XplanaZine

♦ Quality Counts 2008: Report Card Grades States on Education Performance, Policy
Education Week launched a new report card today, grading the states across six areas of education performance and policy. While the U.S. posted a grade of C overall, the average state earned a D-plus on public school achievement, the poorest showing of any graded category. Marks were also low for state efforts to improve teaching, where 10 states earned a grade of D or lower. – All American Patriots

♦ Half of pupils have own computer
Almost half of secondary school pupils in the UK have their own individual PC or laptop at home, says a survey of technology use among young people. The use of the internet is pervasive, with 77% of 11 to 16-year-olds reporting they are online every day. — BBC News

♦ At Work: Online degrees may not appear as valuable in business world
Of 18 million college students, about 3.6 million take courses online. However, online degrees may not appear as valuable in business world as traditional education. A study reveals that university employers would pick a person with a degree from a traditional program instead of an online program 98 percent of the time. Businesses employers would choose the traditional student 96 percent of the time and health care organizations would choose the traditional student 93 percent of the time. – The Clarion-Ledger

♦ More Than Eight out of Ten Parents in Favour of Online School Reporting
Pearson Phoenix, one of the UK’s leading providers of management information systems (MIS) for schools, today released the results of an online survey of almost 2000 British adults, showing that more than eight out of ten (82 percent) parents with children 17 and under are in favor of online school reporting of progress and behavior, of those 47 percent said that it would help them to feel more involved in their child’s education and giving them a greater understanding of their educational development. – Response Source, UK

♦ AT&T Announces New Contract With Visalia Unified School District
AT&T has signed a new contract with California’s Visalia Unified School District that serves close to 27,000 students in 34 schools. Under the terms of the five-year contract, AT&T will serve as the primary service provider for Visalia USD and will deliver AT&T OPT-E-MAN service, a switched Ethernet service to connect the district’s 24 elementary schools, newcomer language center, four middle schools, four comprehensive high schools and other related administrative and educational sites within the district. — PR Newswire

♦ Academy of Art University’s Online Art Classes Continue to Receive Rave Reviews
In San Francisco, Academy of Art University is riding the wave of the future with their cutting-edge online art classes. Students have the option to pursue a career in art and design by taking some or all of their classes online. Through the Academy’s accredited online art program, students can obtain a master’s or bachelor’s degree or an online award of completion — whenever and wherever it is convenient for them. – PR Web

♦ Sparring over online schools
Key Republican and Democratic leaders launched competing efforts on Thursday to rewrite Wisconsin ’s laws for online schools, just weeks before families begin filling out applications to transfer from their traditional home school districts. – Wisconsin State Journal

♦ Wisconsin’s Largest Online High School Gears up for Open Enrollment
Wisconsin’s largest online high school, iQ Academy, is kicking off a series of open houses across the state this January in preparation for open enrollment season taking place February 4 - 22, 2008. Each year, Wisconsin students have the opportunity to enroll in other public schools outside their home district. – Earth Times

♦ Editorial: Virtual schools questionable recipients of public dollars
Do virtual schools have a legitimate claim on Wisconsin tax dollars? That’s the basic question before policymakers after an appellate court ruled that Wisconsin Virtual Academy isn’t eligible for state funds under Wisconsin’s public school open enrollment program. – Tomah Journal

♦ School officials want standardized tests computerized
In Wisconsin, Janesville school officials are joining other districts to pressure the state Department of Public Instruction to take the plunge into computer-based testing. – Janesville Gazette

♦ Funding questions may put halt to Appleton’s K-8 virtual school
Wisconsin Connections Academy, the Appleton school district’s virtual school for kindergartners through eighth-graders, could lose $2.3 million in state funding and is in jeopardy of not operating next school year because of violation of three state statutes. – Appleton Post Crescent

♦ Online High School Courses Made Available
Gov. M. Jodi Rell has announced the launch of the Connecticut Virtual Learning Center, a statewide program for high school students to take online courses. Enrollments are being accepted now for students to begin course work this month. Funded by the General Assembly, the pilot project will be available at no cost to school districts. Students will remain enrolled in their current schools, but will have the option to take online courses that meet their academic needs. – The Hartford Courant

♦ School job fair goes virtual
Is this the future of academic recruiting? In Baltimore, Anne Arundel County school officials are trying a new tack in an effort to attract highly sought-after teachers and aides during the midyear recruiting doldrums: a job fair that nobody has to attend. Through Jan. 30, school officials are accepting applications for a “virtual job fair” on the district’s Web site in hopes of hiring more special education teachers and speech, physical and occupational therapists. – Baltimore Sun

♦ Viva la Difference!
The buzzword for the foreseeable future in European publishing is difference, and this perspective of increasing differentiation — or fragmentation — is the fallout of globalization. Some companies have moved out of traditional publishing altogether, most notably in 2007 Reed Elsevier, which sold Harcourt’s international and testing operations to the U.K.–based Pearson and dealt Harcourt’s U.S. educational/trade/reference units to the Ireland/Cayman Islands–based Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep. Read about foreseeable trends in the publishing industry by clicking on the following link. — Publishers Weekly

♦ An archive as gripping as it is good
Over the years The Economist has provided not only economists but anyone with a keen interest in current affairs with a detailed analysis of events shaping the world. The magazine’s rich history has now been uncovered by digitisation. In association with digital archive specialist Cengage, formerly Thomson Learning, the Economist Archive offers a wealth of insights into economic and political affairs from 1843 to 2003. – IT Week

♦ O’Callaghan’s HM Riverdeep stake to hit €1.5bn after deal
HM Riverdeep boss Barry O’Callaghan’s recent $4bn (€2.7bn) deal to add Reed Elsevier’s Harcourt U.S. education business to his publishing empire could result in the value of his personal stake soaring to $2.2bn (€1.5bn). – Independent.ie

♦ Paradigm Group Launches New Online Education Program
Paradigm Group, a full service master supplier, facilities products manufacturer, warehouse packaging and marketing consulting company, introduced a new online education program that will provide the distribution channels more training flexibility and education options. – Logistics Online

♦ PARENT POLITICS: Election offers teachable moments for mom and dad
Scholastic News Online, part of education publishing company Scholastic, Inc., has 50 reporters in schools around the country, covering the 2008 election for its Web site and magazine. The students’ effort is rubbing off on their parents. Some claim to be aware of political issues and candidates’ platforms this election year than maybe ever before. – New Albany Tribune

♦ Voyager Expanded Learning’s Vital Indicators of Progress (VIP) Monitoring Tool Receives Positive Review from National Center on Student Progress Monitoring
Voyager Expanded Learning announced today that its reading progress monitoring tool, Vital Indicators of Progress, also known as VIP, received seven out of seven “demonstrates sufficient evidence to meet the basic standard” on two measures (Nonsense Word Fluency and Phoneme Segmentation), and six out of seven “demonstrates sufficient evidence to meet the basic standard” on two additional measures (Initial Letter Sound Fluency and Letter Naming Fluency), after a review by the National Center on Student Progress Monitoring. Results of the review are posted on the organization’s website. – CNN

♦ Job Cuts at McGraw-Hill Will Eliminate 3% of Staff
The McGraw-Hill Companies said Tuesday that it was cutting 611 jobs, or 3 percent of its staff, and taking an after-tax charge of $27.3 million, or 8 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. The greatest number of job cuts are at McGraw-Hill Education, whose products include course work materials. The unit is eliminating 304 jobs and will take a pretax restructuring charge of $16.3 million. – The New York Times

♦ Harcourt San Diego Office to Close
Employees in Harcourt’s San Diego trade division were told Thursday that the office will close June 30. The announcement is the latest step in the integration of the Harcourt and Houghton Mifflin trade operations into the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publishers division. – Publishers Weekly

♦ Groban to Head HMH Children’s; Benton Leaving 
As the integration of the trade units of Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt moves forward, HMH Trade & Reference Publishers President Gary Gentel has named Betsy Groban, Senior VP and publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt children’s book group. Lori Benton, VP and publisher of Harcourt Children’s Books, will leave the company at the end of the month. Groban, who is based in Boston, joined HM in 2006 as VP and publisher of the children’s book group. An HMH spokesperson said there are no current plans to merge any of the HMH children’s imprints. – Publishers Weekly

♦ Berkery Noyes Represents Hayden-McNeil Publishing in Its Sale to Macmillan Publishers…
Berkery Noyes, the leading independent investment bank serving the information and technology markets, announced that Macmillan, a leading publisher of books, textbooks, magazines, and digital media has acquired Hayden-McNeil Publishing, one of the leading publishers of custom textbooks and lab manuals for the higher education market. – Reuters

♦ Pearson Awarded Three-Year Contract to Administer California Teacher Licensure Testing
Pearson announced that its Evaluation Systems group has been awarded a three-year contract to continue managing teaching certification testing for the state of California. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing selected the company to administer the California Basic Education Skills Test (CBEST), the California Subject Examinations for Teachers (CSET) and the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA). – Reuters