Years ago, the powerful director of a local teachers union told me in no uncertain terms: Differential pay for teachers in high-poverty schools wasn’t a good idea and wouldn’t help poor kids. He called it, and I quoted him, “a glitzy solution.” So what a jolt it was to learn,[Read More…]
School Boards
Report: U.S. spent (wasted?) $14.8 billion paying teachers for master’s degrees
School districts spent nearly $15 billion in the 2007-08 school year to pay teachers extra for earning master’s degrees, up 72 percent from four years prior, concludes a report released this week by a left-leaning think tank. The Center for American Progress suggests money for the so-called “master’s bump” was not well[Read More…]
redefinED blog stars: On reform-minded school boards, the promise of virtual charters and the NAACP’s betrayal
Editor’s note: For those new to redefinED, “blog stars” is our occasional compilation of good stuff from other ed blogs (with a newspaper op-ed thrown in now and then, too). Huffington Post: In search of the elusive, reform-minded school board member What most people don’t understand is that managing failure[Read More…]
Choice nuggets: Charter school flexibility, public school selectivity and more
Editor’s note: ‘Choice nuggets’ is a new feature we introduced on Monday. It’s what we’re calling occasional platters of noteworthy items that may not merit a post by themselves. Flexibility and the future of charter schools While most school district officials oppose charter schools that have corporate ties, Nancy Beal, a Florida[Read More…]
Choice nuggets: Islamophobia, a Jeb Bush endorsement and testing mania in Florida
Editor’s note: Today, we introduce a new feature (even if we’re not sure the name will last) – an occasional compilation of bite-sized nuggets about school choice and education reform that are worth noting but may not be worth a post by themselves. More anti-Muslim bigotry in school choice debates It’s nearly impossible[Read More…]
New report finds many academic trend lines rising in Florida’s public schools
Florida’s public schools were handed another solid but overlooked report card this week from another respected, independent source. The 27-page, data-stuffed, “Decade of Progress” progress report from the Southern Regional Education Board is yet more evidence that Florida’s public schools are making steady progress despite the claims of some critics. The trend[Read More…]
Public school choice alone isn’t enough
Over at the Gradebook (the Tampa Bay Times education blog) this morning, another example of why public school choice alone isn’t enough: Forty-two percent of the 2,200 parents in the Pasco County School District who applied to switch schools this fall were denied, the Gradebook reports, often because there wasn’t enough room.[Read More…]
A new arena for school choice to help at-risk kids
Editor’s note: School choice supporters see expansion of choice as especially promising for at-risk students. In this guest post, Alan Bonsteel, president of California Parents for Educational Choice, suggests they turn their attention to an under-the-radar, public-school sector that doesn’t have much success with the students who struggle the most. by Alan[Read More…]