ADMS707

School Board members are still focused on student achievement over charter schools, performance pay etc. Hess article attached.

School Board members are still focused on student achievement over charter schools, performance pay etc. Hess article attached.

Staff directory for Virginia Department of Education

Because leading schools out of chronic failure is harder than managing a successful school - often requiring more creative problem-solving abilities and stronger leadership, among other skills - the supply of principals capable of doing the work is tiny.

I loved the comment that people don't grow on trees - I guess that great leadership programs will need to start growing immediately!

The VA DOE is launched an initiative to give K-12 students ipads to increase the use of technology in the classroom and will then study the affects on SOL rates and student achievement.

This page allows you to search for legislative rulings and cases for a variety of different areas of the law including education bills and lawsuits.

While looking through the governor's education policy, it seems as though higher education is more of his focus than public K-12 education. This brief, from the governor's websites, outlines his view of higher education needs of the state.

GOP leaders are proposing bills to limit collective bargaining to wages and benefits. They want to exclude teachers/unions from the table when they develop education policy.

GOP leaders are proposing bills to limit collective bargaining to wages and benefits. They want to exclude teachers/unions from the table when they develop education policy.

"A combined 63% of Americans want the federal government's role in education either maintained at its current level or increased. The figure is 72% among parents of K-12 schoolchildren. The fact that a majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the status of education today may give added support to an expanded federal role."

Gallup poll results reported Sep-2010 r.e. role of the federal government in education.

This surprised me. Interesting find...

Ratvitch/Loveless identify 4 principles: (1) fix existing federal programs, (2) bring mandates in line with the revenues required to meet them (3) send federal education money to schools and not to support bureaucracies (4) resist the temptation to regulate curriculum, instruction, teachers etc

An article providing an overview of how the AFT & the NEA are flawed due to self-interest. His only path to reform seems to be school choice.

"we see a society built around profit and monetary gains where the major force driving educational institutions and their enrollees is money; pure profit and economic factors for the majority" "As a result of the uncontrollable turn that modern society has taken in terms of our emergence in a contemporary world built on profit maximization and survivalist economics and materialism, and propulsion toward a future of uncertainty for which we must gather wealth by any means necessary, the degree of competition among us in all walks of life and on all platforms has dramatically increased, and the workplace or proscenium upon which the dramatis personae of economic theories; firms, households, and governments must play, has turned into the battleground where technological advancement, increased knowledge, and the need for more specialized and skilled workers have driven us to commoditize learning opportunities in the form of training and education at an alarming rate. The rate of consumption which the market demands of education and training - knowledge and skills demand and consumption, has left schools, colleges, and universities competing among each other in desperate and even despicable ways, such that education in the form of mere training and book-scanning that the majority offers, has become just another "player" and card in Capitalism's game and race to the bottom of the consciousness funnel."

These discussions are interesting. Mr. Finn and company seem to only see things through a particular paradigm. It is surprising, but it is interesting.

Interesting. Not much depth, a bit of history and a bit of the reasons why tenure was established. It is a conversation starter at best.

The article reflects a study we looked at in 704. The study results were poorly written and due to the limitations of the system, etc., it seemed poorly prepared and implemented. That said, some relevant data emerged.

An important read for the week on the role of school boards.

We shall see if their actions speak to their words

It is interesting that school board members are only "lukewarm" about certain "structural" changes such as school choice, charter schools, and year-round schooling.

This article describes the disconnect between federal education policy focused on math and reading (and rote memorization in other subjects) and Obama's calls for greater emphasis on science education.

This article is just about one high school but it represents the confluence of the many factors that impact public education; NCLB, Race to the Top, reform initiatives, and the achievement gap.

The question of the day...

NEA's proposals for changing NCLB