Thursday, April 22, 2010

No idea what to do?

Good to know that the rest of the educational world has no idea what to do with student cell phones either.

I am waiting for the article on the larger issue that faces today's high school students: their inability to concentrate on anything that does not have a screen.


Update: Found it! - Check this out.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Challenging the union?

One day after reading this story in the Denver Post about the inability of the state of Colorado to fire teachers, my eyes about jumped out of my head to see this headline:

Colorado Renews Teacher Tenure Debate

A bill is being introduced in the Colorado state legislature that would tie teacher tenure with student performance. I read that and thought, "really? - what must the union be saying?" Well, they aren't happy. But then I thought, "What's the catch?"

Colorado is in the running for federal Race to the Top education grants being offered to states with the most ambitious education reforms. Colorado could receive up to $175 million.

Many education experts believe Johnston's bill gives Colorado a better chance at winning the money in the second round.

Tennessee and Delaware, two states that won $600 million in the Race to the Top's first round, reworked their laws to tie student academic growth to teacher tenure. In Colorado, teachers effectively get tenure after three years.

State Education Commissioner Dwight Jones, in an op-ed piece for The Denver Post, said he believes Johnston's bill would "boost our chances in the second round."



The key to challenging teacher tenure has been discovered: make federal money contingent upon it.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Class sizes

I've already blogged about the effects of the current economy on schools, class sizes, etc.

Here is a recent article justifying teacher layoffs with the lack of research showing that small class sizes are better.

Interesting line from the article: "It's much better to have a large class with a good teacher than a small class with a mediocre teacher," said Eric Hanushek, education researcher at Stanford University.

I've used that line before as well. Never used it justify classes over 30 though.

Update: Yikes, more bad news on this front out of Illinois (hard to believe I once lived there.)

A little sarcasm to get you through the weekend . . .

OK - this is funny. Remember - it's the Onion. I claim no responsibility for any other links on that page.