Governors Association Examines Teacher Merit Pay - High School Notes (usnews.com)

Governors Association Examines Teacher Merit Pay - High School Notes (usnews.com):

Governors Association Examines Teacher Merit Pay

Governors Association Examines Teacher Merit Pay

By JASON KOEBLER

January 9, 2012 RSS Feed Print

Many pro-reform education experts, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, will tell you that one of the most important factors in a child's education is the quality of the teacher—and the way to retain the best teachers is to pay them more. But states and teachers unions nationwide are having trouble agreeing on how their salaries should be determined.

[Read about a recent study that says teachers aren't underpaid.]

Teachers unions are opposed to many reformers' wishes to abolish tenure and to award bonuses based on students' achievement. A 2008 survey of members of the American Federation of Teachers found that awarding bonuses to

Education Reform Now’s 2010 IRS 990 Form « DFER Watch

Education Reform Now’s 2010 IRS 990 Form « DFER Watch:

Education Reform Now’s 2010 IRS 990 Form

by ken libby

pEducation Reform Now’s IRS 990 form and audited financial statement were recently posted on the NY Charities Bureau a href=”http://bartlett.oag.state.ny.us/Char_Forms/show_details.jsp?id={D4BB3F84-544C-4371-A9D0-05EB216A4445}”website/a. Below is a summary of relevant information. This post then concludes with a few brief notes./p pstrongSummary:/strong/p pERN’s total revenue and total expenses grew between 2009 and 2010:/p pimg style=”display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;” [...]

NJ Spotlight | In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control

NJ Spotlight | In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control:

In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control

Can a local school district block a charter from opening or refuse to fund it?

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By Marilyn Joyce Lehren, January 9, 2012 in Education |1 Comment

Credit: Marilyn Joyce Lehren

Lili Meddahi, a Maplewood third grader, decorates a protest sign against charters.

When a charter school opens in a gritty urban neighborhood, few parents and officials argue that kids in the district don't need an alternative to the local public schools. In a leafy New Jersey suburb -- which may be home to some of the best schools in the country -- charters can spark off a battle between skeptics and believers. The former often dismiss charters as "boutiques," and argue that they'll sap increasingly scarce dollars from local schools. The latter want their kids to have more choices and challenges -- like Mandarin language immersion -- and think their school taxes should pay for them.

Ultimately, the issue comes down to local control. Should

Sacramento Press / "Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting

Sacramento Press / "Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting:

"Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting

by William Burg

On January 7, 2012, Sacramento city staff held a public meeting about the newest proposal to change the city charter, the “Checks and Balances Act of 2012.” However, this public meeting was not announced to the general public—instead it was directed at a small group of neighborhood leaders.

I found out about the meeting via the chair of the Midtown Neighborhood Association, who received an email on December 27:

From: Raihane Dalvi
Date: December 27, 2011 2:19:11 PM PST
To: Raihane Dalvi
Subject: Checks and Balances Act of 2012

Dear Neighborhood Leader,

I'm writing to request your participation in an important discussion before the city of Sacramento.

As you may know, a broad coalition of community leaders are working to update our charter to make government work better for the voters of Sacramento. Along with our office, they recently presented the "Checks and Balances Act of 2012” [attached], a new proposal to restructure city governance, promote higher standards

Application for Hebrew Charter School in New Jersey Raises Concern - NYTimes.com

Application for Hebrew Charter School in New Jersey Raises Concern - NYTimes.com:

Rejected 3 Times, School May Still Open Soon, and With a Grant, Too

By MICHAEL WINERIP

Published: January 8, 2012

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In the last couple of years, Sharon Akman, a real estate agent, applied to the state of New Jersey three times to open a new charter school in the Highland Park area, to be called Tikun Olam Hebrew Language Charter High School.

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• Times Topics: Charter Schools |Michael Winerip

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Each time, she was rejected.

Then on Oct. 6, one week after the state’s most recent rejection, theUnited States Education Departmentannounced that it had approved a $600,000 grant to finance Ms. Akman’s proposed charter.

It would have taken federal officials just a few phone calls to determine that there were many good reasons for the

NYC Educator: A Message from the Mayor

NYC Educator: A Message from the Mayor:

A Message from the Mayor

by NYC Educator

Good morning, New York. It's me, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. You know, a lot of people ask me what I'm up to nowadays. Well, I've got my eye on this new teacher evaluation system. I'm sure you know that last year I tried to get rid of that seniority clause when firing teachers. I say, let's keep the best teachers. The most effective teachers. And by that, I mean the most cost-effective teachers.

You know, there was a time in this country, before unions and child labor laws, when entrepreneurship ruled the day. And in private enterprise, we've moved back toward that model. That's why my people walked out of talks with the UFT last week. I mean, what's all this nonsense about independent arbitrators? Once we fire you, you should be fired. That's how we do it in a business model. We're the bosses and what we say goes.

Now sure, there are all those pissy teachers whining about, "Oh,

Mandated community service: Risks and potential - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Mandated community service: Risks and potential - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Mandated community service: Risks and potential

by Valerie Strauss

This was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including “The Schools Our Children Deserve,” “The Homework Myth,” and the newly published“Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling.” He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.com. .

Read full article >>

Putting New York’s testing program on trial

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

This was* written by Fred Smith, a retired New York City Board of Education senior analyst who worked for the city public school system in test research and development. In this post he writes about New York state’s standardized testing program for students. Though his comments are specific to New York, the same types of problems are prevalent in other states as well.* * Read full article >>

Slaves used as part of 3rd grade math questions

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 9 hours ago

What would you do if your elementary school child came home with a worksheet that had questions such as these: * --“Each tree had 56 oranges. If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?”* *--“If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?”* * Read full article >>

Teen who killed bully to go free under ‘Stand Your Ground’ law

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 16 hours ago

A judge has dropped a second-degree murder charge against a 15-year-old who fatally stabbed another teenager after he was attacked, citing a law in Florida that allows an individual to meet force with force if they fear for his/her life. The “Stand Your Ground” law says that a person has no duty to retreat if attacked and can use even deadly force if they feel their life is in danger . At least 17 states have a version of this law, including Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. If the boy had been ... more »

How art history majors power the U.S. economy

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

This was written by Virginia Postrel, a Bloomberg View columnist. She is the author of “*The Future and Its Enemies*” and “*The Substance of Style*,” and is writing a book on glamour. This first appeared on Bloomberg.com. By Virginia Postrel Read full article >>

Romney, Santorum, Paul on education issues

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

One of the winners in the top tier of the Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa doesn’t believe public schools should provide early childhood education, describing it as just an attempt by the government “to indoctrinate” children. One of them has praised some of President Obama’s reform efforts. One of them has said the Department of Education should be eliminated for many reasons, including that it “in some cases, forced medication of our children with psychotropic drugs.” Read full article >>

A decade of No Child Left Behind: Lessons from a policy failure

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

On Jan. 8, 2002, then president George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law, ushering in an era of standardized test-based school reform. This assessment of the NCLB decade was written by Lisa Guisbond with Monty Neill and Bob Schaeffer, all from the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, a Boston-based organization that aims to end the misuse of standardized tests. Guisbond is a policy analyst, Neill is executive director and Schaeffer is public education director. Read full article >>

Report: Does money matter in education?

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 2 days ago

The answer to the often-debated question — Does money matter in providing a quality education? — is yes, according to a new report that reviewed research on the subject. To someone not steeped in school reform debate, the answer might seem obvious: Of course money matters. High-quality teachers, resources and buildings take money. (Tangentially, would anybody listen to Bill Gates on school reform if he weren’t a billionaire?) Read full article >>

New Hampshire’s 2012 anti-evolution legislation (and the shocking thing a sponsor said)

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago

You can’t make up this stuff: The chief sponsor of a new anti-evolution piece of legislation in New Hampshire said that Darwin’s theory is “godless” and that such thinking is linked to Nazi atrocities, the 1999 Columbine shootings and more. That analysis came from Republican Rep. Jerry Bergevin, who introduced one of two new anti-evolution bills (see below for full text of bills) in the Granite State’s legislature. Read full article >>

How weighted funding would work | Thoughts on Public Education

How weighted funding would work | Thoughts on Public Education:

How weighted funding would work

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$3,000 more per student in low-income districts

Posted on 1/09/12 • Categorized as Equity issues, Finance, Jerry Brown, Poverty, State Budget, Student spending

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Districts in which nearly 90 percent of students are either low-income or English learners (such as Long Beach Unified and Los Angeles Unified) will get $3,000 more per student than districts where only 20 percent of students are disadvantaged (like Poway and Irvine) – once the new system of school funding that Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing is fully phased in.

A district with 90 percent disadvantaged students would get $9,596 per student, compared with $6,444 for a district with only a 20 percent combination of English learners and low-