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Is this really happening?
A major Chicago voucher program is gaining steam in the Illinois legislature. This is highly unexpected but absolutely fantastic.
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Is this really happening?
A major Chicago voucher program is gaining steam in the Illinois legislature. This is highly unexpected but absolutely fantastic. The city can continue to support the district's reform efforts, expand chartering, and give kids options in the private schools sector as well.
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Last chance to vote in the White House Commencement Challenge!
Just a reminder that today is the last day to vote for the White House's Race to the Top Commencement Challenge. The winning high school will receive a visit from President Obama where he will speak at their commencement.
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KY, charters, and RTT
This article demonstrates perfectly how a state chief can be torn between reform and buy-in as he/she seeks to win RTT ?funds.
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Quotable and notable
???The federal government should stay out of the way of these efforts. As we work on the reauthorization of ESEA, we should find ways to assist states, not require or coerce them, with this difficult, but important, work.??? ???Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyoming
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Quotable and notable
?The federal government should stay out of the way of these efforts. As we work on the reauthorization of ESEA, we should find ways to assist states, not require or coerce them, with this difficult, but important, work.? ?Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyoming
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Avoiding a senior moment
Is this the beginning of the end for last hired, first fired? At least a few cities facing budgetary difficulties have come to an obvious realization: Firing teachers based on seniority rather than performance is going to seriously damage the quality of their respective workforces.
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Show me more
Missouri has announced it will merge its state boards of education for K-12 and higher ed. Echoing President Obama and other’s calls for a greater focus on college completion, the Show Me State wants to streamline the primary, secondary, and tertiary education systems. That’s all well and good, but really, Missouri, that’s the best you’ve got?
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The half-broken promise of charter school autonomy
Nearly twenty years ago, legislators in Minnesota birthed the charter-school movement swaddled in a “grand bargain": These innovative public schools would deliver solid academic results in return for the freedom to do it their own way.
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The new "right"
The U.K. may be America’s Motherland, but here’s one thing the Brits can learn from the Yankees: School choice alone is a mediocre route to school improvement. The British backlash to testing and accountability is both notable and understandable—and remarkably like the American response to the failings of No Child Left Behind. But whereas the U.S.
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Tie up your running shoes
Since the U.S. Department of Education named Tennessee and Delaware as the only winners in the first round of the Race to the Top, a battle has raged about the importance of stakeholder buy-in.
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AP: A Critical Examination of the Advanced Placement Program
Philip M. Sadler, Gerhard Sonnert, Robert H. Tai, and Kristin Klopfenstein, eds.Harvard Education Press2010
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Teacher Quality Moderates the Genetic Effects on Early Reading
J. Taylor, A.D. Roehrig, B. Soden Hensler, C.M. Connor, C. Schatschneider Science Magazine April 23, 2010
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Do some great research, win $10,000
The National Council on Teacher Quality has launched another National Research Competition on Teacher Quality. Here are the details:
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Quotable and notable
?The third party funders reserve the right to reconsider their support for this initiative if there is a material change in DCPS' leadership.? ? Cate Swinbum, President, DC Public Education Fund, in a letter to Michelle Rhee, DC Public Schools Chancellor
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Needle in a Haystack: Louisa May Alcott Elementary
Louisa May Alcott Elementary in Cleveland may have caught our eye for delivering a quality education to economically disadvantaged youngsters, but it was its results with special needs students that truly impressed us.
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No, send Obama to the Queen City
We appreciate Mike's enthusiasm for Denver's School of Science and Technology but would rather see President Obama give the commencement speech at Cincinnati's
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Charter School Autonomy: A Half-Broken Promise
Dana Brinson, Jacob RoschThomas B. Fordham Institute and Public ImpactApril 2010
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Hess to rock Cleveland
The American Enterprise Institute’s Frederick (Rick) Hess is coming (back) to the Buckeye State to set Ohioans straight.
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New education model proposed for school-age offenders
Incarcerated young adults who are still legally eligible to a free public education would be able to attend classes inside prison walls, and continue coursework after release, if legislation currently under consideration is adopted.
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Becoming charters could save Cleveland's most promising schools
The school board of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District voted this week to lay off 10 percent of its 8,000 employees, including 545 teachers. Particularly hard hit will be the district’s ten “innovation schools”….
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Bill Clinton hopes to raise profile of universities
Bill Clinton hopes to raise profile of universities, whose students are tech-addicted, English-fluent, and have already been put on the path to college.
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State pension fund execs peering through rose-colored glasses
State lawmakers are expected to address the woes of the state’s public pension systems later this year. A recent report indicates they have their work cut out for them. According to the report, published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives by Joshua D.
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Two well-deserved pats on the back
Fordham’s Director of Charter School Sponsorship, Kathryn Mullen Upton, has been invited to join top practitioners and authorizing experts on the National Association of Charter School Authorizers’ national Advisory Panel that will recommend revisions to NACSA’s Principles & Standar
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Educating children while living within our means
Educators across Ohio are consumed by two issues – cuts and levies. School districts face brutal budget decisions as they confront falling revenues.
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Education Transformation: Doing What Works in Education Reform
Center for American ProgressGlenda L. ParteeApril 2010This report, a product of the Center for American Progress’s Doing What Works project, takes a critical look at the implementation and funding of federal education policies and identifies programs that can be eliminated, consolidated, or restructured.