ADMS707

"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...

Sadly, they are everywhere. Thankfully, the McKinney-Vento laws protect them.

This looks like a good one for a holiday evening...hope that everyone is injoyig the beautiful day!

From the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings, a think tank, a group of researchers review the accessibility of data on charter schools and the federal government's recent push towards this growing trend.

"This week has witnessed the emergence of a new Washington Consensus, apparent in President Obama's education-obsessed State of the Union address, a bipartisan conference call with key Senate leaders, and a supportive column by the country's most widely read conservative."

For me, the most interesting aspect of this article is the continuing segregation of students in our schools by income. It also have a brief summary of what has happened in the Wake County Schools

Not entirely opposed, we might need to try it to see if it works...I recall reading how Justice Clarence Thomas chose to support public funding to private relgious schools (some might say unconstitutional) in order to create a way for African Americans to leave poorly performing urban public schools. Sometimes, you have to make a choice between a rock and a hard place.

Mounting evidence shows that business-type/market-based reforms are not delivering anticipated results.

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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.

More than 150 public school teachers put their heads together to devise solutions to problems that most affect their profession. Then they got to do something unusual with their conclusions: present them to Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

The Washington Post article linked to this provides more details. The suggestions, which seem thoughtful and appropriate, are not fully aligned with Duncan's views and unfortunately he (according to the Post) has not responded.

Proposal of doing away with tenure and introducing contracts that will reward based on performance not time served.

A lot has been made of the success of KIPP students and schools. Their formula doesn't seem be revolutionary (longer hours = greater achievement), but their success relies on charter school laws that allow for their existence and provide for their substanially higher per-pupil costs.

I know the class is over, but this is a good one.

Doritos High School....is that where you would like to attend, where your high school memories will be formed? The push and allowance of corporate sponsorship of schools are a response to impending and repeated education budget cuts.

An older gentleman wants to attend first grade in Kenya....coming soon to a theatre near you!

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.

"Given the experience to date with an overwhelming focus on student achievement scores as a basis for high-stakes decisions, policymakers would do well to pause and carefully examine the issues that make teacher assessment so complex before implementing an assessment plan. To facilitate such examination, this brief reviews credible research exploring: the feasibility of combining formative assessment (a basis for professional growth) and summative assessment (a basis for high-stakes decisions like dismissal); the various tools that might be used to gather evidence of teacher effectiveness; and the various stakeholders who might play a role in a teacher assessment system. It also offers a brief overview of successful exemplars."

Teacher evaluation is a big topic of our upcoming negotiations. What concerns me most is that some administrators don't complete the triennial evaluations now; how are they going to complete annual evaluations on all staff? So many questions...

States' Rights and States' Wrongs on School Reform

Dr. Steve Perry is educator, speaker,and author who founded Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, CT. This school has a graduation rate of 100% with all of its graduates going to college. OUTSTANDING WORK!