At first blush, many listening to Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s speech at the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum may have thought they had accidentally stumbled into an economic forum. Duncan’s speech was liberally sprinkled with many terms from the current economic rhetoric: “zero-sum game,” “international competition,” and “protectionism.” Words Read more
A new teacher evaluation law in Indiana is causing concern among prospective and certified teachers. The new evaluation system includes measures of student performance that carry significant weight in the overall evaluation structure. Teachers who formerly welcomed student-teachers into their classrooms are now hesitant to do so. “They’re saying, ‘We’re Read more
Last week, the Departments of Education and Defense announced the pending launch of “Learning Registry,” an open source community and technology designed to improve the quality and availability of learning resources in education. Learning Registry is not intended to be an alternative to existing websites, but rather a communication system Read more
Winners of the second round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant Program were announced Thursday, with 23 winners selected from a pool of 587 applicants. For this round of the competition, $150 million was available to applicants who are able to secure a private match for a portion of Read more
ASCD Express is seeking short essays on the theme “Supporting Preservice Teachers.” From ASCD:“The learning trajectory from college education student to classroom teacher—and “master of her own universe”—is pretty compressed. Inevitably, much about education must be learned on the job. But can universities better prepare future teachers? If so, how? Read more
John Merrow recently blogged about a comment made by the Center for Teaching Quality’s Barnett Berry: “Teaching is a team sport,” he told Merrow. Merrow was left wondering—is this true? Baseball is a team sport, with everyone needing to work together for success, while at the same time allowing for Read more
With the presidential election cycle entering its final year, many observers have been speculating on the role education will play in the outcome. As state budgets begin to contract further due to the drying up of federal stimulus funds, the way these cuts affect education spending could potentially swing voters Read more
The American Enterprise Institute released a paper earlier this week that seeks to prove public school teachers are overcompensated by “52% more than their skills would garner in the private sector.” Traditional estimates of teacher compensation generally compare teacher salaries to the salaries of workers with similar education and experience Read more
The Center for Education Data & Research (CEDR) has released a study that examines teacher preparation programs in Washington State, in an effort to determine a link between program efficacy and teacher effectiveness. Comparing data between teacher’s initial endorsements and student achievement on state math and reading tests, the study Read more
American Education Week (AEW) began in 1921 as a joint project between the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Legion. Ninety years later, the event still focuses on generating public support for education and “informing the public of the accomplishments and needs of the public schools and to secure Read more
Last month, Gretchen Rhines Cheney and Jacquelyn Davis of the Center for American Progress released a study that looked at school leadership from the ground up. Research shows that principals account for ¼ of a school’s total impact on student learning; moreover, there is a growing base of research that Read more
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its report State of the States: Trends and Early Lessons on Teacher Evaluation and Effectiveness Policies late last month that offers a closer look at what is being done across the nation with regard to teacher assessments. While admitting that it is Read more
Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean of Michigan’s School of Education, recently unveiled TeachingWorks, a wing of the School of Education that will focus on “raising the standards for practice as a classroom teacher by transforming how teachers are prepared and supported.” The details of the eventual character of TeachingWorks is still Read more
In a recent opinion piece for Education Week, Craig Hochbein and Bradley Carpenter, assistant professors of K-12 leadership at the University of Louisville, reflect on what they call “disciplined improvement.” Using examples such as Ty Cobb and Ernest Hemingway to illustrate that disciplined improvement encompasses both “the commencement and termination Read more
In the new era where teachers have little time for face-to-face interaction with colleagues and district budget cuts limit professional development opportunities, educators are increasingly turning to online communities (or professional learning networks, PLNs) that allow them to share lesson plans, teaching strategies, and student work, as well as collaborate Read more
Old Dominion University and Johns Hopkins University recently released a study of the National Institute of School Leadership’s (NISL’s) Executive Development Program (EDP), a program established to provide professional development to school leaders to improve school performance. The primary goal of the program is to ensure that school leaders have Read more