Better schools through smarter testing

Better schools through smarter testing
Los Angeles Times
Despite the barrage of criticism that schools are spending increasing amounts of time testing our children and teachers are being forced to teach to the test, the reality is that testing is no fad. Initiatives like California's STAR test, the high school exit exam and ... The increasing emphasis on testing in U.S. schools is a consequence of perhaps the most profound change in Americaneducation in modern times — the shift in focus from teaching to learning. When educationsystems concentrate on teaching, the emphasis ... 

Common Core Standards Boon to E-Learning Industry
New York Times
Even as critics sound alarms about the increasing privatization of public education, the Common Core promises to raise the e-learning industry to new levels by offering opportunities for more education products, including tests, and making it easier and less expensive for ... And the very thing that attracted so many states to adopt Common Core – the widespread standardization of learning goals, as well as the opportunity to do more creative teaching – can also turn it into a windfall for e-learning companies. Industry ...

Training for our school teachers is substandard
The Australian
A 2006 survey of 1300 beginning teachers by the Australian Secondary Principals Association concluded that a significant number "suggested that university-based teacher educationfaculties were out of touch with the reality of classrooms and school life, ... The majority of courses in this country are biased towards a cultural-left, progressive view of education that indoctrinates teachers with fads such as open classrooms, constructivism and personalisedlearning, and that demands teachers, instead of teaching, act ...

Pupils can wait, says Motshekga
Mail & Guardian Online
Two years ago Motshekga promised that "norms and standards for the physical teaching andlearning environment will be set at the national level by the department of basic education". These would be "effective from 2010-2011 financial year", her June 2010 ...

Push to lift uni rank for teaching
The Australian
The nation's education ministers meeting in Sydney yesterday agreed to commission a study of the existing measures to lift training requirements for student teachers and asked for recommendations for further reforms. Queensland Education Minister ...

Education business, fewer print ads hurt Washington Post
Reuters
(Reuters) - The Washington Post Co reported a fall in quarterly revenue as new student enrollments dropped in its Kaplan education business and print advertising revenue slid. Revenue in the Kaplan division, which accounts for more than half of Washington ...

Better teachers, equipment won't improve schools as long as students avoid work
Deseret News
There has been a huge emphasis on evaluating and improving teachers. I fear that will have little effect on student learning. No matter how good or bad a teacher is, if the students are not involved in their own education, they will not learn. On the other hand, ...

Deseret News

Teachers to be tested from 2013
The Australian
"Every parent wants to be confident their child is being taught by a teacher who is dedicated, professional and who is doing a great job in helping their students reach their full potential," federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett said in a statement.

Federal Special Ed. Ratings Fault D.C.—Again
Education Week News
For the sixth consecutive year, the District of Columbia has fallen short of meeting federal special education goals, the worst record of any state in the country, according to the latest annual state ratings from the U.S. Department of Education. Since the 2004 ...

Teachers to undergo performance reviews
ABC Online
Map: Australia. Teachers will have to undergo annual performance assessments under an agreement reached by the country's education ministers. ... Under the scheme, parents will be given an opportunity to review the performance of their child's teacher.

New rating system will put more DC teachers at risk
Washington Post
Read more. D.C. schools were among the first in the country to link teacher pay and job security to student achievement on standardized tests — an experiment that has drawn criticism from many teachers but inspired similar efforts in cities across the nation.

Washington Post Profit Drops as Education Business Falters
Businessweek
The company's Kaplan unit has come under government scrutiny -- along with the rest of the for-profit education industry -- and faces increasing regulation. The Washington Post newspaper also is struggling. It doesn't charge online readers and needs to ...

Tanzania: Court Orders Teachers Back
AllAfrica.com
THE High Court's Labour Division declared the ongoing teachers' strike illegal and ordered them to call it off. "I hold that the strike which has been going on for three days is unlawful. I order that it should be terminated immediately and all teachers who are on ...

Olympic effort needed for American education
Statesman Journal
Specifically, we need members of Congress to pass long overdue federal education reformlegislation that holds all schools accountable for student learning, and ensures that every child has a highly effective teacher and high-quality choices of schools. ... These include policies that ban or arbitrarily restrict public charter schools, block talented professionals from entering theteaching profession, prevent teacher and principal evaluations from considering whether kids are learning, and mandate that teacher layoffs be ...

DC to weaken link between test scores, teacher ratings
Washington Examiner
In a major change to its controversial Impact teacher evaluation tool, the school system also will reduce the number of classroom observations teachers must undergo, and add a new performance category to recognize "developing" teachers, internal sources said. Melissa Salmanowitz, a ... Observations count toward 35 percent of the evaluations of teachers whose students take the state exams, and 75 percent of the evaluations in other general-educationclassrooms. Sources say one of the observations will be ...

Vic teachers to strike on September 5
The Australian
... school system strike on September 5, the teachers' union says. Overe 100 members of the Australian Education Union's (AEU) Victorian State Council voted unanimously on Friday to push ahead with the 24-hour statewide work stoppage, the AEU says.

GREAT TEACHERS DESERVE FAIR DEAL
Chicago Sun-Times
We create a work and storage space at home for piles of resources and teaching materials, and we invest in computers and other technologies to use in lesson planning. We burn the ... In addition, there are the major issues of class size, teacher evaluation policy, merit pay, sick day policy, health benefits, school physical condition and other concerns, all of which must be resolved for a successful CTU contract. Class size is ... Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Board of Education must consider our expertise!

Gerard Robinson, Florida Education Commissioner, Resigns After One Year
Huffington Post
However, the embattled education commissioner told the Orlando Sentinel that when he was hired a year ago, he and his wife -- University of Richmond law professor Kimberly Robinson -- figured she would be able to find a comparable job in Florida and their ... The fact that FCAT scores are tied to teacher pay and performance assessments, as well as schools' A through F letter grades, has been a bone of contention across the state. .... Teachers make money in the thirties...no unions permitted. no strikes permitted.

Morning Read: Changes To DC Teacher Evaluation System To Be Announced ...
NBC4 Washington (blog)
The new evaluation system would also reduce the number of classroom observations teachersmust undergo and add a new performance category to recognize “developing teachers.” But, according to the Post, the new system will actually put more teacher ...

Bryant promotes teacher merit pay at Neshoba Fair
San Francisco Chronicle
Phil Bryant used his Neshoba County Fair speech Thursday to promote merit pay for teachers, a plan he unveiled last week. The first-term Republican governor said that with a merit pay system, there are ways to avoid the possibility of principals simply giving ...

McGuinty threatens to impose contracts on teachers
Ottawa Citizen
The other big teachers' unions have made it clear the OECTA deal is unacceptable, said boards' vice-president Lori Lukinuk. “It is unrealistic to expect boards to find solutions within the OECTA 'road map' that will alter the position of teacher and support staff ...

Education business drags on Washington Post's results
Reuters
Aug 3 (Reuters) - Washington Post Co reported a fall in quarterly revenue, and new student enrollments at its Kaplan education business fell after rising for two straight quarters. Net income from continuing operations attributable to common shareholders fell ...

Fitzsimon: Education funding cuts don't add up
Greenville Daily Reflector
It seems like common sense that higher funding for schools is part of improving the quality ofeducation. More funding makes possible higher teacher pay, lower class sizes, teacherassistants in early grades, more support for students who are struggling or ...

OfficeMax Honors Teachers During Back-to-School
U.S. Politics Today
The teacher savings events and donation pledge build upon OfficeMax's long-standing commitment to teachers and education. Last year OfficeMax and its customers joined forces to donate $4.6 million in much-needed classroom supplies to teachers and ...

Exclusive: McGraw takes bids for education unit: sources
Reuters
The sale comes a year after minority shareholders JANA Partners LLC and the OntarioTeachers' Pension Plan publicly urged McGraw-Hill to restructure. McGraw-Hill, which has since streamlined its portfolio and made management ... On Thursday, McGraw-Hill Educationannounced the acquisition of Key Curriculum, a developer of mathematics learning technology in the children's and higher education markets, without disclosing financial terms. (This story corrects spelling of Cengage CEO's name, paragraph 13) ...

Title VI: In Pursuit of Equity in Education | ED.gov Blog
By Russlynn Ali
For example, minority students experience disproportionate rates of discipline; teachers in schools with the highest African American and Latino enrollments often have less teachingexperience and receive lower pay; and few of America's ... President Obama's Race to the Top competition has spurred comprehensive and unprecedented state-level reforms of policies and practices affecting our schools and early learning programs, and this Administration's School Improvement Grants ...
ED.gov Blog

Investment in K-12 education innovation is soaring, but it's not all ...
By Ki Mae Heussner
According to GSV Advisors, an investment firm specializing in education, investments in K-12education climbed to $389 million in 2011, which is up from $13 million in 2005. ... Still, a major difference between the environment now and the one a decade ago seems to be the talent and experience of the people leading the innovation – from former Teach for America teachers to top-quality engineers to ed tech entrepreneurs learning from their mistakes ten years ago. “The jury is still out ...
GigaOM

Louisiana Teachers Union Sends Legal Nastygrams to Keep Poor ...
By Katherine Mangu-Ward
The union sued, but on July 10, a Baton Rouge court refused to stop the law from going into effect, so the teachers union launched Plan B: Bully private schools by sending them threatening legal letters, so that they will be afraid to accept .... If they did, they wouldn't work for a teacher'sunion. ... These for-profit institutions need to be stopped at all cost; even if it means forcing them in to substandard public schools where they have teachers who genuinely care about their education.
Hit & Run

What It Takes to Pop a Higher Education Bubble, Bryan Caplan ...
By Bryan Caplan
There is no "bubble" in American higher education. I'll bet on it - or to be precise, I have bet on it. Nevertheless, while reading the Digest of Education Statistics (Table 208), I discovered a surprising fact: During my lifetime, a big education ...
EconLog: Library of Economics...

New Jersey Teacher James Geist Finds 2 Pythons In Yard Just Days ...
By pvictorwins
WEST MILFORD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — You've heard of squirrels running amok in backyards and even the occasional frightening bear hanging out in a neighborhood tree, but a pair of pythons slithering along a lawn in New Jersey?
CBS New York

Tentative Contract Reached Between SFUSD And Teachers' Union ...
By Andre Torrez
San Francisco teachers won't be getting a pay raise, but their union and the school district have reached a tentative agreement that will eliminate most furlough days and return laid off teachersto work. ... “The superintendant and the Board of Education appreciate all of the sacrifices that our employees have made to enable the school district to remain solvent,” Ruiz said. Almost all of the teachers who were laid off will get their jobs back, but the agreement is predicated on voters ...
CBS San Francisco

Jane's Extracts: Learning in the Networked Era: a year of online ...
By Jane Hart
The Social Learning Centre is a Learning Community for learning professionals (in both education and the workplace) to support their ongoing professional development by learningfrom their peers as well as leading industry practitioners and ...
Jane's Extracts

Fla. Board Of Education Names Interim Commissioner « CBS Miami
By cbs4macdonald
Less 48 hours after Gerard Robinson abruptly resigned, the State Board of Education named theeducation commissioner's short-term replacement. ... When is the interview going to be shown? cloumbus teacher mike foster · Ask a Question ...
CBS Miami

Philadelphia Charter School Teachers—And Their Union—Stand ...
By James Cersonsky
When principal and CEO Ernest Holiday entered the room of a popular but freshly terminated math teacher, he saw a crowd of students, accused the teacher of inciting a riot, asked him to leave the premises and docked his pay for the remainder of the year. Two weeks ... Once a charter does become unionized, teachers and instructional staff have an institutional vehicle for collective bargaining and consciousness-raising around teachers' rights and the teachingprofession. “With the ...

Despite tough times for education, construction and renovation ...
By Beau Yarbrough, Staff Writer
... comes in money from the state, based on how many students attend class on an average day. As a result, the district gave pink slips to 90 teachers this spring and 125 non-teacher staffers later in the year, although some of those employees ...
TODAYS NEWS-LOCAL NEWS (KILL)

How One Teacher Built a Computer Lab for Free : TreeHugger
They're all learning how to use Google Sites, helping each other along the way. ... He's a ...
www.treehugger.com/.../how-one-teacher-built-computer-lab-...

Behind the Headline: New Rating System Will Put ... - Education Next
Education Next is a journal of opinion and research about education policy. ... Capturing the Dimensions of Effective Teaching ... teacher evaluation system will be tweaked so that low-performing teachers ... The Credit-Recovery Scam · Behind the Headline: Walker to GiveEducation Reform Speech at Harvard · Alexander v ...
educationnext.org/behind-the-headline-new-rating-system-will...

Religion Clause: Teacher's Discrimination Suit Dismissed On ...
1, 2012), Janet Herzog began teaching in the Lutheran elementary school as a lay teacher in 1987, but subsequently took further course and became a "called ...
religionclause.blogspot.com/.../teachers-discrimination-suit-dis...

What Tabloids Know about Education « Diane Ravitch's blog
Six or seven middle school students accused their teacher of molesting them. ... not proof; thatteachers and others need due process; that charges should be ... to the Cuomo Commission on education reform while Carol Burris, the principal ... of a Teaching Fellow · The "Confessions" Are Wrong · Teachers: Keep Talking, ...
dianeravitch.net/2012/08/.../what-tabloids-know-about-educati...

OfficeMax Honors Teachers During Back-to-School - Technology ...
To further support teachers, OfficeMax also today reaffirmed its annual pledge to ... pledge build upon OfficeMax's long-standing commitment to teachers and education. ... To participate inTeacher Appreciation Days, teachers can join the OfficeMax ... NASA Awards Five Universities Funding For Learning Opportunities ...
www.redorbit.com/.../officemax_honors_teachers_during_bac...

State pulls Maine teacher subsidy; schools must still pay minimum ...
Stephen Bowen, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, ... The American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teacher unions in the ...
bangordailynews.com/.../state-pulls-maine-teacher-subsidy-sch...

Teaching
Early learning resources for preschool and beyond, kids parties and fun games for holidays ... it's about having creative fun times with kids and learning together!
pinterest.com/generic1stname/teaching/

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