From: National Journal Online By Richard Rothstein Last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates published an op-ed in the Washington Post, “How Teacher Development could Revolutionize our Schools,” proposing that American public schools should do a better job of evaluating the effectiveness of teachers, a goal with which none can disagree. But his specific prescriptions, and the urgency he attaches to them, are based on the misrepresentation of one fact, the misinterpretation of another and the demagogic presentation of a third. … →
Mayor Bloomberg was roundly booed at the annual Queens St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday, for threatening to lay off of over 4,000 teachers and his attack on their seniority rights. Check out the video below and excerpts from the Daily News, NY Post and NY1: Chants of “Save our Teachers” rang out from pockets of the green-clad crowd that lined Newport Ave. and Rockaway Beach Blvd. in Belle Harbor…. Anthony Hannon, 80:….“What he’s doing to our teachers and our … →
Mecklenburg ACTS, an affiliate of Parents Across America in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, has launched a petition that calls on Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to remove standardized test scores from their developing pay for performance system. We’re urging parents and community members to stand up for treating our teachers fairly, and to oppose the expansion of high-stakes standardized testing. If parents band together, our voices can be heard! Our petition can be found at www.mecklenburgacts.org. For more information on Pay for … →
On Thursday night, Diane Ravitch with her usual incisiveness pointed out the importance of poverty and the unfairness of teacher-bashing on Jon Stewart’s the Daily Show. According to Valerie Strauss’ Answer Sheet, Ravitch’s book shot up from #758 on Amazon’s list to #35 by the next afternoon. Jon Stewart showed a short clip of the segment on Fox News debate, to ridicule the commentators’ attack on the “greed” of teachers, while defending the huge bonuses and salaries of Wall Street … →
Throughout the United States, the nation’s public school system is being savaged by budget cuts that will make a mockery of federal legislation designed to reduce the achievement gap between children in low income and high income districts. In Detroit Michigan, the school district has been told by the state to close half of its schools to close a 347 million dollar deficit, leading to high school classes that could contain as many as 60 students. Providence Rhode Island just … →
Andrea Merida spent a good amount of time talking with Mario Solis-Marich of AM760 today about various education policy issues. Click the little gray arrow below to listen to the interview. Andrea talks education policy topics with Mario Solis-Marich on March 2, 2011 Also, here are links to the topics she was addressing: New education recommendations from Department of Education Kansas school district gets waiver from No Child Left Behind The Kansas school district’s curriculum
