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Weekly Update on Education

4 March 2009


MCD plans to open English medium primary schools
Indiaedunews, 2 March 2009

“New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) expanded its horizon by announcing opening of English medium primary schools in its 272 wards. The announcement was made public on March 1 by MCD official. "The decision has been taken keeping in mind the rising demand of English medium schools," said Subhash Arya, leader of the House in MCD.” More [+]


Govt. panel for new body to design educational programmes
The Hindu, 1 March 2009

“New Delhi (PTI): A high-level committee has asked for the setting up of an apex body to design educational programmes focused on amalgamating various fields into one specific course, a proposal that could change the face of higher education in the country if implemented. The special agency is likely to design courses and frame regulations that will allow flexibility to students to go beyond boundary of any specific discipline and learn thing from various domains.” More [+]


Improving Student Learning through Strategic Compensation
Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), July 2008

“Based on the experience of accomplished teachers, this study offers new solutions for Improving Student Learning through Strategic Compensation. Sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and published by the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), the report's recommendations are designed to acknowledge and reward professional work of teachers and meet the needs of the students, families and communities they serve. Accomplished teachers from across the state of Kansas worked together to develop a series of recommendations for considering a new strategic compensation system. This approach is designed to recruit, retain and reward high-quality teachers in classrooms across the state.” More [+]


Paying to learn: The effect of financial incentives on elementary school test scores
Eric Bettinger, Harvard University - The Program on Education, Policy and Governance, March 2008

“In recent years, policymakers and academics have become increasingly interested in applying financial incentives to individual decision-making in education. This paper presents evidence from a pay for performance program which took place in Coshocton, Ohio. Since 2004, the Coshocton City Schools has provided cash payments to students for successful completion of their standardized testing. Students in third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade who passed district and state-mandated standardized exams are eligible for these rewards. Coshocton determined eligibility for the program using randomization. By exploiting the randomization of Coshocton's incentive program, this paper attempts to identify the effects of student incentive programs on students' academic behavior. ” More [+]


Panel to decide on minority status of schools, varsities
Livemint, 25 February 2009

“New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a Bill which aims to give the quasi-judicial National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) a free hand to decide the status of schools, colleges and universities seeking minority status. The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (Amendment) Bill, 2009, intends to do away with a requirement for NCMEI to consult states before deciding on the minority status of educational institutions. It also brings universities under the ambit of the commission.” More [+]


Impact of For-Profit and Nonprofit Management on Student Achievement: The Philadelphia Intervention, 2002-2008
Paul E. Peterson and Matthew M. Chingos, Harvard University - The Program on Education, Policy and Governance 2009

“Using individual student test-score data made available by the School District of Philadelphia, the researchers estimated the impact of for-profit and nonprofit management on student achievement by tracking the performance of students in math and reading from 2001 to 2008. 30 schools included in the study were under for-profit management and 16 schools included in the study were managed by nonprofits. The researchers compared the performance of the privately managed schools to that of 71 schools under regular school district management whose students performed below the district median. The impact of nonprofit management appears to have been negative. The impact of for-profit management was generally positive, though only the math impacts are statistically significant.” More [+]


President advocates education fund
Livemint, 25 February 2009

“New Delhi: Stressing on an inclusive approach to address problems of inequality in education, President Pratibha Patil Wednesday favoured creation of a special revolving fund to help underprivileged children get higher studies." More [+]


Centre to fund modernisation of madrasas
Indianexpress, 27 February 2009

“New Delhi: On Thursday, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh launched the Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarsa (SPQEM) through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) by distributing free study material to students of madrasas and maktabs. The objective of the scheme is to encourage these traditional institutions by giving financial assistance to introduce science, mathematics, social studies, Hindi and English in their curriculum. However, the process of modernisation will be voluntary, the ministry said.” More [+]


25 pc teaching professionals leaving jobs, annually
The Hindu, 26 February 2009

“New Delhi (PTI): Amid a severe shortage of quality staff in varsities, an average of 25 per cent of the teaching professionals in the country are quitting jobs annually, more so in engineering and management schools, according to a recent report. "The average attrition rate in academic institutes is about 25 per cent per annum," according to a survey by Emerging Directions in Global Education (EDGE) and research and consulting firm MARCH.” More [+]


Parent Power

This report, 'Parent Power', examines how the principles of greater choice and competition might be applied to the Scottish education system to raise overall standards and extend educational opportunity. This follows on from the findings of an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report which stated that 'across countries, having a larger number of schools that compete for students is associated with better results, over and above the relationship with student background.'
More [+]

Examination Results in Delhi (2006-07):

Grade IV/V - Passed with 60% and above:

Boys: 54.79
Girls: 62.20

Grade VII/VIII - Passed with 60% and above:

Boys: 32.67
Girls: 32.57


Elementary Education in India: Progress towards Universal Elementary Education, DISE, Flash Statistics: 2007-08

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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