No Child Left Behind

Aug 31 2011

Students' performance

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Academic Performance Index score for Los Angeles Unified schools—summarizing students’ performance on a series of tests—rose by 19 points in 2010-11, besting the statewide average.

The district’s score went from 709 last year to 728. The statewide API score increased by 11 points, from 767 last year to 778, according to figures released today by the California Department of Education.

The scores range from 200 to 1,000, with a performance target of 800.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Mar 10 2011

Lower scores than other groups

In a trend that continues to plague education officials, African Americans have once again scored the lowest of any ethnic group on a key assessment.

Black students in the fourth, eighth and 12th grades have scored lower than all other groups on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science test.

However, despite that dismal news, there was one bright spot.

Jun 18 2009

Exit exam on chopping block

Legislation approved Tuesday by the Legislative Budget Conference Committee to eliminate the California High School Exit Exam that is expected to go to both houses of the legislature early next week, is eliciting alarm from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.

O’Connell asked the committee to revisit “this ill conceived decision” and called the action a huge setback for California students.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Apr 30 2009

Men learn to treasure their children

 Daddy Denson.

That’s what his daughter’s friends used to call William Denson, during the years they hung out at his house.

In fact, even though the four or five young women who gave him that nickname are now in their 30s, Denson said they still call him that.

“I embraced that and took it seriously that they could feel that way about me,” said Denson adding that none of the young women had fathers in their lives at that time.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Mar 26 2009

LAUSD board to vote on reduction plan

 Los Angeles, CA -- At the same time that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is making incremental steps to get out of its Program Improvement three status under the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines announced a package of personnel cuts, programmatic and organizational changes that some believe could impair the progress already made.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.