New ways to judge teacher prep programs

From Education Week:

A variety of methods for evaluating teacher education programs will be weighed for their methodological rigor, accuracy, and utility as part of a new research project recently launched by the National Academy of Education and George Washington University.

The new project is at least partly a reaction to a controversial review of every teacher education [...]

Pa. school district near collapse

From Education Week:

By Christina A. Samuels

The financially troubled Chester Upland school district in Pennsylvania, which made national news when its teachers promised to stay on the job even if the district could not pay them, continues to teeter on the brink of financial collapse despite a court-ordered meeting with state officials this month to seek [...]

Santorum questions value of “public education”

Photo: Michael McElroy for The New York Times

From the New York Times:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — With his candidacy surging, Rick Santorum on Saturday questioned the legitimacy of state-run public education systems and suggested that President Obama’s agenda sprang from a “phony theology.”

At one appearance here, he said the idea of schools run by the federal government [...]

Students learn differently so why test them all the same

From the New York Times Teacher’s diary:

We teachers have been hearing for years about “differentiated instruction.” It makes sense to treat individuals differently, and to adapt communication toward what works for them. Some kids you can joke with, and some you cannot. Some need more explanation, while others need little or none. If you consider students [...]

Closing bad charter schools

From the New York Times:

The charter school movement has expanded over the last 20 years largely on this promise: If exempted from some state regulations, charters could outperform traditional public schools because they have flexibility and can be more readily tailored to the needs of students. Another selling point is that these schools are supposed to be periodically reviewed when they renew their operating permits — and easily shut down if they fail.

It has not worked out that way. Despite a growing number of studies showing that charter schools, financed with public money and operating in 40 states, are often worse than traditional schools, the state and local organizations that issue charters and oversee the schools are too hesitant to shut them down. That has to change if the movement is to maintain its credibility.

A new study from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, a nonprofit, pro-charter school organization, found that a smaller and smaller percentage of schools are being denied charter renewals.

According to the study, charter authorizers who oversee many of the nation’s approximately 5,600 charters have, in recent years, shut down fewer schools. Only 6.2 percent of those that came up for renewal in 2010-11 were shuttered, down from 8.8 percent in 2009-10 and 12.6 percent in 2008-9.  (Read More)

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Study suggests not much gain from common core

From Education Week:

by Catherine Gewertz
Will the Common Core State Standards improve student achievement? Not according to a new study out today.

The crux of the argument in the Brookings Institution report is that there is not much of a connection between standards—even rigorous ones—and student achievement. If there was a connection, we would have seen signs of [...]

Hopkins professor sees common core as step to improving math instruction

From Education Next:

CAMBRIDGE, MA – More than 40 states have now agreed to adopt the Common Core standards in English Language Arts and math.  In a forum released today on the website, www.educationnext.org, former U.S. Department of Education official Ze’ev Wurman and Johns Hopkins University professor of mathematics W. Stephen Wilson offer differing opinions about the [...]

Rethinking testing in the Ipad age

From Education Week by Katie Ash:

In the 3,200-student East Haven schools in Connecticut, elementary teachers did their initial student reading assessments a bit differently this school year.

Instead of using paper and pencil to jot down observations about each of their students and then collecting and analyzing those notes by hand, each teacher used an iPad to [...]

SOE’s Bob Balfanz calls for reform of ESEA in Congress

Bob Balfanz

SOE's Bob Balfanz

SOE’s Bob Balfanz testimony before Congress on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act:

Chairmen Kline, Ranking Minority Member Miller, members of the Education Committee thank you for inviting me to testify today.  My remarks are shaped by my experience over that past decade and half, as both a researcher and practitioner, working to improve educational outcomes for high-poverty  middle  and high schools at the federal, state, district, and school levels. Most recently, this has involved working with 12 school districts including Philadelphia, East Baton Rouge, Boston, Los Angeles,  and San Antonio on a school reform effort called Diplomas Now, an Investing in Innovation I3 winner, designed for the highest needs middle and high schools that drive the nation’s dropout crisis. It   combines evidence-based whole school reform, with enhanced student supports provided by non-profit partners, guided by an early warning system   (Read More)

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Group plans to attack teaching of climate science

From the New York Times:

Leaked documents suggest that an organization known for attacking climate science is planning a new push to undermine the teaching of global warming in public schools, the latest indication that climate change is becoming a part of the nation’s culture wars.

The documents, from a nonprofit organization in Chicago called the Heartland Institute, [...]