Education Reform and Workforce Development

Position

News

• 'Little Rock Nine' member dies
  Sep 6, 2010 — CNN
  Thomas died of pancreatic cancer on Sunday, the Little Rock Nine Foundation said in a statement. On September 4, 1957, a national furor erupted as the nine students attempted to enter Central High. The following year, Faubus closed all the Little Rock high schools to avoid integration, the foundation said.
• School set to begin major turnaround
  Sep 6, 2010 — The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
  ASL." Like many schools for the deaf nationally, HSDB hasn't met adequate yearly progress goals for student math and reading proficiency under the federal No Child Left Behind law. The school also lacks highly qualified teachers (those who have completed their licensure and competency test requirements). Only one of the school's 10 teachers in core areas is highly qualified. Dickerson said the school will never meet the benchmarks for student performance under NCLB,...
• 12 Boston schools face 'make or break' makeover
  Sep 5, 2010 — Boston Herald
  At the seven most troubled schools, all 409 teachers and staff had to reapply for their jobs. The money will pay to keep teachers teaching an extra hour each day.
• A trail that Rhee shouldn't have hit
  Sep 5, 2010 — Washington Post
  I suppose D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee assumed that a Mayor Vincent Gray would not keep her on the job if he won wins the D.C. Democratic primary on Sept. 14. At any rate, on Saturday, Rhee decided to jump into the middle of the primary and hit the campaign trail on the side of the man who gave her the job, Mayor Adrian Fenty. She is a polarizing figure in the District of Columbia, but I’m a fan of Michelle Rhee.
• As new year starts, high hopes for Phila.'s Promise Academies
  Sep 5, 2010 — The Philadelphia Inquirer
  Just 5 percent of Ethel Allen fifth graders read at grade level. When technology teacher Aaron Swan met Ackerman and mentioned he wanted to start a photography club but had no equipment, the superintendent told Swan to send her a list of what he needed. They will have longer school days and years, Saturday school, enrichment activities, tutoring, and lots of extras.
• Best colleges are the ones whose graduates find jobs
  Sep 5, 2010 — Chicago Tribune
  Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Finaid.com and Fastweb. (OOTC:FSWBF) com, notes that only 53.7 percent of people who have graduated or left public colleges and universities are paying as expected. Kantrowitz noted that only 24.4 percent of Harvard Medical School graduates are repaying their loans. On average, she said, students can afford to devote 10 percent of their monthly pay to college loan payments, but if pay is very low, loans should also be limited.
• EDITORIAL
  Sep 5, 2010 — Richmond Times-Dispatch
  Judge Robert Mehrige's busing decision receives considerable play. He scorns the emphasis on testing, and concludes that Freeman and TeeJay approach the standards differently. If TeeJay's approach may be to its students' detriment, then the SOL regimen gives the school little choice.
• Failing Schools Unnerving Some Parents
  Sep 5, 2010 — The Hartford Courant
  Last year, 281 Connecticut schools, about 28 percent of all schools in the state, failed to meet the federal standard of 80 percent of students succeeding on tests measuring math and reading proficiency. In East Hartford this year, John A. Langford Elementary School, the Joseph O. Goodwin School and East Hartford High School were recognized by the federal government as making adequate yearly progress. They are Goodwin School, Thomas S. O'Connell Elementary School and the Gov.
• GOP gov hopefuls run against Obama
  Sep 5, 2010 — Politico
  But Perry  has run against Washington in more targeted ways, first tarring his primary opponent, Sen. Brewer, in Arizona, hasn’t just attacked national spending and health care reform.
• Improvement program starting at Petersburg schools
  Sep 5, 2010 — Richmond Times-Dispatch
  The program features small learning communities -- 15 students in a class -- for 60 students in each grade level. The city is becoming a political battlefield for charter schools. Bob McDonnell expressed his desire to see more charter schools in Virginia, including one in Petersburg.