The coordinating board provided 286 pages of e-mails in response to an open-records request from The Dallas Morning news. Many of the notes are from Texas. But others come from all corners of the U.S. and the world—from Florida to the Philippines, Nevada to Nigeria. The letters show how heated the debate has become, as Texas and other states try to figure out the best way to teach students science.

Schools to Offer Pay for Scores
Jan 25 2008 - Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore school system will pay high school students who improve their scores on the state graduation exams up to $110 each, a controversial plan that would be a first in Maryland. The system will spend $935,622 on the student incentives, part of a $6.3 million plan to help students struggling to pass Maryland's High School Assessments that administrators presented to the school board. State Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick approved the plan. But in a letter to city schools chief Andres Alonso, she expressed concern about the "lack of ... research" supporting student incentives and required the system to closely track student results.

Microsoft Launches Online Teacher Network
Jan 25 2008 - eSchool News
Teachers across the United States will have an opportunity to communicate and collaborate with top-notch educators from all over the world through Microsoft Corp.'s Innovative Teachers Network (ITN), a new online forum that promotes the exchange of ideas and methods on how best to incorporate technology into the classroom effectively. The ITN is part of Microsoft's Partners in Learning (PiL) initiative, a program that gives educators the resources, training, and content they need to complement classroom technology and allow students to reach their full potential. In this newest boost of funding to PiL, Microsoft officials say educators will see a focus on programs that can support innovative students.

Employers Want New Way to Judge Graduates Beyond Tests, Grades
Jan 23 2008 - USA Today
More than 300 business leaders across the nation say colleges need to find new ways to assess a student’s ability to apply college learning to real-world settings, according to a survey released by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Forty percent of respondents said a faculty supervisor’s assessment of a student’s internship in a real-world setting would be “very useful.” Six percent of respondents noted scores from a multiple choice test would be helpful. The poll builds on a 2006 survey that found business leaders saying 63% of graduates are unprepared for a global economy.

Microsoft Launches Online Teacher Network
Jan 23 2008 - eSchool News (Requires free registration)
A new initiative by Microsoft will enable a million educators around the world to connect online. The Innovative Teachers Network (ITN) will allow teachers to exchange ideas and methods on how best to integrate technology into the classroom. Within the network, teachers can create their own communities, start discussions, and collaborate with other educators who have similar interests. Microsoft officials note the network program may also help educators save time on finding solutions for classroom practices or challenges.

Teenagers, Scalpels, and Real Cadavers
Jan 22 2008 - The Ledger (Lakeland, Florida)
Animal dissections continue to be popular in the high school biology curriculum. NSTA and the National Association of Biology Teachers endorse that practice. However, biology teachers are careful to specify “nonhuman animals.” But dissecting a person is becoming more of a practice in science classrooms. A few high schools across the country have started offering hands-on cadaver-based courses. Universities are offering workshops that give high school students a look into their own anatomy.

Cash for School Grades? It Works.
Jan 22 2008 - Christian Science Monitor
A Cornell University study has shown the practice of paying underachieving students to take challenging classes they would never imagine taking can work. The study examined the Advanced Placement Incentive Program (APIP). The program consists of paying $500 to low-income Texas students in minority school districts who pass an exam for an Advanced Placement course. APIP schools showed a 30% increase in the number of graduates who scored better than 1100 and 24 on the SAT and ACT college admission tests, respectively. The report also found the number of students admitted to colleges from APIP schools increased by eight percent.

A Change in Course for College Classes
Jan 22 2008 - Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, Washington)
The number of college students taking online classes continues to grow. The trend can mainly be seen at community colleges, according to author of this article. In 2007, a report published by the Sloan Consortium found that online enrollment across the country is growing at a rate that vastly exceeds general student-growth rates. The study also found that almost 3.5 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall of 2006.

School Board Votes: Evolution is Just a Theory
Jan 19 2008 - My Clay Sun (Orange Park, Florida)
A local school board in Florida has decided that evolution should be presented as a theory, and not fact, in the classroom. Members of the Clay County School Board passed a resolution asking the Florida Department of Education to reword its newly proposed state standards, which present evolution as “the fundamental concept underlying all of biology and is supported in multiple forms of scientific evidence.” “It’s not like we’re asking for permission to teach creationism or any of those things. What we’re saying is let’s not be so dogmatic in our approach,” noted Superintendent David Owens.

Classroom Scientists Shoot for Space
Jan 18 2008 - Space Mart News
British students ages 14–18 are being encouraged to fly a lunch-box sized experiment aboard a future space mission. Experiments can measure some aspect of space, monitor the Earth in a novel way, or test new satellite technology. The winning team will be recognized during a special ceremony at the International Astronautical Federation Congress in September 2008.

Court Ruling Threatens Future of Virtual Schools
Jan 16 2008 - Union-Tribune (San Diego, California)
School districts nationwide are watching a Wisconsin court case that could determine the future of online education. A three-judge panel recently ordered the state to stop funding the Wisconsin Virtual Academy. The ruling is the first of its kind in the United States. Supporters noted virtual schools “are a godsend for parents who prefer their children learn from home.” Opponents argued that “cyber charter schools drain money away from traditional schools.” Officials plan to appeal the ruling.

Creationists Delay Bid for Master's Degrees
Jan 15 2008 - San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
Members of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board will have to wait to vote on an application by a creation science group hoping to offer online master’s degrees. The Institute for Creation Research is seeking state approval to grant the degrees so educators can “understand the universe within the integrating framework of biblical creationism,” according to the schools’ mission statement. Board members were scheduled to vote on the application next week. However, the institute asked the board to postpone the vote until April to “do justice to the concerns (the board) raised.”

Lawyer Says School Proposal Equates Evolution, Religion
Jan 15 2008 - St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
A Florida attorney claims that science can be like religion. David C. Gibbs III wrote in a recent legal memo that by singling out Charles Darwin's theory of evolution as the sole pillar of modern biology, Florida's proposed science standards "leave no room for other philosophical perspectives and cross the line between science and faith." Gibbs also notes that the proposed standards could face a legal challenge for violating the constitutional separation of church and state. An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida described Gibbs's claim as "cockamamy." Gibbs sent the memo to the Florida Board of Education in December. Board members will vote on the new science standards in February.

'Dashboards' Provide Data on Schools
Jan 14 2008 - Washington Post (Requires free registration)
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has unveiled a new tool that can help parents see how schools are performing. Dubbed dashboards, the two-page, graphic-filled reports include pass rates on national and state reading and math exams for fourth and eighth graders, national and state graduation rates, and the number of schools meeting or falling short of requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Education Secretary Ducks Evolution Quarrel in Tallahassee
Jan 10 2008 - Miami Herald (Florida)
In an effort to promote the benefits of the No Child Left Behind Act, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is visiting states to discuss the law. But during her visit to Florida, Spellings stayed far away from the unfolding controversy on whether the state should add the word “evolution” to its science standards. Spellings noted it is not “her job to make policy decisions and said it was up to people such as new Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith." When asked if she had a position on the issue, Spellings responded, “No. I don’t.” The Florida Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the new science standards in February.

Spellings Pushes on Her Own to Keep No Child Law Alive
Jan 10 2008 - USA Today
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings plans to use her executive authority to revive stalled efforts to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act. Spellings said changes to the law cannot wait for congressional action or a new administration. Changes Spellings plans to propose include expanding a program that gives schools credit for individual students’ annual academic improvements, allowing different consequences for chronically underperforming schools and those in which a few students don’t improve, and requiring states to use a uniform definition of high school graduation rates.

Grading the States
Jan 10 2008 - Education Week (Requires free subscription)
The latest edition of Education Week’s Quality Counts report continues the cradle-to-career framework launched in the 2007 study. But it also reintroduces some of the categories in which the publication has graded states in the past, though some of the indicators and the grading have changed.

State Board OKs Debated Biology Text
Jan 10 2008 - Post and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina)
The South Carolina Board of Education has approved a biology textbook that had been previously questioned. “It’s almost shameful to me that we spent so much time questioning whether evolution should be taught in 2008 in South Carolina schools,” observed Trip DuBard III, who voted to approve the textbook. “I thought we were beyond that.” Board member Charles McKinney spoke for the board’s conservative faction when he said he views evolution as “an incomplete mystery” and worries that the textbook presents “distorted science opinion” as truth. The board is required to approve updated versions of textbooks each year.

Congress is Urged to Enhance 'No Child' Law
Jan 8 2008 - Washington Post (Requires free registration)
President Bush has urged Congress to revive a stalled effort to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act. “I know No Child Left Behind has worked,” the president said. “If Congress passes a bill that weakens the accountability system in the No Child Left Behind Act, I will strongly oppose it and veto it.” Bush’s comments were made on the eve of the anniversary of his signing the bill.

Court Revives Lawsuit Against No Child Left Behind Law
Jan 8 2008 - New York Times (Requires free registration)
In a 2-to-1 ruling, a federal appeals court on Monday revived a legal challenge to the No Child Left Behind Act. The court said that school districts have been justified in complaining that the law required them to pay for testing and other programs without providing sufficient federal funds. School districts in Michigan, Texas, and Vermont joined with the National Education Association in the 2005 lawsuit. In the lawsuit, they argued that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings had violated the U.S. Constitution in enacting the law by requiring states and school districts to spend local funds to administer standardizes tests and to meet other federal mandates. The lawsuit was partially built around a paragraph in the law that says “no state or district can be forced to spend its money on expenses the federal government has not covered.

Science Advisers Urge Teaching Evolution
Jan 4 2008 - CBS News
A new report by the National Academy of Sciences and its Institute of Medicine emphasizes the importance of teaching evolution in public schools. The report includes recently discovered evidence supporting evolution, including an important fossil find. The report also takes positions against creationism and other anti-evolution views. Evolution continues to be a popular topic in many states, including Florida and Texas. In Florida, officials are considering revising their science standards to include the word evolution. The Texas Board of Education is expected to begin a review of the state science curriculum in the near future.

Word 'Evolution' May Be Added to Florida Curriculum
Jan 4 2008 - Miami Herald (Florida)
The pros and cons of evolution and intelligent design were debated during a public hearing January 3 in Florida. The state’s school board is considering revisions in science standards that would substitute the word evolution for “biological changes over time.” Many public school teachers who appeared at the hearing supported the teaching of evolution. But some residents who attended said “that God created the Earth and everyone that is on it.” The Florida Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the revised standards on February 19.

Evolution Furor Flares on Florida Science Proposals
Dec 31 2007 - Palm Beach Post (Florida)
The evolution debate will take center stage in February when the Florida Board of Education considers revising science standards that would make evolution a major topic in classrooms for the first time. Educators and advocacy groups have voiced mixed reaction to the plans, which would require students to recognize that fossil evidence is consistent with the idea that human beings evolved from earlier species.

Despite Divide, Girls Narrowing Math, Science Gap
Dec 31 2007 - Newsday
More females are becoming involved in math and science, according to experts. However, despite the trend, persistent gaps remain between boys and girls in math and science standardized test scores, as well as in professional opportunities.

Providing an Edge in College Admissions
Dec 27 2007 - Los Angeles Times (Requires free registration)
Teachers nationwide are working this holiday season. Educators are spending part of their winter break writing college recommendation letters for students. Experts explain a strong teacher recommendation can add “flesh, bones, and personality” to an application package of test scores and grades, and convince a college admissions director that a particular student would be a valuable asset on campus.

To Draw Top Teachers to Troubled Schools, Foundation Will Offer $30,000 Stipends
Dec 20 2007 - Washington Post (Requires free registration)
In an effort to improve teacher education and direct highly qualified teachers to high-poverty and struggling schools, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has launched a $17 million program. The program will enable future teachers to earn $30,000 stipends to attend graduate school. In return, fellows will agree to teach for three years at high-needs schools. The foundation’s efforts come amid a nationwide push by educators, advocacy groups, and the business community to better prepare teachers, especially in math and science.

ExploraVision Competition: Imagining the Technology of the Future
Dec 19 2007 - Education.com
For 16 years, Toshiba and NSTA have partnered to find out how today’s youth imagine the technology of the future with the ExploraVision Awards program. Designed for students in grades K–12, the competition encourages participants to work in teams to research a technology or an aspect of technology and determine what possible solutions the technology could produce in 20 years. Environed technologies have ranged from a timed water fountain to a passenger tire waste heat recovery system.