First Bell 6-3-13

yes Pamela Tatz / June 3, 2013

A first look at today's most important education news:

In New York City’s new teacher-evaluation system, issued on Saturday by the state’s Education Commissioner after the union and city “failed to agree [on a system] after three years of negotiations,” 20 to 25 percent of teachers’ ratings will be determined by students’ scores on state test; the city will also develop new tests for subjects like music and gym. (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times)

Following a trend of backlash against the Common Core, some Michigan lawmakers have introduced a bill that could block funding for the standards. (AL.com, StateImpact Indiana, and HechingerEd)

LAUSD school-board members are divided over how to spend new Prop 30 funds. (Huffington Post)

Wisconsin lawmakers are working on a deal that would expand the voucher program to the entire state and allow an increase of $150 per student for the next two years. (Associated Press)

A summit cohosted by the Department of Education and the MacArthur Foundation the

» Continued

First Bell 6-3-13

First Bell 5-31-13

yes Pamela Tatz / May 31, 2013

A first look at today's most important education news:

Colleges in states that have banned affirmative action encourage diversity by reaching out to disadvantaged high school students—but universities’ levels of effort vary. (New York Times)

The Washington Post reports on tea-party groups’ recent mobilization against the Common Core standards.

Coursera touts the potential of MOOCs to provide dual-enrollment opportunities to students in underprivileged high schools. (Digital)

In response to Coursera’s recent addition of ten more public universities, Arne Duncan expressed interest, so long as the MOOCs are quality. (Coursera Blog and Digital Education)

Studies find that kids in elementary and preschool learn more by explaining. (Education Week)

The Helios Foundation and NASA are offering grants in support of STEM education. (Curriculum Matters)

An eight-year-old boy who had been suspended for two days for chewing a pop-tart into the shape of a gun has been given a lifetime membership to the NRA; when pressed for a reaction, the boy replied, “I don’t know why I did

» Continued

First Bell 5-31-13

What we talk about when we talk about poverty

yes Michael J. Petrilli / May 31, 2013

This article originally appeared on Education Week’s Bridging Differences blog, where Mike Petrilli is debating Deborah Meier through mid-June.

Dear Deborah,

I want to return to the perennial question of poverty as it relates to educational outcomes. One of the main arguments against education reform is that it misdiagnoses the problem. We have big “achievement gaps” in terms of test scores, graduation rates, college-going, and much else, but that’s primarily because of inequities in our society, not because of the failings of our schools—so goes the thinking.

As I indicated in my first post for Bridging Differences, I’m not opposed to tackling these larger issues of poverty and inequality. (Neither are most reformers.) But we’d better have a good understanding of what we’re tackling. I would argue that clarity is sorely lacking.

Is the issue really poverty, per se? The fact that many families in the U.S. don’t have enough income to provide the advantages that other children enjoy? If so, are we satisfied with delineating the problem with the poverty line (currently about $20,000 for a family of three)? That qualifies 23 percent of all children (as of 2011), up from 18

» Continued

What we talk about when we talk about poverty

First Bell 5-30-13

yes Pamela Tatz / May 30, 2013

A first look at today's most important education news:

The CTU has filed a third lawsuit aimed at reversing the Chicago Board of Education’s plan to close forty-nine schools; this lawsuit—unlike the first two, which claimed discrimination—contends that CPS did not follow proper shutdown procedure in the shuttering of ten schools. (Huffington Post, Associated Press, and Chicago Tribune)

Concluding the long-running Lobato v. State case, the Colorado State Supreme Court ruled that the state’s current school-finance system is constitutional. (EdNews Colorado, Denver Post, and Flypaper)

Schools that serve low-income students consistently find that their students have a more difficult time with reading than with math. (New York Times)

Voucher students in Louisiana performed almost 30 points below the average on statewide tests; consequently, seven private schools that currently educate voucher students will no longer qualify to do. (Times-Picayune and Charters & Choice)

Coursera, a MOOC provider, will add ten large public universities to its growing partnerships. (Los Angeles Times and New York Times)

Arne Duncan argues that more Hispanic children should participate in preschool. (Washington Post)

A bill making it easier to shut down failing charter schools has advanced through the South Carolina Senate, as has a

» Continued

First Bell 5-30-13