An investigation by Shannon Mullen of the Asbury (N.J.) Park Press shows that special-education stimulus funds have been diverted to other costs in Monmouth and Ocean counties, including legal fees and teacher benefits. “The redirection of funds was possible thanks to a previously little-used provision in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal [...]
Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
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Education Deparment’s enforcement of campus sexual assault cases is lacking
February 26th, 2010 
Mark Horvit The Education Department is charged with enforcing laws on how schools deal with sexual assault, but its Office of Civil Rights rarely investigates student allegations of botched proceedings. When cases do go forward, the civil rights office rarely rules against the schools, and virtually never issues any sanctions against institutions, according to an investigation [...]
Cheating on standardized tests suspected in one in five Georgia schools
February 11th, 2010 Beth Hundreds of Georgia schools are under investigation for cheating on state standardized tests. This week’s release of a state probe of erasure marks followed more than a year of stories by Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Heather Vogell and data analyst John Perry about suspect test scores.
Athletic departments thrive on subsidies while universities struggle
January 14th, 2010 Beth “More than $800 million in student fees and university subsidies are propping up athletic programs at the nation’s top sports colleges, including hundreds of millions in the richest conferences,” according to a report by Jack Gillum, Jodi Upton and Steve Berkowitz of USA Today. At the same time, many of these school are facing financial hardship on other fronts – faculty salaries have dropped, financial aid is drying up and fees and tuition are on the rise.
Questions about results, conflict-of-interest surround early-childhood initiative
December 28th, 2009 Mark Horvit The Fresno Bee published a two-part series on accountability problems with Fresno County First 5, an early childhood initiative approved by voters in 1998. The first story found that, despite promises made to voters and millions of dollars spent on evaluations, First 5 hasn’t produced a complete evaluation of its results, raising questions about the [...]
Teacher placement system undermines hiring choices
December 15th, 2009 Beth A voiceofsandiego.org project reveals a flawed teacher placement system that can undercut schools from making straightforward choices on the fundamental issue of who teaches in their classrooms.
Sexual Assault on Campus series
December 7th, 2009 Beth A nine-month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity looks at sexual assaults on college campuses. “According to a report funded by the Department of Justice, roughly one in five women who attend college will become the victim of a rape or an attempted rape by the time she graduates. But official data from the schools themselves doesn’t begin to reflect the scope of the problem.”
Funding problems found in charter school construction program
November 30th, 2009 Mark Horvit Tony Kennedy of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reports that some of the state’s charter schools have found a loophole in the Minnesota law that forbids charter schools from owning property. Millions of dollars in public money have gone to build schools even though the properties remain in the hands of private nonprofit corporations. According to [...]
Schools not made aware of tainted food supplies
November 17th, 2009 Beth An investigation by Blake Morrison and Peter Eisler of USA Today illustrates failures in food safety programs as schools unknowingly continued to receive food from suppliers with a history of tainted products.
Education, Inc. series
November 3rd, 2009 Beth A three-day series by The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Ind.) examined the local charter schools run by national, for-profit Imagine Schools Inc., the largest charter school management company in the nation.
