How to solve senior slump? Eliminate senior year
The weather turns warmer, seniors are already accepted into college, the pressure is off — and the slacking begins. All of this comes in a warning from an admissions consultant in a guest post in The Answer Sheet, providing a cautionary tale about the dangers of so-called senior slump. “It becomes increasingly difficult for many […]
Teaching gun safety in schools creates quandary, raises questions
An interesting debate has emerged in Virginia, now that the Virginia General Assembly has directed the state’s Board of Education to develop materials for teaching gun safety to elementary school children. The catch, according to an article in The Washington Post, is just what to incorporate into those lessons. The Assembly wants to include the […]
Fewer profits, more scrutiny at for-profit colleges?
For-profit colleges have undergone a great deal of scrutiny lately, in part because they are getting a second look from students at overburdened community colleges and in part because they promise to prepare students for paying jobs in the midst of a recession. They’ve also been in the headlines a lot, most recently for exaggerating […]
What’s the best way to train and certify teachers?
With education schools under attack and growing numbers of teachers entering the profession through alternative certification programs, New York State may be poised to allow programs like Teach for America and others to create their own master’s degree programs. The New York State Board of Regents would award the degree. Newly minted teachers who […]
When neighborhoods change, what lessons can schools learn?
Every now and then, events at one school have an uncanny resemblance to what has taken place at another. That was the case at Lafayette High School, a once-cavernous neighborhood institution at the tip of Brooklyn that served a largely Italian and Jewish population. Its sports teams at one point were nicknamed “the Italian Army.” […]
What will teacher tenure in Florida look like now?
Gov. Charlie Crist’s announcement on Thursday that he would veto a bill linking teacher pay to student test scores left some hurt feelings and some new questions. There may also be lessons for any states considering similar legislation. “I say we must start over,” the Republican governor said, according to several news accounts. “This bill has negatively affected […]
One way to measure teacher effectiveness: memories?
With so much debate over what makes teachers effective, it was refreshing to read a tale from Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen Parker that looked at her own specific memory of a life-changing teacher. The piece in The Washington Post comes at a time when everyone, from governors to state legislatures, is discussing how to measure the […]
Pay for performance? Try pay for acceptance
It’s harder to get into U.S. community colleges these days, as the newly unemployed seek job training and others felled by higher prices at four-year state schools or private institutions decide they’d rather stay local and pay less. That means longer waiting lists and students shut out of classes they need. So what’s an overtaxed […]
Your check is in the mail: A job or your tuition back?
In a state that has struggled with some of the highest unemployment rates in country, it’s hard to imagine that a community college degree might come with the promise of a job. Yet that’s exactly what a school in ailing Michigan has proposed, according to Time magazine. At a time when many community colleges are […]
Big graduation problem looms in tiny Rhode Island
If a bar is set high, will students rise to meet it? The question has to be on the mind of anyone watching the progress of students in Rhode Island as the state moves toward stringent new graduation requirements. The question is both fascinating and painful. At least 10 districts in the state are finding […]
