The presentation to the state Board of Education yesterday was clearly meant to be a positive portrait of charter schools in New Jersey, with charts of the growing interest statewide and glowing examples from some superstar schools.
It didn’t go quite as planned.
Once the PowerPoint presentation by the state Department of Education was done, several members of the board were openly critical of the report and skeptical about claims that charters do any better than traditional public schools.
As to the fundamental question of how New Jersey’s 73 charters are doing in terms of student achievement, neither the department nor the board had any answers.
“It is important that we do that kind of analysis and study,” said Rochelle Hendricks, the acting
You’d think the academic world was on the brink of collapse. Campuses around the city have issued warnings. Medical professionals are up in arms. Academic officials quiver in fear. Regulators and watchdogs are on alert.
Is it on-campus violence, Adderall abuse, or even rampant, hedonistic “Eyes Wide Shut’’-caliber sex parties?
Not this time. For today’s college student, danger arrives in an extremely colorful can. In that can is the beverage known as Four Loko.
This potent, intoxicating mixture of caffeine and malt liquor has had the additional effect of getting nearly everyone in a tizzy after it sent some
Thursday, November 4th 2010, 4:00 AM
B is for bizarre when it comes to the city's school report cards.
Four of the city's most elite high schools earned disappointing B's on their annual progress reports - as did four schools that the city is considering closing.
Nearly 70% of city high schools earned A's or B's on the report cards, and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein acknowledged that the topsy-turvy grades might cause officials to reconsider shuttering schools.
"We announced those schools based on the information we had then," said Klein. "Obviously, the score this year will have an impact on our evaluation."
Most of the 26 high schools the city is considering closing earned a C or a D. Four earned B's, and four got an F.
Two of the B schools - W. H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn and Choir Academy of Harlem - were among the 14 high schools the city tried to
While most of the media focus has been on the federal dynamic in the House and Senate, the real impact of yesterday’s elections on education will be the changes in the Governorships, and state legislative composition. Many governorships changed hands from Dems to Reps. Before yesterday’s election, 18 of the 37 governorships were controlled by Reps, 19 by Dems. Now 23 are Reps, 10 Dems, 1 Independent and several not yet decided. Similarly, state legislatures moved to the right including the Reps taking control of many state houses. For example, Ed Week reports that 18 state legislative chambers switched from Dems to Reps.
And, while education is not at the top of the reform agenda anywhere, this shift will have a significant impact on education policies in the years ahead. The most immediate new Governors in the Race to the Top states will
Wendy Kopp (Teach for America, Inc. founder) and her husband Richard Barth (CEO of KIPP) during an after dinner chat?
from thosewhouseit:
We already knew it was a kangaroo court, but the student conduct process at Berkeley is getting out of control. The second hearing that we advertised last week lasted roughly 12 hours and the continuation date has yet to be determined. Meanwhile the first hearing (concerning an alleged occupant of A&E), which concluded in a sentence of a warning and re-education essay, had its verdict disregarded altogether by the administration. The guilty party had his sentence arbitrary elevated to “disciplinary probation” through the spring semester despite the hearing panel’s recommendation. All it took to change the verdict was the signature of a mid-level bureaucrat.
Meanwhile, the Daily Cal is reporting that the conduct process for the Wheeler and A&E occupations has cos
