educational reform

9 Stories

Occupy School Districts, Not Wall Street

They contribute just as much to inequality: Andrew Rotherham

(Newser) - Wall Street is an easy target, but if protesters really want to improve social mobility in America, they should be occupying the school districts. “There is perhaps no better example of how the system is rigged against millions of Americans than the education our children receive,” writes Andrew...

What If NFL Players Were Paid Like Teachers?
What If NFL Players Were
Paid Like Teachers?
OPINION
Oct 3, 2011 8:34 AM CDT

What If NFL Players Were Paid Like Teachers?

The league would suffer, just like our education system: Fran Tarkenton

(Newser) - Imagine if every NFL player's salary was based on how long he had played, and if players who made it through three seasons could almost never be fired. "It's about tenure, not talent" in this alternate reality, writes NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton in the Wall ...

Obama's Next Target: Education Reform

'No Child' despised by both sides, but scope of reform disputed

(Newser) - Seemingly leaving no sweeping overhaul behind, even under the changed dynamics of the 112th Congress, the Obama administration is readying its next legislative push: education reform. An overhaul of No Child Left Behind has broad support on both sides of the aisle, reports the AP, but divisions begin to show...

Obama Readies 'No Child' Overhaul

President looks beyond health reform to 'kitchen-table' issues

(Newser) - President Obama today promised to rewrite the sweeping and controversial No Child Left Behind law with a plan to prepare students for life after high school and to place better teachers at the blackboards. The announcement's timing suggests Obama is looking beyond the health care reform still lingering in Congress—...

Fire Bad Teachers—Now
 Fire Bad Teachers—Now 



OPINION
Mar 8, 2010 2:30 PM CST

Fire Bad Teachers—Now

But for some frustrating reasons, that's almost impossible

(Newser) - The American education system has been falling behind for a while, and the reason is obvious: Teachers can't be fired. Recent studies have shown that teacher quality is one of the top predictors of a student’s success, write Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert in Newsweek . Yet education unions are...

Cash-Strapped School Districts Go to 4-Day Week

Parents, workers miffed, but effect on student learning is unclear

(Newser) - As school districts across the nation find themselves battling massive budget shortfalls, some are turning to the relatively rare but controversial practice of shortening the school week. Four-day weeks usually don’t affect teacher pay or the amount of classroom time for students, as the days are simply lengthened. But...

High Schools to Graduate Sophomores

It's part of a European-style experiment to improve education

(Newser) - About 100 high schools in 8 states will soon embark on a European experiment that could have students going off to community college after 10th grade. Sophomores who pass a battery of board examinations would be free to graduate early, or stay to prepare for application for more selective universities....

Katrina Benefited New Orleans Schools: Ed Secretary

'Education system was a disaster' before hurricane, Arne Duncan says

(Newser) - By forcing the city to start rebuilding its schools from scratch, Hurricane Katrina was "the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans," the secretary of education says in a TV interview set to air next week. "That education system was a disaster, and...

Teachers' Unions Strangling School Reform
 Teachers' Unions 
 Strangling School Reform 
JOE KLEIN
Jan 28, 2010 12:28 PM CST

Teachers' Unions Strangling School Reform

Obama must fight for accountability and neuter 'reactionary' lobbyists

(Newser) - New York could really use $700 million in federal Race to the Top education funding, Joe Klein writes, but it won’t get it thanks to intractable teachers’ unions. The federal funds require school choice and teacher accountability, so the powerful union lobby stymied it in the state legislature. The...

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