Why Can’t We Be Friends? Social Media Boundaries Between Teachers and Students

By Cindy Long Around the country, school districts are grappling over guidelines that would govern how – and whether – educators should use social media. The key is finding a way to take advantage of the learning opportunities social media provides while striking the proper balance between protecting kids and preserving professional boundaries and First [...]

Merit Pay and High-Performing Nations

By Tim Walker In February, Education Next released a report that seemed to credit performance pay with the success of countries who ranked high on the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment survey (PISA). Merit pay proponents hailed the study as proof positive that these measures are necessary if the United States is to improve [...]

Pension Funds Are Making a Comeback

By Alain Jehlen NEA President Dennis Van Roekel today urged legislators to use the most up-to-date figures on public pension plans before making decisions that could threaten the financial security of educators when they retire. New figures indicate that funds are making a strong comeback after getting slammed by the Wall Street slump. “Despite a [...]

What the Bush Tax Cuts Are Costing Education

By Tim Walker Recent polls show the public’s pessimism over the economy is on the rise, an anxiety fed by lagging job growth but also by the reckless budget-slashing on Capitol Hill. While the general idea of “cutting spending” has public support, when confronted with the details – particularly in the FY12 budget passed by [...]

Beyond Earth Day: Green Projects in Schools Look For Lasting Impact

By Cindy Long It’s Earth Day, and around the country schools and communities are doing their part to make our planet a cleaner, healthier place. But for many educators, Earth Day is every day. Like Mike Beebe in North Carolina. Beebe is the algebra teacher at Northwest Halifax High School in Littleton, North Carolina. It’s [...]

Does Class Size Really Matter?

By Cindy Long If you’re a good teacher, the number of students in your class shouldn’t be a factor – at least according to a growing chorus of self-styled education reformers. In a recent speech to the National Governor’s Association, Bill Gates said the nation could improve education – even in an era of extreme budget [...]

The Tea Party’s Public Education Agenda

By Tim Walker Last January, members of the Tennessee Tea Party held a press conference in Nashville to announce their demands to the state legislature. In addition to the expected call to reject the Affordable Care Act, they included an item about “educating students the truth about America.” “We seek to compel the teaching of [...]

How Students Use Social Media

A new poll found “Four out of 5 high school and college students say websites are an excellent or good way to interact with fellow students, and a bit fewer — about 7 in 10 — say they’re equally good for getting information on class assignments or school events, or to form study groups and [...]

Full-Day Kindergarten Benefits ELLs in LA

“A study of the Los Angeles Unified School District has found that English-language learners who attended full-day kindergarten were much less likely to be retained before 2nd grade than such students who attended half-day kindergarten in the same school district.” However, there was no significant affect on academic outcomes. Source: Education Week’s Learning the Language [...]

Florida’s Testing Success: An Inflated Reputation?

By Alain Jehlen The American public has been overrun with inspiring stories of miracle cures for education ills that don’t involve a lot of money, time, or educator input—and turn out to be mirages. Florida under Jeb Bush is no exception. The former governor has recently emerged in the media as an education reform leader, thanks [...]

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