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Free speech in the classroom? . . .
A recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati concluded that teachers' in-classroom curricular decisions are not protected by the First Amendment.?
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Kids? Are they part of this?
Rick Hess summons the ghosts of Bernie Madoff to illustrate the obscene? ?deal? that?
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Thus always to tyrants
This fall, fourth-graders throughout Virginia opened their history textbooks, Our Virginia: Past and Present, to the following passage on the Civil War:
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Not guilty, but here's $85,000
The National Education Association has just settled an eight-year-old lawsuit, filed against it in Washington State, which accused the union of illegally using money to ?support initiative campaigns.?
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No love
Charter schools ?were a punching bag? at a recent ?education forum? in Brooklyn. ?Charter schools are all about money,? said one parent in attendance. They are? ?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
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Talking with Gates
Paul Tough interviews Bill Gates for Parade magazine. ?Among the revelations: last year, while traveling for several months, Gates and his wife homeschooled their three school-age children.
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Quotable & Notable
?When a teacher teaches, the school system does not regulate that speech as much as it hires that speech. Expression is a teacher's stock in trade, the commodity she sells to her employer in exchange for a salary.
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Education News Nuggets
I wonder if research on absenteeism in elementary school takes a factor like this one into account.?
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Ed profs: Give me your tired, your poor? and everyone else too.
Since improving low-performing, inner-city schools is arguably the chief education challenge presently facing policymakers and the nation, one might expect education school professors to emphasize teaching strategies as they relate to disadvantaged and struggling students. But as our?
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Education News Nuggets
Thinking of skipping school to enjoy the final days of good weather? Well, you might want to think again.
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Ed profs not hip to the nitty-gritty
Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College offers teachers nitty-gritty tips and tools for improving effectiveness in the classroom?and it made a big splash this past spring and summer, rising to one of the top-selling books on Amazon
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Be quiet! Sit up! Listen! Tie Your Shoes! Character Ed Takes it on the Shins!
Why was I not surprised to read the Education Week story on a new federal study, ?the largest?to date,?
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What's wrong with reform?
The Washington Post's Answer Sheet blog will tell you. ?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
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L.A. redux
The New York City teachers' union is requesting a ?restraining order? that would block the release of ?reports that rank thousands? of its members ?based on how much progress students made on state standardized tests,? reports the New York Times.
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Quotable & Notable
?There are a lot of benefits to this [value-added] approach, but the science of the methodology at this point isn't where it should be to attach teachers names to it.? ?Douglas Ready, Professor, Columbia University's Teacher College
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The NYC/teacher ratings scuffle drags on
Well?.no real resolution today on whether or not New York City can release the names and ratings of its teachers.
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Better not miss that parent-teacher conference
Trying to?increase parental involvement in schools is a?laudable goal, but? threatening parents?with jail time if they repeatedly miss parent-teacher conferences? Really? According to this CNN report, a county prosecutor in Michigan is proposing a law that would do just that.
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Update on NYC/teacher ratings scuffle
Gotham Schools is reporting that the NYC's teachers union did indeed file suit earlier today, seeking to prevent the city from publicly releasing the effectiveness ratings (and names) of its teachers.
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Union fights release of teacher ratings
In case you haven't heard, there's a pretty?big tussle going on in NYC over whether education officials there should be allowed to publicly release the performance info/ratings of the city's teachers.
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Governance and Urban School Improvement: Lessons for New Jersey from Nine Cities
Surprise! Mayoral control is no panacea
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Measuring Progress in Public and Parental Understanding of Learning Disabilities
Americans have a lot to learn about learning disabilities