White House On School Safety, No School Closure Savings? Ed Tonight
No Closure Cash? A recent trend in urban education has been school closures. New York City recently made headlines for releasing a lengthly list of schools slated to be closed. Philadelphia has made similar news. And Chicago is now deciding which of its "underutilized" schools it will close. A similar thread between all these closures has been the argument that closing schools saves money. But a new study adds to the growing body of evidence that shows this may not actually be true.
According to the Washington Examiner, a new report from the DC Fiscal Policy Institute shows that closing 20
According to the Washington Examiner, a new report from the DC Fiscal Policy Institute shows that closing 20
Obama On Guns: School Police Should Be Funded By Federal Government, But Not Required
President Barack Obama's recommendations in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting leaves questions about school safety mostly to schools to answer.
"We won't be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation -- all of us -- to try," Obama said in a statement.
According to guidelines released by the White House in advance of Obama's speech Wednesday, schools that want to have armed guards will be supported in that pursuit, but schools won't be pushed to staff them. The plan calls for the creation of 1,000 new "school resource officers," which the White House describes as "specially trained police officers that work in schools," and mental health professionals to "help prevent school crime and student-on-student violence."
The White House says it will "provide incentives" for police departments to train and hire these special officers.
"We won't be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation -- all of us -- to try," Obama said in a statement.
According to guidelines released by the White House in advance of Obama's speech Wednesday, schools that want to have armed guards will be supported in that pursuit, but schools won't be pushed to staff them. The plan calls for the creation of 1,000 new "school resource officers," which the White House describes as "specially trained police officers that work in schools," and mental health professionals to "help prevent school crime and student-on-student violence."
The White House says it will "provide incentives" for police departments to train and hire these special officers.
Texas Zeroes Out Standardized Testing, Can Tablets Replace Textbooks? Ed Today
Less Texas Testing? As Texas prepares its budget, lawmakers in the Lone Star State are trying to make a statement on standardized testing. Currently, KUT News notes, testing is "zeroed out" in the House budget. That means it's still in there, just followed by a bunch of zeroes. "We want to start the conversation on testing," House Budget writer and Republican state representative Jim Pitts told KUT. "And we're gonna have a lot of hearings between now and the end of the session on education and some things that we're going to do in education. And we sure want testing to be one of the number one things. And that's why we did it." We are grateful to KUT for asking, since we were wondering ourselves: yes, says Texas Education Agency spokesperson Dabbie Ratcliffe, this is probably the first time in Texas history such a tactic has been used to discuss testing.
Movement On NYC Evaluations? While the public loves a good fight, it seems the dynamic some negotiators are painting of the talks over New York's teacher evaluations are more boisterous than reality. "State education officials said the city Department of Education and the UFT had been laying the groundwork for a successful
Movement On NYC Evaluations? While the public loves a good fight, it seems the dynamic some negotiators are painting of the talks over New York's teacher evaluations are more boisterous than reality. "State education officials said the city Department of Education and the UFT had been laying the groundwork for a successful
