This is an interesting article on the response in California to Obama’s Race to the Top. In it State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell states that though he favors the promise of reform,
I would never, ever support any evaluation of our educators based solely on the California Standards Testing and Reporting (STAR) [...]
And now to add support to Arne Duncan’s Cash for Teacher Clunker plan new studies prove that size doesn’t matter:
Class-size reduction, which receives another large chunk of Title II funds, is popular with teachers and parents. But its extremely high cost raises questions about whether there are more cost-effective [...]
This excellent AP piece by Libby Quaid about classroom overcrowding points out that though states are getting stimulus money for education it’s “not enough to cover state and local budget shortfalls.”
The stimulus boosted federal spending and helped restore cuts in state budgets, sources that together provide about 56 percent of school [...]
When you read the emails by Gregory, King, Stephanopoulos and others, you start to understand why most major network interviews with politicians tend to be a lot less hard hitting than they need to be to really hold their subjects accountable. The politicians themselves have [...]
“You cannot ignore facts,” Obama said. “That is why any state that makes it unlawful to link student progress to teacher evaluations will have to change its ways.”
When I first saw the above photo composite, it sickened me. I had supported Obama because I thought he would bring positive change to [...]
Okay, indulge me on this.
There’s this thing called Title I. Has to do with funding schools that have disadvantaged students. Under No Child Left Behind, these funds are supposed to provide tutoring to these kids if their schools “underperform.” They’re also supposed to provide money to bus them to higher performing schools. I [...]
I had dinner with my sister’s family and she was telling me about the private school she and her orthopedic surgeon husband send their three girls to, how they group by ability in her second grader’s class (small groups, seven kids max), how they they match kids up with teachers who will be good for [...]
Arne Duncan before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee
Okay. He’s not Godzilla. He’s more like that brother in-law who makes much more than you. He’s the guy you go on beer runs with at half time or join for holiday games of Skipbo when your mother in-law insists. You don’t hate the [...]
Read this post from the Windy City. It contains an interesting take on Duncan-speak, how the Secretary of Education borrows the parlance of Wall Street to cast judgement on our public schools.
STOP: As Chicagoans know, and the rest of the USA is about to learn, when a Chicago politicians talks about “underperforming” [...]
Wanted to post this as soon as possible, the best, most concise and nuanced look at Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s vision for education and why it will mean disaster for public education and our kids. Here’s a little excerpt:
But Chicago Public Schools (CPS) policies are not really about Duncan or his [...]
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