Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: COMPTON SUPERINTENDENT FIRED D.C. CHANCELLOR MICHELLE RHEE QUITS

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: COMPTON SUPERINTENDENT FIRED D.C. CHANCELLOR MICHELLE RHEE QUITS

Schools Matter: Shocking revelations from Geoffrey Canada's autobiography

Schools Matter: Shocking revelations from Geoffrey Canada's autobiography

Shocking revelations from Geoffrey Canada's autobiography

Sent to the New York Daily News, October 13

Geoffrey Canada says that a longer school day, increased accountability, and "data to drive instruction" can help children who have fallen behind ("The truth about our schools," October 13). But in his autobiography, Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, he credits reading for his own school success, despite growing up in poverty: "I loved reading, and my mother, who read voraciously too, allowed me to have her novels after she finished them. My strong reading background allowed me to have an easier time of it in most of my classes."
There is no clear data supporting longer school days, increased accountability and data-driven instruction as a means of improving school performance. In contrast, there is overwhelming evidence showing that Mr. Canada's

Christine O'Donnell - Chris Coons debate: Education | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

Christine O'Donnell - Chris Coons debate: Education | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

Christine O'Donnell - Chris Coons debate: Education

October 13, 2010 | 5:14 pm

Coons-commla96f4ncAfter a fight over whether Coons is a Marxist, the moderators move the discussion along.

A question is made about education and public schools, and accountability in the classroom.

Coons lauds Obama's "Race to the Top" program for schools, in which there is money for schools willing to make significant changes. He compliments the Delaware teachers union -- which has embraced charters and allows teacher compensation to be tied to student success.

He said his mother and grandmother were teachers, and that he "deeply respects" the work that they do. He was at a school earlier because "today is

Tigard-Tualatin Education Association files state complaint against school district | OregonLive.com

Tigard-Tualatin Education Association files state complaint against school district | OregonLive.com

Tigard-Tualatin Education Association files state complaint against school district

Published: Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 6:06 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 6:15 PM
The Tigard-Tualatin Education Association has filed a state unfair labor practice complaint against the Tigard-Tualatin School District, claiming the district violated state laws in its treatment of school nurses.

The complaint, filed Wednesday with the state Employment Relations Board, alleges the district is asking nurses to perform duties beyond their scope of abilities and that it has failed to bargain in good faith with the union representing the nurses.

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The filing is the latest in months of disagreement between the district and the union regarding nurses' job responsibilities.

The controversy stems from nurses complaints last spring about being called upon to suction the tracheostomy tube of a medically

Beleaguered Newark high school finds interim principal | NJ.com

Beleaguered Newark high school finds interim principal | NJ.com

Remainders: Michelle Rhee leaves the stage by stealing it | GothamSchools

Remainders: Michelle Rhee leaves the stage by stealing it | GothamSchools

Remainders: Michelle Rhee leaves the stage by stealing it

Michelle Rhee edition:

  • Michelle Rhee resigned with a Tweet and a new dot-org website. (Twitter, MichelleRhee.org)
  • A digital firm with Obama ties made the site. Bloomberg-Rhee 2012, anyone? (NBC Washington, Politico)
  • Parents’ reviews of Michelle Rhee’s decision to exit, plus more great WashPost coverage. (WashPost)
  • Randi Weingarten tells a reporter that Rhee’s failing was “her disdain for relationships.” (Marc Ambinder)
  • Rhee’s interim replacement is her deputy and ed-reform soulmate Kaya Henderson. (WashPost)
  • A source tells me Henderson’s name is being pitched for the top job in Newark, too. (No link)

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world:

  • The Regents might extend a ban on extra tutoring for students who fail state exams. (Daily News)
  • A school eliminated work rules only after improving teacher-management relations. (GS Community)
  • Projections underestimate how many jobs will require a college degree. (Quick and the Ed)
  • The NEA is creating “heart burn” by partnering with a for-profit college. (Mike Antonucci)
  • In a spoof, “Aunty Broad” says reformers “should be cloned, they are so smart.” (NYPSP)
  • Davis Guggenheim says he belongs to a union and “really believes” in unions. (AV Club)
  • Brooklyn kids are learning to “bike like a driver.” (WNYC)

Schools Matter: Is Deborah Gist Serious?

Schools Matter: Is Deborah Gist Serious?

Is Deborah Gist Serious?

I need some help. I had a mini-debate with someone on Twitter the other day, and one of us is likely very confused about the current education debate.

I've been under the impression that the Education Equality Project and the Broader, Bolder Approach to education are competing viewpoints in regards to how we should improve the public schools. I was under this impression because both "camps" (if you want to call them that, and some people don't) have noted they're competing agendas; because writers across the political spectrum have commented on their varying viewpoints; and because a review of their policy documents, boards, and other available information suggests they have

NYC Public School Parents: Pre-Rhee and Post-Rhee

NYC Public School Parents: Pre-Rhee and Post-Rhee

Pre-Rhee and Post-Rhee


For those of you who believe that Michelle Rhee’s resignation today will hurt the achievement gains experienced by the DC school system; take a look at these charts (click to enlarge), with DC NAEP scores from 2003-2009.

It appears that DC schools were improving in terms of test scores at about the same rate pre-Rhee (before

Reader survey on the value GothamSchools adds and subtracts | GothamSchools

Reader survey on the value GothamSchools adds and subtracts | GothamSchools

Reader survey on the value GothamSchools adds and subtracts

An excerpt from our report summarizing the results of our reader survey.

An excerpt from our report summarizing the results of our reader survey.

Most of you, dear readers, don’t fall neatly into either the Joel Klein or the Diane Ravitch camps on education, and even more of you don’t find GothamSchools ideological. (Phew! Not being ideological is our goal.)

These are among the findings of our first-ever

Could I get a tapper with my school lunch? - Boston.com

Could I get a tapper with my school lunch? - Boston.com

Could I get a tapper with my school lunch?

October 13, 2010
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LA POINTE, Wis.—Elementary school students on a Lake Superior island eat lunch at an unconventional location each day. That's until their parents found out their kids were walking and skipping to the Bell Street Tavern to eat lunch.

Superintendent Linda Kunelius said she solicited bids for the lunch program and the tavern was the low bidder at $5 per plate. Parents and teachers didn't learn their children at La Pointe Elementary would be eating lunch at a tavern until the day before school started. Parent School Association president Jen Croonberg-Murphy said most parents can't get past the idea their children are eating lunch at a bar.


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4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PTA RESPONDS TO CANDIDATE’S COMMENT: “Without a doubt PTA is the ‘kids association’ that defends the interests of all children.”

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PTA RESPONDS TO CANDIDATE’S COMMENT: “Without a doubt PTA is the ‘kids association’ that defends the interests of all children.”

PTA RESPONDS TO CANDIDATE’S COMMENT: “Without a doubt PTA is the ‘kids association’ that defends the interests of all children.”

“pta press release | http://bit.ly/by2o0x PRESS RELEASE October 13, 2010 For Immediate Release Contact: Alison apRoberts Communications Manager (916) 440-1985, ext. 106 (916) 261-5286 PTA responds to candidate's comment

Education Research Report: Large study shows females are equal to males in math skills

Education Research Report: Large study shows females are equal to males in math skills

Large study shows females are equal to males in math skills

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The mathematical skills of boys and girls, as well as men and women, are substantially equal, according to a new examination of existing studies in the current online edition of journal Psychological Bulletin.


One portion of the new study looked systematically at 242 articles that assessed the math skills of 1,286,350 people, says chief author Janet Hyde, a professor of psychology and women's studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.


These studies, all published in English between 1990 and 2007, looked at people from grade school to college

The Highs, Lows Of D.C. Schools Chief Michelle Rhee : NPR

The Highs, Lows Of D.C. Schools Chief Michelle Rhee : NPR

The Highs, Lows Of D.C. Schools Chief Michelle Rhee

Washington, D.C., Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced her resignation on Thursday. Rhee turned the city's failing public school system into a national laboratory for education reform. She closed schools, fired teachers and instituted a pay-for-performance system based on student test scores. But her tenure was also marked by battles with the teachers union and growing distrust along racial and political lines.

Polis/Davis Call for Using VAM � DFER Watch

Polis/Davis Call for Using VAM � DFER Watch

Polis/Davis Call for Using VAM

From the text of HR6247, also known as the INSPIRES Act, introduced by CO Rep Jared Polis and CA Rep Susan Davis: (B) REQUIREMENTS FOR TEACHER EVALUATIONS- The evaluation of a teacher’s performance shall comply with the following minimum requirements: (i) A predominant factor in the evaluation is student academic growth with respect to the [...]

Raising the Bars Without Supports Could Lead to Our Children Behind Bars � EdVox

Raising the Bars Without Supports Could Lead to Our Children Behind Bars � EdVox

Raising the Bars Without Supports Could Lead to Our Children Behind Bars

New York City parents, elected officials, and education advocates gathered today to demand that the state Board of Regents vote down a special waiver for school districts which would allow cities and towns across New York to deny thousands of struggling students necessary assistance. Similar events were also held in Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse.

A more accurate calibration of the state’s standardized tests this summer resulted in a huge drop in math and reading scores statewide – more than 25 points for each exam in New York City – shocking parents and revealing more than 100,000 additional children who are not on track for college.

Under a New York State Education Department regulation, all children testing below standard must be offered additional services. The Board of Regents, however, will vote on the 18th to allow school districts to opt out of helping students who would have passed the state exams under the old, flawed scoring system, but are now testing below standard.

Noting that children who fail out of school are three times more likely to end up in prison, protesters marched

Georgia Regents Ban Undocumented Students from Selective Public Colleges � Student Activism

Georgia Regents Ban Undocumented Students from Selective Public Colleges � Student Activism

Georgia Regents Ban Undocumented Students from Selective Public Colleges

Georgia’s selective public universities will bar undocumented aliens from admission under a policy adopted by the state’s board of regents today.

The ban applies to all public colleges and universities that do not admit all academically qualified applicants in a given year, and will take effect next fall. Currently five state institutions — the University of Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia College & State University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Medical College of

The Answer Sheet - What D.C. schools need now: A departure from Rheeism

The Answer Sheet - What D.C. schools need now: A departure from Rheeism

What D.C. schools need now: A departure from Rheeism

Grand experiments certainly are grand, but they have no real place in the world of education. It’s time for them to stop and for schools to get down to the business of building strong teams to use what is already known about how to build successful schools. There is some notion buried in our educational experiments that we still don’t really know how to teach kids, or that there is some silver bullet waiting to be discovered. We do know how, and there isn’t a magical answer. The problem is that a lot of elements go into making a school a success -- a truth that many of today’s school reformers choose to ignore. It’s the teacher, they say, and, well, of course it is the teacher. But it is also: