Tapping the STEM Potential of Latinos

By Brenda Álvarez When it comes to innovations in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, the United States has had, over the past two centuries, the good fortune to be able to tap the brain power of its citizens—both native born and those who have immigrated here. Their invaluable contributions have sharpened America’s [...]

Students Show Modest Gains in Science

by Cindy Long There was some good news from the results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment: Eighth graders made gains, the achievement gap narrowed, and support for hands-on science projects was strengthened. But researchers say there is still a lot of progress to be made. A representative sample of [...]

Reaching the Summit of Teaching is a Challenge

By John Rosales NEA President Dennis Van Roekel stressed the need to boost teacher recruitment and training, and to use multiple measures in evaluating teachers, during a panel discussion Monday held in conjunction with the second annual Education Nation Summit in New York City. At the week-long event which started Sunday, parents, educators and students [...]

Academic Freedom Sold Off Cheap

By Mary Ellen Flannery What’s the price of academic freedom? At Florida State University, it looks like $1.5 million – or the amount donated by a right-wing billionaire who, in return, gets a final say in faculty hiring. The contract between the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation – and yes, that is the same Koch [...]

Here Come the Common Core Standards

By Cindy Long In Chuck Pack’s Geometry class, students learn how many rubber bands will provide the maximum amount of bungee jumping thrill for a Barbie doll, determining how far they can drop her from the ceiling to the floor before she makes impact. “They’re collecting data, they’re using data to make predictions, they’re graphing [...]

Report Calls For More Experienced Teachers in Low-Performing Schools

By Mary Ellen Flannery When school boards don’t create incentives for experienced, highly qualified teachers to teach in their poorest schools, the kids in those schools are denied the same resources and opportunities to learn that middle-class kids get every day, says a newly report from Appleseed, a national network of public interest justice centers. [...]

Kids on the Move

By Mary Ellen Flannery About 13 percent of American children, most of them poor, Black, or learning English, will switch schools four or more times by eighth grade – a record of disruption that almost certainly limits their opportunities to achieve, according to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The report, commissioned [...]

After-School Programs Prove Key to Closing Gaps

By Mary Ellen Flannery When the last bell rings at Van Buren Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the real “work” begins – that is, the after-school apprenticeships in fields as far-ranging as Mexican dance and community action. This is not school, plus two hours. It’s not the same books, desks and assignments but more [...]

Sidelining Play in School Shortchanges Children

By Deborah Meier, Brenda S. Engel, and Beth Taylor Excerpted from Playing for Keeps: Life and Learning on a Public School Playground, with permission of the publisher. Once upon a time, before education was mandated and became a public responsibility, children witnessed and participated closely in the daily life of home and community. In the process, [...]

Graduation Rates Rising But Still Not High Enough

By Mary Ellen Flannery It can work! In states across the country, the seemingly intractable issue of dropouts, dropouts and more dropouts, actually has improved significantly, shows a report released today by the deans of dropout research, Bob Balvanz and John Bridgland. No one silver bullet deserves all the credit: Rather, a careful combination of [...]

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