County schools could face cuts in services
Gina Davis, The Baltimore Sun
Funding shortfalls totaling millions of dollars could adversely affect the Baltimore County school system's ability to maintain some services, such as special-education programs, county school officials said last night.

‘Growth Models’ Gaining in Accountability Debate
David J Hoff, Education Week
As the U.S. Department of Education opens the alternative measuring stick to all states, some educators call for the models to take center stage under a renewed No Child Left Behind Act.

Charter Schools Outshine Others as They Receive Their First Report Cards
Jennifer Medina, The New York Times
Education officials, acting under the city’s new system of accountability, released report cards on Wednesday for several charter schools, with the majority receiving A’s and B’s, but one school in Queens getting an F.

Democrats Trim Some Education Increases In Latest Budget Bill
David J Hoff, Education Week
Federal education spending would increase by 3.2 percent in fiscal 2008 under a bill that Democrats in Congress hope to pass by the end of the week, favoring Democratic priorities over President Bush’s. The plan to appropriate $62.3 billion for U.S. Department of Education programs in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 is part of a larger budget drama in which Democrats were generally giving in to a hard-line White House stance that earlier measures contained too much in the way of domestic spending increases.

New York Panel Calls for Overhaul of State's Higher-Education System
Sara Hebel and Eric Hoover, The Chronicle of Higher Education
New York must avoid "overregulation" and allow its public universities to set their own tuition rates without legislative approval, according to preliminary recommendations that a state panel plans to deliver today to New York's governor.

Threatened With a Veto, Democrats Slash Student Aid and Other Spending
Kelly Field, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Democratic leaders in Congress have grudgingly agreed to shave hundreds of millions of dollars from their earlier proposals for federal student aid and academic research. Among the hardest hit of the higher-education-related programs would be the National Institutes of Health.

Too Costly for Even the Well-to-Do
NACAC
The cost of attending college has been rising faster than inflation and faster than family incomes, prompting anguished outcries from consumers and calls in Congress for colleges to rein in their costs or disgorge more of their endowments. Harvard's new financial aid policy is the boldest move yet to mitigate the soaring costs of a college education. Although Harvard is often a trendsetter, it is not clear that many other schools can afford to follow.

Spellings Urges Greater Tolerance of Letting Colleges Define Their Own Success
Paul Basken, The Chronicle of Higher Education
The U.S. Secretary of Education told a federal advisory committee to keep pushing her agenda of making colleges more accountable for what students learn. She cautioned the panel, however, not to require any specific methods or measures.

UB, Iraq university sign deal
Gadi Dechter, The Baltimore Sun
The University of Baltimore's School of Law and a university in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, Iraq, have signed the first formal partnership between law schools in the two countries, officials announced yesterday.

'Leap' in higher paid lecturers
BBC News
The number of higher education staff earning more than £50,000 has risen "substantially" over the last 10 years, research indicates.

U of T gets top marks from graduate students
Elaine Smith, University of Toronto News
Canadian Graduate and Professional Student Survey data highlight quality of graduate student experience.

Canadian aboriginals outpacing natives in other countries, study finds
Bob Weber, The Globe and Mail
Canadian aboriginals may lag behind the rest of the country in health, income and education, but new research suggests they are doing better than their counterparts in some other countries.

Education urban reserve deal signed
Kerry Benjoe, The Regina Leader-Post
History was made Tuesday morning as the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) took a major step towards becoming the first post-secondary institution located on reserve.

Audit to ensure that neediest log on first
Justine Ferrari, The Australian
THE schools most in need will be identified during a national audit of computers in the classroom, with the most under-resourced placed at the head of the queue for IT handouts.

More Aussies seeking uni education
AAP, The Sydney Morning Herald
More Australians are obtaining post-school qualifications, particularly bachelor degrees, official figures show.

English exam starts war of words over marking
Anna Patty, The Sydney Morning Herald
Examinaton markers awarded high level English students in this year's HSC close to double the rate of top marks as last year, raising debate about the reliability of the much-touted "standards" of the new-look HSC.

Aligning High School Graduation Requirements with the Real World Policy Brief
Achieve.com
A recent policy brief by Achieve, “Aligning High School Graduation Requirements with the Real World: A Road Map for States” captures lessons learned by states that have put higher high school graduation requirements in place. It addresses challenges of policy design as well as strategies for implementation, communication and coalition building.

To View the full report, Click Here.

To view a side by side comparison of states’ graduation requirements, Click Here.

The Educational Policy Institute is an international non-profit think tank dedicated to the study of educational opportunity. The Week in Review is a weekly publication that highlights the top news stories, reports and statistics related to academic preparation and access and success in the US, Canada, and beyond. The publication also features a commentary written by either President Watson Scott Swail, EdD or Vice-President Alex Usher.

To submit comments, news releases, or submissions, please email Dr. Watson Scott Swail at wswail@educationalpolicy.org or call (757) 430-2200.