Stimulus funding will temporarily meet federal promise Ohio’s three large urban districts will receive $45 million in federal special education funding in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, adding to the $40 million in IDEA funding already allocated to districts last fall. This year is the first of two fiscal years that the federal government will more then double the amount of money it funnels into special education.

Help wanted Peter Crawford, who has Down syndrome, has been in special education classrooms for most of his life. His younger brother, Pat, has severe autism. With enough support, the brothers could probably maintain jobs and care for themselves. But the necessary school-to-career bridge to make that happen is largely absent.

Special stimulus Rising costs, an under-funded model, and new stimulus funding puts special education programs to the test

Epitaph for Audubon As the school prepares to shut down, teachers like Timothy Caskey remember their own learning experiences with special education.

The way forward Euphoria. Relief. Vindication. Those were some of the feelings the parents of 280,000 Ohio students with special needs felt last fall after settling a 18-year-old class-action lawsuit with the state. But the battle may have just begun.

Update: News from around the state and the nation -- April 9, 2010: Links to recent news in education.

News from around the state and the nation -- April 8, 2010: Links to recent news in education.

Catalyst Q and A with Frederick Hess Hess was in Ohio recently to visit schools and talk about education reform ideas with teachers, business leaders and lawmakers. Catalyst Ohio caught up with him in Columbus.

News from around the state and the nation -- April 6, 2010:

Links to recent news in education.

News from around the state and the nation -- April 5, 2010: Links to recent news in education.

After Class -- Commentary Catalyst Ohio senior writer Scott Stephens looks at merit pay and other issues in the world of education.

Community-school partnership helps students gain life and career skills The Chase Mentorship Program has been a part of the Columbus City Schools for the past five years.

Special Education, at a glance In Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, special education students are between 17 percent and 22 percent of the total student population. Those percentages have been increasing, according to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), even as overall enrollment declines in Ohio's largest districts.

Autism rates and learning disabilities show growth in large urban districts A Catalyst analysis of Ohio special education data found that autism rates in Ohio's three largest urban districts have more then quadrupled. Cincinnati, which has experienced the steepest increase in its autistic student population, now serves 292 students, up from 35 in 2000.

Double discrimination? Researchers say African-American students are over-represented in special education.

OGT: We hardly knew you In response to recommendations from a national policy group, state education officials are exploring ditching the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) for so-called end-of-course exams.

State attempts to tailor help to each district's troubled schools Around this time of year, school districts that are in “improvement status” under the federal No Child Left Behind law have always had to submit improvement plans to the Ohio Department of Education’s intervention team.

State DOE budget cuts total $100 million

Taking a hit

Volunteers rally on weekend to put students on a path to college Darina Pilipchuk sits in the quiet lobby of the BP tower in downtown Cleveland, surrounded by paperwork and a laptop. She could be spending this cold Sunday afternoon in February with her five-month-old son, but instead she chose to spend her afternoon helping other parents untangle the often-confusing maze of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, answering questions about scholarships and loans along the way.

As school opening nears, principals for new boys schools finally hired [i]Posted August 3, 2007 -- [/i]With about three weeks to go before the scheduled opening of four new single-gender academies, Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders introduced the schools’ principals last week.

What They Didn't Learn: Brittany Daugherty What they didn't learn in school: Brittany Daugherty.

What They Didn't Learn: Bliss Davis What they didn't learn in school: Bliss Davis.

What they didn't learn in high school Now in college, recent graduates wish their schools had taught effective study, and time-management skills. Teachers should have pushed them harder to achieve, they say.

Another poverty conference aims to succeed where others failed

Ministers, community members brainstorm ways to help the city’s neediest residents, children

Charter schools and Chicago teacher contract

NCLB neglects high schools

Bilingual Commission: Develop native language and English

Chicago's high school plan unfolds in mine field

One-stop shopping for returning drop outs

Washington D.C.: New schools chief represents “radical change”

Washington D.C.: New schools chief represents “radical change”

District of Columbia: New chief seeks authority to dismiss employees

Boston: Students in autonomous schools out-perform others

Denver: Under fire, union reverses decision to allow autonomy Two Denver City Schools successfully requested autonomy, freeing them from a number of district regulations and labor contract provisions.

Has welfare reform affected academic achievement? Little research has been done since new laws eight years ago changed how poor families receive government aid.

U.S. schools lack junk-food policy A la carte lines and vending machines can do more to keep the pounds off, research says.

How much does an adequate education cost? Gov. Bob Taft's task force on school funding has opted against a study to find out, but other states have done the research. Here's a look at some of the results.

Studies examine how to improve principal prep Principals often lack the skills that are key to successful school leadership.

Do the arts improve academic performance? Programs like Cleveland’s ICARE that help kids dance and make music are at the center of a national debate on arts education.

Denver pay system breaks ground for urban districts Former teacher and union leader Brad Jupp explains the radical change that pays teachers for performance, for filling hard-to-staff assignments and for education level

Summer school at Roosevelt and Kennedy During the five-week session, the 42 participating schools were a laboratory for new academic standards that the district is scheduled to begin implementing this fall for all grades. Literacy, the centerpiece of schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s reforms, was promoted via an array of teaching strategies and programs.

Language immersion program shows promise, faces hurdles Subjects are taught in two languages at Buhrer, with goal of helping all students become fluent in English and Spanish

After-school soccer program aims for academic goals Soccer enthusiast Miriam Schuman, a Case Western Reserve University MBA graduate, wants Cleveland students to score more than a direct kick into the goal.

Teaching to save African-American boys It’s happening again. About every eight years, official attention — local, state and national — returns to the question of how to better educate African-American boys.

State report cards reveal charter school performance

Some in the state's cities greatly outperformed traditional district schools, while many others failed.

Report card rankings for schools in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati

Updated: Cleveland 'turnaround schools' see modest gains on state report card

Rankings remained stagnant, with all but one in academic emergency, but the state found that the majority of the schools were helping students learn more than one year’s worth of material.

Updated: Ohio's urban districts slowly making academic progress Most of Ohio’s big-city school districts continued to make slow but steady gains on state report cards, missing many academic targets but showing signs that their students are beginning to close the gap on their suburban peers.

Cleveland schools CEO optimistic despite poor grade for district

For the second straight year, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is in academic watch on its state report card – the equivalent of a D. Still, district officials insist they’ve made significant academic progress, and they say they have the data to prove it.