By Duke Hanna Skandera is now the head chief of Jeb Bush!’s reformy group, Chiefs For Change. And she’s decided to celeberate by snatching up a title that was not conferred on her by law: Hanna Skandera, one of most controversial figures in state government, has given herself a new title. Even without the New [...]
There are so many reasons why California is poised to regain her leadership among states in public education. Most of them stem from the fact that policy-wise, we haven’t completely knuckled under to the damaging policies put forth by the Obama administration. We’ve been evasive on bending to the conditions required for a Race to [...]
On December 30, 2012, President Obama said he doubted arming school police with guns will prevent future school shootings, but then January 11, 2013′s EdWeek hints that he may yield to local law enforcement officers and communities if it has “bipartisan” support. While President Barack Obama said recently that he would be skeptical that more [...]
In case you missed the #kidsnotcuts Twitter party with our expert Lily Eskelsen (@NEAToday) as the featured guest, I’ve collected some of the tweet highlights. Good morning, all! Let’s get #kidsnotcuts Twitter Party started! Thanks for joining us Lily. Use @neatoday 2 any Qs u have re fed school $ — K-12 News Network (@K12NN) [...]
Around the country, REAL parent heroes are putting the lie to the version of the story told in the movie Won’t Back Down. The “parent trigger”, or “parent tricker” law is in the news again, this time with a glossy film starring popular actors Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The heart-string-tugging movie is called Won’t [...]
Is there a light at the end of the teach-to-the-test tunnel? A quirky pineapple that grabbed news headlines in the spring of 2012 may have marked a turning point in how much stock is given to a standardized test’s ability to accurately measure what children know. First, flickering sparks of discontent flashed up from parents [...]
Regarding presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s gaffe: of course state and local governments pay for teachers. No one disputes that. But the federal government does also pay for teachers, whether it’s the local or state education agency that makes that decision, or if it’s indirectly through federally-funded state training and credentialing programs. The Washington Post’s Josh [...]
Mitt Romney’s latest statements about his vision for America’s public schools can be summed up by his declaration that it’d be best to let families “vote with their feet” and have federal dollars follow children to private/religious, public, charter, or online schools. Reckless, foolish, clueless, or all of the above? Perhaps if someone actually knowledgeable [...]
“Equipercentile equating” is fancy-talk for “don’t like the percentages of failing students? Lower the passing score.” The New York Times recently covered the flap, in which a proficiency grade of 4 on written tests yielded “too many” failures but a grade of 3 magically gave the same results as last year: 81% of students passed. [...]
NCLB’s narrowed curriculum almost cost our students wonderful opportunities. I refused to allow this school to ditch a fantastic program because they would rather hire a teacher who might have less experience and be able to come in for less money than to hire one to carry on this incredibly valuable art program. So did my daughter. We spoke up. You can too.