by David Safier Here's the answer to the question, "How did the legislature come up with the $144 million figure for cutting soft capital to schools?" It comes from an email sent by LEAN Parents for Education. In order to receive federal stimulus money, all US states had to agree not to cut education spending … Read more
by David Safier The good news: good charter schools can be very good. For certain parts of the student population, they can be better than public schools. The bad news: bad charter schools can be just awful. They're run either by incompetents or profiteers — sometimes by incompetent profiteers — and the students are the … Read more
by David Safier Here's another comment from the teacher in Tempe whose comment I moved to the front a few days ago. He spotlights one of the ironies good teachers understand. They complain, rightly, about budget cuts and unnecessary restrictions. But when the students walk in the classroom, all that goes out the window and … Read more
by David Safier Commenters have been doing my work for me lately — and better than I do it in many instances. Here's a terrific comment by davewave64 on the subject of rating teachers based on student test scores. As you'll see, he's in the ed research profession. My favorite idea: his conclusion that one … Read more
by David Safier As much as I've read about linking teacher salaries and retention to student testing, I've never found a satisfactory answer to this question: what about teachers in subjects that aren't tested? The trend toward tying everything to tests is accelerating. [New York's] Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Wednesday that New York … Read more