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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Rights Groups Oppose Obama’s Agenda Education Week: Blogs of the Week

Education Week: Blogs of the Week

Blogs of the Week

| VIEWS | BRIDGING DIFFERENCES

Rights Groups Oppose Obama’s Agenda

In late July, the nation’s leading civil rights organizations issued a withering critique of the Obama administration’s education policies.

I hope that our readers will forget the invective directed against the authors of that report, “Framework for Providing All Students an Opportunity to Learn.” Read it. It contains wisdom and good sense, both as a warning about the errors of current and proposed policies and as a roadmap for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

If you believe that education is a civil right, or that education is of paramount importance

RICK HESS STRAIGHT UP

‘Leading Educators’ In the Big Easy

Word on the street is that a cool new venture is rising in New Orleans, which is well on its way to becoming the Silicon Valley of American education. The newest effort involves taking the Big Easy’s “Leading Educators” program national.

Leading Educators is intended to address the problem of high-energy, entrepreneurial teachers who tend to leave teaching after two to four years. The goal is to create a

TEACHER BEAT

The Elephant in the (Rubber) Room

For years, New York City’s so-called “rubber rooms”—temporary reassignment centers for teachers awaiting disciplinary hearings—were an embarrassment for both the teachers’ union and for the district. Teachers essentially reported to the rooms during contractual work hours and were paid during that time.

Back in April, the United Federation of Teachers and the school district reached an agreement to shutter the rooms. Teachers were to report for clerical duty or assignments