| Current News Articles |
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The following news articles contain information on educational issues.The views in these articles are not
necessarily those of the Commonwealth Education Organization, but are posted for your information.
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| *Newly posted articles. |
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*January 2012
COMMON CORE STANDARDS AREN'T CHEAP
"Numerous states currently struggling in the midst of steep education budget cuts may have more fiscal problems than they realize. Though 45 states rushed to adopt Common Core standards in the past two years, many have not taken the time to evaluate what the adoption of these standards will cost them. States that jumped on the Common Core bandwagon in hopes of securing Obama administration grant money may find themselves increasingly strapped for cash in the next few years as implementation costs begin to accumulate."
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*January 2012
DO WE NEED THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION?
"(T)he Department of Education has no track record of positive accomplishment—nothing in the national numbers on educational achievement, nothing in the improvement of educational outcomes for the disadvantaged, nothing in the advancement of educational practice. It just spends a lot of money. This brings us to the practical question: If the Department of Education disappeared from next year’s budget, would anyone notice? The only reason that anyone would notice is the money. The nation’s public schools have developed a dependence on the federal infusion of funds. "
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*January 2012
KENTUCKY TEACHERS SHOW LITTLE PROGRESS UNDER COMMON CORE
"A new report by the National Council on Teacher Quality has claimed that the state of Kentucky has failed to show considerable improvements in the two years since it implemented Common Core standards."
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*January 26, 2012
HOW MY CHILD WENT FROM HOME SCHOOL TO HARVARD AND YOURS CAN, TOO
"The American Dream of automatically doing better than the past generation has been relegated to the dust-bin of history because of our education crisis. This is our national disgrace."
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*January 25, 2012
MORE SPENDING DOESN'T LEAD TO HIGHER TEST SCORES
"(V)oters should look to education spending in the past, and realize from this data that an ever-growing state education budget has done little to improve educational outcomes as measured by SAT results."
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*January 25, 2012
DISGUSTED PARENTS 'OCCUPY' THE CLASSROOM
"(Some parents are) focused on protecting their children’s innocence and instilling their moral and religious values by resisting the so-called comprehensive sexuality agenda and its full-on mandate to normalize homosexuality and transgenderism, regardless of the religious beliefs of public school students. A few really radical parents actually are protesting — by way of engaging with their local school boards — the watered-down math and science programs that result in abysmal test scores and uneducated graduates. Sheesh. Talk about nerve!"
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*January 25, 2012
SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION
"Larry Sand's article 'No Wonder Johnny (Still) Can't Read'...blames schools of education for the decline in America's education. Education professors drum into students that they should not 'drill and kill' or be the 'sage on the stage' but instead be the 'guide on the side' who 'facilitates student discovery.' This kind of harebrained thinking, coupled with multicultural nonsense, explains today's education."
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*January 25, 2012
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY STARTS WITH RENEWAL OF OUR EDUCATION PROMISE
“For three years, the President and his Secretary of Education have refused time and again to truthfully address that which continues to so obviously tear apart the fabric of our public education system – lack of public accountability for our teachers, lack of meaningful school choice for our parents, and the passive acceptance of a one-size-fits-all approach to the schooling of our country’s children."
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*January 24, 2012
SHOULD PARENTS CONTROL WHAT KIDS LEARN AT SCHOOL?
"New Hampshire schools are now required to create alternatives to any lesson that a parent dislikes — whether it’s about the Holocaust, contraception, gravity or anything else. Does this “à la carte” approach turn school into a private right instead of a public good? Do such accommodations benefit students?"
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*January 23, 2012
CELEBRATING SCHOOL CHOICE WEEK
"This year, leaders at the state level should hear the cries of the families they represent and continue moving toward more school choice in 2012 by expanding options such as school vouchers, tax credits, education savings accounts, and online learning. It’s not a conservative issue or a liberal issue, Republican or Democrat. Ensuring that our children have the best education possible is an American issue, and it’s one that the country should get behind."
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*January 20, 2012
NATIONAL STUDY FINDS INVESTIGATIONS STUDENTS TRAIL THOSE IN OTHER MAJOR PROGRAMS
"The study was undertaken with the goal of finding out – with real evidence – whether the type of curriculum used in early elementary math education matters when it comes to achievement and learning. It compares four programs: Math Expressions, Saxon, Scott Foresman/Addison Wesley and Investigations. Investigations is the pure constructivist program on the list, Scott Foresman is a combination, but primarily with constructivist pedagogy. Math Expressions is a balanced program that uses both traditional math practice and a partial constructivist approach. Saxon is the most traditional of the programs."
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*January 20, 2012
THE THIRD RAIL OF THE ACCOUNTABILITY MOVEMENT
"Whenever the subject of failing schools arises, the usual suspects are rounded up. I don't doubt for a second that teachers should be at the head of the list. After all, they are the most important in-school factor in learning. But what about students? Aren't they also responsible for their education?"
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*January 20, 2012
THIRD RAIL
"As long as we put all the onus on adults in our education systems, we deprive our students of all kinds of the challenges they need, as we try to disguise from them the fact that their achievement will always in life depend mostly on their own efforts for which they alone have to take the responsibility."
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*January 19, 2012
EDUCATIONAL CHOICE IN PA HAS EXPANDED IN PAST 20 YEARS
"School choice is advancing in Pennsylvania, even as a public school voucher plan remains stuck in legislative limbo. As the New Year dawns over the state Capitol, lawmakers and lobbyists are geared up for another fight over the creation of a public school voucher program aimed at providing educational options for the children of low-income families who are enrolled in failing public schools."
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*January 19, 2012
WHO SHOULD HAVE ACCESS TO STUDENT RECORDS?
"Personal information, including test scores, economic status, grades, and even disciplinary problems and student pregnancies, are tracked and stored in a kind of virtual “permanent record” for each student... Privacy experts say the problem is that states collect far more information than parents expect, and it can be shared with more than just a student’s teacher or principal.'When you have a system that’s secret [from parents] and you can put whatever you want into it, you can have things going in that’ll be very damaging,' says Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center."
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*January 19, 2012
APPLE INTRODUCES TOOLS TO (SOMEDAY) SUPPLANT PRINT TEXTBOOKS
"Though the possibilities of Apple’s new publishing software and the iPad seemed to excite publishers, even those who are working on iPad textbooks said it would take time for the technology to change how most textbooks are purchased. "
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*January 18, 2012
"The researchers: "When policymakers believe that achievement differences in mathematics can be overcome by simply reducing stereotypical beliefs (as the literature suggests), they might not be willing to invest in the study of other potential contributing factors and thus will not pursue solutions for these factors."
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*January 15, 2012
SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAM, EARNED INCOME CREDIT CAP BOTH ON TABLE
"Although, the Senate's voucher proposals may be less likely than an expanded EITC program to pass in the House, they remain viable options until the end of the legislative session."
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*January 15, 2012
LA ONE OF 4 STATES THAT SUBSIDIZES SCHOOL AID
"In 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the use of state tax dollars to help pay tuition at private and parochial schools does not violate the First Amendment’s required separation of church and state."
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*January 13, 2012
VICTORY FOR SCHOOL CHOICE IN INDIANA
"Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program is perfectly constitutional. That, in a nutshell, was the ruling issued by Marion County Superior Court Judge Michael Keele today in Meredith v. Daniels. The trial court rejected every legal claim brought by the plaintiffs—who are supported by both state and national teachers’ unions—against the program, and it ruled in favor of both the state and two parents who have intervened in the lawsuit in defense of the program."
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*January 11, 2012
ADVICE TO PARENTS: EXPLORE NON-COLLEGE OPTIONS
"I'm not at all suggesting that those called to be lawyers, doctors, professors, etc., should not go to college. I am suggesting that work as an electrician, landscaper, or X-ray technician, or in hundreds of other occupations that don't require a four-year college degree, also glorifies God and should be honored by all of us. Many high-school graduates should spend their time that way instead of incurring huge loans for the opportunity to be unemployed and resentful."
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*January 10, 2012
CURRICULUM THE MISSING INGREDIENT IN SCHOOL REFORM
"(A) new book from a 25-year veteran of educational publishing argues that improving the curriculum—what actually gets taught in classrooms—is all too often left off the table. And the author, who provides an insider perspective on the world of developing and selecting curricular materials, contends that this neglect is a key obstacle to increased student learning.
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*January 10, 2012
CRITICAL ISSUES IN ASSESSING TEACHER COMPENSATION
"The current teacher compensation system is not working. Absent structural reforms, an across-the-board pay increase will have little impact on teacher quality. What is needed is a more rational system that pays teachers according to their performance, encouraging the best teachers to stay and the least effective teachers to leave the profession."
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From the past:
Summer 2007
THE LUCY CALKINS PROJECT
“Calkins is shaping the education of millions of children, yet no independent research backs the efficacy of her programs. Aside from grumblings from the New York City teachers required to work under her system, there has been remarkably little open debate about the basic premises behind Calkins’s approach, or even feedback on how the programs are faring in the classroom.
What controversy exists generally centers around two concerns: First, her programs do not explicitly teach phonics—which she calls “drill and kill.” She favors a “whole language” approach to literacy, which builds on the premise that reading and writing develop naturally in children. Her detractors argue that this lack of direct instruction leaves many children, especially those who already struggle, at a disadvantage."
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January 12, 2012
CRISIS VS. COMPETITION IN EDUCATION
"New evidence from one of Pennsylvania's most expensive school districts—Pittsburgh—shows competition from charter schools forced its public schools to trim $40 million in wasteful spending, cut more than 200 office positions, furlough teachers and other staff, and announce nearly 400 teachers would not return in 2012-13. That might sound like an "education crisis" to the PSEA. But that's not how the school district views it."
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January 12, 2012
AFC’S KEVIN CHAVOUS UNITES EDUCATION REFORM WITH CIVIL RIGHTS LEGACY
Kevin P. Chavous said that "the need for education reform is a national imperative, declaring that the biggest obstacle to comprehensive reform is a lack of willingness to take courageous stands on education. He told the crowd—a mix of students, teachers, public employees, and state officials—that bold change is integral to decreasing the dropout rate, closing achievement gaps, and giving true educational choice to American families....The former D.C. Councilman used his keynote address to remind listeners that they have a moral imperative to act on behalf of school children, saying that the current system is 'failing our kids.' "
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January 11, 2012
NEW HAMPSHIRE LEARNS LESSON IN PARENTAL RIGHTS
"(T)he New Hampshire legislature overturned a gubernatorial veto of a bill that will allow parents to object to material being taught in school and further empowers them to find and pay for suitable, educationally acceptable alternatives to the curricula being foisted on their children."
>>read more>>
Related article:
January 5, 2012
NEW HAMPSHIRE LAWMAKERS PASS LAW ALLOWING PARENTAL OBJECTIONS TO CURRICULUM
"Hoell stressed the new law could allow parents to address both moral and academic objections to parts of the curriculum. The lawmaker said he could imagine the provision being utilized by parents who disagree with the "whole language" approach to reading education or the Everyday Math program. ‘What if a school chooses to use whole language and the parent likes phonics, which is a better long-term way to teach kids to read?’ Hoell said to HuffPost."
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January 10, 2012
CHARMING THE COBRA: EDUCATION AND RACE
"The 'no-excuses' approach is vital to student success. Students of any socioeconomic status who are given excuses not to achieve will find ways to fail, but poor students lack stable parents who can cushion their fall until they determine a course of action toward a future. It is not surprising then how schools that acknowledge the obstacles many urban students face but refuse to accept them as excuses for failure are seeing their students succeed at higher rates.I want to encourage you to advocate for charter schools in your region."
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January 9, 2012
NEA GAVE MORE THAN $18.8 MILLION TO ADVOCACY GROUPS
"An Education Intelligence Agency analysis of NEA’s financial disclosure report for the 2010-11 fiscal year reveals the national union contributed over $18.8 million to a wide variety of advocacy groups and charities."
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January 9, 2012
EDUCATION NEW SEX ED STANDARDS CALL FOR HOMOSEXUALITY TO BE EXPLAINED TO 5TH GRADERS
"Young elementary school students should use the proper names for body parts and, by the end of fifth grade, know that sexual orientation is 'the romantic attraction of an individual to someone of the same gender or a different gender,' according to new sexual education guidelines released Monday by a coalition of health and education groups."
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January 8, 2012
THE BENEFITS OF FAILURE
"As adults, we should share our stories of struggling and failure with our students so they understand that it is a part of life. The resiliency students can gain and the lessons they can learn from failing will help them find success in the future."
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January 8, 2012
EDUCATION REFORM GAINING MOMENTUM IN TENNESSEE
"Reforming our schools can take time, and some have said we should slow down and catch our breath. But time is not something kids have when it comes to education. Several years in an ineffective classroom can have a devastating effect on a child's entire life trajectory, according to research out of Stanford University."
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January 7, 2012
'IF FRED GOT TWO BEATINGS PER DAY...' HOMEWORK ASKS
"Third graders in in Gwinnett County, Ga., were given math homework Wednesday that asked questions about slavery and beatings."
>>read more>>
Related article:
January 9, 2012
WELCOME TO COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS! SLAVES ARE PICKING ORANGES AND GETTING BEATINGS
"The teacher's treatment of an important subject in American history used out of context in a math problem has caused concern on many levels. Will the teacher now be labelled as an "ineffective teacher" so he/she can be reassigned or terminated and a TFA teacher can take his/her place in the classroom? "
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January 7, 2012
EDUCATION SANTORUM SLAMS OBAMA‘S ’HUBRIS‘ AND ’SNOBBERY’ ON EDUCATION
"The former Pennsylvania senator lambasted the Obama Administration, describing that he was 'outraged' when hearing President Obama say that he believes 'every child in America should go to college.' "
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January 6, 2012
GOP HOPEFULS FAVOR SCALED-BACK K-12 FEDERAL ROLE
"Though education has played second fiddle so far to other domestic issues in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the narrowing field includes GOP candidates with compatible views on scaling back the federal role in K-12, but big contrasts in policy specifics and experience."
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January 6, 2012
BIG STUDY LINKS GOOD TEACHER TO LASTING GAIN
"Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings, according to a new study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years."
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January 5, 2012
EDUCATION PREDICTIONS FOR 2012
" I can imagine four and perhaps five hopeful scenarios for 2012. In ascending order of importance (my judgement call), they are 'Growth in Home Schooling,' 'Shutting Down Failing Charter Schools,' 'Board/Union Cooperation,' 'Whole School Evaluation,' and 'Blended Learning.'"
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January 4, 2012
CHARTER CLOSURE REPORT CLARIFICATION
"A longtime debate surrounding charter schools is whether or not those that are not working – for whatever reason – are closed. Our new report, which provides the first-ever national analysis of charter school closures, finds a movement very much accountable for its contract and commitment to quality educational options...These facts reveal not only that charters are successful, but also that accountability for results is alive and well in a way that is unique to these public schools."
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January 4, 2012
NUTTER TAKING AIM AT LOW-PERFORMING PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS
"The city and the Philadelphia School District will move aggressively on a pledge to eliminate 50,000 seats in the lowest-performing city schools, Mayor Nutter promised Tuesday."
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January 3, 2012
Are Teachers Overpaid
Five articles discuss this question: "In the private sector, people with SAT and GRE scores comparable to those of education majorsearn less than teachers do. Does that mean teachers are overpaid? Or that public schools should pay more to attract top applicants who tend to go into higher-paying professions?"
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January 3, 2012
VA SCHOOL DISTRICT DEFENDS SHOCKING OCCUPY-THEMED SONG
"(M)any question whether third-graders have the faculties or political knowledge to write such lyrics and even if they do, assert that a song like '99' has no place in schools, period."
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Update (January 12, 2012):KID PAN ALLEY ADMITS OCCUPY SONG LYRICS WERE THEIRS
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*January 2, 2012
HIGHER PAY THAN PRIVATE SECTOR
"Our research has shown that public school teachers receive salaries about on par with private sector workers who score the same on the SAT and other standardized tests of cognitive skill. But fringe benefits — in particular, generous vacation time, pensions and retiree health plans — push total compensation for teachers roughly 50 percent above private sector levels."
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December 31, 2011
REPUBLICANS FOR MONOPOLY
“Unions played their usual false tune that vouchers steal money from public schools, though what they really fear is that vouchers would break their monopoly control over public education. Under the voucher bill, public schools would come out ahead financially since they would be educating fewer students while still receiving local property tax revenues for kids in their district who attend private schools on vouchers.”
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December 31, 2011
CAMPAIGN WARNING PARENTS OF BIAS IN CLASSROOM BOOKS
"The study raises significant concerns about what it describes as strategies to define terrorism in vague terms, the removal of references to contributions of American Jews, the replacement of America’s Judeo-Christian heritage with one referencing “Judeo-Christian-Islamic” and the stylization and sanitization of the history and tenets of Islam."
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December 28, 2011
HOW THE FEDS ARE TRACKING YOUR KID
"Under regulations the Obama Department of Education released this month...the department has taken a giant step toward creating a de facto national student database that will track students by their personal information from preschool through career. Although current federal law prohibits this, the department decided to ignore Congress and, in effect, rewrite the law. Student privacy and parental authority will suffer.The administration wants this data to include much more than name, address and test scores. According to the National Data Collection Model, the government should collect information on health-care history, family income and family voting status. In its view, public schools offer a golden opportunity to mine reams of data from a captive audience."
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December 27, 2011
TOP 10 EDUCATION STORIES OF 2011
"There was no lack of education news in 2011. From an explosion in school choice options to the Obama Administration’s executive overreach, the top stories included the high and low lights when it came to issues affecting America’s schools."
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December 24, 2011
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND? A PROMISE MADE IS A DEBT UNPAID—THE PROMISE NEEDS A MAJOR CHANGE
“Leaving no child behind is essentially an issue of equity and justice; it is a moral imperative. Before diverse students in poverty schools can achieve as much as advantaged ones, they need to be part of a society that does not believe giving them access to equal treatments and resources will hurt their own children or raise their taxes.”
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*December 24, 2011
PA LANDS $41 MILLION GRANT TO HELP EVALUATE TEACHERS
"Pennsylvania is one of seven states that will share about $200 million in the latest round of winners of the federal "Race to the Top" school improvement competition...This time, about half of the state's grant will go to specific school districts and intermediate units, officials said. Part of the money will go toward the Pennsylvania Standards Aligned System, which provides teachers with tools to improve student achievement."
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December 19, 2011
NATIONALIZATION TRAIN STARTS GOING OFF THE TRACK
"As the train moves further along and the full implications of nationalizing key aspects of the education system become more obvious to everyone, more and more people will jump that train. Without significant coercion it will be very hard to keep everyone on board until they reach the station where standards, assessments, and curriculum are all centrally imposed."
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December 16, 2011
WHY OTHER COUNTRIES DO BETTER IN MATH
“The high mathematical achievement of students in
these nations is due primarily to the excellent education they receive in school, not the
fact that parents are more likely to pay for tutors. Parental attitudes are important but what many people miss is the fact that in the U.S. parents pay tutors for the lack of what their children learn in school while in Singapore and Japan parents pay tutors to improve their children's chances of success on high stakes entrance exams (much like parents pay for SAT tutoring in the U.S.).”
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December 15, 2011
PA HOUSE BREAKS PROMISE, FAILS STATE'S CHILDREN
"(T)he Pennsylvania House of Representatives turned back the tide of progress – failing to act on critical education legislation passed earlier this year by the Senate or fulfill promises made publicly and personally throughout the year to enact school reform measures that increase opportunities, provide immediate access for the poor to better schools and give working and middle class families more say in where they send their children to schools."
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December 11, 2011
MILITARY CHILDREN STAY A STEP AHEAD OF PUBLIC SCHOOL
"...once again, schools on the nation’s military bases have outperformed public schools on both reading and math tests for fourth and eighth graders...Even more impressive, the achievement gap between black and white students continues to be much smaller at military base schools and is shrinking faster than at public schools."
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(editor's note. CEO does not support peer counseling, but we do support the idea that bullying is about a lot more than just homosexuality)
December 10, 2011
BULLYING ABOUT MORE THAN JUST HOMOSEXUALITY
"'Our concern is that the LGBT movement is using bullying to leverage [its] way into the schools to promote a separate agenda – acceptance of the gay lifestyle – as opposed to genuinely trying to stop bullying for the sake of stopping bullying,' ...Protecting children from bullying is the goal of his program."
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December 10, 2011
DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SUBURBS TAKING A PAGE FROM CHARTER SCHOOLS
"The most successful public charter schools in the District are trying creative approaches, and D.C. Public Schools' principals and teachers are examining those practices to improve their own troubled campuses."
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December 9, 2011
LOTS OF CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND
But the solution to the city’s education problems won’t come from Washington, D.C. In fact, the federally imposed common standards will probably become one more failed reform. The real answer, at least for the city’s awful reading scores, is more likely to be found in a group of ten elementary schools participating in a pilot reading program pioneered by the brilliant scholar and cognitive scientist E. D. Hirsch. Over a three-year period, students in the schools using Hirsch’s Core Knowledge reading curriculum outperformed their peers from a control group of ten other schools by a huge margin on K–2 reading tests."
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December 9, 2011
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT EDUCATION IS WRONG
"(T)here is a clear pattern. Schools that focused on teacher development, data-driven instruction, creating a culture focused on student achievement, and setting high academic expectations consistently fared better. The results were consistent whether the charter's program was geared towards the creative arts or hard-core behavioral discipline."
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December 2011
A FUTURE AND A HOPE
A discussion of some of the great school choice initiatives that have passed around the country this year.
>>read more>>
Related article:
October 12, 2011
APOLLO 20 INITIAL RESULTS SHOW RISING MATH SCORES
Using the reform successes of charter schools to help reform Houston public schools.
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December 4, 2011
CHOKING ON THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS
"In reality, then, these standards were written by highly educated adults who do not teach children at present and, possibly, never did. Unconnected to the scientific research on children’s intellectual and emotional development and the everyday realities of children’s needs, interests and behavior, these writers relied only the folklore of academia, fantasizing not only what children should be expected to know and do, but also what adults need to function in actual colleges and workplaces."
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December 4, 2011
EVA MOSKOWITZ EXPANDS HER GRADE-SCHOOL CHAIN
"During house parties and mixers at their homes, Ms. Moskowitz tells these parents how her Harlem schools are among the city's highest-achieving public schools in reading and math. Among the third, fourth and fifth graders at Harlem Success Academies, 94% passed the statewide math exam and 78% passed the reading test. Citywide, those numbers were 60% and 49%, respectively."
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Friday, December 02 2011
CALCULATOR BAN ON YOUNG PUPILS (United Kingdom)
"Children are to be banned from using calculators in the early years of primary school to tackle a nationwide crisis in basic maths skills."
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December 2, 2011
PARENTS NEED CHOICE OF SCHOOLS
“Arguments that would reject a limited voucher system because not all parents and students could take advantage of the opportunity would condemn all students to the same failed system - and further fail to recognize that success would breed success. Although choices are currently limited, demand created by vouchers will drive more and higher quality options; and in turn, accommodate more demand.”
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Winter 2012
ACADEMIC VALUE OF NON-ACADEMICS
"(A) growing body of research suggests there is a link between afterschool activities and graduating from high school, going to college and becoming a responsible citizen."
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*Autumn 2011
THE EXCELLENCE GAP
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE SHORTCHANGING THEIR BEST STUDENTS
"Virtually all education reformers recognize that America’s ability to remain an economic superpower depends to a significant degree on the number and quality of engineers, scientists, and mathematicians graduating from our colleges and universities—scientific innovation has generated as much as half of all U.S. economic growth over the past half-century, on some accounts. But the number of graduates in these fields has declined steadily for the past several decades."
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*November 29, 2011
HOOVER INSTITUTION EXPERTS IDENTIFY 2011'S BEST & WORST EDUCATION EVENTS
"Their list indicates that several positive developments led to greater parental choice, system transparency and teacher accountability; however, the worst events indicate that considerable room remains for improvement."
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November 28, 2011
IMPLEMENTING COMMON CORE COULD COST STATES $30 BILLION
“Many states have not evaluated the cost of implementing the Core, notes a 2011 McGraw-Hill education brief, but will be working through implementation in the next three years, so by 2014 most changes will be in place….Beyond the taxpayer-paid costs of implementing the Common Core, states are weighing the perhaps even greater cost of ceding education authority to federal control.”
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*November 26, 2011
SINGAPORE MATH DEMYSTIFIED!
When I began working with the Japanese teachers, I soon realized three important reasons why they were such good math teachers:(1) They had a high level of math content knowledge. In fact, I felt that their first grade teachers knew more about math than I did as an 8th grade teacher! (2) They used thin, lightweight paperback textbooks that were much more focused and coherent than our heavy hard cover books. (3) They continually worked to improve their teaching throughout their careers by conducting lesson study.
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November 22, 2011
TAKING ON EDUCATION REFORM
"Let’s change the focus from politics and the word choices of our politicians to reporting on the real issue at hand, how best to serve the needs of Pennsylvania’s students."
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November 18, 2011
TURNING OUR BACK ON 'TRADITIONAL' EDUCATION
"Traditionally – throughout history – parents have educated their own children; or at least, selected the type of education they wanted their children to receive. Many children became apprentices, learning a specific skill or craft starting at a young age. Other children simply learned what they needed to get by in life by working side by side with their parents. But since the advent of public education, children have been separated from their parents for a good portion of the day, learning things away from the guidance of the people who love them most."
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November 17, 2011
STATES RAMP UP USE OF TEACHER EVALUATIONS
“Teachers and principals are worrying more about their own report cards these days. They’re being graded on more than student test scores. The way educators are evaluated is changing across the country, with a switch from routine “satisfactory” ratings to actual proof that students are learning.”
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November 17, 2011
PAYING MATH TEACHERS MORE THAN GYM TEACHERS MAKES SENSE
"So, to persuade more people to become math and science teachers, Christie is proposing paying them more – more than gym teachers (and maybe more than music and art and history and English teachers)."
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November 15, 2011
WHY 2011 IS THE YEAR OF THE SCHOOL VOUCHER
"(T)he push toward vouchers is coming from a new breed of reform-minded politicians from both parties. Once a taboo subject, vouchers are now talked about openly on the campaign trail, and politicians are hiring reformers to run high-profile school systems."
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November 15, 2011
CONGRESS BACKSLIDES ON SCHOOL REFORM
“Teacher accountability and parent choice are the most important aspects of any education reform legislation. They are critical to determining what success should look like and to creating a mechanism for remediation when those standards aren’t met. There is not nearly enough within this new bill to ensure that schools are made to answer for their performance. Nor is there enough to ensure that parents have the ability to protest a failing school with their feet.”
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November 14, 2011
FRAUD AT SCHOOL: THE U.S. ATTORNEY IS RIGHT TO LOOK AT EDUCATION FUNDS
One of U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton's new initiatives will target public corruption in education…(he) said he would be looking at ‘systemic corruption’ and evidence of fraud and abuse of public education funds. He said he is offended by the misuse of tax dollars that should be spent educating children.”
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November 14, 2011
CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP
“What hasn’t happened, and what needs to happen, is for middle-class voters to recognize that the achievement gap isn’t some sentimental side issue that shouldn’t concern serious people. Rather, it is absolutely central to America’s economic future.”
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November 10, 2011
FORSTMANN'S NOT SO LITTLE IDEA
"For years, no more frustrating belief has existed in American domestic politics than the possibility of giving inner-city children a better education. Against the public-school monopoly, sustained forward movement has seemed impossible. That may be changing. This year at least 13 states passed some form of school-choice legislation."
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November 9, 2011
PRIORITIZING TEACHING QUALITY IN A NEW SYSTEM OF TEACHER EVALUATION
“Teachers are the most important school-level factor in student success—but as any parent knows, all teachers are not created equal. Reforms to the current quite cursory teacher evaluation system, if done well, have the potential to remove the worst-performing teachers and, even more important, to assist the majority in improving their craft.”
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November 07, 2011
THOSE TRAPPED IN FAILING SCHOOLS NEED HELP
“It didn't take long, however, for the legislation to come under attack, mainly from those ideologically opposed to the voucher program. But for all their bluster, voucher opponents can't seem to deal with two basic questions that voucher supporters are attempting to address: Would you send your child to a school where failure and mayhem are the rule? And what is your plan to immediately help a third-grade student trapped in such a violent, failing school, whose future is slipping away day by day?”
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November 7, 2011
AFT UNION SPREADING WEALTH AROUND THE GLOBE
“The fat cats at the AFT are living large – dare I say like the 1%? The union’s recent financial report filed with the federal department of labor reveals President Rhonda “Randi” Weingarten saw a cool 15% increase in her compensation – a bump of over $65K, taking her to $493,859.”
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November 7, 2011
ASSESSING THE COMPENSATION OF PUBLIC-SCHOOL TEACHERS
“We conclude that public-school-teacher salaries are comparable to those paid to similarly skilled private-sector workers, but that more generous fringe benefits for public-school teachers, including greater job security, make total compensation 52 percent greater than fair market levels, equivalent to more than $120 billion overcharged to taxpayers each year. Teacher compensation could therefore be reduced with only minor effects on recruitment and retention.”
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November 7, 2011
MASS. SCHOOL DISTRICT TO CLOSE TUESDAY FOR ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS HOLIDAY
“The Cambridge Public School District in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the first in the state to close in observance of an Islamic holy day. Today, students and teachers will have the day off, as a district committee voted last year to close for one Muslim holiday each year.”
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November 5, 2011
‘OLD SCHOOL’ STYLE, EXEMPLARY RESULTS FOR GRAHAM ELEMENTARY
“The transformation began when Principal Blaine Helwig, a former structural engineer, arrived in 2008 and started designing systems to ensure that students are taught basic concepts in math, reading, writing and science and that he can intervene early if necessary. Graham students are tested daily. Helwig can pull up their results on his computer at any time and see who is struggling. If students aren’t showing a grasp of concepts, they get extra help.”
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November 2, 2011
OBAMA ED AIMS AT U.S. TAKEOVER
"Home School Legal Defense A's federal relations staff have read this 868-page bill, and we believe that while it does not directly impact homeschool freedom, the bill will 1) increase the federal role in education at the expense of state, local and parental control, and 2) will greatly increase the pressure on states to align their curriculum and standards, resulting in de facto national education standards...While some specifics that could be included in a final bill remain unclear, 'the trend of national standards could lead to homeschoolers losing the freedom to choose the curriculum for their children.'...national standards would remove control from local boards and districts and allow 'unelected bureaucrats, not parents' to decide what subjects should be taught."
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November 2, 2011
EDUCATOR NOT ALWAYS VOUCHER ADVOCATE
“Rhee once opposed vouchers but changed her stance she became chancellor of the Washington (DC) public school system in 2007. “I'm not going to say to these parents, 'Just give me five years to fix the system,' because their kid doesn't have that time," (said) Rhee… 'My job is not to protect and preserve the district that's been doing a disservice to kids. My job is to make sure kids are getting a good education, and I'm agnostic as to where that's happening.' “
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November 1, 2011
NEW NAEP TEST SCORES ARE OUT
“Overall, about a third of the students are proficient or better in reading. In math, 40 percent of the fourth-graders and 35 percent of the eighth-graders are at that level – a poor showing for both categories, despite differences in progress.”
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Related article:
U.S. GETS AN “F” FOR FLATLINE IN NATION’S REPORT CARD
“While we remain stuck in mediocrity, other nations are gaining on, if not surpassing, the U.S. in the global economy. How can we compete when our complacent education system is satisfied with nearly a third of our children failing to achieve even basic knowledge in math and reading? The longer we wait – the longer we let achievement flatline – the further we’ll find ourselves at the bottom of the list of powerful, even worth mentioning, economies,” said (Jeanne) Allen (President of Center for Education Reform).
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November 1, 2011
THE TRUTH ABOUT PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER PAY
“(W)hen benefits such as tenure, health care, and pensions are considered, the typical public-school teacher is well-paid…..More than ever, high-quality teachers and ensuring that our children have the best education possible is central to America’s future. The best teachers should be rewarded, and schools should have the freedom to make the right decisions to get the job done.”
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