Indiana Joins Right to Work Ranks

Ignoring the voices of tens of thousands of workers and their families, the will of the majority of Hoosier voters, newspaper editorial boards, and even the union representing professional football players, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a “right to work” law Wednesday, February 1, that will take $1,500 out of the pocket of the average Hoosier [...]

President Obama on College Affordability

Obama’s college affordability plan includes a $1 billion federal grant program that would shift federal support to states and colleges that lower costs for students and raise the rate of students earning degrees. The President also specifically called on Congress to keep interest rates low for 7.4 million students with federal student loans, and also [...]

Don’t Say Goodbye to Traditional Textbooks Just Yet

Until e-textbooks’ benefits outweigh the downfalls for a school district, which doesn’t appear to be the case yet for the vast majority of districts, old-fashioned hardcover textbooks will remain a fixture in classrooms, lockers and backpacks. Source: Crookston Times

As Some Schools Plunge into Technology, Poor Schools are Left Behind

The term “digital divide” used to refer to whether classrooms had computers connected to the Internet. Now, the bar has been raised, as newer software programs require high-speed connections and as WiFi-dependent devices such as iPads make their way into classrooms. Technology spending in schools varies widely across the country, as some districts reap the benefits [...]

Schools to Require Parents Volunteer?

A group of parent leaders in Charleston, South Carolina asked the school board this week to require parents or guardians to give eight hours of their time annually to their children’s schools. The so-called Family Partnership Agreement would let parents know how they could get more involved, and that would help schools achieve their goals. Not [...]

Finland Schools’ Success Story: Lessons Shared at Forum

Finland has become the icon of classroom success, the repeat winner of top results in a global ranking of national school systems. That’s why academics, teachers and government officials gathered at Stanford University last week to talk about what makes the Scandinavian country’s schools so good. Source: The Huffington Post

Critics Say ‘Parent Trigger’ Bill Favors Charters over Public Schools

A bill currently being considered by Florida lawmakers would let a majority of parents at low-performing public schools demand dramatic changes at the school, or even have it converted into a publicly financed, privately managed charter school. Similar laws have already passed in California and Texas, sparking debate and controversy along the way. “We’d be [...]

The Facts That School Reformers Ignore

“Education ‘reformers’ have a common playbook,” writes Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute. “First, assert without evidence that regular public schools are ‘failing’ and that large numbers of regular (unionized) public school teachers are incompetent. Provide no documentation for this claim other than that the test score gap between minority and white children remains [...]

Common-Core Standards Drew on Ideas From Abroad

In crafting a set of learning goals that nearly every state in the nation has embraced, the architects of the common-core standards effort sought to import from abroad key lessons about what top-performing countries teach their students. Source: Education Week

Public Pre-Kindergarten Programs Slowed, Even Reversed, By Recession

The expansion in public prekindergarten programs has slowed and even been reversed in some states as school districts cope with shrinking budgets. As a result, many 3- and 4-year-olds aren’t going to preschool. Kids from low-income families who start kindergarten without first attending a quality education program enter school an estimated 18 months behind their [...]

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