When President-Elect Obama named Arne Duncan his pick for US Secretary of Education this week, it signaled a new direction for Democrats on education reform, and that Obama is serious about challenging the status quo. During his time in Chicago’s public school system, Duncan has been a strong advocate for meaningful reform.
Duncan is midway […]
Archive for the 'Teacher Effectiveness' Category
Duncan Pick Signals New Direction for Democrats
Published by December 18th, 2008 in Alternative Certification, Charter Schools, Federal Government, Great Leadership, Mayoral Academies, Mayors, NCLB, Obama, Teacher Effectiveness and Urban Schools. 0 CommentsTeach for America No Longer Banned from RI
Published by November 18th, 2008 in Alternative Certification, Great Leadership, Teacher Effectiveness and Urban Schools. 0 CommentsAfter a lengthy debate, Rhode Island’s regulations on alternative certification of teachers became competitive with other states as the Board of Regents voted to approve new regulations that for the first time allow programs like Teach for America and The New Teachers Project to apply for approval to operate in Rhode Island. These programs […]
Lessons from New Orleans
Published by August 26th, 2008 in Charter Schools, Great Leadership, Teacher Effectiveness and Urban Schools. 0 CommentsIn the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a phoenix has risen from the ashes. Long plagued by incompetence, corruption, racial segregation and dysfunction, the New Orleans school district was essentially scrapped in the wake of the hurricane. In its place, education reformers have taken a “clean slate” attitude to the challenge, focusing on the […]
Times2 Closes Reading Achievement Gap
Published by May 1st, 2008 in Charter Schools, Curriculum, Fuzzy Math, High Schools, Providence, Teacher Effectiveness, Teacher Quality and Urban Schools. 3 CommentsWe hear often about the gap in student achievement between low income children of color and wealthy white suburbanites. Several weeks ago, I joined Governor Carcieri on his visit to Times2, a public charter school in Providence. Unlike most charter schools in Rhode Island, Times2 is actually affiliated with the district and must employ its […]
Teach for America Knocks on Rhode Island’s Door
Published by April 28th, 2008 in Alternative Certification, Great Leadership, Teacher Effectiveness, Teacher Quality and Urban Schools. 1 CommentEach year, many top university graduates join Teach for America, or “TFA” for short. TFA builds a diverse, selective corps of top college graduates who commit two years to work as teachers in low-income communities and become lifelong leaders in pursuit of educational excellence and equity.
Remarkably, despite accepting only 21 percent of program applicants, more […]
Report Underscores Success of Merit Pay
Published by January 24th, 2008 in Merit Pay, Teacher Effectiveness and Teacher Quality. 1 CommentIn Rhode Island, teachers are paid not on the basis of their ability in the classroom, or their demonstrated performance in raising student achievement. Instead, teachers are compensated based solely on their years of service in the job (i.e. seniority). The system typically employs 10 “steps,” with pay hikes for each step. […]
Julia Steiny on Real School Reform
Published by October 16th, 2007 in Charter Schools, Failed Leadership, Legislature and Teacher Effectiveness. 0 CommentsJulia Steiny has an excellent column in Sunday’s Providence Journal, reacting to Rhode Island’s pitiful performance on NAEP tests when compared with the strong advances being made in other states (And especially in neighboring Massachusetts). A few key excerpts from her column:
Leadership is lacking: “Hello, Rhode Island leaders? Are you out there? Governor? Commissioner […]
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