NPR (9/16) reports in its “Ed” blog that NPR checked with several school technologists and teachers to see which digital tools they are using in the classroom. The blog reports on several education apps, and several apps that are being employed for education purposes. Apps like Remind are being used by teachers to notify students and parents about upcoming homework assignment and due dates, while another teacher has employed the use of QR codes to let parents access portfolios during open houses.
Professor Defends Common Core Math Standards
In an op-ed for USA Today (9/16), Solomon Friedberg, chair of the Math Department at Boston College, defends Common Core math standards, arguing that they encourage students to learn math “with both computational fluency and understanding of the ideas,” thereby eliminating “the need for endless rule-memorizing” and providing “the intellectual flexibility to apply math in new situations.”
More Schools Adopting BYOD Policies
The Washington Post (9/14, George) reports on the use of “bring your own device” technology programs in schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, noting that “the idea of allowing students to use their own technology in schools to enhance academic instruction is a significant departure from” past policies banning cell phone use in the classroom. The piece presents the approach as an alternative to “investing heavily in laptops and tablets, with an eye toward one-to-one computing, which provides a device to each student,” and notes that some districts are “taking a blended approach that they say is more affordable and sustainable: supporting BYOD practices as they also buy” laptops and tablets.
TV Actress With PhD In Neuroscience Calls For More STEM Education
CNBC (9/11) provides STEM education promoting commentary from Mayim Bialik, an author, Texas Instruments brand ambassador, and three-time Emmy nominated actress with her PhD in neuroscience. Bialik cites concerns that students don’t appreciate the significance of STEM job growth and thus the importance of STEM education, arguing “students need access to mentors” as “STEM motivation often comes from outside the confines of school walls.”
California Teacher Tenure Becoming Major Election Issue
The Los Angeles Times (9/10, Skelton) reports the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s June decision to throw out two-year teacher tenure has brought the issue of teacher quality to the forefront of the state gubernatorial debates, with appeals filed by Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Kamala D Harris (both seeking re-election), as well as teacher unions with schools chief Tom Torlakson soon to follow. Skelton goes on to cite platitudes from Brown denouncing bad teachers while not-directly supporting the ruling, while Torlakson trails party-opponent Marshall Tuck in polling 28% to 31%, with 41% undecided.
Analysis Of Male Scarcity In Teaching
The New York Times (9/7, Rich, Subscription Publication) reports on the scarcity of male teachers and proposals to address it, with more than 80% of elementary and middle school education as well as 58% of high school education dominated by women, citing a “cultural devaluation of women’s work” in the words of Philip N. Cohen, a University of Maryland sociologist. The article briefly touches on a lack of racial diversity among teachers as well, citing efforts by Teach for America and Teach.org in conjunction with the Education Department to increase minority representation in teaching.
Q&A With Dana Goldstein, Author Of “The Teacher Wars”
In its Ed blog, NPR (9/6, Goldstein, Lionstar) features a question and answer series between reporter Michael Lionstar and author Dana Goldstein concerning her new book, “The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession.” The book itself investigates the historical precedents for today’s educational debates, while the interview covers opposition to unions, retirement benefits, tenure, and test-based accountability.
Teaching Salaries’ Rate Of Increase Slowing
The AP (9/6, D'amico) reports on teaching salaries’ slowing rate of increase, despite teachers contributing more toward their health insurance premiums and pensions, within the context of Egg Harbor Township’s school board negotiation with the teachers’ union over expired contracts. The article cites numerous compromises in other districts within the complicated financial environment of controlling costs while trying to provide incentives for the profession.
Gates Behind “Common Core Standards Initiative”
In a 5,000-word article, the New York Times (9/7, Sorkin, Subscription Publication) details how the idea for the controversial “Common Core Standards Initiative” originated in 2008 after Bill Gates watched the Teaching Company’s “Big History” course while working out in his private gym. The course, taught by Australian professor David Christian, “wove together... a unifying narrative of life on earth.” In 2011, Gates and Christian collaborated and launched the Big History Project in five high schools. Since that inaugural effort, “Gates and Christian — along with a team of educational consultants, executives and teachers, mostly based in Seattle — have quietly accelerated its growth.” The article notes that, “this fall, the project will be offered free to more than 15,000 students in some 1,200 schools.”
Traditional School Schedule Not Rooted In Agricultural Needs
PBS (9/8, de Melker) reports that “while there may be a kernel of truth” to the roots of summer vacation having its roots in an agrarian past, “its mostly wrong.” Kids were traditionally needed on the farm for planting in the spring and harvesting in the Fall, meaning a school on the agrarian calendar would hold classes during summer and fall terms. However, city schools began closing in the summer months as wealthy and upper-middle-class families would take vacations from the sweltering concrete buildings of an urban environment. As school reformers pushed for a standardized calendar, “summer was the logical time to take off.”
Q&A With Dana Goldstein, Author Of “The Teacher Wars”
In its Ed blog, NPR (9/6, Goldstein, Lionstar) features a question and answer series between reporter Michael Lionstar and author Dana Goldstein concerning her new book, “The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession.” The book itself investigates the historical precedents for today’s educational debates, while the interview covers opposition to unions, retirement benefits, tenure, and test-based accountability.
California Teachers Unions Appeal Ruling On Tenure
The AP (9/4) reports that the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers, filed an appeal with the California 2nd District Court of Appeal, arguing against “a court ruling that struck down state laws on tenure and job protection,” saying that it was “riddled with errors,” and “is without support in law or fact.”
Author Defends Summer Vacation
Eric J. Segall writes at Salon (9/3, Segall) against school reformers’ efforts to shorten or eliminate summer vacation because of concerns about the “summer slide.” Segall argues that “summer vacation is embedded in our culture, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.” He describes the history of summer vacation, noting that it is not agrarian in its basis as farming children would need breaks in the spring for planting and in the fall for harvest rather than all summer. Instead summer vacation was a creation for “middle- and upper-class families” who “wanted to get out of the hot, crowded cities (and classrooms) during the summer months.” He faults Education Secretary Arne Duncan for perpetuating the myth of the agrarian origins of summer vacation, as well as the “argument that the American ‘school day, week, and year’ are too short.” He argues for a particular vision of summer vacation that is “filled with organized activities.”
California Students Have Better Than Average Attendance
The Los Angeles Times (9/2, Watanabe) reports on a study by Attendance Works, finding that “California students attend school more consistently than most of their U.S. peers,” leading to “better performance on national math and reading tests.” Even with that, “nearly 1 in 5 of those students still missed more than three days of class in the month leading up to the National Assessment for Educational Progress.” Meanwhile, “in L.A. Unified, the percentage of students with attendance rates of 96% or higher has steadily increased” from 60 percent in 2009-10 to 71% in 2013-14.
Book Offers History Of Teachers In US
NPR (9/2) “Fresh Air” featured Dana Goldstein and her new book, The Teacher Wars, in which she explains that teachers are both “resented and idealized.” The book is “largely a history,” but “draws on Goldstein’s reporting on recent controversies surrounding teaching.” Goldstein discusses the development of the profession in the US from the early 19th century.
California Appeals Ruling Against Teaching Tenure
The New York Times (8/31, Nagourney, Subscription Publication) reports California’s Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala D. Harris have appealed a judge’s “sweeping ruling” against teachers’ tenure laws for depriving “students of their constitutional rights,” stating the decision belonged to the authority of appellate review. A lawyer for Students Matter, Theodore J Boutrous Jr., criticized the appeal for defending “harmful and irrational laws.” The ruling was “strongly welcomed” by Education Secretary Arne Duncan as well as California Republicans, including Brown’s gubernatorial competition this fall.
The AP (8/30) also carries the story.
Vergara Ruling Sets Up Political Battle Over Teacher Protections
Politico (8/29, Severns) reports that a Los Angeles judge on Thursday “reaffirmed a tentative June ruling that struck down five laws governing job protections for teachers in California.” The final decision “in the headline-grabbing tenure suit sets the stage for the appeals process,” and the “clock starts ticking for state Superintendent Tom Torlakson: As a named defendant in the case, he has to decide whether to appeal.” Torlakson will “have to make that decision by just before the Nov. 4 election that pits him against education reformer – and fellow Democrat – Marshall Tuck. With Tuck eager to make the case a campaign issue, the Vergara v. State of California decision could take center stage in the big money race.” The judge ruled that “the tenure and other job protection laws for teachers violate the state constitution’s guarantee that children receive ‘basic equality of educational opportunity.’”
California Lawmakers Pass Ballot Measure To End English-Only Instruction
The Los Angeles Times (8/28, Mcgreevy, Mason) reports California legislators passed a ballot measure to ask voters in two years to dismantle the English-only mandate in a public instruction law approved in 1998. The measure goes to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown next and it is being deemed “another victory for Latino legislators” looking to remove polarized laws aimed at immigrants. Should the law be signed and approved by voters it will give parents more power to decide which languages will be used to instruct their children.
LATimes Says California Should Keep School Metric Simple, Meaningful
In an editorial, the Los Angeles Times (8/6) applauds California for “broadening its definition of what constitutes a quality education” by tying results to funding and by examining how the Academic Performance Index is calculated. It urges education officials to keep things simple in the API and use “numbers that matter,” which “are the ones that measure outcomes: graduation rates, test scores,” and “the ability to qualify for college admission.”
California Proposed Budget Puts Emphasis On Education Spending
Reuters (8/5, Respaut) reports that legislative analysts in California said the state’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year shows $152.3 billion in spending that includes a lot more money for education and contains a plan to fund the $189.1 billion pension system for teachers that would take 32 years. Overall, the budget proposes to spend 8.6 percent more than last year. The budget contains increased funding for schools as well as community colleges to make education an overall focus. The budget would draw down reserves from $2.9 billion to $2.1 billion, but a better economy and new sources of tax revenue mean the state likely will have another deficit-free year.
