| October & November 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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November 30, 2009
Book ruckus divides Montgomery County (KY) residents
" ‘We didn't ask for the books to be taken out of the library, or for them to be removed from the book club. We are saying that we think there are more appropriate and better reading materials available for college preparation,’ (said Nancy Cooper, parent & teacher.) ‘It's not censorship when you make wise decisions about what can be used in the classroom,’ parent Cyndi Murphy said.”
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November 28, 2009
Classrooms welcome cell phone use
“Today's phones are the equivalent of small computers — able to check e-mail, do Internet searches and record podcasts. Meanwhile, most school districts can't afford a computer for every student.”
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November 26, 2009
(NYC) Mayor Says Student Scores Will Factor Into Teacher Tenure
“The Bloomberg administration contends that it already has the power to use test scores in tenure decisions. But, he said that the Legislature should require all districts in the state to evaluate teachers and principals with “data-driven systems,” one of the factors Mr. Duncan will use in deciding which states will receive Race to the Top grants.”
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November 23, 2009
Pittsburgh schools don't expect to repeat mistakes from huge 1988 grant
"When Pittsburgh Public Schools won the largest grant in its history, the district received an eight-digit check, raising hopes it could solve problems such as low achievement and high teen pregnancy rates. That was the scenario in 1988 when Pittsburgh received a $12.5 million matching grant — the largest of five across the country — from the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore. Within a few years, however, the district had failed to reach most of its goals."
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November 19, 2009
High school research papers: a dying breed
"Rigorous research and writing instruction have never reached most high-schoolers.... Only a few students, in public and private schools, ever get a chance to go deep and write long on a subject that intrigues them. We are beginning to see, in the howls of exasperation from college introductory course professors and their students, how high a price we are paying for this. It isn’t just college students who are hurt. Studies show research skills are vital for high school graduates looking for good jobs or trade school slots."
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November 19, 2009
Big grant to Pittsburgh schools first step
“The district's Empowering Effective Teachers Plan will change the way it recruits, trains, evaluates, promotes and pays teachers.... teachers would be judged on a variety of measures including how well students progress under the teacher, student test scores and observations of a teacher's work.”
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November 18, 2009
Bringing Parents Onto the Team: What the Research Shows
Bill Jackson writes about the four key roles of parent in:
1.Cultivate character traits that underlie success,
2.Support learning at home and at school,
3.Set high expectations, and
4.Guide children in planning for college.
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November 13, 2009
Who Needs Mathematicians for Math, Anyway?
“The heart of the disagreement between progressive math educators and mathematicians is whether students are acquiring a foundation in arithmetic and other aspects of mathematics in the early grades that prepares them for authentic algebra coursework in grades 7, 8, and 9. If not, they then cannot successfully complete the advanced math courses in high school that will prepare them adequately for freshman college courses using mathematics.”
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November 13, 2009
Teachers learn the write way: Penmanship
“Studies show that students with better penmanship generally earn higher grades, and poor handwriting skills can lead to slow note-taking and reduced comprehension.”
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November 12, 2009
Churchill’s speeches fail exam
“Online marking of papers is being tested by exam boards and could be introduced within the next few years. It is already in use in America, where some children have learnt to write in a style which the computer appreciates, known as “schmoozing the computer.”
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November 5, 2009
Obama calls for end of 'firewall' rules that shield teachers
“Declaring there should be "no excuse for mediocrity" in public schools, President Obama on Wednesday pledged to push for recruitment of better teachers, better pay for those who succeed and dismissal of those who let their students down.”
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November 3, 2009
Pennsylvania students lag in passing GED test
“There are more than 1.6 million adults in Pennsylvania without a high school diploma. Last year, 10,000 people failed to pass the exam. There is no clear-cut reason for why Pennsylvanians have such a hard time passing the test, those who work with the GED said. The same test is administered to candidates in the United States, the U.S. territories and Canada.”
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Novermber 1, 2009
Teach Your Teachers Well
“If we really want good schools, we need to create a critical mass of great teachers. And if we want smart, passionate people to become these great educators, we have to attract them with excellent programs and train them properly in the substance and practice of teaching.”
>>read more>>
November
Rewriting the Job Description
The Teaching Profession in the Twenty-first Century
"*Today's teaching profession is the product of a mid-twentieth-century labor model.
*Expanding the hiring pool beyond recent college graduates, staffing schools in ways that maximize the value of talented teachers, and using technology to increase teacher effectiveness are smarter ways for schools to approach the human capital challenge.
*Rethinking recruitment assumptions and job descriptions requires new models for salaries and benefits."
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November 1, 2009
School taxes in Pennsylvania may soar to pay for pension promises
“Think your school taxes were high this year? Start saving for 2012-13.That's when Pennsylvania property owners will pay a lot more money to cover the generous pension bump state lawmakers awarded themselves, school employees and state workers in 2001.”
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October 31, 2009
Education Reform - Not so Much
“ Teachers, employers, professors, and parents already know our students aren't learning enough. We don't need new restructuring regimes. The labor of learning hasn't changed since Socrates and I were boys. That's because the human mind hasn’t changed. What have changed are our expectations. Until we cast off our sense of entitlement, until we once more embrace hard work, until we demand decent behavior in our streets and classrooms, our schools and our students won't succeed.”
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October 26, 2009
Adults ponder going back to school as teachers
"Adults of various ages and backgrounds answered radio ads for an information session given by the American Board of Certification of Teacher Excellence, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that offers alternative teaching certifications in nine states."
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October 25, 2009
Gates seeks to influence Obama's school spending
"The real secretary of education, the joke goes, is Bill Gates. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been the biggest player by far in the school reform movement, spending around $200 million a year on grants to elementary and secondary education."
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October 23, 2009
Pa. votes final-exam Keystone tests to get a diploma
"After years of debate, Pennsylvania is going ahead with a plan to offer school districts state-approved final exams that students would have to take to get diplomas. The controversial plan...is sure to change the lives of thousands of public-school students and teachers."
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Autumn 2009
Curriculum for Democracy
Article discusses "one state reform that has proven to work, as well as the education thinker whose ideas inspired it. The state is Massachusetts, and the education thinker is E. D. Hirsch,Jr."
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October 20, 2009
‘Data’ Is Not the Plural of ‘Anecdote’
“Two AEI reports predicted and then found that states and districts were simply taking about $75 billion in federal funds and using it to backfill their existing budget holes. This isn’t particularly sophisticated policymaking.”
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October 20, 2009
A Moo-Moo Here, and Better Test Scores Later
“Educators have long known that prior knowledge of a subject can significantly improve a child’s performance on tests… At many urban schools across the country, field trips to unfamiliar locales are standard events in the academic year. But education experts said they knew of no other schools that organized trips with test preparation in mind.”
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October 19, 2009
In some classrooms, books are a thing of the past
“Some praise the technology as a way to save schools money, replace outdated books and better engage tech-savvy students. Others say most schools don't have the resources to join the digital drift, or they question the quality of open-source content.”
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October 18, 2009
UNLV researching why so many freshmen aren’t ready for college
“UNLV is about to launch what may be its most important research project ever: Why are so many freshmen not ready for college even though their high school grades suggest they are?”
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October 18, 2009
Superintendent spreads the gospel of 'value-added' teacher evaluations
This article discusses the use of value-added assessments around the country. Value-added uses test scores to track pupil's academic progress from year to year.
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October 15, 2009
How to Improve National Math Scores
The New York Times - Room for Debate Blog
Various experts discuss ways to improve United States math scores.
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October 14, 2009
A Fast-Track Alternative to a Teaching Job
"A report by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a nonprofit research group, has estimated that about one million teachers could retire in the next four years. Career changers... may help fill the anticipated vacancies. Among college-educated Americans 24 to 60 years old, the survey found, 42 percent would consider becoming a teacher."
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October 14, 2009
Democrats and Schools
“Good schools constitute a far more potent weapon against poverty than welfare, food stamps or housing subsidies. Yet, cowed by teachers’ unions, Democrats have too often resisted reform and stood by as generations of disadvantaged children have been cemented into an underclass by third-rate schools.”
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October 14, 2009
Sluggish Results Seen in Math Scores
“Scores increased only marginally for eighth graders and not at all for fourth graders, continuing a sluggish six-year trend of slowing achievement growth since passage of the law, which requires schools to bring 100 percent of students to reading and math proficiency by 2014.”
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October 14, 2009
Dangerous Schools
“Even though parents consistently describe school safety as one of their most important priorities for their child’s school, policymakers can’t seem to figure out how to include safety in school accountability systems or report cards.”
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October 13, 2009
Kindle lightens textbook load, but flaws remain
“While it might be the future of textbooks, Amazon or any other e-reader company has a long way to go to make it happen - even for a technology-saturated generation that should be more receptive to the shift.”
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October 13, 2009
A Crisis in Catholic Education
“This week, Time has a welcome look at the plight of urban Catholic schools. The article, by Gilbert Cruz, rightly emphasizes that this is a problem for all of us. Every time one of these successful faith-based schools shutters its doors for financial reasons, the taxpayers ultimately pay the price in the form of more poor students dumped into already-failing public schools.”
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October 12, 2009
Looking for Solutions to the Catholic-School Crisis
“After all, Eriksen says, “a much more effective mantra than 'We're poor, give us money,' is 'We serve the poor. Invest in us, and we'll provide a good return on your investment.' " “
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October 6, 2009
The Early Learning Challenge Fund: Increased Federal Role in Early Education
“Instead of creating new costly federal programs, Congress should reform existing programs to provide better services to students and savings to taxpayers.”
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October 2009
Math in American High Schools: The Delusion of Rigor
This article takes a look at the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). It discusses “trends in high school math, an area of critical national need, and one that has been a focus of national policy for decades.” The author presents data that shows “a disconnect between the rigor of the math education that high schools claim to be delivering and the quality of the math education that students are actually receiving as measured by assessment data.”
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