Recess round-up: July 9, 2010
A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break! Technology and education: With all the talk of the internet as equalizer, David Brooks writes that literary culture, as in life with a library, still produces better students. Meanwhile, if you haven’t seen last month’s white paper “Assessing […]
Recess round-up: July 8, 2010
A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break! Teacher training: The Answer Sheet‘s Valerie Strauss interprets an independent report on Teach For America. Among other things, University of Texas, Austin professor Julian Vasquez Heilig recommends pressing recruits to commit for five years instead of just two. […]
Week 2: Saving jobs vs. saving education reform
Have a look at Eliza Krigman’s National Journal tally of expert opinion on the controversy surrounding Rep. Obey’s war bill amendment. You know, the one that proposes cutting $500 million from Race to the Top, $100 million from the federal charter schools program and $200 million from the Teacher Incentive Fund. The debate is heated, despite […]
Do for-profit schools do a better job with low-income students?
For-profit colleges have had their share of negative attention lately, with a Democratic Senate committee calling for tougher oversight and regulation, and reports focusing on the excessive debt their students incur. That’s one reason why it was refreshing to read the comments of Gary Berg, the author of Low-Income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality, in a […]
Recess round-up: July 7, 2010
A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break! School turnaround: LA Unified’s Fremont high school reopens with a mostly new staff as the district attempts to address the campus’ historically dismal academic results. (Los Angeles Times) Achievement gap: Five school systems across the country have raised […]
Why the anger at closing bad schools?
A court decision last week blocking New York City’s efforts to shut down 19 failing schools may be the end of that fight, but more heated battles over whether to close schools are likely to crop up in New York and elsewhere in the coming months. The federal government is now in the process of handing […]
Recess round-up: July 6, 2010
A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break! School improvements: Seattle schools superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson is about to embark on a handful of academic initiatives, including a new school-improvement plan that will support and pressure schools to improve. (Seattle Times) Special ed: In New Jersey, special […]
Recess round-up: July 2, 2010
A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break! Student loans: After the government took over originating federal student loans on Thursday, Sallie Mae announced it is cutting as much as a third of its staff and consolidating offices into a new national headquarters in Delaware. The […]
Michelle Rhee and seniority-based layoffs: Breaking the status quo?
An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal praised Washington, D.C.’s new teacher contract, which eliminates the “first in, last out” system of teacher layoffs common across the country. When it comes time to hand out pink slips, new teachers are traditionally let go and old teachers are kept on — regardless of teacher effectiveness or performance. “Seniority used to drive […]
Saving teachers vs. saving reform: A false dichotomy?
UPDATE: The House has passed the military spending bill which includes the $10 billion teacher jobs saving measure. President Obama has threatened a veto it. First, though, the bill has to be reconciled with a Senate bill passed in May, and that could take a while. – A proposal to move a chunk of money […]
