MythBuster

There’s a myth out there that No Child Left Behind has unreasonable requirements for
what constitutes a “highly qualified teacher.” The trick here is to watch out for who's requiring what.

It’s BeingDone: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools, will be published by Harvard Education Press in April.

Readers of the Alliance Alert will recognize the book as a compilation of the Success Stories that have been published in this newsletter, together with some additional material that attempts to draw lessons from all of them.

Advance praise:

“This scrupulous and humane book shows that a good school can make a decisive difference in giving every child a chance to achieve the American Dream.” – E. D. Hirsch, Jr., author and educator.

“It’s Being Done will contribute significantly to the national conversation on the education of our children. Perhaps more important, it will give us reason to hope.” – Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president, University of Maryland Baltimore County.

“If every school in America adopted the lessons of It’s Being Done, then the achievement gap—in my view, the greatest injustice facing our nation—would be relegated to the history books.” – Jason Kamras, 2006 National Teacher of the Year.

For more information, and to preorder the book, go to http://www.hepg.org/hep/Book/65

It's Being Done

At Imperial High School in California, where
70 percent of the students are Latino, steady improvement and a constant emphasis on preparing for life after high school, have made students and teachers enthusiastic about being there.

What's New

No Child Left Behind is supposed to be reauthorized this year, and the Senate has begun holding hearings.

The bi-partisan No Child Left Behind Commission recommends some sweeping changes in the law.

President George W. Bush’s education budget proposal calls for level spending, but included
in that are significant increases in Title I’s high school spending balanced by significant cuts in vocational education.

The latest from Connecticut’s NCLB law suit.

Other Voices

A word of praise for NCLB from teacher Dayle Timmons in Teacher Magazine.

Several words of criticism of the Department
of Education from The New York Times.

And more from the Chicago Tribune and the Virginian-Pilot.