Archive for the ‘News that matters’ Category

Education Week reports that Hawaii’s teacher furlough might affect the state’s chances of wining part of the federal government’s Race to the top grant money. The article notes that fewer than half of the states are likely to win money. The grant process, just released, will funnel $4 billion to the winning states. Information that has been released about the process has already caused several states to rescind laws that prevent using results of state tests to evaluate teachers. Stay tuned to this blog for news on Race to the Top as it becomes available. Here is the link for the entire Education Week article.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/11/12/313413hiteacherfurloughs_ap.html?tkn=RSTFNJdV1%2Fuwf993yvUL6579oR1kR5GRR3Jx

Share this:

Nick Anderson of the Washington Post reports on September 25, 2009 that Teacher Unions are not happy with what they are seeing from the Obama administration as they approach the reauthorization of NCLB.
“It looks like the only strategies they have are charter schools and measurement,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “That’s Bush III.”
Standardized testing, school accountability, performance pay, charter schools — all are integral to President Obama’s $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” grant competition to spur innovation. None is a typical Democratic crowd-pleaser.
Click here to download the entire article.

Share this:

Its a good thing that many public universities don’t have to worry about graduation rates like high schools do. A recent study of 68 colleges show many have graduation rates below 50%. The best schools have the highest rates and poor student don’t do as well. Freshmen are less expensive to educate than seniors due to class size which gives schools a financial incentive to produce drop outs. Graduates make 54% more than those with some college but too many see no reason to finish in four years.

Click here to download the article in the New York Times from 9/9/2009.

Share this: