Anyone interested in what to do about America's most persistently failing schools--and especially those caught up in today's turnaround craze--should consider Part II of this report a must-read. A MUST-read.
I just went through the teacher provisions of Hawaii's RTT application, and they rival Connecticut's for placement at the bottom of the list. HI admits that currently tenured teachers get evaluated once every five years (!). It hopes to change that along with its rules governing tenure, performance pay, and the removal of low-performing teachers.
In a break from testifying before Congress and working on his bracket, Arne Duncan called for a
From Mike's Desk Fickle on federalism (What should we make of the Department's mixed messages on the federal role in education?)
???It's still based on narrow, do-or-die, high-stakes tests, where some kids win and some kids lose.??? ???Dennis Van Roekel, President, National Education Association
Rachel E. Curtis and Judy Wetzel (eds.)Harvard Education PressMarch 2010
Stephanie Saroki and Christopher LevenickPhilanthropy RoundtableDecember 2009
There’s a new show in town, and it’s called “Arne Get Your…27 Shotguns.” That’s reportedly what the Education Department is purchasing to replace old firearms used by its Inspector General. Well, well, well. This gives a whole new meaning to “bullet points.” Silver bullets, anyone? And Race to the Top finalists had better bring their armor.
Americans are richer than ever, yet no happier than in the early 1970s. So Richard Bok asserts in The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being. In this longish New Yorker piece, Elizabeth Kolbert reviews the latest research on being happy--and the news is anything but.
More right-sizing in the Midwest. Last week, at the urging of its superintendent, John Covington, the Kansas City (Missouri) school board made the gutsy decision to close nearly half its schools.
Detroit on the up-and-up? Its leaders have a plan to pick their schools up by their bootstraps--two plans in fact.
For five good reasons, conservatives should take seriously the potential of the newly released (in draft form) “common” education standards to strengthen U.S. education.
15 months ago, we proposed dropping the supplemental educational services and public school choice programs from No Child Left Behind.
There are lots of very interesting and very exciting elements in the teacher section of Florida's RTT application. First, this is a startling admission:
In this report from several months ago, I predicted, with worry, that some state RTT applications would appear on the surface to be gung-ho reform, but when layers were peeled back, the state's commitment would come into question.
"Right now, we're just focusing on what's easy, what can be developed quickly, because it's going to take a lot of trial and error to find out what is the best practice for doing this." ??? Joy Smith, Chief Development Officer, Florida Virtual School
Tomorrow, Secretary Duncan appears before the House Education and Labor Committee to discuss the administration's ESEA reauthorization blueprint.
In its RTT application, Delaware misspells its own name: "Deleware." Worse, it's in the section that boasts the state's fantastic system for evaluating teachers based on improving student learning. --Andy Smarick Update: Kudos to the two careful readers who caught my mistake. Serves me right for being snide. I've learned my lesson.
Maine's legislature recently held hearings on several reform bills that would make the state more competitive in the Race to the Top. Here are some highlights from an article in the Kennebec Journal:
Race to the Top finalists are starting to make their presentations today. As a service to the U.S.
While some bloggers don't know what to make of the administration's education rhetoric, everyone agrees that NCAA
Just why are the Common Core standards good for American education? In today's National Review Online, Checker Finn comes up with five good reasons, starting with this one:
???If you're going to have true accountability, it needs to rest with a single evaluator.??? ???Judith Perez, President, Associated Administrators of Los Angeles
The last 36 hours have left me puzzled as to why the teachers unions aren't declaring victory.
"You can't say we're going to get all kids college ready and ignore 85% of the schools." ??? Amy Wilkins, Vice President, Education Trust
It's official: Arne Duncan has fulfilled his promise to propose a reauthorized No Child Left Behind law that is "tight" about the results expected while "loose" on the means.
