by David Safier We want to attract higher quality teachers, right? That won't solve all the socioeconomic issues hampering many students' educations, but no one doubts, better teachers mean greater student success. So how about starting a Teaching Fellows Program? Find some of the best and the brightest high school seniors and tell them, if … Read more
by David Safier No, I'm not anti-Star. Really. I'm a loyal subscriber and reader. I live in hope every morning when I open the paper. It's just that, when I see bad headlines, bad stories and bad columns, I point it out. And when I see good stuff, that deserves pointing out as well. So … Read more
by David Safier We're obsessed with test scores, so Finland's top-in-the-world scores on international student tests should make us wonder, how do they do it? There are a wide range of possibilities, including the country's homogeneity (though apparently immigrants from Somalia, Iraq, etc. are doing pretty good as well). But when people complain about our … Read more
by David Safier This is an important statistic which is too often overlooked. A recent analysis says, within the same district, teachers at schools which have a large contingent of African-American and/or Hispanic students get paid an average of $2,500 less per year than teachers at other schools in the same district. This has to … Read more
by David Safier I've been waiting for this. The Arizona School Boards Association and Arizona Education Association have joined with others to present a legal challenge to the new and very dangerous "empowment scholarship accounts" law put in place by the legislature last session. What we're talking about is vouchers on steroids. Here's a closer … Read more