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News of the weird: union fights for Viagra
We've heard of teachers unions fighting against having to write lesson plans, or outlining academic objectives for their students
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i3 is ?New American Schools? all over again
Alexander Russo nailed it this morning* when he wrote that ?old school reforms win big in i3.? Indeed.
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Money talks ? but does it educate?
Money talks ? but does it educate?? This is American education's sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. Or is it $64 million? Billion?? Or, how about $26 billion?? That's the number moving through the Capitol at the moment. ?(See here.)
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Back to the education future: Global ambassadors
Cool article today in the Wall Street Journal, ?Opting to Go Abroad,? describing how U.S. M.B.A students are choosing foreign universities at a much higher rate than in previous years. This got me thinking: as the best and brightest U.S.
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Education news nuggets
In Philly teen drivers need to watch out for red light cameras and laptop webcams?
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There they go again
You know it's an election year when the Democratic Speaker of the House recalls her comrades from summer break to Washington for an emergency vote to bail out the nation's schools. This action might be wrapped in the garb of ?economic stimulus?
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Quotable and notable
?California's K-12 system is a collective farm of ignorance and mediocrity, in which money must trickle down through four layers of bureaucratic sediment before it reaches the classroom. Another $700 million won't change anything, money is not the key to reform, and federal leadership is not important.?
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The edujobs bill
The jobs bill making its way through Congress provides $10 billion for the nation's school districts, a temporary panacea to the grim fact that schools must learn to do more with less in the long run, says Mike. What do you think?
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Better Benefits: Reforming Teacher Pensions for a Changing Work Force
Chad Aldeman and Andrew J. RotherhamEducation SectorJuly 2010
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The testing mess
The only thing surprising about last week’s revelation that the fraction of New York City students passing the state’s reading and math tests had dropped by an average of 25 percentage points is that anyone was surprised at all.
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Goliath takes on Goliath
Open-source technology has been slow to break into education. It’s not hard to see why: The purveyors of the tools and content that technology would revolutionize—textbook publishers, in particular—are keen to guard their distribution channels and their profits.
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Curriculum: the missing link
In a July 21 New York Times cover story, reporter Tamar Lewin rightfully noted “the surprise of many in education circles…” that 27 states had already committed to adopting the new Common Core academic stan
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It takes a village
If given the option, would you live, work, sleep, and socialize all in the same place? According to Ron Beit, the answer is yes. That’s the choice he’ll be presenting to a cadre of teachers who will staff Teachers Village in Newark’s historic but blighted Four Corners District.
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Making the most of summer break
“Summer learning loss” is well documented and distressing. Millions of kids laze around during the long summer vacation and forget chunks of what they had learned by June.
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Saving teachers' jobs on the backs of the poor
Is anyone else out there disturbed by the fact that the Senate is moving forward with the $26.1 billion fiscal aid package ? containing the much-talked about Edujobs pot of money ? by cutting food stamps for poor families (to the tune of $516 annually for each family)?
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Are school boards dead-ends for reformers?
Among the various hats I wear (though please don't tell Checker ?School boards are an aberration, an anachronism, an educational sinkhole. Put this dysfunctional arrangement out of its misery?? Finn) is that of member of the Board of Education.
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Bathe yourself in these education stories
Though it may be the heart of the summer doldrums in some places, these are bountiful education days for the reform aficionada among us ? and a great time to begin blogging for Flypaper, one of the more counterintuitively-named education blogs in the business.
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Back to the education future: Summer school
Tom Sawyer watch out! An interesting article is gracing the front page of Time Magazine this week, ?The Case Against Summer Vacation? calling for increased learning over the summer months to combat the growing K-12 achievement gap.?
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Education news nuggets
At most schools, playing ?spot the TFA? is pretty easy. TFA corps members do tend to stick out, but you probably can't find any at a school that doesn't teach reading till 3rd grade.
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Three-fourths of U.S. schoolchildren in Common Core states
With Indiana's decision to adopt, we're up to 35 Common Core states nationwide?or more than two-thirds. But because of big states like California, Florida, and New York joining recently, the percentage of the nation's kids in those states is well past three-fourths.
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Quotable and notable
?[As schools] confront more funding challenges, it will be increasingly difficult to offer a wide range of educational options parents want and demand.'' ?Tom Lasley, Executive Director of EDvention, commenting on virtual schools' ability to reach students in ways traditional education cannot
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Putting charter theories to the test
Dayton ??? the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's hometown, where I go to work every day ??? is famous not only for the Wright Brothers but also for being a school choice Mecca.
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Back to the education future: Textbook freedom
A New York Times article, ?$200 Textbook vs Free. You do the Math,? brings up a very interesting topic today: the textbook oligopoly. The $4.3 billion textbook market has been dominated by four multinational publishers, but now David is taking a shot at Goliath using a new age tool, open source software.
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Education news nuggets
All charters aren't created equal, especially this union charter in New York.
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Quotable and notable
?We are spending $8 billion to $15 billion per year on textbooks? it seems to me we could put that all online for free.? ?Scott McNealy, Former CEO of Sun Microsystems
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Welcome, Peter Meyer
I'm thrilled to announce that Peter Meyer, a contributing editor at Education Next, and a former writer and editor at esteemed publications including TIME and Life, is joining our team at Fordham. He'll be a senior visiting fellow, and will be helping to make Flypaper livelier than ever.
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Education news nuggets
If you are anything like New York's test scores, then Monday's probably bringing you down.
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Quotable and notable
?[Charter school enrollment growth] really set the stage for the most dramatic reforms you're now seeing in the school district.? ? Andrew Rotherham, Co-Founder and Partner at Bellwether Education Partners
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Parting shot
Before I officially lose my right to comment at will, I wanted to pass along a couple good reads in the latest edition of Education Next.
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Back to the education future: Power of the pink slip
Teachers unions and D.C. teachers have been in a tizzy recently over the firings of 241 under performing and ineffective teachers.