Daily News Roundup, September 3, 2010

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Some of the News Fit to Print

SEARCHING FOR STEM SUCCESS
Researchers find that some kinds of community colleges are achieving more gains than others in diversifying the science and engineering student body. During the two-decade period from 1985-1986 to 2005-2006, rural community colleges increased the number of women and minority STEM graduates by more than 42 percent. By contrast, urban community colleges boosted these underrepresented groups by just under 24 percent and suburban community colleges by about 10 percent. Though the reasons for this relative success remain unknown, community college researchers are suggesting policy recommendations in an attempt to replicate it elsewhere and boost the numbers of these underrepresented students. This article is from Inside Higher Ed.

L.A. AND ARIZ: WILL DATA CONFLICTS SPUR A CHILL EFFECT?
Never has there been more federal money or pressure for education scientists to partner with practitioners—from the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation grants to the Institute of Education Sciences’ push for more classroom-level relevance in research. Yet recent high-profile data-confidentiality fights in Arizona and Los Angeles have researchers worried that access to educators may become a difficult path. In both cases, the release of data thought to be confidential has sparked firestorms in the research community and the public at large. This article is in Education Week.

U.S. ASKS EDUCATORS TO REINVENT STUDENT TESTS, AND HOW THEY ARE GIVEN
Over the next four years, two groups of states, 44 in all, will get $330 million to work with hundreds of university professors and testing experts to design a series of new assessments that officials say will look very different from those in use today. The new tests are to be ready for the 2014-15 school year, will be computer-based, and will measure higher-order skills, including students’ ability to read complex texts, synthesize information and do research projects.

“The use of smarter technology in assessments,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “makes it possible to assess students by asking them to design products of experiments, to manipulate parameters, run tests and record data.” Because the new tests will be computerized and will be administered several times throughout the school year, they are expected to provide faster feedback to teachers than the current tests about what students are learning and what might need to be retaught. This article is in The New York Times.

HEARING OPENS IN LEGAL BATTLE OVER ARIZONA ELL PROGRAMS
Both the outcome of the Arizona court case over the state’s programs for English-language learners and the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights rulings are likely to have ramifications far beyond Arizona. Some states or school districts likely have ELL identification and testing policies similar to the ones that federal officials singled out in the OCR letters. The court case is attracting national attention because it examines a question that many states and districts are trying to answer: What is the most effective way to educate English-language learners? This article is in Education Week.