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 […]
Different takes on Race to the Top: Will it work?
Delaware and Tennessee have received competitive grants from the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition, it’s interesting to see a variety of reactions about the program emerging. Always, there is plenty of blame to toss around in states that lost out. Winners and losers are still emerging as states gear up for the next […]
Teachers, teachers everywhere — but not a job to take!
Newspapers around the country are reporting that would-be teachers aren’t having an easy time finding positions for the 2010-11 school year. The woeful economy and accompanying budget cuts have led many districts to freeze or significantly scale back on new hires. And yet there doesn’t appear to be any similar reduction in the number of teacher […]
Ending teacher tenure in Florida?
Looks like that’s what could happen. A key committee in the Florida House has approved a bill that will end teacher tenure, create a new statewide merit pay program, and require that half of teachers’ evaluations be based on student performance. Teachers in Florida are furious, saying good teachers will be discouraged from working in […]
Teachers, the movie
After the death of famed calculus teacher Jaime Escalante, who was depicted in the inspirational movie Stand and Deliver, USA Today reporter Greg Toppo took a look at education movies more generally. Greg talked to James Trier, a University of North Carolina professor who studies movies and television shows about teachers. Going all the way […]
Lessons for the next round of Race to the Top?
For states that came away empty-handed from last week’s Race to the Top competition, there was bound to be disappointment. But now some skepticism has also emerged with the announcement that only Delaware and Tennessee would get money from the $4.35-billion grant program, beating out 14 other finalists. The New York Times noted that “many states are […]
Rubber rooms: Coming soon to a theater near you!
A few years ago, when I was teaching at the United World College in Hong Kong, an Irish friend told me that there are thousands of teachers across the U.S. who have been accused of various “crimes” and thus removed from classrooms. Instead of teaching, they report to “work” each day in what he called “rubber rooms,” […]
Do-it-yourself higher education
Must-listen radio: Brian Lehrer’s WNYC interview of Anya Kamenetz about her new book: DIY U.: Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. Kamenetz writes about tuition rising at twice the rate of inflation, productivity in higher education (which she says is a “dirty word”), and the fact that parents and students know little […]
What college majors are expendable?
Outdoor learning at Humboldt State University Humboldt State University, part of the California State University system and located on the state’s northern coast, needs to cut its budget. Among the programs under consideration for elimination are these: philosophy, chemistry, physics, fisheries biology and oceanography. Does every college need a philosophy department? What about chemistry? What […]
