Commentary
Quotable & notable
?I think the message for OEA might be, ?You've got to change the way you lobby?you can't just be against things'''* ?Brian Clem, Oregon State Representative (D-Salem)
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Education news nuggets
Some school districts have reached a funding cliff, while others use their extra cash (or
Commentary
PARCC eliminates through-course assessments
In a quarterly meeting that took place late last week, the PARCC Assessment Consortium Governing Board has decided to eliminate the previously required "through-course" assessments.
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Commentary
Quotable & notable
?I think our Legislature could have done it better. It was messy and it really doesn't make Wisconsin look all that great. But in the end, this is what we were given from the state of Wisconsin and we will do everything we can to follow the state's guidance.''*
Commentary
ED.gov Readability
The following is a guest post from David Hoff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communication Development at the Department of Education.
Commentary
The RttT honeymoon is over in New York
After the sweetness-and-nice between New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the New York State United Teachers ?(NYSUT) to win $700 million from the federal Race to the Top fund last year (see my Education Next story), NYSUT yesterday sued the state's Board of Regents and NYSED's acting commissioner J
Commentary
What are states doing on retirement benefits?
Only halfway through 2011, a number of states have reformed their laws governing public sector workers' benefits, a few of them in dramatic fashion. The need to close the yawning gap between promises made to workers and the dollars saved for them on states' balances sheets is evident.
Commentary
Are you smart enough to read ed.gov?*
Probably not. A tweet from Cool Cat Teacher alerted me to the fact that the advanced Google search can provide results annotated by reading level (basic, intermediary, and advanced). That got me curious, so I plugged in a few websites and noticed that the U.S.
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Quotable & notable
?You have money for lawyers, you have money for hats, but you can't buy my daughter's education''* ?Kathleen Kernivan, New York charter school parent
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Pop quiz on Common Core
Here's a quick test; true or false? 1. Arne Duncan coerced many states into adopting the Common Core via his Race to the Top application. 2. The Obama Administration carelessly hinted that adoption of Common Core might become a requirement in a new ESEA or for states wanting a waiver from the current law.
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Quotable & notable
?It's been that way since elementary school. We behave better when the teacher looks like us.''* ?New York City public school student
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Curriculum & Instruction
College for all! Please!
I stewed most of the week about how to respond to Deborah Meier's recent Bridging Differences post on ?college for all.??
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College for all, part 2: It's not about corporations
One of the noteworthy things about Deborah Meier's post about ?college for all?
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UK to see "biggest public sector strikes in a generation"
Great Britain's largest teacher unions have declared a strike for Thursday over proposed changes to their pensions, and they'll be joined by another 700,000 other workers from the public sector.
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Education news nuggets
Being an adult is hard: as the economy continues to struggle, many of the unemployed have had to change careers, taking jobs as teachers, princi
Commentary
Don't waive NCLB??non-enforce? parts of it instead
This guest post is by Christine Wolfe, a former hill staffer and George W. Bush Administration appointee at the U.S. Department of Education who helped to craft NCLB and many of its regulations. She consulted on Fordham's recent ESEA Briefing Book.
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?NAACP is on the wrong side of history''* ?Ny Whitaker, charter school parent Advancing coloured people? The Economist
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Education news nuggets
Harry Potter fans, C+ students and smokers alike have reason to rejoice today.
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Tax Cap Monte: Keep Your Eyes on the Union
While everyone is following New Jersey's public union bombshell vote, my friend E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center in Albany reports on a new maneuver by the New York State United Teachers to end run?
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Charter Schools
Charter school pensions: The sum of teacher unions' fears
As if the teachers unions need another reason to hate charter s
Commentary
Major omission in Ravitch article
Washington City Paper has published a lengthy article about Diane Ravitch.
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Education news nuggets
If you are a physics professor who has trouble finding a date, you should not resort to flirting or crude jokes.
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Quotable & notable
?What difference does it make how the parents feel about school performance when by almost all objective measures they are not good?'' ?Anonymous Washington Post Reader
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PODCAST: Mike and Richard play cops and robbers
Mike sits down with guest host Richard (Lee) Colvin of Ed Sector to hash out what Michigan's new reform efforts may mean for Detroit, what the CCSSO accountability blueprint may mean for the feds, and what NAEP history scores may mean for the country. Amber puts a magnifying glass on teacher pensions in charter schools and Chris crosses the pond to play Cowboys and Indians.
Commentary
Honors Classes For All?
I have been an avid follower of Jay Mathews' work since starting here at Fordham, but his recent argument with a Fairfax County parent over Fairfax's decision to get rid of honors courses across the district caused me to panic.
Commentary
Maintenance of effort madness in SC
South Carolina is in hot water with the Education Department over the state's failure to meet federal maintenance of effort requirements for special education spending. ED is threatening to dock South Carolina $111 million in federal aid after rejecting a waiver request.
Report
School Finance, Charter Schools
Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions
In this "Ed Short" from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Amanda Olberg and Michael Podgursky examine how public charter schools handle pensions for their teachers. Some states give these schools the freedom to opt out of the traditional teacher-pension system; when given that option, how many charter schools take it? Olberg and Podgursky examine data from six charter-heavy states and find that charter participation rates in traditional pension systems vary greatly from state to state. When charter schools do not participate in state systems, they most often provide their teachers with defined-contribution plans (401(k) or 403(b)). But some opt-out charters offer no alternative retirement plans at all for their teachers. Read on to learn more.
Commentary
Charter schools & teacher pensions
We asked a few experts to share their thoughts on our newly published paper, "Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions"?an online forum of sorts.