Afternoon Announcements: October 26, 2011

In a special report to The Hill, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan writes, “Over the past two weeks, the Senate has held two votes on President Obama’s American Jobs Act. Both times, every Senate Republican voted to block a bill that would put more money in the pockets of middle-class families and keep hundreds of thousands of teachers in the classroom, instead of in unemployment lines. Our nation’s schools are facing the toughest fiscal pressures in our lifetime. … The path to prosperity, the way to win the future, is to invest wisely in schools, remembering that children get only one chance at an education.” Read the full special report.

WRAL.com reports that the number of students attending secondary school around the world is increasing dramatically and governments are struggling to meet the rising demand, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a U.N. report released Tuesday.

A U.S. News & World Report blog post discusses the use of cell phones by teachers in the classroom.

The Wall Street Journal covers a new report that finds nearly two-thirds of states have overhauled policies in the last two years to tighten oversight of teachers, using techniques including tying teacher evaluations to student test scores, linking their pay to performance or making it tougher to earn tenure.

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Afternoon Announcements: October 25, 2011

The Huffington Post recaps last Monday night’s Republican primary debate: “There were 15 questions (and answers) on tax reform, 2 on energy and jobs, one heated back-and-forth on health care, 12 questions and responses on immigration, 5 on the home-mortgage crisis, 3 on the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, 4 on religion and values, 4 on the budget deficit, one on terrorism, 4 on foreign policy and a final question on who is the best candidate in general to win the race. How many questions and responses were there on the public education crisis and education reform? Zero.”

The New York Times reports on new A-through-F high school report card that finds only one in four students who enter high school in New York City are ready for college after four years, and less than half enroll.

Education Week reports that in less than three weeks, states will begin turning in their applications for waivers under No Child Left Behind, and then it will be up to a cadre of peer reviewers to help Education Secretary Arne Duncan decide who gets a waiver, and who doesn’t.

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Report Round-Up

A new study by University of Michigan economist Brian Jacob finds that when given the authority, principals make dismissal decisions that put a premium on teacher effectiveness and student achievement. The report, Principled Principals, finds that principals are more likely to dismiss teachers who received poor evaluations in prior years; who are frequently absent; and at the elementary level, who had demonstrated less effectiveness in raising student achievement in prior years than their peers who were not dismissed. Teachers who were given a rating of "satisfactory" in the prior academic year were 22.1 percentage points more likely to be dismissed than teachers in the same school who were given the highest rating, "superior." Teachers rated "excellent" were 4.3 percentage points more likely to be dismissed than those rated "superior."

A new report from the National Research Council presents a new framework for K-12 science education that identifies the key scientific ideas and practices all students should learn by the end of high school. The framework will serve as the foundation for new K-12 science education standards, to replace those issued more than a decade ago. The report, Framework for K-12 Science Education, identifies three dimensions that convey the disciplinary core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: cross-cutting concepts that unify the study of science and engineering through their common application across these fields; scientific and engineering practices; and core ideas in four disciplinary areas: physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues; be careful consumers of scientific and technological information; and have the skills to enter the careers of their choice.

From RAND Corporation, What New York City's Experiment with Schoolwide Performance Bonuses Tells Us About Pay for Performance, finds that, although implemented fairly and smoothly, the voluntary program that provided financial rewards to educators in high-needs elementary, middle, K-8, and high school in New York City, did not improve student achievement or overall school performance and did not affect teachers' reported attitudes and behaviors. Given these findings, the researchers went on to examine potential explanations for the lack of effects and to identify implications for pay-for-performance policies in general.

 

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