Principals share secrets to positive school culture
Turning around low-performing schools and improving educator morale might seem daunting as school leaders are being asked to do more with less, but some leaders have made marked…
School Reform News
NCLB waivers require big changes, fast
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Mom says her film is sparking education reform nationwide
With her groundbreaking documentary "Race to Nowhere," Vicki Abeles has become the catalyst for a reform movement focused on reducing stress in students' lives and making education meaningful,…
Big expansion, big questions for Teach for America
The federal government and private investors are betting that Teach for America can help overcome poverty and ensure that disadvantaged children succeed, but others aren't so sure.
Report: Publishing teacher ratings will hinder reform
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High-tech education clicks … but only for some schools
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‘Exemplary’ elementary school skipped science, social studies for third graders
Third-graders at a Dallas elementary school helped propel their school to “exemplary” status, but unbeknownst to their parents, those stellar ... Read more
ED’s new partner in teacher recruitment: Microsoft
The U.S. Education Department (ED) is handing control of its online platform for teacher recruitment and retention, www.teach.gov, to software giant Microsoft Corp., the two organizations announced earlier…
Tougher teacher evaluation system prompts schools to ban student teachers
Tennessee’s new teacher evaluation system has prompted some school districts to ban student teachers from working in core high school subjects, college education officials say. The reason: So…
States strengthening teacher evaluation standards
The way educators are evaluated is changing across the country, with a switch from routine "satisfactory" ratings to actual proof that students are learning.
School gives students cash for good test scores
Gone are the days of the gold star, or the smiley-face on the graded test...now two schools are stepping up their good-grades game by offering a more serious…
Complex new Florida teacher evaluations tied to student test scores
At Coral Reef Senior High, calculus teacher Orlando Sarduy understands complicated formulas, and knows he will be graded on how his students perform on tests. But despite his…
Watch: Longer school day for Chicago Schools
After a very long, public battle, the Chicago Teachers Union announced Friday that they have come to an agreement with the mayor's office and Chicago Public Schools on…
Principals rebel against ‘value-added’ evaluation
Scores of public school principals in New York are fighting the state’s new educator evaluation system, which ties the evaluations and pay of teachers and principals to how…
More states look to online learning for students
As more students opt to enroll full-time or part-time in virtual learning programs, a growing number of states are considering proposals mandating that students take at least one…
Watch: State high school graduation rates plummet under new formula
On Monday, Illinois released report cards for each of the state's schools under a new formula bringing the way it reports school graduation rates in line with federal…
State to let parents play role in teachers’ pay
Parents across Idaho will now play a role in whether or not their child's teacher gets a raise, the Associated Press reports.
Michigan to revoke teacher licenses for lack of performance
The Michigan Department of Education is proposing new teacher certification rules, Yahoo! News reports.
Guess what Michelle Rhee charged a school to speak
How much money do you think Michelle Rhee, former Washington D.C. schools superintendent who now runs an organization called StudentsFirst, charged a regional 11,000-student campus in the Kent…
Business leaders inject themselves in school reform
It’s hard to think of a profession other than teaching about which everybody thinks they are an expert, the Washington Post reports.
At elite schools, easing up a bit on homework
It was the kind of memo that high school students would dream of getting, if they dreamed in memos, the New York Times reports.
Students compete to design better lunches
Instead of pizza and hotdogs, high school students in six U.S. cities are trying to serve up healthier lunch options to their classmates as part of a national…
Suburban high school eliminates class rankings, valedictorians
In 2007, Hinsdale Central High School eliminated class rankings. Now, the affluent suburban Chicago high school, which has been consistently named one of the best schools in the…
Study: Student progress can be tied to teacher education
The academic progress of public school students can be traced, in part, to where their teachers went to college, according to new research by the University of Washington…
States rewrite education rules, with or without Race to the Top
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George W. Bush to speak at Get Smart Schools education reform event in Denver, Thursday
Former President George W. Bush will be taking part in a discussion about education with non-profit Get Smart Schools as well as Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver Public…
Education, technology groups collaborate to leverage student data
A new collaboration among three prominent education and technology groups will aim to help schools meet growing demands to leverage student data to boost achievement while highlighting best…
Teachers protest Rupert Murdoch at school summit
Teachers in the San Francisco Bay area picketed Thursday outside an education conference that features News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch as a keynote speaker, saying they believe he…
Could a new education law ever please everyone?
The first comprehensive, bipartisan attempt to overhaul the federal No Child Left Behind Act would change the law's accountability system dramatically, focus attention on so-called dropout factories, and…
Chicago Public Schools to roll out high school-college hybrid
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Faulty data wrongly placed school among worst in state
A Delaware middle school will no longer receive hundreds of thousands in additional funding after it was mistakenly named one of the worst schools in the state, the…
Funding for Idaho online learning would vary widely
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Gov. Jerry Brown blasts data-based school reform
California Gov. Jerry Brown wrote a tough indictment of data-based school reform in a message he wrote vetoing a bill that would have changed the state’s accountability system…
Senator introduces legislation to limit class size
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Facilitating Outstanding Classrooms Using Size Reduction (FOCUS) Act of 2011 [bill summary, PDF], which the Senator says would provide states with…
Pennsylvania gearing up for school reform
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is set to lead the rest of the Harrisburg lawmakers into the realm of school reform, Yahoo! News reports.
Michigan public schools privatizing teachers ‘very real’ possibility, state lawmaker says
The privatization of public education in Michigan is a "very real" possibility, a state lawmaker said Monday, the Kalamazoo Gazette reports.
Merit pay in the spotlight at Miami-Dade schools
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ED proposes teacher prep reforms
To ensure that teachers are ready to enter the classroom, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is proposing a series of initiatives to reward the best teacher preparation…
A state grooms its best students to be good teachers
When Mr. Williams means business, he is not kidding around. “He’s pretty quiet, pretty serious,” said Ashabur Rahman, a fifth grader at Glenn Elementary School who has him…
Incentives for advanced work let pupils and teachers cash in
Joe Nystrom, who teaches math at a low-income high school here, used to think that only a tiny group of students—the “smart kids”—were capable of advanced coursework, reports…