May 22, 2013
Education Week, Vol. 32, Issue 32
Teaching Profession
States Tighten Disclosure of Teacher Evaluations
Twenty-three states exempt individual teacher-evaluation ratings from disclosure under open-records laws.
Teaching
Teachers Gear Up for Science Standards
Even though only one state has adopted the standards, some teachers have already scrapped old lessons and instructional styles to embrace new ones.
Standards
Science Framework Seen as Valued Resource for Educators
The blueprint for the standards writers, the framework provides a reader-friendly accompaniment to the "technical document."
Teaching
D.C. Bets Big on Common Core
The District of Columbia has devoted many resources to the standards, resulting in hopes, frustrations, and the knowledge that changes are necessary.
School & District Management
Eighth Grader Looks Ahead to High School and Beyond
Mikel Robinson is among millions of students trying to meet the common standards.
School & District Management
Glimpses of Poverty Lead Administrator to Education
Now Brian Pick has the challenge of ensuring students, many of them disadvantaged, master the common core.
Reading & Literacy
Teacher Finds Salvation in the Classroom
When Dowan McNair-Lee took an education class at college, she knew that was where she belonged.
College & Workforce Readiness
Demographics and Performance: A D.C. School
The District of Columbia has taken on an aggressive K-12 implementation of the common standards, a particular challenge since its academic performance lags behind that of the United States as a whole.
Education
The Learning Cycle
The District of Columbia envisions its academic year as a succession of "learning cycles" that blend teaching, coaching, and assessment.
School Climate & Safety
States Pressing Schools to Add 'Intruder' Drills
Proposed mandates for emergency-preparedness drills are gaining traction in many statehouses.
Standards
Opinion
The Metric System and Common Core
The unsuccessful drive to teach the metric system in schools presents a cautionary tale about teacher buy-in for common-core advocates, writes Jeanne Zaino.
Assessment
Letter to the Editor
Technology Provides the Means For Rethinking Use of Testing
To the Editor:
The rifts described in the front-page article in the May 8 issue are obviously between adults and have little to do with children ("Rifts Deepen Over Direction of Education Policy in U.S.").
The rifts described in the front-page article in the May 8 issue are obviously between adults and have little to do with children ("Rifts Deepen Over Direction of Education Policy in U.S.").
Reading & Literacy
Letter to the Editor
'Cold' Reading, Common Core Limit Students' Literacy Gains
To the Editor:
Where is the national conversation on what should be taught in the secondary English class and how? How was one person, David Coleman—known as the chief architect of the common-core standards—able to turn the entire school curriculum upside down, with nothing to support his bizarre ideas on doing "cold," i.e., noncontextual, readings of historical documents and reducing literary study to less than 50 percent of reading instructional time, all in the name of leveling the playing field?
Where is the national conversation on what should be taught in the secondary English class and how? How was one person, David Coleman—known as the chief architect of the common-core standards—able to turn the entire school curriculum upside down, with nothing to support his bizarre ideas on doing "cold," i.e., noncontextual, readings of historical documents and reducing literary study to less than 50 percent of reading instructional time, all in the name of leveling the playing field?
Education Funding
Letter to the Editor
Alternative-Pathways Story Omitted Career Academy Model
To the Editor:
The article "States Seek High School Pathways Weaving Academic, Career Options" (April 24, 2013) highlights several promising efforts to address the need for career pathways modeled on the European apprenticeship system. The article doesn't mention the career academy model, one particularly successful approach to preparing young people for a range of postsecondary and career opportunities tied to economic-development needs.
The article "States Seek High School Pathways Weaving Academic, Career Options" (April 24, 2013) highlights several promising efforts to address the need for career pathways modeled on the European apprenticeship system. The article doesn't mention the career academy model, one particularly successful approach to preparing young people for a range of postsecondary and career opportunities tied to economic-development needs.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Vendors' Quality is Crucial Factor in Discussion of Privatization
To the Editor:
Your recent Industry & Innovation Special Report (April 24, 2013) raised a critical issue about the privatization of public education.
Your recent Industry & Innovation Special Report (April 24, 2013) raised a critical issue about the privatization of public education.
Equity & Diversity
Letter to the Editor
Dissenting Voices Shortchanged in New Orleans Article
To the Editor:
As featured subjects of the article "New Teachers Search for Place in New Orleans" (April 24, 2013), we would like to share our reactions to the story with Education Week readers.
As featured subjects of the article "New Teachers Search for Place in New Orleans" (April 24, 2013), we would like to share our reactions to the story with Education Week readers.
Assessment
'Sequester' Affects Social Studies NAEP
Fewer students will take NAEP civics, history, and geography tests because of across-the-board federal budget cuts.
Federal
Opinion
How to Make School Funding Fair
Shifting to statewide school funding systems would address inequities in the way education is paid for, writes Cynthia G. Brown.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Creating Learning Spaces for a New Age of Discovery
School environments should fulfill a student's need to feel engaged intellectually and emotionally in the learning process, Jim Childress writes.
States
K-12 Impacts Likely in N.J., Va. Governor Races
Candidates sketch competing education policy visions in New Jersey and Virginia, the two states picking governors in 2013.
School & District Management
Baton Rouge Struggles to Keep Control of Schools
Efforts to create a new school district and reshuffle students in East Baton Rouge Parish are causing a stir in Louisiana.
Early Childhood
Study Backs Dual-Language Pre-Ks for ELLs
Preschool English-learners benefit from exposure to both English and their home language, say researchers.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Chicago Union Suits Challenge Closures
Chicago's teachers' union last week filed a pair of civil rights lawsuits in federal court on behalf of parents to stop, or at least stall, the district's plans to shutter 53 elementary schools at the end of this school year.
Education Funding
News in Brief
Congress Weighs Hike in Student-Loan Rates
The Education and the Workforce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill last week that would change the financing of college loans.
School & District Management
News in Brief
NAACP Challenges Law on Emergency Manager
A law that allows the state's governor to appoint emergency managers for cities and school systems in Michigan is being challenged by the Detroit branch of the NAACP.
Special Education
News in Brief
Special Ed. Office Aims to Revise Monitoring Focus
Student performance is the goal of a revised reporting system proposed by the federal office of special education programs.
School & District Management
Teenagers Are Wired for Peer Approval, Study Says
Researchers now have biological evidence that adolescents really do want to jump off a bridge if their friends are doing it.
School & District Management
News in Brief
Pa. Governor Nominates New Schools Chief
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, announced last week that he will nominate William Harner to replace state Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis, the Associated Press reports.