- Last year, Kansas City supe Wm. John Covington made headlines when he shuttered close to half of the district’s schools (a smart right-sizing move for a district whose enrollment dropped by half over the past decade). Now, he’s on page one again—this time to announce that his two years at the helm of Kansas City Schools is ending. Quite a chief to lose.
- Good to know that, even in times of geological terror, the edu-tweeters out there stay witty and wry.
- Joel Klein may not be grinding away in the NYC DOE anymore, but, when it comes to smart takes on ed-policy issues, he hasn’t lost his edge. This week, he reviews Steve Brill’s Class Warfare and Terry Moe’s Special Interest—and, in a Reuters piece, argues that the sharpest blade of reform is wielded by parents.
- Collaboration be damned: District officials in the Windy City announced on Tuesday that they would lengthen the city’s school day by ninety minutes and the school year by two weeks. Guess who’s not happy with the decision? (Hint: their acronym is CTU.)
- After all the back-and-forth, Diane Ravitch and Steve Brill sat down to discuss where to take education policy. (Think they heard about what Rick and Randi had planned and decided to do the same?) There was even some laughing.
- 2011: The year of the rabbit, of school choice, and of teacher-tenure reform. So far, eighteen states have changed their tenure or continuing-contract policies.
- As budget shortfalls continue to weigh heavily on districts, something’s got to give. In NYC, that something is 777 school employees, getting dropped thanks to the dual burden of tighter budgets and inflexible union contracts.
- Curious as to what some benefits of digital learning might be? Examples from higher education abound.
