SEATTLE (AP) - The academic progress of public school students can be traced, in part, to where their teachers went to college, according to new research by the University of Washington Center for Education Data & Research.

 

But the center's director, Dan Goldhaber, cautioned that the study is just first step toward determining what kind of training - not where the training occurred - best prepares teachers for excellence in the classroom.

 

Even so, it's the kind of information U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan would like every school to have access to and that's why he recently announced a new program to use federal dollars to pay for similar research.

Six of every 10 Illinois public schools failed to meet federal test targets this year and risk federal sanctions as a result, according to information released Thursday by the Illinois State Board of Education.

High schools fared the worst.

Statewide, 656 of the 666 public high schools fell short of the proficiency standard on math and reading tests that students take every spring. Only eight high schools where students take the exam in 11th grade met federal standards. Two more high schools made it based on participation and student performance on other state exams.

The Longer School Day Pioneer Program is built on a simple fact – Chicago Public School students spend 15% less time in the classroom than the average American public school student. We have the shortest school day of all major American urban school districts. While the ultimate goal is to have a longer day in every school in CPS, we're supporting all schools that voluntarily participate in lengthening the school day by January of 2012.

Chicago Public Schools announced the list Monday of the schools that will be the first to teach and test to the common core standards, a set of standards adopted by more than 40 states and seen to be more rigorous than the current state standards.

By 2014, Illinois will roll out a new assessment called PARCC to all schools.  The PARCC, however, is still in development. For now, the schools will be using a quarterly assessment called the CCSS that is alligned to the common core.

Illinois likely will be among states to apply for relief from burdensome student-achievement requirements under an overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law that President Barack Obama proposed Friday.

The president’s announcement comes amid a deadlock with Congress over revising parts of one of former President George W. Bush’s signature laws, including its provision that all students meet or exceed state educational standards by 2014.

Illinois remains far from meeting the ascending student-achievement benchmarks set out in that law.