National School Boards Association

PHOENIX - A coalition of parent, education and civic organizations is lauding a decision today by the Arizona Court of Appeals, which ruled that tax-payer funded vouchers that subsidize private school tuition are unconstitutional.

Involving parents, families, and communities in the education of their children is imperative for all schools. The potential for parents and families to be skillful, knowledgeable, and effective partners, capable of ensuring that their
children receive the quality of education to which they are entitled, should be a goal of every school system.

More than a year ago, ASBJ began work on a series of stories we called "Children at Risk," spotlighting programs and problems that put students at risk of failure in academics and in life. This month, "Children at Risk" returns with a story focusing on students' mental health and how schools can provide the care they need. If you don't think this is something that affects your district, consider this: Three-quarters of the children and youth who need mental health services in the United States do not receive them or get inadequate treatment.

Where We Teach is the second school climate survey conducted by the National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education. Approximately 4,700 teachers and 267 building principals participated from 12 urban school districts in 10 states. It comes on the heels of last year’s Where We Learn, a survey of 32,000 students that showed how students felt about their school environment.

The National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education has released findings of a major research study, Where We Teach, which surveyed how teachers and administrators feel about their urban school environments. This survey is a followup to last year’s groundbreaking study, Where We Learn, which surveyed how students feel about their urban school climate.

U.S. scores on international tests make headlines, but what do they really mean? Some say they're proof that American schools are broken. Others say that the crisis-mongering is overblown. How does the U.S. really stack up internationally--and more important, what can we learn from international assessments that will help our public schools and students?

Alexandria, VA –  In an amicus brief filed on January 16, 2007, the National School Boards Association urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision and uphold a local school board’s role to regulate student speech that might undermine the core educational mission of schools or interfere with maintaining a safe, secure, and effective learning environment.

A Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
Published by the National Center on Education and the Economy
By Anne L. Bryant
Executive Director
National School Boards Association
This report covers a wide swath of territory and asks readers to assume a great leap of faith in adopting its recommendations. But should the American public build a new K-12 system on a leap of faith, given that many of the report's recommendations are not supported by current data?

Susan Black
Fostering the Right Relationship: For children without permanent homes and parents, schools must extend a helping hand to ensure that they are safe, secure, and learning. A second-grade teacher handed me a sheaf of notes when we met in her classroom. For months she'd been keeping track of Robbie, a 7-year-old whose mom and dad had starved and beaten him.

Lawrence Hardy
Many students come from impoverished homes with no history of financial or familial success. How can schools help "at-risk" kids beat the odds? On a malnourished 5-year-old, the facial fat is the last to go. Bundled against the Boston winter, he looks like a normal child, his plump little face peeking out from inside a discount store parka. But a doctor can tell he's suffering.

Alexandria, VA – The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow school districts to use race as one factor in assigning students to sought-after openings in elementary and secondary schools. The Court will hear oral arguments on Monday, December 4, in the cases of Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District #1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education.

National School Boards Association
Experts Offer Tips to Students, Parents on Maintaining Safe Climate
Alexandria, Va. - The recent uptick in violence involving young people in several cities, including Boston, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C., has raised concerns about the kind of classroom environment that urban school students face as schools open