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The article reports that in 2006, four years after U.S. Congress passed a law replacing the Department of Education's top research office with the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the transition has been completed. Critics and outside experts are giving it mixed, but mostly positive, evaluations. Specific changes implemented with the creation of IES are detailed, and causes for praise as well as criticism are presented.

This article informs that under Stephen Decatur Middle School's policy, all students wear the standard school attire consisting of khaki pants with polo shirts in white, burgundy, or navy blue. Rhonda E. Chandler, the parent of a 7th grader at Decatur, likes not having to buy more expensive designer clothes or worrying that her child will change into less appropriate clothing in the school restroom or on the bus going to school. They don't cultivate student self-esteem and motivation. They don't balance the social-status differences that often separate students.

The article reports on the effects of the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on teaching practices. The author refers to a RAND Corp. study, carried out in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, results of which indicate that a significant percentage of educators are giving excess attention to test-taking strategies, borderline students, and topics included on state tests. Information on the law's impact on staff morale, student learning, accountability, and demographic influences is included.

The article reports on proposals by the U.S. National Education Sciences Board related to the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act. The advisory board has issued a recommendation to the U.S. Department of Education that schools and districts, which agree to take part in randomized experiments should be given "accountability wavers" from the requirements of the law.

The article reports on the progress of the U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse, instituted in 2002 to examine effectiveness studies on educational programs and practices. Critics are calling it the "nothing works" clearinghouse, as, in 2006, its website has posted reports for only 32 interventions, only eight of which have a "positive" or "potentially positive" effectiveness rating. Various perspectives are presented.

The article focuses on a controversy related to a school choice bill proposed in the Missouri legislature. The proposal bill would provide tax credits for donations to scholarship funds that help children pay tuition at private schools. It is similar to programs that are growing in popularity in other U.S. states. Disagreement over the proposal led to an upheaval in the leadership of the black caucus, a group known for demonstrating a unified front. The bill calls for a pilot program to provide $40 million in tax breaks to individuals or corporations that donate to the private tax-credit programs.

The article presents a study based on the effectiveness of learning tools provided by educational management organizations (EMOs) in the U.S. Under a three-year U.S. Department of Education grant, researchers from the American Institutes for Research weighed the research evidence on seven widely hired EMOs. Only one of the EMOs, Edison Schools Inc., a New York City-based for-profit company, could produce enough high-quality studies to show that its schools can improve student achievement. John E. Chubb, the chief education officer for Edison, which runs 157 schools around the country, praised the report but called for caution in interpreting its findings.

The article focuses on a new pilot program for schools and districts to meet their performance targets under the No Child Left Behind Act by the U.S. federal government. Growth-model proposals from eight states were selected by the Department of Education to move to the next round of reviews for the pilot. The pilot program is designed to gauge whether an accountability system based on the academic growth of students seen from year to year is as fair and reliable as the current system.

This article reports that researchers looking to tap into the treasure troves of long-term student achievement data that states and districts in the U.S., are starting to pile up, say that their efforts are increasingly running up against a decades-old federal law designed to protect student privacy. The conflicts are arising, in part, out of two movements that have swept the U.S. education landscape in recent years: the push to hold schools accountable for students' educational progress, and the emphasis on schools' use of only programs and practices deemed to be backed by scientifically based research. But the longer that researchers follow students, the greater the possibility that the students' identities will be revealed.

The article reports that since the federal No Child Left Behind law was enacted nearly three years ago, almost half states have seen rising mathematics scores on their state exams for elementary school pupils. Coming in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign, the report is already drawing attention in part because it attributes some of the achievement gains it found to the No Child Left Behind Act, which is the centerpiece of U.S. President George W. Bush's plans for improving education.

Presents developments related to education in various U.S. States as of January 22, 2003. Details of the school improvement programs of Kentucky; Endorsement of academic standards of Indiana by the Governor of the state; Adoption of schools by business enterprises in New Hampshire; Others.

Presents education-related developments on the legislative sessions in the U.S. as on June 5, 2002. Reduction in the education budget of the Nebraska school districts; Introduction of a legislation to increase property tax to keep Nebraska schools running; Restrictions of the fees policy in Nebraska school districts; Recruitment of noncertified teachers by the New Hampshire school districts.

Presents information on the education reform models included in the list cited in the legislation by United States Representatives David Obey and John Edward Porter. Mixed view on the legislation; Public scrutiny of the reform programs

The article reports on the undertaken by the U.S. legislators to finalize House Resolution 5520 entitled Handicapped Bill. It would amend the landmark Education of the Handicapped Act by adding strong incentives for the states to serve 3-5 years old handicapped children. Both the House and Senate have agreed to provide aid and services to an estimated 70,000-80,000 handicapped infants and preschool-age children.

The article reports on the possibility for the Americans With Disabilities Act to bring major educational changes in the U.S. The law prohibits organizations from discriminating against the disabled in their hiring and promotion practices. Public schools and other agencies that receive government fundings are also required to implement the law.

The article reports that the New York State Board of Regents has approved a set of recommendations made by State Commissioner of Education Thomas Sobol for revising the state's social-studies curricula. Sobol, in his report, has raised concerns over the way non-white cultures are commonly portrayed in history and social-studies courses. Similarly he found that much of the language used in classrooms is insensitive to minority ethnic and cultural groups. The recommendations include a new plan for teaching the social studies in all grades that includes more examples from nonwhite cultures and forces students to look critically at issues from a multitude of perspectives.

This article reports on the policies adopted by some U.S. states that help students with disabilities to transition from school to work or further training. The provision of the Education of the Handicapped Act concerning school-to-work transition is discussed. Research by S.R.I. International has found that there is a lack of job opportunities for special-education students. The efforts of the Education Department to address the transition issue among special students are explored.

The article focuses on the refusal of the elementary school on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy to provide William Cole Sautter, a bright but cerebral palsied student, with special education services in West Point, Georgia. His parents' utmost effort in securing a due process hearing to challenge the decision have continually been rejected. The case is now pending in New York federal court. It was mentioned that the systems of schools run by military are not covered by federal law.

The article discusses research from the School Finance Redesign Project concerning education in the United States. The project suggests that the education finance system is flawed because school systems spend more money on wealthy students than on poor students and more funds on Advanced Placement classes than on remedial instruction.

The article looks at the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and the impact that he has had on education. Legislation such as the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), Reading First, and issues such as school choice, special education, educational research, and gender issues are discussed.

News briefs related to educational legislation around the U.S. is presented. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed a law increasing state spending on school by $121 million, which will lessen the impact of property-tax increases and create new avenues into the teaching profession. In New Hampshire, legislators passed a school finance law new as of 2008, which will bring the state into compliance with a state supreme court ruling that the old law was unconstitutional.

The article reports on the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and its effects on the academic achievement gap between socially disadvantaged students and their wealthier peers. Researchers from the Brookings Institute think tank examined NCLB implementation results and made recommendations for improving the law. Among topics evaluated are tutoring effectiveness, teacher quality, and grade retention rates.

The article focuses on the report "Implementing the No Child Left Behind Teacher Requirements," from the Center on Education Policy which reveals that the federal requirement of the United States No Child Left Behind Act for staffing classrooms with "highly qualified" teachers is having little effect on improving student achievement. Information is provided for the population surveyed, the law's compliance at the state level and the schools' biggest challenges.

The article focuses on the results of a study by University of Chicago economists Derek A. Neal and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach which found that the federal No Child Left Behind Act may actually be leaving behind students that are gifted and those that are the least able and found that schools may be focusing on average students in an effort to boost scores on the state exams which are used to measure whether schools are meeting proficiency targets.

The article presents information about a legislative measure to increase Missouri's financial aid to schools. It is noted that Governor Matt Blunt signed off on the legislation in June 2007. Additional details relating to Missouri's seven-year plan to phase in funding are provided. A district coalition of the state's schools is noted to feel that the planned increase is inadequate and a judge is expected to rule on that premise this summer.

This article reports that a New Hampshire judge has again declared the state's school funding law unconstitutional. In a March 7 ruling, Judge William J. Groff of Hillsborough County Superior Court said the 2005 law fails to meet its constitutional mandate to define an "adequate education."

This article reports that John Robert Warren, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, is proposing a new way to gauge how states measure up when it comes to graduating students on time. But his method points to the same disappointing conclusion as other techniques to gauge school completion rates that have sprung up in recent years: In states across the nation, high school graduation rates are slowly but steadily falling. Warren calculates that school completion rates declined between 1975 and 2002, both nationally and in 41 of the 50 states. By 2002, the study estimates, about 72 percent of students who were on track to finish high school actually graduated on time, compared with more than 76 percent in 1975. Researchers generally acknowledge that no perfect method exists now for determining completion rates at the state level. First, it takes into account students who move into and out of states. Second, it adjusts for the enrollment bulge that occurs in the 9th grade, a point at which higher-than-average numbers of students repeat a grade. According to Warren, federal reports over the past 50 years suggest that graduation rates steadily improved and then hit a plateau over the past decade.

The article informs that plaintiffs in Missouri and Connecticut are going to court to seek more state aid for schools. A group of 237 Missouri districts took steps to press on with a lawsuit arguing that the state's school funding system is unfair and inadequate. Calling themselves the Committee for Education Equality, the districts brought suit against the state in January 2005. But the legal challenge stalled in June after the legislature approved a new funding system. The committee signaled its intent to keep up the fight on November 22, 2005, when its lawyers returned to Cole County Circuit Court seeking permission to file a revised argument.

The article focuses on contracts for providing advice to states and school districts on meeting the demands of the educational laws in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Education has awarded contracts for 20 new, comprehensive centers to provide advice to school districts on meeting the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Once operational, the centers will replace the network of comprehensive assistance centers and mathematics-and-science centers that span the country now. The five-year awards range from 800,000 dollars to 5 million dollars.

The article presents information on the U.S., Department of Education that is seeking proposals for 21 comprehensive centers spread across the country that will provide expertise to states and school districts working to meet the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act. The new centers, which are financed at $43 million this fiscal year and possibly as much as $60 million in fiscal 2006, will replace a web of comprehensive assistance centers and mathematics and science centers that span the country now.

This article informs that Missouri lawmakers, looking to face down a legal challenge brought by more than half the school districts in the state, have voted to overhaul the school funding system for the first time in 12 years. Lawmakers passed the new school aid plan on May 13 as the 2005 legislative session closed. The plan would shift the state away from a school funding system that is based largely on property wealth and tax levies to one that centers more on schools' actual costs. Arguing that school funding should be a matter determined by Missouri's elected representatives rather than its courts, the newly elected Republican governor had made school finance a central issue of his young administration.

This article reports that the New Hampshire state school board has voted against requiring districts to provide kindergarten, leaving New Hampshire's status intact as the only state without such a mandate. State school board member Fred Bramante said the panel stripped the kindergarten mandate on March 30, 2005 in response to opposition from some lawmakers who argued that the proposal was an unfunded mandate prohibited under the state's constitution. Ellen J. Shemitz, the president of the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire, a Concord-based advocacy group, noted that lawyers for the state had disagreed with the legislators' legal interpretation.

This article reports that three national education groups, including some of the profession's most distinguished scholars, are launching a series of public forums this fall to lend some academic context and counterpoint to discussions about the No Child Left Behind Act. In a national poll published earlier this month, for instance, 68 percent of Americans said they knew nothing or next to nothing about the 2½-year-old federal law, which is the centerpiece of the U.S. administration's education agenda. For all three organizations, the forums also mark a departure from usual practice. Officials of the three groups said their organizations have tended to be reluctant to weigh in on the most contentious political and public-policy debates in the field.

The Florida Supreme Court, in a 5-2 ruling July 15, 2004, rejected a proposed November 2 ballot item asking voters to double the size of the property-tax exemption for homeowners, derailing an effort that school officials argued would have eviscerated school district budgets. The Florida School Boards Association opposed the measure, estimating it would have cost districts more than $800 million in yearly revenue. The New Hampshire Supreme Court announced on July 14, 2004 that it had rejected one of two lawsuits filed this summer to challenge the state's new school funding law.

With bipartisan support, a Democratic representative from New Jersey has introduced a measure aimed at constructing a stronger bridge between educational research and classroom practice. If approved, the proposal—called the Knowledge Utilization in Education Act—would provide yet-to-be-determined sums of money for grants designed both to whet and to feed educators' appetites for what experts in the field are calling" usable" educational research. With a goal of raising $500 million to $700 million in start-up funds, the group aims to forge a research-and-development compact among states to collaborate on an agenda for credible research that educators would find useful and to sustain long-term studies in those areas.

New Hampshire school administrators say that the costs of complying with the federal No Child Left Behind Act will be much higher than they had previously predicted. According to an estimate released last month by the New Hampshire School Administrators Association, school districts will have to spend $1,022 for every $100 in new federal money they receive through the program. That figure is about one-third higher than a similar estimate made by the group in November 2002.

The article focuses on prospects of the federal No Child Left Behind Act in the U.S. It calls on educators to use research to guide a wide range of school practices, including reading instruction, professional development, technical assistance, and anti-drug programs. Since the law's passage in 2001, the U.S. Department of Education has crafted regulations spelling out what it means by scientifically based research with regard to the reading program. But no such regulations exist for the rest of the law—mostly because federal policymakers view the research base as weaker in those areas. The question about scientifically based research came up at a March 11 conference on the topic. The article discusses various issues related with the program.

The U.S. Department of Education and a national government-policy group have issued a practical guide aimed at taking some of the mystery out of the national push for evidence based education, as of January 7, 2004. The 19-page guide attempts to define what constitutes rigorous evidence of effectiveness when it comes to evaluating the research track records of educational programs and practices. Terms such as evidence-based education and scientifically based research have become a pressing topic of conversation among education decision-makers since U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001.

With the two-year anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act at hand, the comprehensive federal school improvement law is being analyzed intensely in academic and policy circles in the U.S., as of January 7, 2004. Harvard University researchers Paul E. Peterson and Martin R. West, in examining the likely long-term impact of the law, predicted that states would be pressured to water down their accountability measures as more and more schools failed to meet high standards. The two researchers suggest that even less rigorous accountability systems can produce positive results.

The U.S. Department of Education is sitting on a trove of national data tracking potential disparities in the way schools serve minority students, female student athletes, students with disabilities, and those with weak English skills. The problem, says a national panel of researchers, is that too few people know it's there. In a report released by the National Research Council, pane lists urged federal education officials to do more to mine their supply of civil rights data, improve upon it, and make its existence known to a wider audience. The focus of the panel's 18 months of scrutiny is the Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Compliance Report, a program begun in 1968 to provide data that department officials can draw on in enforcing federal civil rights laws.

This article focuses on a study by researchers from Stanford University regarding the debate over whether states' high-stakes testing programs can positively affect academic achievement. Debates over the value of accountability efforts that determine whether students graduate, which teachers win bonuses, and whether schools are taken over by states grew in year 2003 after two Arizona State University researchers published a report arguing that such programs may do more harm than good. In their report, scheduled to be published in May 2003 in the magazine 'Education Next' researchers Margaret E. Raymond and Eric A. Hanushek add some strong wording to that chorus of criticism and offered data of their own. The two researchers contend that the biggest problem with the Arizona study is that the authors, drawing on scores for National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, compare the improvements made by students in states with strong accountability programs with the average national test-score gains made over the same time periods.

Reports on the planned overhaul of the office of education research and improvement (OERI) of the U.S. Department of Education. Function of the OERI of overseeing research and statistics gathering; Political urgency behind the bill; Aim of the reauthorization of improving the quality of federal education research.

Focuses on the passage of the Education Sciences Reform Act by Representative Michael N. Castle in the U.S. Effect of the bill on education research; Career highlights of Castle; Views of Castle on the media.

Focuses on the legislation affecting the office of educational research and improvement of the U.S. Department of Education. Sponsor of the bill; Organizational structure of the academy; Plan for research centers.

Reports on the provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that requires school districts to formulate policies for notifying parents when students are asked to take part in surveys that contain questions about their sexual activities, their political beliefs, and their religious practices. Balance between the interests of science and the privacy rights of individual parents and students; Restrictions on studies underwritten by the U.S. Department of Education; Failure of most parents to return permission forms; Survey published by the Search Institute.

Focuses on the United States Department of Education and a February 2002 meeting that drew an unusually large crowd of educators. Indication that the revised Elementary and Secondary Education Act will require scientific research for all aspects of educational policy; Details of the meeting which was the first in a series to understand what "scientifically based research" means; Vacancy caused by the departure of Lindsey Kozberg.

Reports developments related to schools as of October 2001 in the United States. List of poorly performing schools by Tennessee Department of Education in public schools; Veto of Governor Gray Davis to study the effects of heavy backpack on students; Proposal allowing students to graduate despite failures.

Reports on a United States House of Representatives subcommittee's approval of a plan to form a national academy for education research. Sponsorship of the bill by Congressman Michael N. Castle; Proposed academy's autonomous operation within the U.S. Department of Education; Creation of a national board to help oversee the academy; Replacement of national research institutes.

Reports on the order of District Court Judge Norma Holloway Johnson to the Education Department to allow public access to documents pertaining to the 1986 review of Maryland's special-education programs. Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education; State compliance to federal laws.

The article reports on the holding of a negotiation by the House and Senate in the United States in pursuance of its efforts to resolve the differences over a bill to control hazardous asbestos in school buildings across the country. The legislation, known as the Asbestos Hazardous Emergency Control Act.