Some Tennessee Principals and teachers are extremely frustrated with the way they're being forced to evaluate or the way they're being evaluated under the new program enacted with the Race to the Top funds.
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction preventing the FDA from mandating that cigarette manufacturers place new graphic warning labels on their products
Herman Cain has solidified his lead while Rick Perry has fallen into 4th place, but has Cain leveled off? Given the recent sexual harassment charges, it's something to watch.
Check out this interactive feature where Nate Silver calculates the odds of each Republican candidates becoming President based on the economy and Obama's approval numbers
More on the tightening of voter eligibility laws and how Tennesseans are responding
Showing posts with label educational policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label educational policy. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Link Round-Up 8-28-11
Health
Local schools are serving funnel cakes, among other sugary items, for breakfast
Here's a good visual as to why obesity is such a difficult policy problem: just look at the sheer number of factors that influence obesity
Education
America lags behind peer nations in math achievement; two writers argue that teaching HS math in task-oriented chunks rather than the current out of context progression can help us catch up
Politics
Despite being written off by national media, Ron Paul is currently faring better against Obama than Michelle Bachmann in the latest poll . . . though advocating for the elimination of FEMA during a hurricane may not make him the most popular man in some areas right now
This is a couple weeks old now, but after Rick Perry's entrance into the field (and surge in the polls) the WSJ led a stream of news outlets questioning whether the best possible Republican candidates are currently running . . . meanwhile, the latest poll shows the Republican voters are coming to terms with the candidates -- only 30% now report that they're dissatisfied
So-called "super-PACs" with unlimited donations are playing a large role in the upcoming Presidential race and are transitioning from issue-focused organizations to pseudo-campaigns supporting one candidate.
Other
The mayor of NYC ordered all coastal areas evacuated, but a number of residents are stayed put anyway
The new Vanderbilt coaching staff is pounding greatness into the heads of its players
Local schools are serving funnel cakes, among other sugary items, for breakfast
Here's a good visual as to why obesity is such a difficult policy problem: just look at the sheer number of factors that influence obesity
Education
America lags behind peer nations in math achievement; two writers argue that teaching HS math in task-oriented chunks rather than the current out of context progression can help us catch up
Politics
Despite being written off by national media, Ron Paul is currently faring better against Obama than Michelle Bachmann in the latest poll . . . though advocating for the elimination of FEMA during a hurricane may not make him the most popular man in some areas right now
This is a couple weeks old now, but after Rick Perry's entrance into the field (and surge in the polls) the WSJ led a stream of news outlets questioning whether the best possible Republican candidates are currently running . . . meanwhile, the latest poll shows the Republican voters are coming to terms with the candidates -- only 30% now report that they're dissatisfied
So-called "super-PACs" with unlimited donations are playing a large role in the upcoming Presidential race and are transitioning from issue-focused organizations to pseudo-campaigns supporting one candidate.
Other
The mayor of NYC ordered all coastal areas evacuated, but a number of residents are stayed put anyway
The new Vanderbilt coaching staff is pounding greatness into the heads of its players
Monday, March 21, 2011
Ed Policy Links
-Here's an excellent synopsis of the current situation with NCLB, courtesy of the The Economist. You should read it.
-The liberal Nick Kristof argues that we must pay teachers more if we ever want to achieve the same results as other countries, where teachers are higher paid and held in higher esteem. The conservative Mike Petrilli argues that we should actually pay most teachers the same (meaning newer teachers would be paid more and senior teachers less) since teacher usually reach peak effectiveness after about 3-5 years.
-This piece decrying a new policy in Chicago requiring schools to serve breakfast at the beginning of first period (which will, according to the author, waste valuable class time) stands in stark contrast to this recent brief journal article entitled "Why Education Researchers Should Take School Food Seriously" (which discusses research linking nutrition and educational performance).
-Florida has a new law that essentially does away with teacher tenure
-The liberal Nick Kristof argues that we must pay teachers more if we ever want to achieve the same results as other countries, where teachers are higher paid and held in higher esteem. The conservative Mike Petrilli argues that we should actually pay most teachers the same (meaning newer teachers would be paid more and senior teachers less) since teacher usually reach peak effectiveness after about 3-5 years.
-This piece decrying a new policy in Chicago requiring schools to serve breakfast at the beginning of first period (which will, according to the author, waste valuable class time) stands in stark contrast to this recent brief journal article entitled "Why Education Researchers Should Take School Food Seriously" (which discusses research linking nutrition and educational performance).
-Florida has a new law that essentially does away with teacher tenure
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Education Policy Links 3-16-11
For many, "teacher quality" is at the heart of the debate over how to improve schools and close the achievement gap. A number of reforms are being tried in order to recruit, train, and retain better teachers and fire worse teachers -- one of these is a new charter school in NYC that pays its teachers $125K per year (60 Minutes Video). The Economist cheers many of these recent reforms, while Diane Ravitch is decidedly more skeptical.
Here's a quick summary of a few of the aspects of NCLB that we discussed in class on Monday. Cheating on tests is another unintended consequence we didn't discuss.
Robert Samuelson points out that Americans actually don't do too poorly on international assessments if we compare by racial sub-group, arguing that we have a larger problem with culture than with schools.
Incentive pay for teachers is popular reform nowadays, but a just-released evaluation of school-based incentive pay found no positive effects. The first randomized experiment of performance pay in schools found similar results last fall.
Here's a quick summary of a few of the aspects of NCLB that we discussed in class on Monday. Cheating on tests is another unintended consequence we didn't discuss.
Robert Samuelson points out that Americans actually don't do too poorly on international assessments if we compare by racial sub-group, arguing that we have a larger problem with culture than with schools.
Incentive pay for teachers is popular reform nowadays, but a just-released evaluation of school-based incentive pay found no positive effects. The first randomized experiment of performance pay in schools found similar results last fall.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Ed Policy Links
-On Saturday, Obama called for an overhaul of NCLB. Among other changes, he'd like to see an end of the 100% by 2014 goal, broader evaluations of schools, and use of trend (rather than snapshot) data -- but still maintains the annual math and reading tests.
-After surging in popularity over the past few years, charter schools are starting to receive some pushback. The state senator from Harlem, the hotbed of charter schools, recently put his foot down on the issue. And conservative researcher Diane Ravitch (who was assistant secretary of education under Bush I) recently released a book indicating a change of heart on school choice. Here, some experts discuss why the recent spate of negative press.
-Meanwhile, traditional public schools in Harlem have responded to the influx of charter schools by stepping up marketing efforts for their schools
-Here's some more info on the Harlem Children's zone, including one of the videos we watched in class today (here's the other video).
-Here's some background on the panel that recently proposed a set of national standards.
-Wake County, NC had perhaps the most aggressive integration/busing program in the country. As of a couple weeks ago, it looks like that will come to an end. Here's the background on that decision.
-Jay Mathews wonders if we shouldn't train teachers more like we train ice skaters
-After surging in popularity over the past few years, charter schools are starting to receive some pushback. The state senator from Harlem, the hotbed of charter schools, recently put his foot down on the issue. And conservative researcher Diane Ravitch (who was assistant secretary of education under Bush I) recently released a book indicating a change of heart on school choice. Here, some experts discuss why the recent spate of negative press.
-Meanwhile, traditional public schools in Harlem have responded to the influx of charter schools by stepping up marketing efforts for their schools
-Here's some more info on the Harlem Children's zone, including one of the videos we watched in class today (here's the other video).
-Here's some background on the panel that recently proposed a set of national standards.
-Wake County, NC had perhaps the most aggressive integration/busing program in the country. As of a couple weeks ago, it looks like that will come to an end. Here's the background on that decision.
-Jay Mathews wonders if we shouldn't train teachers more like we train ice skaters
Friday, February 12, 2010
Links to Explore
-This week's Economist/YouGov poll finds that 59% of Americans don't know how many votes it takes to end a filibuster in the Senate. A number of other interesting findings are discussed as well.
-The Tennessean examines whether adding ethanol to gasoline also has some negative effects. Evidence is mostly anecdotal right now, but a more definitive study should be out within the next year.
-Kentucky became the first state to adopt math and reading standards developed by a national group.
-A number of people assume (or want to assume) that the recent snowstorms disprove global warming. Climate scientists point out both that weather always varies and that their models predict wider variations in weather as a result of climate change -- including more snowstorms.
-The Tennessean examines whether adding ethanol to gasoline also has some negative effects. Evidence is mostly anecdotal right now, but a more definitive study should be out within the next year.
-Kentucky became the first state to adopt math and reading standards developed by a national group.
-A number of people assume (or want to assume) that the recent snowstorms disprove global warming. Climate scientists point out both that weather always varies and that their models predict wider variations in weather as a result of climate change -- including more snowstorms.
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