Educational Legislation | Z

Zamani, Eboni M. (2001).  Institutional Responses to Barriers to the Transfer Process.  New Directions for Community Colleges, 30, 2. 

States that, as flaws in the transfer process have been identified, innovative programs and policies to revive the transfer function within community colleges have been implemented. University and community college partnerships are facilitating smoother transitions for students through research, articulation arrangements, and campus programming such as the Summer Scholars Transfer Institute, transfer fairs, and four-year campus visits.

Zancanella, Don (2008).  Seeing like a Teacher  English Education, 40, 3. 

As coeditor of the April 2006 issue of this journal, Tara Star Johnson wrote an eloquent essay in which she explored "the increasing bureaucratic pressure to mass-produce, homogenize and monitor students" as manifested in the No Child Left Behind Act and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation process. The story the author wishes to tell in this article parallels Johnson's, and, he hopes, adds to it in useful ways. In the fall of 2007, his professional life was influenced by three experiences. One was a class he taught for teachers in a small New Mexico town. The second was preparing for the visit of an NCATE team to his university. The third was reading James C. Scott's "Seeing Like a State" (1998). The first two showed the author how completely educators now live and work in the policy-saturated world Johnson described; the third helped him understand the underlying purpose of these policies and how educators might begin to regain control over their work.

Zaparyniuk, Nicholas; Montgomerie, Craig (2005).  The Status of Web Accessibility of Canadian Universities and Colleges: A Charter of Rights and Freedoms Issue  International Journal on E-Learning, 4, 2. 

The fundamental ideal that access to education and information as one of our basic human rights must not be neglected in the electronic information age. This ideal however is not being met in the area of postsecondary Web accessibility. This study surveyed 350 postsecondary institutions in Canada to evaluate their level of Web accessibility in November 2001, and again in November 2002. Using the Centre for Applied Special Technologies accessibility tool, Bobby[TM], we found that 14.9% of postsecondary institutions surveyed were free of priority 1 errors in 2001 and 19.9% in 2002, and only 1.7% in 2001 and 5.5% in 2002 were free of both priority 1 and priority 2 errors. The specifics of these errors however, reveal that once the issues for those with disabilities and the Web are recognized, they can be easily addressed.

Zavadsky, Heather (2006).  How NCLB Drives Success in Urban Schools  Educational Leadership, 64, 3. 

Zavadsky describes effective practices she has observed in the five urban school districts that were finalists for the 2005 Broad prize--practices required or catalyzed by No Child Left Behind. The article lists three key NCLB-driven strategies these schools used to raise student achievement and close achievement gaps: clarifying and aligning curriculum; collecting and using data; and targeting interventions for struggling students and schools. Zavadsky gives examples of how the districts carried out these strategies.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2004).  Translation Efforts a Growing Priority for Urban Schools  Education Week, 24 n6 p1, 15 Oct 2004. 

This article discusses the efforts made by urban schools in upgrading their translation services. The New York City school system is setting up, for the first time, a centralized office to routinely translate school information into eight different languages. Factors fueling the attention include a rising number of students with limited English proficiency, increased federal accountability requirements for serving such students, and advocacy on behalf of immigrants. Adding translation and interpretation services is seen by educators as a way to overcome language barriers that can keep parents from contacting schools or asking questions that might help their children. In this article, the author also talks about the benefits that parents can get from these translation services.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2004).  Tests of Youngest English-Learners Spark Controversy  Education Week, 24 n12 p1, 16 Nov 2004. 

At a time when many states are poised to roll out new standardized tests to evaluate English-language proficiency in unprecedented depth, California is balking at carrying out a federal requirement to test the literacy of young children who are learning English. Recently, the California board of education decided to ask the U.S. Department of Education to exempt the state's English-language learners in kindergarten and 1st grade from being tested in reading and writing, as required under the No Child Left Behind Act. California officials argue that their schools' current practice of testing such children only in listening and speaking should be sufficient.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2005).  Federal Data Show Gains on Language  Education Week, 24 n28 p1, 25 Mar 2005. 

The U.S. Department of Education's first-ever evaluation of how states are meeting requirements for English-language learners under the federal No Child Left Behind Act can be looked at two ways. One view of the report, which was released to Congress on March 15, 2005, is that states have made great strides in laying the groundwork for schools to teach English-language learners. That is the view of Kathleen Leos, the associate deputy secretary and senior policy adviser for the Education Department's office of English-language acquisition, a researcher for the evaluation. Another interpretation of the findings in the 503-page evaluation, which covers the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years, is that states have largely failed to meet the law's requirements to ensure that English-language learners master academic content. Only two states--Alabama and Michigan--met "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, goals in 2003-04 for such students in both reading and mathematics. Moreover, not a single state both reported all the data required by the federal law and met all the mandated targets for English-language learners. Experts on second-language learners who had read the summary of the evaluation said the report reflects positive change for how schools and states view English-language learners.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2006).  Immigration Proposals Could Aid School Hiring Efforts  Education Week, 25, 31. 

Educators have several reasons to follow the volatile debate over immigration in Congress--a debate that ground to a halt last week before lawmakers' spring recess. In the long term some of the plans would allow more teachers from other countries to work in schools or change the enforcement of rules governing other school related jobs. More immediately efforts to crack down on undocumented immigrants promised to intensity rallies planned for April 10 across the country. Most students who had skipped school over the previous two weeks to protest an immigration bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives were back in class this week. The students had rallied against the measure which would make it a crime to be in the country without legal sanction or to help illegal immigrants.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2006).  "No Child" Effect on English-Learners Mulled: Teachers Welcome Attention, Fault Focus on Test Scores  Education Week, 25 n25 p1, 14-15 Mar 2006. 

Educators who specialize in teaching English-language learners agree that the 4-year-old No Child Left Behind Act has brought unprecedented attention to those students by requiring schools to isolate test-score data for them. They disagree, though, on whether changes in instruction spurred by the law have been positive or negative overall. Such conflicting opinions reflect the continuing national debate over President Bush's flagship education initiative, as its effects reverberate through public schools across the county. It's unrealistic, many educators say, that the law requires such students to take the same state academic tests as children who have been speaking English all their lives. The law does permit states to provide tests in students' native languages, but only 10 states do so, and then mostly only in Spanish and not necessarily for both reading and math. The No Child Left Behind Act-- and overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act signed into law by President Bush in January 2002--requires that schools break down test results for various subgroups of students, including English-language learners. The schools must reach the same accountability goals for each subgroup that they must meet for all students. Many schools have failed to make AYP because the test scores of their English-learners were too low. Some educators say that schools have responded to the pressure to raise test scores for children who speak little English by narrowing the curriculum.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2006).  Scholars Seek Best Ways to Assess English-Learners: Testing in Simpler English Seen as Better Approach Than Translating Exams  Education Week, 25, 18. 

Simplifying test questions so that they avoid unnecessarily complex English is the best way for states to include English-language learners in large-scale testing, according to the most prominent researcher on testing accommodations for such students. But other scholars say not enough studies have been conducted to know how states should alter standardized tests, or the conditions under which they are given, to most accurately assess children with limited English. Jamal Abedi, an education professor at the University of California, Davis, and the most-published researcher on testing accommodations for English-language learners, recommends that states devise separate versions of their academic tests using modified English. In that process, the wording of test items is changed so that students are not tripped up by complicated grammar, difficult vocabulary, or other linguistic obstacles. "That is the only accommodation that narrows the performance gap between English-language learners and non-English-language learners," Mr. Abedi maintains.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2006).  Team-Teaching Helps Close Language Gap  Education Week, 26, 14. 

In the St. Paul, Minnesota public schools, "pullout" teaching is frowned upon. Instead, "collaboration" is the favored method when it comes to teaching English-language learners. For three of the past four years, the district has made adequate yearly progress for its English-language learners under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It has done so with a population that is primarily Hmong, a Laotian ethnic group that was first resettled in the Twin Cities in the late 1970s after the Vietnam War. The St. Paul district is "amongst the best" of 65 urban school systems in nearly closing the achievement gap between English-language learners and native speakers based on an analysis of state data. Over the past seven years, the district in the Minnesota capital has revamped its programs for elementary students so that inclusion has replaced assigning English-language learners to a full-day English-as-a-second-language track or having an ESL teacher regularly pull them out of class. Now, mainstream and ESL teachers co-teach in the same classroom, which is not a commonly used method. This article describes how teachers team-teach to help English-language learners.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2007).  N.J. Bucks Tide on Reading for English-Learners: State Cites Studies Finding Advantage for Bilingual Approach  Education Week, 26 n18 p1, 12 Jan 2007. 

Taking a position that is unusual these days, New Jersey officials are promoting research that says bilingual education methods have an edge over English-only methods in teaching English-language learners to read. This article talks about the importance of bilingual education or a blended approach in the implementation of Reading First Program in the United States. Furthermore, this article also presents several opinions, cited researches and varied implementations of the program.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2007).  Tussle Over English-Language Learners  Education Week, 26 n21 p1, 18 Jan 2007. 

In the past decade, Harrisonburg, Virginia, has become a magnet for immigrant families drawn to jobs in the poultry and construction industries. More than 1,600 of the school district's 4,400 students are English-learners. The largest group of newcomers are Latinos, followed by Kurdish and Russian refugees. In this article, the author discusses a resolution passed by the members of the Harrisonburg City school board, refusing to go along with a federal demand that Virginia schools stop using an English-language-proficiency test instead of the state's regular reading test to calculate adequate yearly progress, or AYP, for beginning English-learners. Since many children in a special class for English-learners would be affected if the district were to go along with the federal mandate, teachers believed that it is unfair to require a stricter reading test for some still working on skills.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2007).  A Culture Put to the Test  Education Week, 26, 28. 

The Navajo Language Immersion School--"Tsehootsooi Dine Bi'olta'," to use its Navajo name--made adequate yearly progress in all subgroups under the No Child Left Behind Act during the 2005-2006 school year because "the teachers know exactly where their students are in terms of data." The K-8 school with 235 students in the Window Rock Unified School District, on the reservation of the Navajo Nation in Arizona, draws on both Navajo tradition and modern accountability tools to improve student achievement. Educators at the Navajo-immersion school, where 71 percent of students are from low-income families, have embraced state academic standards and federal accountability requirements under the law through a school improvement plan. The school also teaches standards for Navajo culture published by the tribe and operates a program intended to teach literacy and improve oral proficiency in "Dine"--the word Navajos use for their people and language. Kindergartners and 1st graders receive all instruction in Navajo. Lessons in English, including reading, begin in 2nd grade and occupy an increasing amount of class time with additional grades. By 6th grade, children receive half their instruction in each language. There is no question that school leaders see the infusion of native culture and language as a key to its success.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2007).  Mobility of Native American Students Can Pose Challenges to Achievement  Education Week, 27 n7 p1, 14 Oct 2007. 

This article reports on an obstacle to achievement that seems particularly pronounced among Native American students high mobility. The turnover rate for one school, North Middle School in Rapid City, South Dakota, was 50 percent overall last year--meaning that half the school's 468 students came or went after the start of the school year. Many of them were Native Americans. And instability carries a cost. The steady coming and going of students is one reason the school has always failed to make adequate yearly progress, or AYP, goals under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. To improve student achievement, North Middle has launched new teaching strategies, after-school tutoring, and family-outreach efforts that--if successful--could hold lessons for other urban and low-income schools with high student turnover.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2007).  Reading Aid Seen to Lag in ELL Focus  Education Week, 27 n9 p1, 20-21 Oct 2007. 

This article reports that educators and experts across the country who work with English-language learners (ELLs) are moving toward a consensus that the federal Reading First program needs to be refined to become more effective for children acquiring English. Administrators in several big-city districts with large numbers of such students are stepping up their training of teachers on how best to teach second-language learners to read under the No Child Left Behind Act's flagship reading program, which serves grades K-3. Last school year, the 410,000-student Chicago public school system established a new position at the district level for a bilingual specialist to coach teachers at the city's 17 Reading First schools with large numbers of ELLs on how to tailor reading instruction to such students. The Los Angeles Unified School District, where 38 percent of the 708,000 students are ELLs, started an institute for Reading First teachers this school year on reading strategies for ELLs. And since last school year the 1.1 million-student New York City school system has been providing workshops and coaching to Reading First teachers and administrators on the same topic. The U.S. Department of Education's 11-member Reading First Advisory Committee has enough concerns about whether ELLs are getting what they need under the $1 billion-a-year program that it set up a subcommittee to look into the issue. Among the program's problems are that students' reading skills are tested before they learn English, the literacy curriculum is too narrow, and teachers are not prepared to work with ELLs.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2007).  States Clear Initial Hurdle on ELL Tests  Education Week, 27 n14 p1, 17 Dec 2007. 

A new report finds that all states and the District of Columbia have now ushered in new English-language-proficiency tests to comply with No Child Left Behind Act requirements for those still learning the language. The report, "English Language Proficiency Assessment in the Nation: Current Status and Future Practice," released by the University of California, is a collaboration by 32 experts on testing and ELLs to provide an overview of the new era of testing for English proficiency. Under the nearly 6-year-old NCLB law, states were, for the first time, required to gauge the progress of second-language learners in grades K-12 every year in learning English. The federal education law requires states to assess those students in reading, writing, speaking, and listening--while the previous generation of tests were mostly designed to assess only speaking and listening. Jamal Abedi, a professor of education at the University of California, Davis, and the editor of the report, said that there is systematic improvement in the new generation of English-proficiency tests. The tests are better than the ones that were commonly used prior to passage of the NCLB law because they are aligned with state standards for English-proficiency--which many states had to craft to comply with the act--and state content standards, such as for mathematics, Mr. Abedi explained.

Zehr, Mary Ann (2008).  Consistent ELL Guides Proposed Yardsticks: "Interpretation" of NCLB Law Seeks Statewide Yardsticks  Education Week, 27 n37 p1, 19 May 2008. 

In a move that could prompt major changes in the way states measure the achievement of English-language learners, the U.S. Department of Education is planning to tell states they must each use a consistent yardstick in determining when a child is fluent in English and when that child no longer needs special ELL services. A proposed "interpretation" of the No Child Left Behind Act's Title III--the conduit for most federal funding for ELL programs--says that states must further standardize the criteria they use to report how well such students are learning English. That's likely to reduce the flexibility that states typically have given school districts in assessing the progress of their English-learners and to have a big impact on how school systems decide when those students are ready to leave ELL programs, experts in the field say. Federal officials are aware that the proposal may cut back on some of the leeway states have assumed in the past--and that's part of the point, according to Kathryn M. Doherty, a special assistant to the department's deputy secretary. Some state education officials and experts on English-learners were still puzzling over the implications of the proposal last week. Hector Rico, the director of the language-learner and -support division of the California Department of Education, said it might be tricky to come up with a statewide standard in California for criteria such as the judgment teachers now use in helping to decide when students leave ELL programs. And his initial reading of the proposal is that California--where a quarter of students are English-learners--would have to change its state laws to implement some aspects of the interpretation.

Zeller, Richard W. (2001).  Implementing the Mediation Requirements of IDEA '97: A Guide Developed for the Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE). 

This document is intended to assist states in implementing the mediation requirements in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended in 1997. These provisions include parent participation in collaborative decision-making and the right of parents to challenge decisions about their child's education program. Increased use of mediation offers hope for more collaborative decision-making by parents and schools. Following an introductory section, this document presents the federal regulations concerning mediation requirements in their entirety. The following section is intended to assist states in assessing whether their systems have addressed the law's requirements by organizing the requirements for mediation under IDEA into the following related areas: (1) mediator standards, (2) mediator selection, (3) mediator process and conditions, (4) encouraging mediation, and (5) attorney participation in mediation (not Federally regulated). For each area the relevant citations from the regulations are excerpted and specific self-assessment questions are suggested. Implications for practice are also addressed. Appendices include a list of all the self-assessment questions and answers to questions concerning mediation from the Office of Special Education Programs. | [FULL TEXT]

Zellmer, Linda (2004).  How Homeland Security Affects Spatial Information  Computers in Libraries, 24 n4 p6-8, 37-38. 

A recent article in Security-Focus described the fact that several U.S. government buildings in Washington DC could no longer be clearly seen by people using MapQuest's aerial photo database. In addition, the photos of these buildings were altered at the Web sites wherein they are posted at the request of the U.S. Secret Service. This is an example of spatial information that was rendered unavailable after September 11, 2001. Spatial information has a variety of forms. Even before September 11, 2001, there were a number of reasons why government agencies withheld information from libraries and the public. In this article, the author discusses five of these reasons: (1) Data availability was limited because of the Cold War; (2) Federal legislation protecting certain types of natural and relict human features; (3) Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs); (4) Exorbitant government information pricing; and (5) Threat of potential terrorism. In addition, the author discusses the events that happened after September 11, 2001 when data that had already been posted really started to disappear. Finally, the author mentions how a Homeland Security Working Group is moving toward solutions.

Zellmer, Michael B.; Frontier, Anthony; Pheifer, Denise (2006).  What Are NCLB's Instructional Costs?  Educational Leadership, 64, 3. 

To gather information on how No Child Left Behind's testing mandates have affected students and schools, Wisconsin ASCD conducted an electronic survey of administrators in every school district in the state. A total of 171 districts responded. Their responses indicated that the very resources that are central to the goals of NCLB--instructional time, staff time, and fiscal resources--have been diverted away from teaching and learning and have been reinvested in test preparation, administration, and reporting. Secretaries, teachers, guidance counselors, and other school personnel devote many hours to logistical preparation and test administration, resulting in loss of services to special needs students and instructional time for all students. When asked what changes in NCLB requirements they would recommend, respondents predominantly mentioned shortening, eliminating, or revising the large-school tests; using a growth formula or value-added system; and allowing schools to measure student progress in multiple ways.

Zemsky, Robert (2007).  Lower College Costs and Improved Student Learning: Real Answers Missing from the Spellings Commission Report  About Campus, 12, 3. 

The Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education too often focused on what's wrong with American higher education and too seldom offered real solutions to vexing problems. In this article, the author, as a Commission member, takes a look at how two issues in particular, high costs and inadequate student learning, might have been better addressed by the Spellings commission.

Zernovoj, Alexander (2007).  Do We Need a National Standards-Based K-12 Deaf Studies Curriculum? An Analytic History of Trends and Discourse in Development of Deaf Studies Curriculum  [Online Submission] 

This study provides a complete review of discussion and development leading up to the current trends in Deaf Studies curriculum development, and also analyzes existing known curriculum (or curriculum-like) materials to help inform development of an ideal standards-based Deaf Studies curriculum. The common shared arguments identified in this study's literature review for using the Deaf Studies curriculum were to empower the deaf students and integrate a Deaf Studies curriculum across various academic subject areas. This study also shows a lack of emphasis on integrating Deaf Studies in any school curriculum due to its limited publications in a literature review of all deaf-related academic journals and other deaf-related periodicals and magazines. The findings from this study led to eight recommendations for the next several courses of action that need to be undertaken to make possible the infusion of the Deaf Studies curriculum into our legislation-dictated (e.g., NCLB) and standards-based deaf education. (References are provided by section.) [Masters Thesis, Gallaudet University.] | [FULL TEXT]

Zhang, Ke; Carr-Chellman, Ali (2001).  Courseware & Copyright: Who's Rights Are Right? 

This paper addresses the difficult issues of balancing faculty and university rights and responsibilities regarding courseware and courseware modules developed as both commissioned and non-commissioned works. The ways in which this debate affects those who are engaged in building their own online courses for their universities, courseware development as consulting practice, and work for universities as faculty development Web development experts are addressed. First, the paper examines some of the concerns that are raised initially as one considers courseware copyright policies, then the attention turns to more deeply understanding three contexts in which courseware copyright policies are either being considered or have recently been passed into campus legislation. Finally, the concerns that evolve from that deeper understanding of these new policies are reconsidered.   | [FULL TEXT]

Zhao, Yong (2006).  Are We Fixing the Wrong Things?  Educational Leadership, 63, 8. 

More than 20 years ago, A Nation At Risk warned that "a rising tide of mediocrity" threatened the U.S. education system and that the United States would be unable to effectively compete with other economies because of a scarcity of graduates in science and technology. In 2001, No Child Left Behind reiterated that message, pushing through new education reforms that require U.S. schools to focus on raising standardized test scores. However, China, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan--all major competitors to the United States--have initiated quite different reforms that aim at fostering creativity and innovative thinking among their citizens. The current or proposed U. S. education reform initiatives--centralized curriculum, standardized testing, accountability, required course of study--could kill creativity, the United States' real competitive edge. The reform initiatives also neglect the two most pressing problems in U.S. education: the lack of a curriculum that focuses on international issues and prepares students to actively engage in global affairs and the lack of opportunities for impoverished children to participate in the globalization discourse.

Zhao, Yong (2008).  What Knowledge Has the Most Worth?  School Administrator, 65, 2. 

American educators have become very concerned by mandates prescribed in the federal No Child Left Behind Act and a slew of state-level reforms such as new curriculum standards and requirements. It is difficult for them to entertain other suggestions. The concern is understandable because noncompliance leads to unbearable consequences. Failure to make AYP--adequate yearly progress--can result in a series of punitive actions ranging from student losses to school reorganization. The even more serious consequence is the public shaming of schools resulting from the publication of a school's lowly ranking. While the latter is simplistically based on student performance on tests in math and reading, it is viewed by the public as indication of the overall quality of the school. In other words, regardless of what a school has achieved in other areas or the validity and reliability of the tests, as long as its 3rd graders or 8th graders are not good test takers, the school is considered needing improvement, a euphemism for a poor-quality school. As educators, however, they are charged with a much more important task than responding to bureaucratic requirements--the moral responsibility to prepare students to lead successful lives. People may have different opinions about what a successful life is, but it should certainly include financial independence, competent participation in community life and positive contributions to society. Schools should at least equip students with the attitudes, perspectives, skills and knowledge that will help them find and keep a job, interact with their coworkers and neighbors and understand as well as make informed decisions about issues affecting society. The specific attitudes, skills and knowledge schools aim to cultivate should be responsive to changes in society. Today, educators are in the midst of a significant transformation. Globalization, the multitude of forces that have made the world smaller and more integrated, is likely to turn the world into a global village where geographical distance matters little, and lives are affected by and impact distant people and places across the world as much as, if not more than, next-door neighbors. What is needed to live a successful life in this village is certainly different from when the world was separated by geographical distances and political boundaries into small local communities.

Ziegler, Mary F.; Davis, Dent C. (2008).  Rural Adult Literacy in a Community Context: From the Margin to the Mainstream  New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2008, 117. 

Legislation over the past two decades has shaped the dominant view of adult literacy as addressing gaps in well-defined, measurable skills. As rural communities face unprecedented challenges, this one-size-fits-all view of adult literacy does not consider the unique local context of rural communities or involve those communities in defining their own needs and goals. This chapter describes a rural community in southern Appalachia and the work of a diverse group from all sectors of the community who developed a partnership to strengthen adult literacy as part of community development. The project extended over five years and involved strengthening participation in a community-wide partnership focused on basic skills as a part of community development. Although unique to the local context, lessons learned from this project may be valuable for adult educators who are working with rural communities to strengthen adult literacy. The authors begin by describing the county, its educational programs, and the development of the partnership. Next, they note the lessons learned, and address the potential applications of this story for other adult literacy efforts in rural areas.

Ziegler, Mary; Ebert, Olga; Cope, Gail (2004).  Using Cash Incentives to Encourage Progress of Welfare Recipients in Adult Basic Education  Adult Basic Education: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Adult Literacy Educational Planning, 14, 1. 

Welfare reform legislation in Tennessee provided adult basic education classes for welfare recipients whose literacy skills were below ninth grade. Although more than half of those eligible enrolled in adult basic education, many dropped out. The Completion Bonus, a cash incentive program, was instituted to encourage the completion of education and employment outcomes. This study focused on the role that cash incentives play in encouraging welfare recipients to make progress in adult basic education. Results showed that the incentive increased the number of participants who remained in an adult education program long enough to achieve academic outcomes.

Zimmer, Ron; Buddin, Richard; Gill, Brian (2002).  Distributional Effects and Distorted Incentives: Funding Policy under the Federal Impact Aid Program.  Journal of Education Finance, 27, 4. 

Examines the U.S. Department of Education's Impact Aid program, a financial subsidy program for military children attending local public schools, specifically the influence of the complex funding formula combining the basic support program (BSP) with the learning opportunity threshold (LOT) on the distribution of aid to school districts.

Zimmer, Ron; Gill, Brian; Razquin, Paula; Booker, Kevin; Lockwood, J.R.; Vernez, Georges; Birman, Beatrice; Garet, Michael; O'Day, Jennifer (2007).  Do Title I School Choice and Supplemental Educational Services Affect Student Achievement? Research Brief  [RAND Corporation] 

This research brief summarizes an analysis of the two educational options provided under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to students in Title I schools that are identified for improvement: school choice and supplemental educational services. Among the key findings: (1) The students participating in supplemental educational services generally improved their performance in both reading and math. (2) For students who took advantage of the school choice option and moved to higher-achieving schools, there was no observable achievement gain as a result of changing schools. (3) Overall, those who took advantage of school choice and supplemental services generally came from the disadvantaged populations that NCLB is intended to target.

Zimmer, Ron; Gill, Brian; Razquin; Booker, Kevin; Lockwood, J. R., III (2007).  State and Local Implementation of the "No Child Left Behind Act." Volume I--Title I School Choice, Supplemental Educational Services, and Student Achievement. A Report from the National Longitudinal Study of "No Child Left Behind" (NLS-"NCLB")  [US Department of Education] 

This report presents findings about the relationship between participation in the Title I school choice and supplemental educational services options and student achievement from the National Longitudinal Study of "No Child Left Behind" (NLS-"NCLB"). A key component of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB") was to provide options to parents whose children had been attending Title I schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring due to failure to achieve adequate yearly progress toward meeting state standards for two or more years. Under "NCLB," parents have the option of: (1) transferring their children to another school in the district that is not in need of improvement; or (2) enrolling their children in supplemental education services (e.g., tutoring, remediation, or other academic instruction) in addition to instruction provided during the school day. This study used data from nine large, urban school districts to examine the characteristics of students participating in the two options and the resulting impact on student achievement. The study found the following: that participation was highest in elementary grades; that African-American students had the highest participation rates of all racial and ethnic groups; that participating students had lower achievement levels than eligible but nonparticipating students; that students who transferred tended to transfer to higher-achieving, racially balanced schools; and that there was no statistically significant (positive or negative) effect on achievement among students participating in the two options. In sum, although participation rates were not high, the users of the two Title I parental options came from the disadvantaged populations that "NCLB" is intended to target. Appendix A provides a description of the nine-district data set. Appendix B presents the full results of the alternative analyses of the school choice option, comparing achievement gains of current and future choosers. Appendix C presents a meta-analysis of effects of Title I school choice and supplemental educational services. The information in this report was provided through the congressionally mandated National Longitudinal Study of "No Child Left Behind" (NLS-"NCLB"), which was conducted by the RAND Corporation and the American Institutes for Research.  [This report was prepared for Policy and Program Studies Service, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, US Department of Education.] | [FULL TEXT]

Zimmerman, Barry J.; Dibenedetto, Maria K. (2008).  Mastery Learning and Assessment: Implications for Students and Teachers in an Era of High-Stakes Testing  Psychology in the Schools, 45, 3. 

Federal efforts to improve American students' achievement through high-stakes testing have led to significant concerns about the fairness and effectiveness of standardized tests. We attribute these concerns to the use of summative tests to assess academic progress without the benefits of an effective formative model of assessment and instruction, such as mastery learning. Historically, mastery learning models emerged as a reaction to the misuse of psychometric models of assessment for instructional purposes. Differences between these models are discussed along with a more recent form of mastery assessment, curriculum-based measurement. Apprehensions about the summative testing requirements of No Child Left Behind are considered along with efforts to make these tests fairer, such as the inclusion of a growth provision. Finally, we identified a mastery learning intervention program in mathematics in a high school that achieved national recognition, and we interviewed participating teachers and students. They reported the positive academic and motivational outcomes expected of a mastery learning approach and a few concerns about drawbacks associated with high-stakes testing.

Zinth, Kyle (2006).  American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Education in the States. StateNotes  [Education Commission of the States] 

State policies pertaining to the education of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students vary considerably in their scope and type among the states. This StateNote report examines policies found in state statutes. Additionally, states that have tribal colleges--independent colleges that are operated by the tribes--within their borders are identified, as are the tribal colleges. Overall, 20 states have policies pertaining to American Indian, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian education, and the 36 tribal colleges can be found in 14 states. | [FULL TEXT]

Zirkel, Perry A. (2000).  Counterpoint-Introduction: Does NALA Provide Rights or Merely Rites?  Journal of Law and Education, 29. 

Summarizes Scott Ferrin's argument in the January 1999 issue of this journal (EJ 583 598) that "English only" policies violate the language rights of Native American Students. Introduces the rebuttal by Jim Littlejohn in the following article (EA 537 750).

Zirkel, Perry A. (2001).  Sorting Out Which Students Have Learning Disabilities.  Phi Delta Kappan, 82, 8. 

Compared to students from affluent public and prep schools, few inner-city students receive extra time or other accommodations when taking high-stakes tests. The growth in "false positives" among affluent youth may partly stem from nonspecific definitions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Fairness is being undermined.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2001).  Accommodating Home Schoolers.  Principal, 81, 1. 

Discusses 10th Circuit Court decision upholding constitutionality of Oklahoma school district's policy that prohibited, with certain exceptions, part-time school enrollment, thus denying home-schooled student from taking certain specialized courses.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2001).  No Pass, No Drive?  Phi Delta Kappan, 83, 4. 

Discusses basis for Kentucky appellate court decision that state's no-pass, no-drive statute did not violate due-process and equal-protection clauses of the Kentucky and federal constitutions, but did violate the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, but nevertheless did not invalidate the statute. Explains why the decision is noteworthy.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2002).  Administrator Demotions: An Update.  Principal, 81, 4. 

Describes an Illinois case involving the demotion of an elementary school principal with 5 years of experience to a classroom teacher. The former principal sued the district claiming that her state due-process rights were violated. The state court disagreed, entering a summary judgment for the district; later affirmed on appeal. Reviews other demotion cases.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2002).  Irresponsible Conduct?  Phi Delta Kappan, 83, 8. 

Discusses Nebraska case involving efforts by parents to seek redress in federal court for their emotionally impaired daughter's difficulties with her band teacher; the parents claimed violation of the 14th Amendment, federal disabilities statutes, and state common law. Explains why the federal district court and Eighth Circuit rejected the parent's claims.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2002).  Caveat Surveyor.  Phi Delta Kappan, 83, 9. 

Reviews Ridgewood, New Jersey, case wherein several parents claimed that school district's student survey violated students' privacy rights protected by the Constitution and two federal statutes: The Family Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. Discusses subsequent federal regulatory and state legislative action.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2002).  Assaults on School Personnel: An Update.  Principal, 82 n1 p10, 12. 

Provides an update of the case law dealing with assaults on school personnel, including an illustrative Arizona case followed by a question-and-answer discussion posing certain hypothetical situations concerning the facts and law of the case. Draws implications for policy and practice.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2002).  [Section] 504/ADA Student Issues: The Latest and the Greatest. 

Recent case law within and outside the school context has revised or refined various concepts concerning eligibility and other K-12 issues under Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Ten case lessons are described in this paper, seven of which are: (1) The frame of reference for determining "substantially limits" in the definition of disability is horizontal and national; (2) moreover, the determination of "substantially limits" is with, not without, mitigating measures; (3) providing a "504 Plan" for a student who may be eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) can lead to costly consequences; (4) conversely, providing a "504 Plan" as, in effect, a consolation prize for a student who is not eligible under the IDEA may also have costly consequences; (5) the majority standard for liability under Section 504 and the ADA appears to be bad faith or gross misjudgment; (6) with a limited exception, school officials in their individual capacity may not be liable under Section 504 or the ADA; and (7) the most recent cases may possibly signal a trend in favor of student-athletes in Section 504 or ADA cases against rules, without waivers, of interscholastic athletic associations. Rulings in other recent court decisions are given honorable mention at the end of the paper.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2003).  The 10-Day Myth.  American School Board Journal, 190, 8.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2003).  Signing Bonuses.  Phi Delta Kappan, 85, 2. 

Describes a Nebraska case where a signing bonus awarded to a new teacher was contested by the teachers' association. Provides a two-part legal reminder to school authorities. Does the state have a collective bargaining law that mandates bargaining in such situations? If so, negotiate the matter into a clearly provable agreement.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2003).  Restitution: Another Two-Way Street in School Cases?  Phi Delta Kappan, 85, 4. 

Analyzes complex Minnesota case wherein the state intermediate, appellate court upheld (2-1) juvenile court's order that a high school student expelled for making a bomb threat pay the district's tutoring costs and attorney's fees.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2004).  The Case Law on Gifted Education: A New Look  Gifted Child Quarterly, 48, 4. 

To fill a gap in the literature, this article provides a comprehensive, concise, and current overview of the case law -- specifically, published hearing/review officer and court decisions -- concerning gifted education for K-12 students. This case law represents two distinct groups: "gifted alone," designating students whose legal status is based solely on their gifted status, and "gifted pins," designating students who not only are gifted, but also have special legal status, typically in terms of disability (i.e., "twice exceptional") or race. The outcomes of the case law in both categories have generally favored the defendant school districts. The absence in many states of strong and specific legislation or regulations for gifted-alone students and the lack of judicial sensitivity to the complexity of the gifted-plus category likely contribute to the overall district-friendly trend of the case law to date.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2004).  Courtside: NCLB=New Cause for Litigious Behavior  Phi Delta Kappan, 85, 6. 

In September 2002, the children of parents Latasha Gibbs, Carmella Glass, Laverne Jones, Charlene Mingo, Deborah Powell-Jasper, Eunice Staton, and Keikola Valentine were attending New York City public schools that the state education department identified as needing improvement -- in other words, failing -- under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. At the same time, the children of parents Bridie Kite, Michelle Tucker, and Charlene Wilson were attending public schools in Albany that the state education department designated as failing. On 27 January 2003, these two groups of parents, along with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, filed a class action federal civil rights suit in New York against the two school districts and their superintendents for alleged violations of NCLB and the state constitution. They sought a preliminary injunction requiring the defendants to comply immediately with the supplemental educational services and transfer provisions of NCLB and preventing the defendants from using NCLB funds for any purpose other than compliance with the act. Under the act, schools that fail to achieve their state plan's standard for adequate yearly progress (AYP) for two consecutive years are designated for "improvement." Once they receive this designation and as long as they continue not to make AYP (which eventually triggers the more serious "corrective action" and "restructuring" designations), the schools must offer their students the options of supplemental services and transfer. For supplemental services, parents may choose from a list of state-approved providers that have "a demonstrated record of effectiveness." For transfer, the school must, "not later than the first day of the school year following such identification, provide all students enrolled in the school with the option to transfer to another public school served by the [district], which may include a public charter school, that [is not in one of the three failing categories]." The plaintiffs in this case alleged that the New York City and Albany school districts did not provide parents in eligible schools with adequate notice and timely implementation of the supplemental services and transfer provisions of the act. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the suit, arguing that NCLB does not provide a private right of action (right to sue). On 20 June 2003, the federal district court granted the dismissal motion, thus denying as moot the plaintiffs' suit for a preliminary injunction. The court held that "Congress did not intend to create individually enforceable rights with respect to the notice, transfer or [supplemental educational services] provisions contained in NCLBA." This case is not necessarily over; the plaintiffs are preparing an appeal to the Second Circuit. The odds, however, clearly favor the defendants. For this reason and others, NCLB has set off a firestorm of opposition based on a wide range of viewpoints and agendas, including philosophical aversion to federal intervention, pedagogical objections to standardized testing, administrative criticism of insufficient funding, and individual pleas on behalf of some segments of the special education community. The American way to channel such hostility is to sue. There is at least one more pending suit under NCLB, this one concerning California's allegedly inadequate implementation of the act's "highly qualified teacher" requirements. Our New York case, following the Supreme Court's limiting standards in Gonzaga, seems to suggest that such litigation faces a dead end.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2004).  Courtside: Rightful Liability?  Phi Delta Kappan, 86, 1. 

Adam Coolidge lives with his parents in the Riverdale Local School District, which is in rural northwestern Ohio. In spring 1996, prior to enrolling Adam in kindergarten, his parents met with district representatives to discuss moving him from an early intervention program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). His eligibility for the program was based on a diagnosis of autism. His parents advocated his placement in a regular kindergarten classroom full time, while the district representatives asserted that a more restrictive placement would be appropriate. The IEP (individualized education program) team settled on a placement of five days of each 10 in a regular kindergarten classroom with an aide, with the other five days in a special education class. This article examines the Coolidge case.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2004).  Courtside: Settle Good?  Phi Delta Kappan, 86, 2. 

In the Spring of 1998 the Portland (Oregon) Public Schools hired Dr. Pamela Settlegoode as an adapted physical education teacher for the coming academic year. Her job was to provide adapated PE to students with disabilities in three different schools and to draft individualized education plans (IEPs) in accordance with federal law. Soon after starting in her position, Settlegoode became concerned about Portland's special education program. She had difficulty finding a place to teach her high school students, and material and equipment were often lacking, inadequate, or unsafe. When she spoke to her immediate supervisor, Susan Winthrop, about these problems, she was told that she was the only one who had ever made such complaints. At the end of the school year, Settlegoode wrote a 10-page letter to Winthrop's supervisor, expressing her concern that the adapted PE program suffered from problems of "systematic discrimination, maladministration, access, pedagogy, curriculum, equity, and parity," in violation of federal law. Drawing an analogy to earlier stages of the civil rights movement, she wrote that the illustrative experiences that she described presented "a portraiture of a form of education that is . . . all too familiar in this country. It wasn't too long ago when Black African Americans took a back seat on the American School bus (though in Portland, there's still lots of 'Separate, but equal' to go around)." She also criticized Winthrop for being too tied to the school bureaucracy to be in touch with the needs of students with disabilities. In the end the school board decided not to renew Settlegoode's contract. Settlegoode sued in federal court. This article examines this court case and the events leading up to it.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2005).  Bullying  Principal, 84, 4. 

In the wake of Columbine and other high-profile school shootings, educators and the public at large have become increasingly aware of the danger and damage that bullying can cause. For example, a study by the U.S. Secret Service suggests that bullying was a contributing factor in two-thirds of 37 school shooting episodes. Other recent research reveals a significant relationship between weapons and not only bullies but targets of bullying, noting that many bullies started as victims. Given such findings, it is not at all surprising that researchers recommend that schools make anti-bullying part of their mission. Going further, approximately a dozen states, led by Colorado, have adopted legislation requiring public schools to adopt anti-bullying policies. Bullying-related litigation is also on the rise. The theories of liability range from state common law claims, such as negligence, to federal civil rights claims, such as racial harassment. Moreover, in some cases, the perpetrator and/ or the victim may be a student with a disability. The accompanying case and question-and-answer discussion illustrate recent trends with regard to outcomes of these varying claims for liability. The Case 5 In 1996, after 24 years of experience as an educator, Karen Siris became principal of W. S. Boardman Elementary School in the Oceanside Union Free School District, which is on Long Island, New York. Author of a doctoral dissertation entitled "Using Teacher Action Research to Alleviate Bullying and Victimization in Schools," she instituted an "antibullying" philosophy at Boardman that included classroom presentations at the start of each school year, written materials to the teachers, and a motivational film for the entire school, with follow-up teacher activities.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2005).  Courtside: Celebration  Phi Delta Kappan, 86, 9. 

In this era of educational choice, school accountability, research-based practices, and commercial competition--illustrated by but not exclusive to No Child Left Behind--some schools, public and private, make claims that resemble false advertising and that some parents rely on, to their disappointment and even detriment. Moreover, the laudable movement in recent years toward public school partnerships with businesses and with universities may pose the unintended consequence of establishing new and shared liability. This column examines these issues through a discussion of the case of a Florida family that bought a house in a development based on a promise to provide a cutting-edge school for their children.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2005).  State Laws for Gifted Education: An Overview of the Legislation and Regulations  Roeper Review, 27, 4. 

In states that do not have legislation or regulations providing specific and strong requirements for gifted education (i.e., individually defined and enforceable rights akin to those under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]), the "case law"--the published hearing/review officer and court decisions concerning who is eligible as gifted and, for those who are eligible, what is their educational entitlement--has been adverse to plain tiff-parents (Zirkel, 2004). The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented has recently published an exhaustive, impartial, and yet relatively compact synthesis of the law specific to gifted education. In addition to summarizing the case law, the monograph includes an appendix that provides a tabular analysis, excerpted provisions, and legal citations of the pertinent statutes and regulations (Zirkel, 2003). This article provides an overview of this updated detailed tabulation, with a more specific discussion about this legislative and regulatory framework. However, this article is limited to these binding sources of law and is not subject to the limitations of survey research.

Zirkel, Perry A. (2006).  SLD Eligibility: A Users' Guide to the New Regulations  [National Research Center on Learning Disabilities] 

Students with specific learning disability ("SLD") account for approximately half of all students that districts have determined to be eligible for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"). Since the late 1970s, the IDEA regulations have required states to use severe discrepancy--based on a comparison of the child's academic achievement, typically based on a standardized test, with the child's intellectual ability, typically based on an IQ test--as the primary but not exclusive criterion for determining SLD. The new regulations, issued in August 2006 to implement the 2004 amendments to the IDEA, provide significant changes in the determination of SLD eligibility. One of the new provisions concerns responsiveness to intervention ("RTI"), which is an alternate approach that starts with scientific, research-based instruction in general education and offers increasing levels of intervention based on continuous progress monitoring. Pending new state laws and published case law, this overview provides a user-friendly guide to the provisions in the 2004 amendments and the new IDEA regulations pertinent to SLD eligibility, including the role of RTI.  [This document was produced by the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities.] | [FULL TEXT]