Five ways school reform is hurting teacher quality
This *was written by Brett Rosenthal, assistant principal at the high-achieving South Side High School in New York. He used to work at Jamaica High School in New York City.* By Brett Rosenthal Education reformers have attempted to improve the quality of teachers by changing public policy with questionable initiatives and by insisting, falsely, that educators are to blame for many of the public education system’s — and the country’s — problems. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Why Florida’s parent trigger bill failed in state Senate
* Updated * “If we’ve got a bill called the parent empowerment bill, then why is the PTA against the bill?” Florida state Sen. Nancy Detert (R-Venice) asked.* The answer is that Florida parents didn’t want it, because they didn’t see it as a parent empowerment bill. Instead, they thought that the bill, known as the “parent trigger,” would lead to the takeover of public schools by for-profit charter management companies and other corporate interests. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
School district’s Twitter account becomes source of embarrassment
*Correction: A previous version said the account was hacked. Rather a follower who was a spammer attached inappropriate material.* Here’s a news release that a school district doesn’t want to ever send out — but New York’s Lake Placid Central School District did after it launched a Twitter account without proper security settings and the account acquired “inappropriate or offensive posting or photos.” Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Teach for America wins millions more from the feds
The Education Department just announced that it was awarding about $25 million to three organizations with the aim of “increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals.” And which are the three chosen organizations? Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
No Child Left Behind’s effect on literacy
This *was written by P. David Pearson, preeminent literacy researcher and chair of the newly formed International Reading Association Literacy Research Panel.* By P. David Pearson While it is customary to give three cheers to something that we want to celebrate or commemorate, when I think about the legacy of the last decade of literacy instruction in America’s schools, I can only manage two cheers for No Child Left Behind. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Arne Duncan-led event interrupted by Occupy Austin
*Correction: An earlier version had the wrong date for the start of Occupy the Department of Education. The event will be held March 30-April 2.* Education Secretary Arne Duncan was just starting an education presentation to an audience at Austin Community College when he was interrupted by three protesters from Occupy Austin who stood up and shouted out a prepared statement. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
On Charles Murray, the black lawyer’s son, the white plumber’s son and college admissions
This *was written by Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a nonprofit public policy research organization, writes about education, equal opportunity and civil rights. This appeared on the foundation's blog. * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago
Does Bloomberg understand the state of NYC schools?
* This was written by Aaron Pallas, professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He writes the Sociological Eye on Education blog—where this post first appeared—for The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, non-partisan education-news outlet affiliated with the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media. * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Teach for America is great! Just not for my kid....
This *was written by Katie Osgood, a teacher on a child/adolescent inpatient unit at a psychiatric hospital in Chicago. Her students attend all types of schools but most are from low-income minority neighborhoods. This post first appeared on her blog Ms. Katie’s Ramblings.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Who won millions in Walton Foundation grants in 2011
The pro-charter Walton Foundation handed out more than $159 million in 2011 in 16 metropolitan areas around the country to promote school choice. It also committed to giving $49.5 million to Teach for America over five years to double its teaching corps and $25.5 million over the same period to the KIPP charter school network to double the number of students it educates. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Firing of D.C. teacher reveals flaws in value-added evaluation
The firing of a D.C. teacher called “creative,” “visionary” and “motivating” is the latest example of the many things wrong with value-added methods to evaluate teachers, the newest trend in school reform that is sweeping states with a push from the Obama administration. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Ravitch: A war on public education in Louisiana
*This* *was written by education historian Diane Ravitch for her Bridging Differences blog, which she co-authors with Deborah Meier on the Education Week website. The item was first published on March 6. In their blog, Ravitch and Meier exchange letters about what matters most in education. Ravitch, a research professor at New York University, is author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” a critique of the flaws in the modern school reform movement that she just updated.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to ... more »
Teacher job satisfaction plummets — Survey
This *was written by Kevin G. Welner, a professor of education policy and program evaluation in the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and director of the National Education Policy Center. The center is housed at the university’s School of Education and sponsors research, produces policy briefs, and publishes expert third party reviews of think tank reports.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
What GOP candidates said about education in Tuesday night speeches
Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul each addressed supportive crowds Tuesday night as the results of Republican presidential nomination contests in 10 Super Tuesday states came rolling in. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
School official outs 8th-grader as pregnant
“We learn by example and by direct experience,” wrote Malcolm Gladwell in “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,” “because there are real limits to the adequacy of verbal instruction.” And herein lies a fundamental obstacle to increasing efforts across the country to counter bullying by young people: adult bullies. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Parent trigger: A farce in Florida
There’s one important thing missing from the effort in Florida to pass a bill that would institute a “parent trigger” allowing parents to force specific changes at low-performing public schools: support from Florida parents. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Romney, Santorum, Paul, Gingrich: Where they stand now on education
The American public education system is going through historic changes but you couldn’t tell that if you have been following the Republican campaign to tap a candidate to take on President Obama in the fall. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Obama to give commencement speeches in Joplin and at sister’s alma mater
President Obama will deliver the commencement address at Joplin High School in Missouri later this month, the first graduation at a high school in the town that was decimated by a deadly tornado last year. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Test yourself against the brains at the Brain Bee
A high school student from Scranton, Pa., beat out 43 competitors to capture the championship of the U.S. National Brain Bee, part of an international competition in which contestants try to show how much they know about the brain. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]