by David Safier There's a wonderful story in today's Star about Principal Ray Chavez and Apollo Middle School in the Sunnyside district, and the positive changes since he took over a few years ago. The story is so glowing, it almost sounds too good to be true, but I'm going to take it on face … Read more
Posted by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings …In any beginning composition class in AZ (English 101 in the Maricopa County Community College District curriculum), this one would be a great topic for a "compare and contrast" essay… Well, it's official – the Governor has called a special session of the Arizona Legislature (the ninth! of this particular … Read more
by David Safier I posted Personal endorsement: Penny Kotterman for Education Superintendent last Friday afternoon. That's considered to be the worst time in the weekday news cycle, when everyone is thinking about the weekend and no one is paying attention. On top of that, the post was soon buried by other posts. For that reason, … Read more
by David Safier I haven't written about Imagine Schools for awhile. They're a huge, nationwide, for-profit corporation with over a dozen schools in Arizona. They've also been plagued with problems, which have gotten lots of press nationwide. I have a huge folder filled with articles about Imagine Schools problems from around the country, but few … Read more
by David Safier Let's see. Put enormous pressure on teachers to have their students score well on high stakes tests. Tell them their salary levels and their jobs are at stake. What might happen? Oh, maybe some teachers will fudge their students' scores a little bit. Investigators say more than 100 educators should face scrutiny … Read more