Stories we've republished from Education Week.
Rifts deepen over direction of education policy in U.S.
Submitted by thenotebook on Wed, 05/08/2013 - 13:54 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared at Education Week.
by Michele McNeil
In statehouses and cities across the country, battles are raging over the direction of education policy — from the standards that will shape what students learn to how test results will be used to judge a teacher's performance.
Students and teachers, in passive resistance, are refusing to take and give standardized tests. Protesters have marched to the White House over what they see as the privatization of the nation's schools. Professional and citizen lobbyists are packing hearings in state capitols to argue that the federal government is trying to dictate curricula through the use of common standards.
New advocacy groups, meanwhile, are taking their fight city to city by pouring record sums of money into school board races.
School safety since Newtown
Submitted by thenotebook on Fri, 04/26/2013 - 10:08 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
A version of this article first appeared at Education Week.
by Nirvi Shah & Andrew Ujifusa
After the devastating school shootings in Newtown, Conn., in December, state lawmakers around the country vowed to act. The mission: Devise ways to prevent a similar tragedy.
They came up with hundreds of possible strategies.
An Education Week analysis of nearly 400 bills related to school safety filed in the days, weeks, and months after the deadliest K-12 school shooting in U.S. history found that legislators have proposed solutions that include arming teachers, adding guards or police officers, and shoring up the security of school buildings.
Proceed with caution when closing schools
Submitted by thenotebook on Thu, 04/18/2013 - 13:56 Posted in Commentary | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared at Education Week.
by Kate Shaw and Adam Schott
Philadelphia's state-appointed School Reform Commission last month approved the closure of 23 schools -- an unprecedented action for our region that is expected to affect roughly 14,000 students and hundreds of staff members. In New York City, which has already closed nearly 140 schools over the past decade, 22 more closures are on the horizon. The District of Columbia is bracing for as many as 15 closures after shuttering two dozen sites in 2008. The Chicago public school system -- the nation's third-largest district -- recently announced plans to close 54 schools and consolidate 11 more before the 2013-14 school year begins.
Academic gains in NYC, D.C., and Chicago overstated, report contends
Submitted by thenotebook on Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:56 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared at Education Week.
by Lesli A. Maxwell
The school improvement strategies highly touted by leaders such as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee have produced overwhelmingly disappointing results for the poor and minority children in Chicago, New York, and the District of Columbia, contends a forthcoming report written by a national group that favors a more holistic approach to improving public schooling.
Obama budget would invest in pre-K, high school overhaul
Submitted by thenotebook on Thu, 04/11/2013 - 10:43 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared at Education Week.
by Alyson Klein
President Obama's budget unveiled today proposes new money for a big expansion of prekindergarten programs, a new competitive-grant program for high school improvement, a new Race to the Top competition focused on higher education—and level funding for the two formula grants that school districts depend on most: Title I grants for disadvantaged students and special education.
Overall, the U.S. Department of Education would see a significant funding boost to $71.2 billion for fiscal year 2014 that starts on Oct. 1 in a $3.8 trillion overall federal budget. That's a 4.6 increase over fiscal year 2012, the most recent year before a series of automatic cuts—known as sequestration—took effect.
Atlanta cheating scandal reverberates
Submitted by thenotebook on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 14:39 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in Education Week.
by Lesli A. Maxwell
The criminal indictments last week of retired Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly L. Hall and 34 other educators for their alleged roles in a far-reaching cheating scandal could have widespread fallout and potentially undermine efforts in other school districts to improve the academic achievement of poor and minority students, according to education leaders.
Teacher-prep programs zero in on effective 'practice'
Submitted by thenotebook on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 12:55 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in Education Week
by Stephen Sawchuk
One thing is immediately apparent when Erica Vuolle teaches: Not a moment of time is wasted.
When she speaks to her class here at the Match Community Day Charter Public School, she expects all students' eyes to track hers. When she poses a question and a student answers it correctly, she asks the child to explain her reasoning. When a student gives an answer that's only halfway complete, she presses him to finish it. When she gives directions, students repeat them back in full, so that expectations are clear.
Charlotte Danielson on teaching and the Common Core
Submitted by thenotebook on Thu, 03/21/2013 - 16:09 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in Education Week
by Anthony Rebora
Charlotte Danielson, a former teacher and school administrator with degrees from Cornell and Oxford Universities, is one of the most recognized authorities on teaching practice in the United States. A popular speaker and trainer, she is best known as the creator of the "Framework for Teaching," a 115-page set of components for effective pedagogy that is used in many states and districts to inform teacher evaluation and professional development.
Danielson recently released a new edition of her Framework for 2013, with updates designed to reflect the Common Core State Standards.
In a recent interview, we talked to her about the common standards and how they might change teachers' work.
Details trickling out on latest NCLB waiver bids
Submitted by thenotebook on Thu, 03/14/2013 - 12:30 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in Education Week
by Michele McNeil
With the addition of three longtime holdouts to the list of states seeking flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act, nearly every state has sought to design its own accountability system to replace the outdated federal law.
But the waiver applications submitted last month by Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming are by no means a sure thing.
KIPP schools boost academic performance, study finds
Submitted by thenotebook on Wed, 02/27/2013 - 14:38 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in Education Week.
by Katie Ash
A new report finds that students in KIPP charter schools experience significantly greater learning gains in math, reading, science, and social studies than do their peers in traditional public schools.
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