How one school ‘turnaround’ worked (without firing the teachers)
New data released by the Education Department shows that the results of its efforts so far to turn around the country’s lowest-performing schools are mixed. The Obama administration has been pushing its turnaround policy through the School Improvement Grant program, which requires districts that get the money to choose one of four corporate-based options to improve student achievement (which is evaluated on standardized test scores).
Critics say that the four options — which all involve changing some or all of the teachers and administrators, including one that calls for closing the school entirely — are all punitive and won’t likely work in the long run. There are, though, other ways to improve schools
The December dilemma: Santa in school
Every December the debate about religion and public schools is revived. Here Jill Davidson, the mom of three kids in the Providence Public Schools in Rhode Island, takes a personal look at what is and what isn't acceptable when it comes to bringing religion in the classroom. She is the director of publications and communications at Educators for Social Responsibility. This was published at the East Side Monthly.
By Jill Davidson
In first grade, our oldest son came home with "Olive, the Other Reindeer," borrowed from the school library. As we read it together, me giggling at the title, he said, "What's so funny? I don't get it." "It's a joke, honey, a pun," I explained. "You know, ‘all of the other reindeer' from ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer'."
Nope, he didn't know. He didn't know about the renowned nasal exceptionalism which initially prompted