to Colts stats. Then students" were given "four minutes to work the problem on their own, including a two-minute warning." When the four minutes were up, they gathered "with their teams." Wallace noted that "when working in groups, they learn interactive skills, including how to convince peers that their answer is correct."

The Washington Post Magazine (2/7, Ly) reported that four years ago, Mary Ruth McGinn, a teacher at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD "won a Fulbright fellowship to Madrid to train educators to integrate opera into their lesson plans. ... McGinn is back in Silver Spring, helping another second-grade class create an opera, this time at Jackson Road Elementary." McGinn "keeps in touch with the teachers in Spain and continues to develop training materials for schools there."

The Chicago Tribune (2/8, Ahmed-ullah, Reporter) reports that last month, Beye Elementary in Oak Park Illinois "came under criticism" after what some parents saw as "an effort to prevent anti-gay slurs in the classroom turned into a tug-of-war over whether teachers should discuss same-sex relationships with children as early as kindergarten." The debate "began after Beye's school improvement team set a priority of helping teachers and staff deal with kids making comments such as, 'that's so gay' to their classmates." Then, the Tinley Park-based Illinois Family Institute heard about the proposal "and soon the school was subjected to an angry piece on the group's Web site and a subsequent e-mail blitz."

The Detroit Free Press (2/8, Higgins) reports, "Experts say wide differences in test scores across" Michigan "are the result of a shocking disparity in how the state's standards are taught from district to district and classroom to classroom -- even in the same building. Some say grade inflation -- giving students a higher grade than their work merits -- is rampant, meaning many graduate high school without being prepared for the rigors of college." According to the Free Press, "School funding cuts have led to larger class sizes, school closures and layoffs, all affecting student achievement, particularly in urban districts such as Detroit."

The Grand Rapids Press (2/6) editorialized, "Michigan students deserve the best teachers, not rules preventing bad ones from being removed." That is why, according to the Grand Rapids Press, the state Legislature must address teacher tenure. "Laws must be changed so that good teachers are encouraged, supported and respected," the Press asserts, adding, that "roadblocks to removing ineffective teachers must be dismantled." Furthermore, as "major urban school districts are crafting teacher incentive pay programs based on effectiveness," the Michigan Education Association "unwise...not to adapt." The Grand Rapids Press concludes, "The national reform wave is only gaining power. It should sweep Michigan along with it."

The Washington Post (2/8, Anderson) reports that Virginia "is proposing experiments with teacher performance pay, a modest expansion of charter schools and other steps in line with the Obama administration's education agenda. But analysts say the state still looks like a dark horse to win a share of Race to the Top funding -- an assessment state officials do not strongly dispute." The Post notes that the Virginia Legislature, "unlike others, passed no bills meant to improve Virginia's chances in the grant competition."

The New York Times (2/8, A11, Dillon) reports, "Federal stimulus money has helped avoid drastic cuts at public schools in most parts of the nation, at least so far. But with the federal money running out, many of the nation's schools are approaching what officials are calling a 'funding cliff,'" as "the end of the federal money will leave big holes in education budgets from Massachusetts and Florida to California and Washington, experts said." However, as "the program took shape last year, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other officials repeatedly warned states and districts to avoid spending the money in ways that could lead to dislocations when the gush of federal money came to an end."

The New York Times (2/8, A14, Harris) reports that the Obama administration "will begin a drive this week to expel Pepsi, French fries and Snickers bars from the nation's schools in hopes of reducing the number of children who get fat during their school years. In legislation, soon to be introduced, candy and sugary beverages would be banned and many schools would be required to offer more nutritious fare." According to the Times, "To that end, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will deliver a speech Monday at the National Press Club in which he will insist, according to excerpts provided to The Times, that any vending machines that remain in schools be 'filled with nutritious offerings to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our nation's children.'"

The AP (2/8, Watling) reports that "a recession deeper than any since the Great Depression caused a ripple effect that has made employment in" teaching, "a traditionally steady profession, anything but secure for young teachers." Many veteran teachers "put off retirements that would have opened jobs for new teachers" during the "stock market dive" over the past two years. And in Indiana, "declining tax revenue" was cited as the reason for "a $300 million budget cut across K-12 school districts," which is forcing forced "many Indiana districts to reduce budgets by absorbing jobs through attrition or laying off teachers." At a statewide teacher recruitment even in the spring of 2009, 27 school districts attended, "down from 44 districts the year before. At the same time, there were 161 students seeking jobs -- up from about 125 in a typical year."

The Denver Post (2/7, Auge) reported, "If government mandates, No Child Left Behind and the Colorado Student Assessment Program have created lock- step, fill-in-the-blank curricula for math and reading, as some claim, there can be no such complaints about history. On any school day in Colorado, high school history lessons can be as different in content and quality as barbarians are from the Founding Fathers." According to the Post, "In 1995, Colorado became one of the first states in the U.S. to lay out standards for what should be in those classes. But the standards are broad enough and vague enough that schools have little guidance when it comes to teaching history."

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel writes in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post (2/8), "Charter schools and performance pay are not "silver bullets" for struggling public schools; innovation is what matters." He points out that Hillsborough County, FL "has been at the forefront of teacher pay reform, with the full cooperation of the local teachers union." The district has "proposed a system to look at many indicators of student achievement in its evaluation of teachers," and will receive $100 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "to put this system in place." Van Roekel concludes, "While education policy seems to be increasingly driven by conflict, teachers unions have found a different model for improving schools: collaboration."

The Grand Island (NE) Independent (2/7) reported that the "Grand Island Education Association (GIEA) is sponsoring" Math for Moms and Dads as "part of its Public Engagement Project." The event is for parents of "students at Shoemaker and Wasmer elementary schools." Students from Central City Grand Island Senior High "will teach parents skills that they can then use to help their children at home." During the event, "students from Central Community College will provide free child care for children ages 2 through second grade." The childcare will be paid for through "the Public Engagement Project grant that began last year through the National Education Association," said GEIA president Deb Gnuse.

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