Word: utah
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...responsibility. "Why weren't they educating kids in the first place?" asks Chester Finn, an Assistant Secretary of Education under Reagan and current president of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. "Some states were doing a reasonably conscientious job--Florida, Massachusetts. But I have no sympathy for states like Utah that, as best I can tell, were not lifting a finger...
...Utah's children get average scores on national tests, but an embarrassing gap separates white and minority children (as is also the case in Connecticut, another leader of the rebellion). Utah spends less money per student ($4,900 a year) than any other state. New York and New Jersey spend twice as much, even after adjusting for regional cost differences, according to Education Week. This year Education Week gave Utah a D+ for its efforts to improve teacher quality...
...Utah, one catalyst for the rebellion was the shaming of Amelia Earhart Elementary School in Provo. Last year the school failed to meet No Child benchmarks because of low scores by just three students with disabilities. Principal Rosemarie Smith remembers the day she got the news. "When principals get the results, they automatically look at the upper-righthand corner to see whether their school made adequate yearly progress. I looked at that space and about died." There were no significant financial consequences, but the failure cut deeply. "We're in an upper-middle-class area. We have 95% attendance...
...with far larger penalties. It is currently exempting 9% of students from taking grade-level tests, claiming they are special ed. The Education Department allows only 3%. "Texas is an outlier," warned Spellings, who is from Texas, in April. "I intend to take a very strong approach." As for Utah, the state risks losing up to $76 million in federal funds if it defies No Child, which it looks likely to do under...
President Bush defended the law at a press conference last week. "I will do everything I can to prevent people from unwinding it," he said. But the defection of the reddest of red states must be disconcerting. "Utah follows President Bush on his espoused values regarding family and religion," says Harrington, the state superintendent. "But you, Federal Government, are not going to point to our schools and call them failing or say they need improvement. We won't allow...