Education This Week

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Fired Teachers

The nationwide teacher shortage may be easing, at least in Washington, D.C. Despite chronic searches, the district fired 531 of its teachers, primarily for lack of proper certification. Dismissed teachers are eligible to be rehired if they complete classes and tests required for certification and provide required documentation. The district say it now has enough qualified applicants to replace the fired teachers.

School's IN for Summer

Summer sections for many failing students started this week in Baltimore, New York Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver, Cleveland New Orleans and Miami. Students who failed assessment tests and had lagging schoolwork will be promoted based on summer school completion as well as year-round classroom performance. New York estimates a staggering one third of its approximately 327,000 public school students will need the extra classroom time.

Don't Know Much About History?

A new study shows that one in five U.S. teenagers are probably failing history — or at least should be. The grim findings from the ten-question survey by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation: Some 22 percent of the 1,000 students who responded in didn't know the U.S. broke away from Great Britain. Nearly 20 percent didn't know that there were 13 original colonies or that the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. One-quarter didn't know who fought in the Civil War, and almost one third didn't know that Francis Scott Key wrote America's national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner."