Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, August 29, 2011

This Week In Education: Update: Rhee Opposes Publishing Teacher Ratings Also

This Week In Education: Update: Rhee Opposes Publishing Teacher Ratings Also:

Update: Rhee Opposes Publishing Teacher Ratings Also

image from www.simrad.comFollowing up on last week's reminder that TFA founder Wendy Kopp opposes publishing teachers' value-added ratings (she calls it naive, basically) I was asking around whether other reformy types shared the same view.

I seemed to recall that Michelle Rhee wasn't a big fan of the idea, either, but was too lazy to look back and see what she'd said. The folks at StudentsFirst bailed me out with this quote from their newish spokesperson, Nancy Zuckerbrod: "We generally support empowering parents with


Media: What Hurricane Coverage Can Teach Us

image from images1.dailykos.comIn the aftermath of this weekend's stormy weather, a few folks are asking questions about whether the media overdid it on the coverage and the hype. Anyone who found him or herself (or a family member) stressed, hypnotized, overwhelmed but not necessarily usefully informed by the Hurricane Irene coverage knows what I mean. This, of course, reminds me of education news coverage, which is often similarly superficial, herd-minded, inaccurate, speculative, and generally over the top (though of course not usually as extensive except when there are gunmen walking around a school or something). After a weekend of sad, stress-inducing weather coverage I find