Oregon is taking another stab at joining the handful of states being allowed to pilot a new way of measuring student progress under the No Child Left Behind federal education law.
Only North Carolina and Tennessee have so far been tapped for the pilot program, which tracks how individual students perform in math and reading over time, known as a "growth model."
Oregon's initial proposal was rejected this spring, but state education officials say they've altered it to address concerns raised by federal officials.
Education officials in Oregon have been keen on growth models for months, saying that tracking test scores of individual students gives a far better pictures of how much progress schools and classroom teachers are making.
Under the current system, schools must compare the scores of different groups of kids from one year to the next -- the performance of this year's third-graders, for example, will be measured against their counterparts from last year.

A new Oregon Department of Transportation database will help the agency to better monitor the inclusion of minority- and women-owned subcontractors in its construction and maintenance projects — but not in the way the agency originally intended.
A recent decision by the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down "hard" diversity contracting targets means the agency can no longer set definite goals for hiring minority- and women-owned businesses, said Michael A. Cobb, manager of ODOT's Office of Civil Rights.

When it comes to birthing a healthy baby, 15-year-old Darkeesha Rasheed is discovering that it takes a whole lot of help. She's receiving that help from all the women in her Healthy Birth Initiative Class.
Even Rasheed's mother, Anna Polk, who has eight children of her own and is accompanying her daughter to the monthly Healthy Birth Initiative meetings, is learning a few things.

Religious and community leaders will try to determine what is needed to improve civil rights for Portland residents and throughout the state during a daylong community discussion sponsored by the Portland and Portland State University branches of the NAACP.
Called "Project Portland," the discussion will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, in the Moriarty Arts Building Auditorium at Portland Community College's Cascade Campus.

Jared Spencer, an employee in Mayor Tom Potter's office, pauses to listen to the bagpipes at the end of Monday's commemoration of the Sept. 11 attacks in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Photo by Julie Keefe

Seattle students have exceeded or come close to state levels in nearly all subjects and grade levels tested, according to results from the 2006 Washington Assessment of Student Learning.
"Once again, I am especially pleased to see that our students are progressing and closing the achievement gap in reading. While unacceptable gaps between students of color and White students still exist, I am confident that we will continue to narrow, and eventually close, those gaps," said Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas.
The strongest improvements came in reading and writing. In reading, 80.2 percent of fourth-grade students met or exceeded the standard. In addition, 59.2 percent of seventh-grade and 81.9 percent of 10th-grade students met the standard.

RENTON—The results of this year's Washington Assessment of Student Learning show on paper a problem the superintendent of public instruction says has been torturing her for a long time: Only about half of the state's students have mastered mathematics.
A bright spot: students in minority groups are closing the achievement gap in writing and reading, but they, too, are not making much progress in math.

C.J. Thompson, right foreground, and his Rhythm Band entertain the crowd at the Casey Family Programs Community Barbeque, held Sept. 9 at the organization's offices on 23rd Avenue. The event celebrated 40 years of providing foster care programs.

Filming is set to begin next month on a movie about the anti-globalization protests that erupted in Seattle in 1999.
"Battle in Seattle" was written and will be directed by Irish actor Stuart Townsend, who has cast girlfriend and Academy Award winner Charlize Theron as a pregnant bystander who loses her baby in the WTO riots.
"It's going to be the next 'Sleepless in Seattle,' " said James Keblas, head of Seattle City Hall's film office. "Once you capture a star like Charlize Theron, you are instantly a big picture."

A federal mediator helped to negotiate a tentative settlement to end a strike against a major garbage hauler after union leaders threatened a much larger walkout Monday, a company spokesman said.
Picket lines came down Monday morning, garbage trucks were rolling again, and Dan Scott, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 174, said 35 to 45 mechanics employed by Waste Management Inc. of Houston would vote on ratification at a meeting Tuesday night.