Can the U.S. learn from Australia’s high bar for new teachers?
A major ongoing fight in the U.S. is how to make the teaching profession less a clock-in, clock-out job and more like the high-paid, high-demand career of a lawyer or doctor. Unions and teachers argue better pay will elevate the profession. Politicians and advocates want to put more scrutiny on teachers and end tenure, arguing […]
Lessons from abroad: If Republicans controlled U.S. education policy? Australia offers a sneak peek
What would happen if conservative ideas for improving education were given free reign in the United States? If Republicans take over the Senate and then the White House, a possibility, Americans might find out in the near future. Australia, similar in many ways to the U.S., provides a glimpse of what a transfer of power […]
Which winning ideas could the U.S. steal from Singapore?
Singapore has one of the best education systems in the world, according to international assessments. President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talk about its performance. United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten visited in 2012 and her counterpart at the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, has praised its teacher training. And […]
Could New York’s Pre-k plan pit politics and posturing above kids?
No matter who ends up paying for universal pre-k program in New York, it seems that both Cuomo and de Blasio have a lot of work ahead. There hasn’t been enough room or enough money or enough support for such programs in years.
The radical changes to New Orleans’ schools
Sarah Carr, a contributing editor at The Hechinger Report, went on NBC’s Education Nation on Friday to talk about the radical changes to New Orleans’ school landscape since Katrina. The city has a higher percentage of charter schools than any other since the flood. Education Nation traveled to New Orleans last week to see how […]
Clock ticks down on billions in tuition tax credits
Among the many tax breaks waiting for Congress to rescue or let tumble off the fiscal cliff is more than $18 billion in savings for families who pay college and university tuition. The American Opportunity Tax Credit expires on December 31st, and, with it, financial relief averaging $1,545 per recipient who pays for college. Compounding […]
Report: Excessive teacher absences hurt students and budgets
Too many teachers across the country are missing work too often, and their absences are taking significant academic and financial tolls on schools, according to a new report by the Center for American Progress. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit analyzed teacher attendance rates at more than 56,000 schools across the country in “Teacher Absence as a […]
Survey: Today’s teaching force is less experienced, more open to change
More inexperienced teachers are in today’s classrooms than ever before and they are more open than their veteran colleagues to performance-driven options for how they’re evaluated and paid, according to the results of a new survey conducted by the Boston-based nonprofit Teach Plus. For the first time in decades, more than 50 percent of the […]
Will Mississippi jump in and provide funds for early learning?
Advocates of a privately funded early education program in Mississippi are asking the state for five million dollars to expand, in a move they hope will improve school readiness for children who too often start behind – and stay behind. The request to expand Mississippi Building Blocks follows increasing media coverage of early education in […]
The rise of teacher unions: A look at union impact over the years
The Chicago teachers strike, which ended Tuesday after more than a week of protests and negotiations, has emphasized the power that teachers’ unions can have. Since the earliest days of unions, teachers have been fighting over some of the same issues in contention in Chicago: salaries, conditions at schools and tenure. A look at the […]
