School officials and union agree on pilot program for teacher evaluations

In a step toward reshaping how all teachers in New York City’s 1,700 public schools are judged, the Department of Education and the city teachers’ union agreed on Friday to a pilot teacher-evaluation system that will take effect next year in 33 struggling schools, reports the New York Times. The deal, which ended months of disagreement, was needed for the city’s continued participation in a federal grant program that could bring up to $65 million in grants–up to $6 million for some schools–over the next three years…

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Why Illinois might be a model for education reform

Illinois' drafting partnership serves as an example to other states struggling with education reform.

Illinois’ Senate Bill 7, passed in June, ushered in numerous changes designed to improve teaching and learning—and it demonstrates the power of collaboration between education policy makers and teachers’ unions, according to a panel discussion held July 13.

The panel, “Illinois—The New Leader in Education Reform?” highlighted the unlikely conglomeration of education leaders who helped write and pass the bill, from legislators to teachers’ unions.

“In some states, the debate has been contentious, with partisan efforts to limit the role of unions and collective bargaining,” said Cynthia Brown, vice president for education policy at the Center for American Progress. “But common sense, along with our research and the research of others, have shown that consensus-oriented reform is the more successful way to go.”…Read More

Union chief faults school reform from ‘On High’

Amid one of the most contentious periods in recent memory for teachers’ unions, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, on Monday called for education reform that emanates from teachers and their communities, rather than from “those who blame teachers for everything,” reports the New York Times.

 “Let’s refuse to be defined by people who are happy to lecture us about the state of public education–but wouldn’t last 10 minutes in a classroom,” Ms. Weingarten told a crowd of about 2,000 here in kicking off the national conference held every two years by the union, which has 1.5 million members…

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Readers: Here’s how we’d change ESEA

"Even Diane Ravitch, one of NCLB's greatest champions, has reconsidered her position," said a reader.

With Education Secretary Arne Duncan warning Congress that he’ll take matters into his own hands if lawmakers this year fail to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind, eSchool News recently asked readers: “What’s one change/revision/addition you’d like to see in ESEA?”

The nation’s education law is long overdue for a revision, and Duncan has called its current tangle of strict accountability measures “a slow-motion train wreck for schools,” noting that as many as 80 percent of schools could be labeled failures next year if the law isn’t changed.

Holding up the process in Congress is broad disagreement over how to revise ESEA in a way that is fair to schools, while still holding them accountable for student success. Here are the eight best suggestions we received from readers who are on the front lines of these issues, edited for brevity and presented in no particular order:…Read More

Report highlights importance of early childhood education

Children who attend high-quality pre-kindergarten programs are more likely to graduate from high school.

Children who attend high-quality pre-kindergarten programs are more likely to graduate from high school, says a new report that calls on states and communities to build an aligned system to support early childhood learning and kindergarten programs.

The report from the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), called “Building and Supporting an Aligned System: A Vision for Transforming Education across the Pre-K-Grade Three Years,” claims that “high-quality early learning can substantially increase the likelihood of academic success.”

“I certainly see this report to be a really strong signal to the K-12 world, as much as the early childhood [learning] world, that there is room for everybody at the table, and in fact, we need everybody at the table to make sure that young children are going to get what they need,” said Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative.…Read More

Inner city parents protest NAACP, teachers’ union

According to the Daily Caller, minority parents in New York have a message for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT): you are hurting our children. In New York Monday, charter school parents staged another of several rallies to voice opposition to a lawsuit brought by the UFT and NAACP against the New York City Department of Education. If the organizations are successful with their suit, it would prevent enrollment or re-enrollment in 17 charter schools and stop the closure of 22 public schools…

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Walton Family Foundation gives $157 million toward education reform

The numbers are in: the Walton Family Foundation invested $157 million in grants for K-12 education reform in 2010, a $23 million increase over its 2009 total of $134 million, reports the Huffington Post. The 23-year-old foundation, created by Walmart Founder Sam Walton and his wife Helen, is second only to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in its spending on schools. Having spent over $1 billion to date on education reform, the Walton Family Foundation remains the largest donor toward initiatives supporting parental choice and encouraging competition in the education system…

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Colorado holds lotto to help underprivileged children pay for private schools

Douglas County School District officials say their controversial pilot scholarship is going to move forward until a court orders it to stop, the Huffington Post reports. The day after two lawsuits were filed, by three civil liberties unions on behalf of a group of parents and Taxpayers for Public Education a few hours later, the Douglas County voucher program held its scholarship lottery to help students afford choices outside of the public school system…

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Brizard, Emanuel suggest CPS teachers make home visits

In a press conference coordinated with the United Neighborhood Organization (UNO)’s announcement that their organization, which oversees a network of charter schools, is adding instructional days to their forthcoming academic year, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and new schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard suggested that the group’s charter system offers a model of the direction in which Chicago Public Schools should head, the Huffington Post reports. Namely, Brizard suggested that CPS teachers should begin to make two annual “home visits” in order to forge a better connection with students’ families, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

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