Every minute counts. “Five minutes wasted each day on sloppy (classroom) routines translates into 21 lost class periods each year.” (Stanford Social Innovation Review)

Early education for everyone. Sara Mead explains why “Pre-K isn’t a waste just because your mom can read.” (Policy Notebook/Education Week)

Bad news for higher ed. Moody’s Investors Service doesn’t think too positivContinue Reading »

What the re-election means for K-12 … President Obama will focus on expanding Race to the Top, supporting early education, and better training educators to teach in STEM-related fields, say education thought leaders. (Hechinger Report)

… and higher education. More than once, Obama has made mention of awarding some federal financial aid based on a university’s efforts to curb rising tuitiContinue Reading »

Questioning the validity of value-added. A new study, to be presented next month, argues that “a teacher could, in effect, boost his or her value-added score simply by teaching all higher-level courses.” (Education Week)

The value of strong school leaders. A highly effective principal can raise student achievement by 2-7 months of learning in one school year, according to this study. (EdContinue Reading »

It seems like tuition “freeze” proposals are gaining popularity again. We’ve been down this road before. Several states froze tuition in the early 1990s (Virginia, California, Washington, etc.) and they failed, in the long run, to make higher education affordable. These gimmicks fail to increase state investment in higher education and they don’t prevent larger-than-average tuition increases afContinue Reading »

“A college system at the breaking point meets the Internet revolution.” Jeff Selingo, a member of Education Sector’s new K20 Task Force, talks MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses) and the future of higher education. (On Point)

With a January 2013 deadline pending. School district officials in New York are grappling with the amount of the weight to give student test scores, observations,Continue Reading »

If the public were in charge. A large majority of Americans say teachers should be laid off based on poor performance, not seniority, according to a new report out today. (Thomas B. Fordham Institute)

Light reading. If you missed the American Enterprise Institute’s day-long discussion on “stretching the higher education dollar” today, there is a compilation of 11 papers, written by panelContinue Reading »

The cost of college for students goes up every time they’re placed in a remedial course or they lose credits because of a transfer, says Teresa Lubbers, Indiana’s Commissioner for Higher Education. “It is abundantly clear that whatever we’re doing in remediation isn’t working,” she said, while testifying at the U.S. House Education and Workforce Development subcommittee hearing. She encouraged Continue Reading »

Budding entrepreneurs. The First-Fourth Key Chain Co. is a business of first- and fourth-grade partners who create and sell key chains, setting their prices based on the cost of their supplies. (h/t ASCD Smart Brief) (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Making higher ed more cost-efficient. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has started a series of roundtable discussions that focus on more accountability anContinue Reading »

Leaders and Laggards. Nationally, completion rates at four-year, public universities are somewhere around 50 percent, according to a report out today that takes a state-by-state look at higher education. The interactive presentation identifies the best and the worst. (Institute for a Competitive Workforce)

What to do with middle school? Educators are debating the value and imporContinue Reading »

‘The dilemma of academic diversity.’ On today’s anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Mike Petrilli asks how we can better integrate our schools. (Flypaper)

Vital information. The proposed “college scorecard” that aims to give prospective students an idea of college costs lacks one very important piece of information: the average debt per student at graduation. (Inside Higher Ed)Continue Reading »