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Register Now For the 2008 ACCESS Quality
Education Conference!
We are almost one month
away from the 2008 Quality Education Conference
– Exploring New Horizons for Equal
Educational Opportunity! Register now to
participate in this distinct and wide-ranging
event to be held in Washington D.C. on June
11 and June 12, 2008. This year’s
conference promises to build on the successes
of previous years and further advance the
adequacy movement – in a new light.
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Plaintiffs Prevail in Two Important New
Decisions
Reversing
the lower court’s holding that the
separation of powers doctrine precludes
the courts from considering plaintiffs’
claims that children throughout the state
are being denied their constitutional right
to a quality education, the Indiana Court
of Appeals ruled on May 2, 2008 that these
issues are justiciable. Bonner v. Daniels.
Noting that “the current cause is
part of an orchestrated suit, already filed
and decided in several states,” the
Court relied on and quoted extensively from
judicial decisions from sister states. Read
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Analysis of Adequacy Studies Shows
Trend Toward Increased Weightings for Poverty
and Minority Students
“The
size of recommended weights for poor students
has increased dramatically and ELL recommendations
have increased [even] more” concludes
William Mathis in his latest synthesis of
costing out studies which he presented at
the annual meeting of the American Education
Finance Association in April 2008. Mathis,
Superintendent of Schools for the Rutland
Northeast Supervisory Union, reports that
virtually all of the 38 adequacy studies
covered by his analysis provide specific
weightings for English language learners
(ELL) and low-income students. Read
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New Cases Filed in Iowa and Alabama Raise
Innovative Adequacy and Equity Theories
Iowa
is one of only six states in the country
where a court has not issued a ruling involving
a constitutional challenge to the adequacy
or equity of the state’s educational
system. That status may change if the plaintiffs
in King v. State of Iowa proceed to judgment
on the innovative adequacy claims that are
set forth in the petition they filed in
Polk County District Court in early April.
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Targeted Class-Size Reduction Can
be Conducive to Educational Equity
Though
a movement has solidified behind the notion
that when it comes to class size, “smaller
is better,” class size is “at
the very least, a balancing act between
contemporary fiscal realities and children’s
developmental needs,” says Douglas
D. Ready, Assistant Professor of Education
at Teachers College, Columbia University.
In his paper, “Class-Size Reduction:
Policy, Politics, and Implications for Equity”
presented at the fourth Equity Forum convened
by the Campaign for Educational Equity in
April 2008, Ready emphasizes the complex
policy considerations that affect class
size reduction programs and counsels that
class size policy should be considered in
relationship to alternative reforms that
might be pursued with the available funds
and the specific goals that are being pursued.
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