Syracuse chancellor’s letter to alumni
Here is the letter that Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor sent out to alumni Friday about allegations that an assistant basketball coach had molested two former ball boys for years. The assistant coach, Bernie Fine, has called the allegations “patently false” and vowed to “do everything in our power to find the truth,” the Associated Press reported. Read full article >>
Here’s who junked lunch standards on pizza, fries
Despite public ridicule — including a skewering on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” — Congress has gone ahead and approved legislation that junks new standards the Obama administration was trying to set to make lunches healthier for public school children. The move was part of a massive spending bill that dealt with a host of programs (for transportation, housing, commerce, science, etc.) but it was the assault on new meal standards for public schools that caught flak. Read full article >>
The Answer Sheet - 9 minutes ago
A prep school scandal eerily similar to Penn State
This *post was written by three 1971 graduates of Poly Prep, a prestigious private school in Brooklyn. Bernard Bauer is a San Francisco-based psychologist. Harry Hellenbrand is the provost of California State University, Northridge. Kenneth Stern is an attorney, author and expert on antisemitism. The story they tell has special resonance today as Penn State grapples with a major sex abuse scandal, and other such cases at different schools are coming to light.* Read full article >>
Superintendent takes a risk with at-risk student
This* was written by George Wood, superintendent and secondary school principal at the Federal Hocking Local School District in Stewart, Ohio. He is also the executive director of the Forum for Education and Democracyand chair of the board for the Coalition of Essential Schools.* By George Wood “Dr. Wood, I need your help on this one.” My assistant is one of the most competent people I know, so when she asks for help I figure it is pretty important. Read full article >>
6 common myths about hazing
At Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, hazing during homecoming week is quite the tradition. Older students pelt freshmen with paint and, sometimes, assault them. In this Post story, my colleague Michael Alison Chandler details how hazing continues to thrive at many schools (including the event informally known as “freshmen beat-down day”) and she quotes school administrators saying how hard it is to stamp out. Read full article >>
How Bill Gates can be an education hero
My *guest today is Marion Brady, veteran teacher, administrator, curriculum designer and author*. By Marion Brady A couple of days ago I watched and read the transcript of Fareed Zakaria’s CNN primetime special, *“Restoring the American Dream: Fixing Education.”* Read full article >>
Bill would label pizza a vegetable in school lunches
If you put nutritious broccoli and kale on top of a chocolate-glazed donut, can the concoction be considered equivalent to a vegetable serving? This is the same logic that Congress is about to incorporate into a new law as it gets ready to vote on legislation that would, among other things, allow public schools to count a small amount tomato paste that is put on top of pizzas to be counted as a vegetable. Read full article >>
What the evidence on charter schools really shows
This *was written by Matthew Di Carlo, senior fellow at the non-profit Albert Shanker Institute, located in Washington, D.C. This post originally appeared on the institute’s blog. * * By Matthew Di Carlo In our fruitless, deadlocked debate over whether charter schools “work,” charter opponents frequently cite the so-called CREDO study (discussed here), a 2009 analysis of charter school performance in 16 states. The results indicated that overall charter effects on student achievement were negative and statistically significant in both math and reading, but both effects sizes w... more »