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Eighty-seven percent of North Star Academy 7th graders scored advanced or proficient on the 2008 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) in Language Arts Literacy, compared to the state average of 70.4 percent and 81.5 percent of white students across the state. Ninety-five percent of 7th graders scored advanced or proficient on the 2007 NJASK in Math, compared to the state average of 62.3 percent and 74.8 percent of white students in the state. One hundred percent of 8th graders scored advanced or proficient on the 2008 NJASK in both Language Arts Literacy and Math. |
Fertile Soil For Charters
A story about how Newark, N.J. is emerging as a model for other cities seeking to expand their charter school network. (Education Week, October 2008) (paid subscription required)
National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP)
Located at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, the NCSRP’s Web site offer research and information aimed at improving the charter school and broader education communities.
The White House recently released an important report on a mounting educational challenge affecting underserved students in America’s cities: the rapid closure of faith-based urban schools. The report, Preserving a Critical National Asset: America’s Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-Based Urban Schools PDF-[871KB] serves as a follow up to the White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools, which occurred in April 2008. At the Summit, President Bush brought together educators, policymakers, community leaders, and others to develop strategies helping to preserve these valuable educational institutions. In a statement made on October 3, the White House highlighted the significance of the problem. “Inner-city faith-based schools have helped educate generations of low-income American students. Yet, between the 1999-2000 and 2005-06 school years, the Nation lost nearly 1,200 of these faith-based schools, and those remaining had nearly 425,000 fewer students.” In announcing the report, the White House stated, “The report chronicles the historical role of faith-based schools in America-particularly their service of low-income, urban populations-explains the caused of their rapid disappearance, and, most importantly, offers recommendations for reversing this dangerous trend. The White House believes that State and local governments, philanthropists, higher education institutions, educational entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders that take up these recommendations can help keep the doors of inner-city faith based schools open to America’s disadvantaged students.” |
Demand for new teachers is expected to exceed 1.5 million over the next decade, according to some estimates. A new national survey PDF-[256KB] from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and funded by MetLife Foundation reveals that 42 percent of college-educated Americans aged 24 to 60 would consider entering the teaching profession. The survey also indicates that the United States could improve teacher quality and better retain teachers by increasing teachers’ starting salaries and providing better preparation for the classroom. (Sept. 10)
Research shows that there is a shortage of science teachers nationwide, and that without adequate support, 66 percent of new teachers will quit the profession within three years. A report from the New Science Teachers’ Support Network at George Mason University offers school leaders advice on the most important forms of support specific to science teachers. Among the recommendations are access to high-quality courses about science instruction and in-class teaching mentors who are retired science educators. (Sept. 9)
Last Modified: 11/24/2008
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