Like a glove. The exit of former Washington Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau should remind us that although someone may have the abilities, they may just not be the right fit. This applies to teaching too, says Eduwonk’s Andy Rotherham. (Eduwonk)

Hint, hint, second-round applicants. PoliticsK12 provides a bulleted list of the top flaws seen in the first round of applications to the adContinue Reading »

Nicholas Kristoff wrote yesterday about the “landmark” new teacher value-added study from Chetty, Friedman and Rockoff. It’s worth being clear about why the study has garnered so much attention. It’s not because it shows that teachers matter. Everyone knew or believed that already. It’s because it shows that teachers vary in how much they matter. And, for the firstContinue Reading »

Li'l Wayne Album Cover, Image Courtesy of Hip Hop Update

“People were sick of being dumb.” In New York, bars are getting into the continuing education business. One regular at the Secret Science Club explains why these barroom classes are so popular. (New York Times)

Another sign of the Apocalypse. Who’s named Teacher of the Year?Continue Reading »

Credit: National Education Association

A year and a half ago, Dennis Van Roekel, president of the 3.2-million-member National Education Association, asked an independent panel of highly accomplished teachers to create a bold, new vision for their profession and then recommend what the NEA should do to make that vision a reality.

Van Roekel got just what aContinue Reading »

If you’re a public school teacher you are likely facing (or bracing for) some big changes in the coming years. If your state has adopted the new common core standards (and only four have not), you will soon have to learn and teach this new set of standards. If you have a new set of standards, you will have new or revised curricula, including new scope and sequence and rubrics that perhaps you wContinue Reading »

My colleague Susan Headden and I recently wrote a piece about extending school time for the Wallace Foundation’s report “Reimagining the School Day”  

John Thompson’s response rightly praised the Wallace Foundation’s attention to expanding not just time but high-quality learning. He also suggested that Susan and I did an alright job bringing up some important points thaContinue Reading »

Last night, by overwhelming margins, the Rhode Island legislature passed what may be the nation’s most comprehensive state public employee pension reform ever (see our analysis for an education perspective on the bill). While pension battles have been front-page news in states such as Wisconsin, this reform didn’t emerge from an anti-union crusade. Instead, as Ted Nesi, the WPRI repContinue Reading »

Tomorrow in North Carolina, Wake County will hold a school board runoff election between Democratic incumbent Kevin Hill and Republican challenger Heather Losurdo.  In most places, a school board runoff would barely warrant a mention in the local paper.  But this single seat on the Wake County School Board has much higher stakes: this election will decide who will hold the majority on tContinue Reading »

Nineteen standards for teacher prep. University of Michigan education officials unveiled today an organization aimed at creating a set of standards for teacher preparation programs, as well as materials and performance assessments, to strengthen the training process for the next generation of educators. Called TeachingWorks, the organization lists 19 specific skills a teacher should master. It’Continue Reading »

The Senate’s ESEA Reauthorization bills (the old Harkin bill and the newer Harkin-Enzi version) elicited a familiar reaction from interest groups representing teachers, principals, and school administrators and from conservative eduwonks following the legislation: federal overreach.

You have Rick Hess: “I’m not worried about going ‘back’ to 1994… partly because some of the ‘retreats’ areContinue Reading »