Morning news
Secretary Duncan speaks to AFT conference; continues "with you, not to you" pitch, calls the labeling of failing schools "demoralizing" for faculty.
Secretary Duncan speaks to AFT conference; continues "with you, not to you" pitch, calls the labeling of failing schools "demoralizing" for faculty.
Editor's Note: This week we launch the first in a biweekly series highlighting education reformers. Every two weeks we'll pose the same questions to people working to bring about meaningful education reform--most of them from outside the Beltway.
As Andy reported last Friday, the DC Council has sent a letter to Secretary Duncan urging him to reconsider the fate of the DC Opportunity Scholarship program.
Checker's book, Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut, is reviewed in this Washington Times piece.
It looks like some states are moving in the right direction on reform in order to access Race to the Top funds. But we have to remember that these reforms, though important, aren't free; they cost $100 billion. So the question is: Are we getting enough in return for this investment?
Though this WaPo headline says that the "GOP [is] Leaving ???No Child' Behind," the rise of Representative John P. Kline to ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee might be more nuanced.
We heard through the grapevine that the The??National Council on Teacher Quality,??a national research and advocacy organization based in??Washington,??D.C., is hiring! They're on the prowl for a??project manager and multiple research analysts to work on teacher preparartion studies.
Very interesting article about Judge Sotomayor's Princeton education. I appreciate her hard work.
According to the good folks at Ed Week, there are some interesting happenings on the Hill today. The House subcommittee in charge of education appropriations decided to provide a big boost to the Teacher Incentive Fund (a program that supports innovative teacher compensation systems).
When I read this appropriations article earlier, I assumed that the number listed at the bottom for the federal charter schools program was a typo. But maybe not. I'm hearing the????same thing from other sources: an approximately $100 million reduction for charters.
Barrett Karr has been named staff director to the new GOP leader of the Labor/Ed committee.
Gadfly is here and it's great! First, Checker considers the speech topics of Secretary Duncan.
A plan unveiled today in Australia tackles a popular suggestion that's been thrown around in the US: putting "super teachers" (as the Aussies call them) in the worst schools, and compensating them with higher pay, a smaller class load, and the opportunity to mentor other teachers.
Find out in this NYT interview with the founder of TFA: "Corner Office: Charisma? To Her, It's Overrated."
Overheard in DC is a feature of DCist.com, a blog about all things happening in our nation's capital. Each week, readers email in snippets of funny conversations they "overheard in DC" and every Friday, DCist picks a few they think take the cake. Take a look at one of this week's winning entries:
Enjoy the first video in our summer "Fun Fact Friday!" series. Each week we'll present an interesting education fact in a fun visual format. This one takes on the myth that class size is inversely related to student achievement.
What is going on in Massachusetts? There are so many kinds of charter-lite options up there my head's spinning. First, what really makes these schools different from one another? At least from what I can tell, very little, save who came up with them and take credit for doing so.
Harvard Educational ReviewVol. 79, Number 2, Summer 2009
Joanna Smith, Caitlin Farrell, Priscilla Wohlstetter, and Michelle NayfakCenter on Educational Governance, University of Southern CaliforniaApril 2009
To the occasional consternation of colleagues and friends who are more interpersonally sensitive and politically correct, I've been known to define "consensus" as an agreement or state of affairs that leaves all parties equally unhappy.
We were lukewarm on Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's "Readiness Project" last summer, but it seems that a year's time has made some of its elements slightly warmer.
School-less school districts? There are more than 285 of them across the land; but as of fall 2010, that number will decline by 26, thanks to New Jersey. Governor Jon Corzine has just signed legislation that would close down the twenty-six in an effort to "[reduce] the size of government," "[develop] greater efficiencies over time," and ease tax burdens.
It's Trivia Night on a lazy summer evening and the MC bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Jones, he of 6th grade science and big baby blues. Wonder why? Because it is Mr. Jones, and he's gotten himself a second gig. Central Massachusetts is seeing an influx of teachers moonlighting for extra cash on their summer vacations--as trivia moderator at the local tavern.
Around this time last year, schools in Texas were waiting with bated breath for their state report cards. This year, the pressure's a little less intense. That's because, under Texas's six-month-old revamped accountability system, some students who fail statewide tests will still be counted as passing--so long as they're on track to pass at some point before they graduate high school.
It's got to be a good story when the sub-head reads thusly: "Editor's Note: Some of the language in the following story may be offensive."