Spellings: States Will Have to Follow Uniform Graduation-Rate Formula

Washington

The Bush administration will propose rules requiring states to use a uniform graduation rate and publish data on the graduation rates of students of various racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic categories, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said today.

“I will take administrative steps to ensure that all states use the same formula to calculate how many students graduate from high school on time,” Ms. Spellings said in a speech today at an event organized by the America’s Promise Alliance. “In addition, we will make this data public so that people nationwide can compare how students of every race, background, and income level are performing.”

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You?ve come a long way baby!

The bouncing baby bloggers entered the blogosphere with this delightful announcement this past February. To say that have come a long way is an understatement. Remember all you seasoned edubloggers out there, as Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach said in reply to comments on the announcement “it takes a whole blogosphere to raise a digital child.” Sheryl is their instructor for their class. Here’s the course wiki. So if you haven’t commented to any of them consider doing just that before they close the class in May. Give them the benefit of your experiences and wish them well. I’d like to whet your appetite for some of their interesting thoughts on their learning. Of course you’ll need to travel to their blogs to read some of the conclusions - a great way to spend a few minutes of your day! Enjoy!

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Helping Special Education Students Move Beyond Graduation Day

Washington

Graduating from high school is typically a moment of great joy for young people and their parents, but for students with disabilities it is sometimes described in dark terms.

"It can feel like sinking into an abyss," said Cathy Healy, the mother of an adult son with Down Syndrome, who recently completed his studies at an Alexandria, Va., high school.

During their public school years, children with disabilities are entitled to a menu of special services, such as music or occupational therapy, extra reading help and door-to-door transportation. The law also requires they be given an Individualized Education Program, a blueprint tailored to their needs with involvement from educators and parents.

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K12 Online - I can?t wait!

This announcement needs to go far and wide over the blogosphere! Last year’s conference was outstanding and I am still learning from it. If you missed it you missed out so get prepared to attend a conference organized by 4 top-notch edubloggers who make it happen! You will be amazed at all you can learn! I think it is the best conference around and can you believe this - it is free! Make plans to attend or present. All the details are below! Feel free to distribute the information below on your blog. Let everyone know!

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Edupodder.com

(via Stephen Downes) This is why I love the Internet and Weblogs…well, one of the reasons, anyway. Something new comes along (Podcasting), a bunch of people start throwing stuff at the proverbial wall to see what sticks, the meme spreads like the disbelief around the world at the results of our election, and someone like Steve Sloan at San Jose State University cranks up Edupodder.com to filter it all for us.

I have been thinking a lot of the potential of the medium. I really think there is something here for education!

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Singapore schools participate in first national inter-school blogging competition

Five junior colleges

and 20 secondary schools entered the final round of this competition

where their blogs were evaluated in terms of the depth and clarity of

thought as well as the creativity of presentation by a panel.

Some 18,00 unique votes were cast by online readers for the school blogs.

This is the good part. The Ministry of Education said, “It

is also an excellent example of how mobile and Internet technology can

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A Nation at Risk

It has been 25 years since the landmark study A Nation at Risk. The students described in the study would be in their 30’s and 40’s now — in fact, I am a member of that “at-risk” generation of students. My own take on this study 25 years later is that it’s somewhat alarmist. As a member of that generation, I believe we have held our own in the world fairly well. However, when my local newspaper’s education blog asked whether schools are better or worse than they were 25 years ago, I admit I feel that schools are just about the same. Not substantially better or worse. That’s not really progress.

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