Education Nation 2011: Teachers Take the Microphone

By Tim Walker For two hours on Sunday, educators sounded off on a nationally televised forum about the challenges facing public education and what the country can do to address them. The forum was NBC’s “Teacher Town Hall,” the kick-off event of Education Nation 2011, which is bringing together educators, policymakers, elected officials, parents, business [...]

Teachers Sound Off on Tenure and Merit Pay on NBC’s Education Nation

By Tim Walker Educators Annice Brave and Kurt Kurtzhals, both members of the Illinois Education Association, participated in an NBC teacher town hall on Sunday as part of the network’s “Education Nation on the Road” tour. The hour-long, high-spirited discussion in Chicago covered teacher evaluations, high-stakes testing, merit pay, school funding, tenure and the role [...]

Teacher Tenure Under Fire: “I Couldn’t Believe It Happened to Me”

By Alain Jehlen Most teachers are likely to go through their entire career without being unfairly targeted for dismissal by administrators. But that shouldn’t be left to chance. For example, what if this happened to you? You’re a high school teacher. You work out with your students a rubric for grading a small-group project. One [...]

Idaho Educators and Parents Help Put the Brakes on the Luna Plan

by Tim Walker When Idaho School State Superintendent Tom Luna unveiled his education proposals last month, educators and parents sprang into action to oppose what was clearly one of the most destructive and ill-conceived “reform” packages in the country.  Thanks to a relentless grassroots effort, the Senate Education Committee agreed last Thursday to send the [...]

Teachers Take the Stage at NBC’s Education Nation Forum

By Amy Buffenbarger More than 6,000 educators spent their Sunday afternoon logged on to educationnation.com to participate in NBC’s nationally broadcast Teacher Town Hall. The on-air and online town hall, moderated by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, was the beginning of a week-long focus on education issues discussed and highlighted across NBC News programs, [...]

What Teacher Tenure Is — And What It’s Not

By Kevin Hart A recent Time magazine poll asked members of the public how they felt about teacher tenure. And, in the course of a 26-word question, Time managed to perpetuate three myths that educators say are contributing to the public’s misunderstanding over what tenure is — and what it’s not. Specifically, Time asked, “Do [...]

Crist Vetoes SB 6, Takes Bold Stand for Florida Schools

By Kevin Hart With a stroke of his pen, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist took a bold stand today for the state’s students, educators and schools. The Republican governor, defying his own party, vetoed the controversial Senate Bill 6, which education experts say would have made Florida one of the most teacher-hostile states in the country, [...]