Fairfax School Board approves $2.2B budget
Spending plan cuts 200 jobs and phases out some programs that support county's poorest schools.
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The worst Texas social studies standard
I’ve been reading the social studies standards in Texas as well as the many proposed changes being pushed by religious conservatives on the Board of Education, and playing an entirely subjective game: Which is the most egregious twisting of history?
Improving schools by paying teachers to leave
Economist Eric Hanushek summarizes his plan for turning school budget cuts and more federal bailout funds into an opportunity to improve the teaching ranks: "The first-best solution, based on several decades of consistent research findings, is to lay off ineffective teachers selectively while letting class sizes drift up a bit," he writes. "When the bailout ends, schools would be in a stronger financial position because the permanent teacher workforce would be reduced by the slightly larger class sizes, and this workforce would be of higher quality."
District limbers up for stronger Race to Top
D.C. officials are pushing hard to meet the June 1 application deadline for their second shot at the Obama administration's Race to the Top(RTTT) grant competition. A team led by Eric Lerum, chief of staff to deputy mayor for education Victor Reinoso, has been working to shore up the weaknesses that landed the District's round one application in last place among 16 finalists, with 402.6 out of a possible 500 points. Only Delaware and Tennessee made the first cut.
A maximum of $75 million is available in this round, and D.C.'s prospects are fairly bright, principally because Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said that the next group of winners will be much larger, as many as 10 to 15.
One weak spot that is likely to remain is the District's failure to secure the endorsement of the Washington Teachers' Union. President George Parker said he could not sign on to the application because of his opposition to DCPS' new IMPACT evaluation system for teachers. Under IMPACT, introduced last fall, standardized test scores will comprise 50 percent of the evaluations this year for reading and math teachers in
Fairfax Superintendent Jack D. Dale. (TWP)
