Quick Hits 7.14.11

California Board of Education approves regulations for parent trigger law. The regulations require the state to create a website with more information about the petition process, disclosure of organizations funding or supporting petitioners, and verifications of signatures. The regulations will be open for public comment and officially voted on in September. (Los Angeles Times)

Pennsylvania state legislator calls for whistle-blower hotline for testing. Rep. Michael P. McGeehan “said that he believed a hotline was needed and that the Education Department, not school districts, should investigate cheating allegations, to guarantee a fair and thorough inquiry into testing practices statewide.” (The Inquirer)

The recession hasn’t damaged college enrollment as much as feared. The findings of a National Student Clearinghouse Research Center study “suggest that the recession’s effect on college enrollment—among traditional-age, first-time students—was mild. Over all, enrollments of new students rose to 2.135 million in 2010, up from 1.997 million in 2006, an increase of 6.8 percent. The sharpest one-year jump, in 2009, followed the recession’s onset by a couple of years; 2010 brought a slight decline, with two-year colleges accounting for most of the dip.” (Chronicle of Higher Education)

A breakdown of this year’s Supreme Court decisions on education and children’s rights. This year the court took on children’s rights, church and state in school funding, civil rights liability, employment discrimination, and childhood vaccines. (Education Week)

Written by intern Marley Zeno.