on 9,000 students in the area forced to go to summer school.

reports on recruiting and retaining teachers in hard-to-fill classrooms. This great report looks at bunch of ideas other school districts use in order to recruit and retain teachers.

They look at data on why teachers leave like poor support and pay. That teachers have a higher turnover rate in high poverty schools. Basic data I have reported on before.

One strategy they list is to implement programs to modify student behavior. I love this idea. They list the behavior specialist program the Toledo Ohio school district uses. The specialists looks at the student in school, at work, etc… They also look at school, work done by the student and the student’s records. They come up with a plan to put in place to help the kid out. They work with the teacher and modify the plan as needed. They report says that many students respond favorably to this.

on proper English language instruction for ELL students in the elementary grade levels.

The five recommendations they give are:

1) Screen For reading problems and monitor progress.
2) Use small group reading interventions for week students. Love this idea.
3) Provide extensive and varied vocabulary instruction.
4) Develop Academic English
5) Schedule peer-assisted learning opportunities. Like this idea as well.

The report does get into nice detail on each recommendation.

They report:

That in 2005 the amount of people in the age 18-24 bracket with either a GED or a high school diploma is at 88%. They say that Hispanic graduation rate is up to 70% in 2005. It was 57% in 1980.

They also report that the teenage birthrate is 21 kids per 1,000 for women aged 15-17. It is a record low.

reports on students in some schools districts winding up having to pay for summer school classes.

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports on this non-profit program. The program helps inner city kids aged 17-25 to get ready for college by giving them things such as note-books, alarm clocks, etc…