Group items tagged

"Much of what makes people pro- or anti-union is complex and not easily measured."

A veteran education reporter reflects on four decades of covering America's schools.

Governors and teachers' unions are going head-to-head in several states across the country, and the public feels caught in the middle, a new survey on the public's perception of U.S. schools finds. When those polled were asked how teachers' unions have affected the quality of U.S. public education, 47 percent said unions hurt it. But even so, 52 percent said they side with unions in disputes with governors over collective bargaining.

At the schools I was most involved with we attribute a lot of our success not to our brilliant teaching, staff skill, etc., etc. (all of which I vouch for), but to what parents and families offered us in support of their youngsters. It was as true for 5-year-olds as 15-year-olds. Maybe, in fact, it's more important in high school when young people are testing authority at home and at school-and must do so as they grow into their own adulthood. If parents and schools are sending mixed, and even outright hostile, messages about each other, it isn't helpful to most kids. And while teenagers may claim to want teachers and parents to get out of their way, they need them more than ever. But they need them in different ways.

Our main research question is the following: How well do commonly used estimators perform in estimating teacher effects under a variety of known conditions, including those in which particular underlying assumptions are violated?