A jobs bill worth supporting

Regular Flypaper readers know that I've been skeptical of the stimulus package moving through Congress, at least as it relates to education.

Stand up for yourselves! says Rick

This morning on National Review Online, AEI's Rick Hess urges Republican lawmakers not to roll over when it comes to education spending in the stimulus bill. The package has lots of fat for states and districts but, explains Hess,

Students of the world, unite!

So says Benjamin Berrafato, a fifth grader at??New Lane Memorial Elementary School in Selden, New York. This young man composed an open letter to his classmates recently (reprinted by the New York Daily News, no less) urging them to resist "illegal" homework.

In support of alternative teacher certification

A new report from the U.S.

Senate strips some education funding from the stimulus bill

As President Barack Obama might have said, I screwed up on Friday afternoon when I reported that Senate moderates had agree to strip "most" education funding from the bill. There are cuts, to be sure, but??the majority??of the money remains.

I'm in a New Hampshire state of mind

I'm sitting in my downtown Washington office but I'm thinking of snowy trails in the White Mountains. That's because I'm participating in "The Exchange with Laura Knoy," a public radio show out of New Hampshire.

Michelle defends herself?

The lady with a mission has a soft side. This morning's Washington Post featured an editorial from DC Chancellor of Schools herself. I couldn't help but hear a sharply defensive tone throughout and be somewhat mystified by the whole thing.

Krauthammer on the stimulus

Charles Krauthammer takes a swing at the stimulus today in the Washington Post. Of note, he uses education to illustrate the wastefulness of the unstimulating stimulus:

Introducing Deputy Secretary Darling-Hammond

OK, I'm jumping the gun a bit, but I'm hearing a lot of chatter that indicates that Linda Darling-Hammond is almost certainly getting the Department of Education's #

Less money + more reform = a better deal

It almost seems too good to be true, but lo and behold, a ???gang??? of moderate Senators from both sides of the aisle are pushing to reduce the amount of money in the stimulus package going to schools.

Senate to strip most education funding from the stimulus bill

That's the word on the street (and on the hill). As I explain below, that's not such a bad thing.

Good education reform idea, Ted!

We've pointed out some of the provisions of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's education plan that we aren't too fond of.???? But that's not to say the entire plan is without merit.

ConnCAN launches a new blog

We love the blogsophere over here at Flypaper, which is why we want to tell you about a neat new blog launched today: Mind the Gaps.

Read your Gadfly, kids

We know you wait, every week, with bated breath for your RSS feed to tell you that the Gadfly has arrived. Well, wait no longer. In the top spot, find a thought-provoking (and chillingly true) editorial from Raegen T.

President Obama: That's the best you've got?

President Barack Obama takes to the pages of the Washington Post today to defend his stimulus plan .

Russlynn Ali: Too hot?

Our Reform-o-Meter is getting a workout now that the Obama Administration is announcing new Department of Education appointees daily.

Class size commando

Known for his brawn, the Terminator may soon be known for his flexibility, too. He still can't touch his toes (so far as we know) but he is trying to give districts more wiggle-room when it comes to school spending.

Strickland goes to school

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's hot-off-the-presses education-reform plan is nothing if not audacious.

Hurricane Wagner

Unlike other, balmier breezes, the "wind of change...blowing through the Fayetteville School District" is reason to batten down the shutters. Why?

Land of 10,000 bonuses

Too taxing to decide who deserves a raise and who doesn't? Here's a simple if inane solution: remunerate everyone. That's the thinking, at least, in Minnesota, where the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune found that in 22 districts, only 27 of roughly 4,200 eligible teachers were left empty-handed under the state's Q Comp merit pay program.

Mass attack

Bad news from the Bay State.

No labor (union) of love

Are Florida teachers channeling Wall Street arrogance? Unlike others who've been hit by the recessionary storm, teachers in the sprawling Miami-Dade district apparently believe themselves immune from the effects of economic decline.

Test-taking, such a drag

Deandre M. Ellis most certainly had other things on his mind than vocabulary words and Number 2 pencils last week as he prepared for the New York Regents exam. No, Ellis, a former Schenectady High School student, was probably more concerned with whether his wig was on straight, his eyelashes curled, and his apparel appropriate--and if he'd get caught by the test monitor.

Time to retire "last hired, first fired"

Every day, sometimes several times a day, the media report more rounds of layoffs at major American firms, from Microsoft to Caterpillar to Fidelity to Macy's and beyond. But the private sector is not the only one hemorrhaging jobs in the current recession; school districts from coast to coast are letting go of employees, too.

2008 State Teacher Policy Yearbook: What States Can Do To Retain Effective New Teachers

National Council on Teacher Quality2008

The Forgotten Middle: Ensuring that All Students Are on Target for College and Career Readiness before High School

ACT, Inc.2009

K-12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-up of the Survey of U.S. School District Administrators

Anthony G. Picciano and Jeff SeamanSloan ConsortiumJanuary 2009

Reforming education with blinders on

The Obamas' visit to a charter school: Red Hot!

Governor's education plan: great politics/mixed policies

Gov. Ted Strickland's hot-off-the-presses education-reform plan is nothing if not audacious. Gutsy, even, in its way, and wider-ranging than most people expected, it tackles a multitude of topics-sometimes in incompatible and contradictory ways-and picks up on dozens of ideas, some of them sound.