Aaron Hanscom, who teaches at an all-minority elementary school in Watts (OK, there’s one white kid), wonders why John Edwards wants to spend $100 million to get poor kids enrolled at middle-class schools and middle-class kids lured to inner-city magnet schools but not one cent on charters or vouchers.

Say Anything also thinks low-income parents would benefit from getting a voucher they could spend at a private school, charter or suburban public school.

A commenter points out that a judge ordered $2 billion in extra spending to integrate Kansas City schools. It paid for lavish facilities and special programs in the inner city.

The money bought higher teachers’ salaries, 15 new schools, and such amenities as an Olympic-sized swimming pool with an underwater viewing room, television and animation studios, a robotics lab, a 25-acre wildlife sanctuary, a zoo, a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability, and field trips to Mexico and Senegal. The student-teacher ratio was 12 or 13 to 1, the lowest of any major school district in the country.

Achievement didn’t improve. Neither did integration.

Eventually, the program was abandoned. The expanded bureaucracy remains, writes Joe Miller in Cross X.

While some low-income students would benefit from attending predominantly middle-class schools, I think the most disadvantaged do best in small schools designed to meet their needs, such as the charter school I write about in Our School. The best educational program for the children of educated parents often isn’t necessarily the most effective for children whose parents can’t do much to supplement and support their education at home.

Update: Liam Julian suggests devoting money and energy to improving all schools (and providing choice) rather than busing kids hither and yon.

Elderly people who read poorly die earlier than good readers, concludes a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Older adults who cannot read and understand basic health information have a 50 per cent higher mortality rate over a five-year period than those with adequate reading skills, the study found.

. . . “When patients can’t read, they are not able to do the things necessary to stay healthy,” (Dr. David) Baker noted. “They don’t know how to take their medications correctly, they don’t understand when to seek medical care, and they don’t know how to care for their diseases.”

Researchers looked at retirees’ race/ethnicity, education, income, health behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise) and chronic medical conditions (diabetes, asthma, heart disease, etc.). About one in four had trouble reading text and “doctor appointment slips, hospital forms and pill bottles that required understanding numbers.”

Low health literacy was the top predictor of mortality after smoking, also surpassing income and years of education, the study showed.

Of course, it’s possible that reading problems are a symptom rather than a cause of declining health.

To keep mentally sharp in old age, build your “cognitive reserve.”

Already accused of cheating on the state exam for two years in a row, an Oakland charter school also appears to have changed transcripts to qualify students for college. The San Francisco Chronicle has documents for five students.

In spring 2006, teachers’ records for an 11th-grade boy at University Preparatory Charter Academy in East Oakland showed an F and five D’s.

His report card for the same period featured three D’s and three C’s.

His transcript — the one received by the California State University campuses that accepted him — glowed with three A’s and three B’s.

A teacher at the school e-mailed me months ago to ask my advice on how to inform the hands-off board what was going on. Finally, eight former teachers blew the whistle, blaming Principal Isaac Haqq, the school’s founder, for altering grades, misnaming courses and blocking low-scoring students from taking state exams.

The 11th-grader’s records for spring 2006 show that his grade-point average jumped from 1.55 on his report card to 2.93 on his college transcript.

Besides the grade changes, his records also reveal morphed course names. What is called “math” on the teachers’ records becomes “math analysis” on the boy’s report card, and “trigonometry” on his college transcript.

“English” is changed to “English Literature” on the report card and “English 3″ on the transcript. “History” transforms to “World Civilization” and then to “U.S. History.”

Of the school’s 475 students, 279 are on independent study; they don’t attend classes. Teachers charge low scorers are dumped into independent study, which doesn’t cost the school much, and listed as 12th graders, which means they’re exempt from state testing. In fall 2006, 365 of the school’s 475 students were listed as 12th graders; only 100 seniors graduated in June and 40 went on to college.

Some graduates who got into elite colleges praise Haqq’s dedication. Teachers say he focused on the best students and set the rest up for failure.

Principal Haqq, who has a history of “breaking the rules,” as the Chronicle put it, has resigned. The school is likely to lose its charter in August, barring a miraculous turnaround.

In pursuit of higher certification, TMAO of Teaching in the 408 took an all-day health class for teachers. He live-blogged the class in the guise of taking notes, though worried there wouldn’t be enough content to justify taking fake notes.

8:54 I walk in. Where’s the agenda? Where are the objectives?

He survives yoga and declines to join a discussion of spiritual health.

11:15 I learn that violence, which is unavoidable, is a major health issue.

11:16 I learn the war, which is horrible, is a major health issue.

He returns from lunch feeling distinctly unhealthy but decides it’s coincidence rather than irony.

3:02 Group work ends. My group is assigned meth. We’re supposed to present for 20 minutes. We’re supposed to be creative. We’re supposed to have hand-outs. My group decides to play a game called “Name That Addict.” This is not my idea. I go to the bathroom twice.

The day ends at 4:45.

“Bubble” students — those who are close to proficiency — benefit the most from No Child Left Behind, concludes a Chicago study. Researchers found low achievers scored “the same or lower” under NCLB compared to Chicago’s pre-NCLB accountability system; for gifted students, researchers found “mixed evidence of gains” in the NCLB era. Education Week reports:

Kids in the middle — the ones closest to proficiency — performed better under NCLB than they did before.

This study lends credence to common critiques of that law encourages teachers to focus on the so-called bubble kids — the ones that are close to reaching proficiency.

Growth models can fix the problem by rewarding schools for progress of students’ at the lowest end of the spectrum. But this study brings to mind the question about gifted students. What incentives will schools have to reach out to gifted students if the ultimate goal of NCLB is proficiency for all by 2013-14?

At Parentalcation, Rory argues for spending more on raising the achievement of the middle third of students.

Matt Johntson argues for focusing on the bottom third on Going to the Mat.

Both say gifted students don’t need extra resources to excel. They’ve got pushy parents or inner drive to keep them on track.

Some 84 percent of elementary education funding goes to teaching children about whales, reports The Onion. A panel of experts asks: Is that enough?