Posted: Wednesday, September 8, 2010 4:12 pm | Updated: 5:00 pm, Wed Sep 8, 2010.
Posted on September 8, 2010
Every year, a wave of pink slips goes out from school districts to teachers. But oftentimes, those same teachers don't actually end up getting laid off. How come? In our latest San Diego Explained, we explain the annual threat of teacher layoffs, with partners NBC
TRENTON — New Jersey has applied for $268 million in federal education funding and will use its own funding formula — instead of a federal method — to distribute the money for school districts.
Initially billed as money that would save teachers' jobs, districts can use stimulus funds approved last month by Congress for salaries, benefits and related costs for a wide range of employees, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The application was something of a formality. The money would have come to New Jersey whether Gov. Chris Christie asked for it by today's deadline or not, but applying gave Christie some additional control over distribution and started the process of getting the funds to New Jersey. A Christie administration spokesman could not be reached for comment this
On 2nd day, even more teachers are truant Daily News
The District's Chief Talent Development Officer Estelle Matthews said that 201 teachers did not report for work yesterday, a number of them not following the proper procedure for an excused absence. There were 171 absences the day before.
See also: Hundreds More Phila. Schoolteachers Fail to Show Up KYW
South Phila. High teacher sues administrators, alleging retaliation Inquirer
Former South Philly High social studies teacher William Aitken has filed a lawsuit against the District claiming that administrators treated him unfairly when last October he warned then Principal LaGreta Brown that students were using cell phones to coordinate attacks on Asian students.
Editorial: Spend the Philadelphia school money first, then get the OK Daily News
In August, the School Reform Commission approved more than $1 million to install turnstiles at 440, but this was months after the security equipment had already been put into place.
See also: Turnstiles: Delayed approval not unusual The Notebook blog
Teenage activist will see if Philadelphia school has changed, too The Dallas Morning News
South Philly student Duong Nghe Ly looks forward to a changed school as he begins his senior year.
The First Week A Very Public Education blog
One mom's perspective on what she calls a odd first week of school.
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Alexandria public schools boast a culturally rich student population -- hailing from 128 countries and speaking about 75 languages -- but getting staff members to reflect that student population has been a challenge.
Nearly 37 percent of students in Alexandria schools last school year were black, according to the school system's statistics. Twenty-seven percent were Hispanic; almost 25 percent white; 6 percent Asian; 1 percent Native American; and the rest unspecified.
More than 51 percent of the city's teachers and support staff members, however, are white, based on data from before this school year's first week. Almost 37 percent of the teachers and instructional workers are black, and 8 percent are Hispanic.
The school system hired two Hispanic principals for
At TIME.com here’s my take on lobsters the transformative promise of common standards – a common denominator – and why most of the hype overstates the case. What didn’t I get into was the issue of innovation and how this can also be a powerful lever there.
Assuming quality and comparability are maintained, the new standards offer a common denominator in public education to help think about student performance and productivity. Sounds wonky, but it’s hard to overstate the importance of this to the national effort to improve schools across 50 states and thousands of
Imam Zaid Shakir, rear, lectures during Islamic History Class at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Monday, Aug. 30, 2010. Amid the uproar over the proposed mosque near the former World Trade Center, a new Islamic college opened its doors in California with plans to educate a new generation of Muslim American leaders. Zaytuna College in Berkeley is a small school with just five faculty members and 15 students in its inaugural freshman class, but it has big ambitions: It wants to be the first accredited Muslim academic institution in the U.S. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)BERKELEY, Calif.—Amid the uproar over the proposed mosque near ground zero in New York, a new Islamic college recently opened its doors in California with plans to educate a new generation of Muslim-American leaders.
Founded by three prominent Islamic scholars, Zaytuna College in Berkeley is a small school with just five faculty members and 15 students in its inaugural freshman class. The school wants to become the country's first fully accredited Muslim academic institution.
Zaytuna College is opening at a time when fierce opposition to the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near the former World Trade Center has
What’s churning:The heated national debate on using student test-score growth to evaluate teachers shows little sign of abating, almost a month after the Los Angeles Times ignited a controversy by doing its own “value-added” analysis of teacher effectiveness. Bloggers have gone back and forth on the issue on Education News Colorado’s opinion
Last week, I wrote about how the District had spent a million dollars on turnstiles and miscellaneous security equipment. The authorizing resolution, which the SRC passed at its August meeting, came months after the installation of the equipment.
Despite the delayed approval and exorbitant price tag, the resolution passed with no questions or debate.
The resolution was not unusual. At that very same meeting, the SRC approved at least another eight resolutions
Adrian Fenty. #1 on the DFER "hot list."
Democrats for Education Reform have compiled a “hot list” of 15 politicians that they want their supporters to write checks for. DFER is the anti-teacher union, pro-charter lobby outfit funded by such characters as Wall Street hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson.
Note: The first name on the “hot list” is Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, Michelle Rhee’s patron.
There's certainly no shortage of articles advising teachers on how to best create an inviting classroom conducive to learning. But looking back at Lucy Nulton's treatise on the topic, "A Classroom for Living," from the February 1954 Educational Leadership, it's hard not to think her treatment was truly original.
Read the article: A Classroom for Living (PDF)
Opening with the question, "What teacher has not longed for a pleasanter, more effective classroom?" Nulton paints an evocative picture of a classroom as it exists before the application of her advice. In this troubled classroom, everything is
