Education Web Resources

Indiana School Vouchers Confusing Some Parents And Administrators

Although officials in Indiana have approved a new voucher system that will help parents to afford the growing cost of private school tuition, there are a few schools will not participate in the program until next year. Parents have shown a particular interest in Crown Point Christian School, inundating the staff with more than a dozen phone calls over the last few days. The new voucher program, which will give parents approximately $5,350 for private school tuition, will be starting within the next month. Interested parents can submit an application and find a participating school that they want their children to attend.

The Crown Point Christian School says that it won't allow students on the voucher system to attend this year. Aside from financial concerns, the school's administrators also want to ensure that all of their students attend for religious as well as educational reasons. Some private schools are not affiliated with any religious group, but those that are tend to have more strenuous enrollment criteria.

Parents in Indiana that want to subsidize private school costs will need to sign up early for the voucher program so that they are able to get the maximum benefit. Educators have long disputed whether private and charter schools actually provide superior education, but in Indiana, parents and guardians have the option of exposing their children to different types of classroom settings. All parents that apply for the voucher program may not be able to qualify. If their income exceeds a certain level, they will have to pay their childrens' private school tuition on their own.

10.07.2011. 12:33

Lack Of Vaccinations In Chicago Schools Could Cause Epidemic

Although school officials can urge parents to get their children vaccinated for diseases such as polio and measles, a growing group are claiming exemptions for either religious reasons or because of personal beliefs. Usually, when a student claims a vaccination exemption, no questions are asked. However, in about 122 schools, vaccinations levels have fallen below 90%. Medical experts believe that these schools are at a higher risk of fostering an environment that could cause an outbreak to occur.

When researchers looked at the 122 school in Chicago with low vaccination levels, they immediately saw two things. First, the levels are approximately the same across the board, which means that both low income and disadvantaged students are not going vaccinated as the same rates as students that come from more privileged backgrounds. Therefore, parents may not be getting their children vaccinated out of fear, medical or religious reasons. It seems that the choice not to vaccinate is really more about choice and not finances. Student attending charter schools, private school and public schools are being vaccinated at about the same rate in Chicago.

Some children who move to Chicago from different countries or even different school systems across the US can take a long time to become acclimated. This means that their shot records might not be up to date, and it can be several months before school administrators catch up. However, officials in Chicago schools say that they work diligently to get in contact with parents and urge them to get their children vaccinated each year with good results.

18.06.2011. 17:53

More than 4,000 NYC Teachers May Be Laid Off

NYC School administrators face scrutiny as they plan to lay off approximately 4,100 teachers. Of course, lawmakers are mostly to blame as they have drastically cut public education funding. The teachers that have to worry the most about their futures are the ones that have been most recently hired. School systems across the US have always valued seniority the most. The old adage of “last one hired, first one fired” certainly didn't start in the education sector, but it is one of the last industries to hold on to these antiquated rules.

Teachers with less than four years of experience in NYC schools will make up the majority of the 4,100 lay offs. In addition, teachers that have frequently been reprimanded or are nearing retirement may also be eliminated. Schools that have recently opened and hired hundreds of new teachers may take the brunt of the lay offs.

Neither school administrators nor parents have any idea of who will be teaching their students next school year. Some educators have taken to teaching summer school courses in order to supplement their incomes. Until NYC school administrators have come up with a definitive list, none of the soon to be laid off teachers will know if they will have a job next year. Parents are asking that they are given the opportunity to appeal the decision, but this is highly unlikely. Laid off teachers will have the option of applying for other education based positions in the city of NYC, but they may have to go to a different borough.

10.06.2011. 02:49

US Dept. Of Education Releases “Gainful Employment” Ruling

With enough money, the backing of investors and the ability to hire a handful of educators, virtually anyone could run a for-profit college and apply for federal funding. In a lengthy and complicated internal discussion, the US Department Of Education has been forced to ask whether or not this recent rash of for-profit learning institutions popping up is having a negative impact on America's youth.

On the other side of the debate stands student loan companies. US students have been all but bullied into furthering their educations by taking out thousand of dollars in student loans. Federal student loans are serviced by companies like Sallie Mae, whom has been sued, fined and recently knocked out of the federal student lending market altogether.

In a recent ruling, the Department Of Education has decided to stop offering financial aid to schools and program that do no meet its Gainful Employment test. What this means is that institutions of higher learning will need to demonstrate that their programs provide students with marketable skills. In other words, students will no longer be able to get a ride from schools that offer courses of study that do no usually translate into jobs after graduation.

03.06.2011. 17:26

Merit Pay Research Shows Interesting Results

According to reports from Vanderbilt University, the offering of bonuses up to $15,000 in cash for middle school math teachers had no positive impact on the test scores of the students. The Obama administration has supported the idea of merit pay, which is paying teachers for the improvement in the performance levels of their students, although there are many school districts and states opposing such an action, and instead favoring the traditional route of payment for teachers which is based on years of experience and educational attainment levels they have achieved thus far in their careers.

Continue reading 15.10.2010. 16:13