Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, January 17, 2014

1-17-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:






How’s this for cynical?
How’s this for cynical? The Illinois State Board of Education wants to remove class size protections for students with disabilities. If the proposal (officially known as changes to state administrative rule Part 226) is approved, there would be no statewide limits on the size of special education classes, or the percentage of students with disabilities […]    


Maryland schools need $100 million for online Common Core tests, says report
A new report from Maryland’s Education Department to the legislature says that the vast majority of schools in many of the state’s counties are not technologically prepared to give new online Common Core-aligned standardized tests and that at least $100 million will have to be spent by 2015 to get ready. In Montgomery County alone, […]    
Bad news for teachers comes in an automated phone call
Despite decades of failure, merit-pay schemes for teachers continue to be pushed in states and school districts around the  country. In this post, Chris Gilbert, who teaches English at a high school and community college in North Carolina, explains a new scheme in North Carolina that involves merit pay for teachers and a loss of tenure […]    

1-16-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: A real school reform agenda for 2014If you remember your No Child Left Behind history, 2014 is the year that all children were supposed to be scoring proficient on standardized tests. That was, of course, a ridiculous goal, which the authors of the bill knew full well when they wrote it, and a symbol for just how misguided school reform has […]    1 by Valerie Strauss / 1h hide