Big Monday Stories Of The Day

Research Shows Graduation Tests Are Not Helpful Minnesota Public Radio
A study by the university's Rob Warren and University of California researcher Eric Grodsky said they could not find any benefit to making kids pass a test to get a high school diploma.

Study of Small High Schools Yields Little on Achievement EdWeek
High schools receiving $80 million in annual federal funding to support “smaller learning communities” appear to be establishing more intimate learning environments, a federal study finds.

Twenty percent of Utah seniors flunk exit exam Salt Lake Tribune
Twenty percent of Utah high school seniors failed the state's exit exam, but achievement gaps between some groups of students narrowed.

Honors Courses Give Way To AP Rigor WashPost
Honors classes, once the pinnacle of pre-collegiate study, are gradually being eliminated at some of the region's top high schools, on the theory that the burgeoning Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs have rendered them obsolete.

Aiming to Coach Students to Excellence in Exams NYT
As public schools prepare for the annual New Jersey state assessments, few others have as much to prove — or as much at stake — as the Newton Street School in Newark.

Poverty can adversely impact test scores Shreveport Times
Taped to a wall in Friendship House in one of Shreveport's poorest neighborhoods is the Kids' Club's list of prayers. One prayer asks God for "(sic) My Dad back." Another asks to "stop (sic) druging and homeless and naked."