Jack Schneider, postdoctoral fellow for innovation in the liberal arts at Carleton College, recently blogged for Education Week’s “Teaching Now” blog on the “mania” for educational technology. He touches on the apparent consensus that the solution to the nation’s education problem is new technologies: smartboards in every classroom, iPads for each student, and collaborative projects Read more about Education Technology: After the Investment[…]
This past Tuesday, Missouri decided to strip the Kansas City, MO school district of its accreditation. School board members and the Education Commissioner called the decision “agonizing,” but asserted that given the lack of improvement after two years of lukewarm efforts on the part of the district, removing accreditation was “the only recourse we [had].” Read more about Kansas City School District Loses Accreditation[…]
As the economy continues to falter, many school districts have been faced with staffing challenges. Teacher and staff layoffs abound, but in some cases a round of layoffs is followed by another practice: last-minute hiring. To some degree, late hiring can be considered an inevitability for schools. Administrators don’t always know for sure how many Read more about Last-Minute Teacher Hiring Produces Long-Lasting Effects[…]
The new Common Core Standards for math and language arts are scheduled to be rolled out in the 2014-2015 school year, and 44 states plus the District of Columbia are starting to shape how the Common Core will play out in their education systems. Teacher preparation programs, professional development, and instruction/instructional materials all need to Read more about Impacting the Future: Implementing the Common Core[…]
A new book by researchers at the Carenegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching examines the movement towards the changing face of teaching from an “occupation” to one based on scientific scholarship. The movement’s impact on teacher education programs is examined with particular attention. Authors Pat Hutchings, Mary Taylor Huber, and Tony Ciccone imagine a Read more about The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Reconsidered: Institutional Integration and Impact[…]
In an article published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, author Carrie R. Leana argues that education reforms have yet to identify a major component to boosting student achievement: teacher collaboration. She calls these patterns of teacher interaction “social capital,” the quantity and quality of which can measurably affect school improvement. Leana asserts that the Read more about The Missing Link in School Reform[…]
Thirty years ago Education Week printed its first issue. Over the years, the periodical has seen many of the ups, downs, stagnations, steps forward and leaps back that the public education system has experienced. To commemorate this anniversary and remind us all of where we have been and where we are now, Education Week has Read more about K-12 in America Since 1981[…]
Syracuse University has launched a new simulation training program for school administrators. The project uses live-action simulations that present more contemporary situations faced by administrators: non-traditional family structures, abusive home situations, substance-abuse issues, morally-charged issues such as sex education, depression, and confrontations with teachers who have more experience than the administrator. The program is supported Read more about Principals Hone Their “People Skills” with New Simulations[…]
Last week, Time’s Andrew Rotherham addressed a growing movement led by young teachers: taking action against traditional teachers’ unions. “These renegade groups…are trying to accomplish what a generation of education reformers, activists and think tanks have not: forcing the unions to genuinely mend their ways.” Rotherham nicknames the three most-talked about “insurgent groups” as “The Read more about “Insurgents” Take on Teachers’ Union[…]
The fifth annual Education Next-PEPG Survey was released last week, which focuses on American opinions on education and the teaching profession. The survey interviewed a nationally representative sample of 2,600 people, with special attention paid to the affluent (defined as college graduates who are in the top income decile in their state) and full-time teachers Read more about The Public Weighs in on Reform[…]
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released its annual report on Wednesday which compares each state’s proficiency standards in Reading and Math to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) standards. The current report looks at 2009 standards, and found the following: –There is wide variation among state proficiency standards. –Most states’ proficiency standards are Read more about NCES Maps State Proficiency Standards[…]
The Save our Schools March and National Call to Action wrapped up in Washington, DC this weekend. The event consisted of a two-day conference and followed by a march and rally in the nation’s capital. The event, hosted by a grassroots teacher advocacy group called Save Our Schools, was staged in protest to many of Read more about Take-aways from the Save Our Schools March[…]
The Center for American Progress has released a report examining the role of state education agencies, their leaders, and their potential impact on education reform. In the past, state education agencies (SEAs) have been small offices in the background, mostly tasked with administering state and federal education laws, allocating federal and state funding and providing Read more about State Education Agencies as Agents of Change[…]
New Jersey’s state Board of Education recently voted to relax the requirements for hiring superintendents in its most troubled school districts, opening these jobs to non-educators for the first time. The new regulations will take effect immediately in the 57 school districts that have schools labeled as “failing” due to low student test scores. Only Read more about New Jersey Board of Education Relaxes Qualifications for Superintendents[…]
A recent report released by Public Impact, in collaboration with the University of Virginia’s Partnership for Leaders in Education, studied the potential impact on school turnarounds of importing leadership talent from non-education industries. The authors explore lessons about when and how organizations in other sectors import leadership, including what it takes to lure people away Read more about Importing Leaders for School Turnarounds[…]
Last week, the Center for American Progress published a paper discussing an alternate path to school system reform: collaboration of stakeholders through labor-management partnerships among teachers’ unions, school administrators, and school boards. The authors base their recommendations on six examples of how teachers’ unions have been critical to improving public education systems in collaboration with Read more about Reform through Sustained Union-Management Collaboration[…]