Fading planetariums mark end of era
Arlington planning to close Brown planetarium after 40 years.
MORE ON EDUCATION
- Texas to Obama: Hands off our schools!
- DC Insider: Gray-Janey-Saunders
- Home schooling on rise in Fairfax
- Va students work on botanic reserve
- P.W. students in robotics contest
- Gray to wait and see on Rhee
- Moco schools finalist in race
- Obit: Escalante of "Stand and Deliver"
- DC Insider: Tough budget coming
- Prep schools look to China for students
- Md. weighs private school tax credit
Fifth-graders quiz Jonathan Harmon, director of the David M. Brown Planetarium, after a presentation. (Evy Mages For The Washington Post)
James McPherson on Texas history curriculum
A lot of attention has been focused on Texas in recent weeks because state officials decided to rewrite social studies curriculum and force kids to learn a distorted view of the country’s past.
Folks in other states are worried that the changes will wind up appearing in schools outside Texas. The state, with almost 5 million K-12 students, dictates what is in the textbooks it purchases from publishers, and other states often buy the same materials.
Texas textbooks will, for example, play down the role of Thomas Jefferson among the founding fathers (which actually can’t be overstated), and question the separation of church and state as a fundamental principle in the country’s creation.
Continue reading this post »
Me vs. smartest critic of AP in low-income schools
This was going to be a piece about a great new book about Advanced Placement, "AP: A Critical Examination of the Advanced Placement Program." I promise to summarize its conclusions before this column ends.
But I want to focus on the most interesting contributor to the volume, a Texas economist named Kristin Klopfenstein who is author or co-author of two chapters and one of the four editors of the book. She has become the most articulate and knowledgeable critic of using AP to raise achievement in low-income schools, a movement I have been supporting for a quarter of a century, I decided to call her up, discuss our differences and report what she had to say.
Klopfenstein is an associate professor of economics at Texas Christian University, currently on leave to work as a senior researcher at the Texas Schools Project at the University of Texas-Dallas. In the new book, she is the sole author of a chapter that argues that people who say AP saves taxpayer money and reduces time to college graduation are wrong. Since I am not one of those people, I didn't ask her about that chapter, but about a chapter of which she is the lead author, with Mississippi State University economist M. Kathleen Thomas as co-author, entitled "Advanced Placement Participation: Evaluating the Policies of States and Colleges."
Continue reading this post »
Janey: "It's not a coup"
The gathering at the Wilson Building Wednesday night was billed as a community forum and panel discussion on education reform. But it didn't take long to morph into an emotionally-charged rally for what the 150 or so in attendance clearly saw as their dream ticket for 2010: Gray-Janey-Saunders.
D.C. Council Chairman and newly-minted mayoral candidate Vincent C. Gray didn't disappoint the audience, put together by a coalition of community groups deeply unhappy with Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's approach to education reform. ("It's a new day! We're going to start with Gray!" exulted co-sponsor Cherita Whiting, chair of the Ward 4 Education Council).
He came with red meat for the anti-Rheeites, trashing her decision to reassign Hardy Middle School principal Patrick Pope and accusing her of not engaging with parents or articulating a coherent vision of education the District from early childhood through college.
With Washington Teachers' Union president George Parker looking on, Whiting lionized WTU general vice president Nathan Saunders, his opponent in next month's union elections, as a "standup guy" who "speaks for the teachers when they can't speak for themselves." Saunders called the union contest "a precursor to the mayor's race" and said his victory would create momentum for ousting Fenty and, by extension, Rhee.
.
Former D.C. schools superintendent Clifford B. Janey, shunted aside in 2007 by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in favor of Rhee, got a big hug and testimonial from Gray. "What a first-class professional. What a first-class human being."
Continue reading this post ».
Former D.C. schools superintendent Clifford B. Janey, shunted aside in 2007 by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in favor of Rhee, got a big hug and testimonial from Gray. "What a first-class professional. What a first-class human being."
Ed Buzz: The Nation
- Could bus ads save school budgets?(Associated Press)
- Loan bill stripped of early ed., other priorities (Education Week)
- Unions slam Obama's education budget (Education Week)
- Obama effigy hung at R.I. school (New York Times)
- Hispanics face barriers to college degree (New York Times)
- Suspensions lead to legal challenge(New York Times)
- Detroit ed chief wants to close 45 schools (Detroit Free Press)
- State, district leaders press transformation (Education Week)
- Hurdles await new education agenda(New York Times)
- Union tries personal tactics on UC regents (San Francisco Chronicle)
Ed Buzz: The Region
- Loudoun looking to slash positions, up fees (WTOP)
- Kids at Md. school get tainted milk (Fox 5)
- McDonnell signs college lab school legislation (Richmond Times Dispatch)
- Schools reduce police presence (The Examiner)
- Montgomery College, schools brace for cuts (The Gazette)
- P.G. County PTA reinstated (The Gazette)
- Md. GOP: Don't raise dropout age (The Gazette)
- Birth-control center finds home at T.C. Williams (Alexandria Gazette Packet)
- Fairfax teacher quits over embezzlement charges (Examiner)
- MoCo teachers say they are overwhelmed (Gazette)
- Alex. considers new school boundaries(Examiner)
- PG parents fear impact of school cuts(WJLA)
- Md. lawmakers favor ed cuts (Baltimore Sun)
