Real Cost of Teacher Layoffs is Our Future

Does the public still consider the nation’s public schools to be essential to American democracy? With the sweeping budget cuts to education and the mass layoffs of educators, it’s difficult to think otherwise. The pain being felt now is real, but the full import of all this – to children, their families and to the [...]

If Only the Billionaire Reformers Cared about THIS Data

The data is in, writes Anthony Cody, and conclusive: “We have become a banana republic, with a widening gulf between rich and poor. And the schools alone will not fix this. Sending more children to college will not fix this. Only social policies that aim to reverse the concentration of wealth will make a real difference.” Source: [...]

Community Colleges Need School Modernization Funds

By Mary Ellen Flannery It’s hard to prepare students for 21st century careers when they’re sitting in 20th century classrooms, laboratories, and job-training facilities at aging community colleges across the country. That’s why educators like Derrick Griffey, a math instructor at Gadsden State Community College in Alabama, so strongly support President Obama’s Fix America’s Schools [...]

Bullying’s Impact on American Indian/Alaskan Native Students

By Robert McNeely For 16-year-old Coloradas Mangas of the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, the rising teenage suicide rate among American Indians and Alaskan Natives has been all too real.  Several of his friends have taken their lives and he attempted to do the same. It was the only way he knew how to [...]

Virtual Schools Under Scrutiny

By Teal Ruland As public schools nationwide struggle with devastating budget cuts, online schools are expanding – even in the most cash-strapped districts. Currently, 27 states operate these so-called “virtual” schools. This trend is accelerating as evidence mounts that online schools are not effective alternatives to traditional schools. Online schools recruit students with the appeal [...]

Common Core Found to Rank With Respected Standards

A new report finds that the common-core standards in English/language arts and mathematics are generally aligned to the leading state standards, international standards, and university standards at the high-school-exit level. Source: Education Week

Pennsylvania Senate Approves School Voucher Plan

The Pennsylvania sate senate passed a measure on Wednesday that would provide tax-funded tuition vouchers to students attending private and religious schools.

Alternative Pay System Improves Teacher Practice

By Cindy Long Stephen Atwood teaches in Portland, Maine, the small seaside New England city most people associate with lobstermen, lighthouses and a legacy of longtime Mainers. But spend a day in Atwood’s classroom and you’ll hear kids speaking Arabic, Sudanese, Khmer, Somali, Spanish, French, Acholi, or Kinyarwanda. The Portland Public School district is the [...]

American Education Week – November 13-19

During American Education Week, 2011, Americans nationwide will join the National Education Association in raising awareness about the need to provide every child with a quality public education. To help plan American Education Week’s celebration days, NEA is offering a free, online toolkit, complete with promotional materials, activity ideas, and downloadable templates.

Obama Plan to Ease Student Loan Payments

Almost 6 million people with federal student loans would see their payments reduced under an Obama administration plan that would let them consolidate debt. Source: Business Week

Next Page »