education

Stories 361 - 380 | << Prev   Next >>

Texas Textbooks Getting Conservative Flavor

Board revising standards over objection of minorities

(Newser) - The Texas Board of Education has decreed that future curriculum standards will have a more conservative bent. The board's 10 right-leaning members say they're simply "adding balance" to left-leaning academia. The five minority members say they're whitewashing history. Among the changes, expected to formalized in May, as rounded up...

Kansas City Closing Half Its Schools

'We took a meat ax to the district'

(Newser) - Kansas City's school board narrowly voted to close 29 of the city's 61 public schools after an emotional, standing-room-only meeting last night. The measure, a desperate attempt to prevent a projected $50 million budget shortfall, passed 5-4 despite pleas from parents and community leaders to keep the schools open, the...

States May Get National Standards for Math, English

Most governors are on board, but some complain about federal role

(Newser) - Math and English instruction in the United States moved a step closer to uniform—and more rigorous—standards today, as draft national guidelines were released. Supporters of the project led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers hope the lists of things kids should...

Fire Bad Teachers&mdash;Now
 Fire Bad Teachers—Now 



OPINION
Mar 8, 2010 2:30 PM CST

Fire Bad Teachers—Now

But for some frustrating reasons, that's almost impossible

(Newser) - The American education system has been falling behind for a while, and the reason is obvious: Teachers can't be fired. Recent studies have shown that teacher quality is one of the top predictors of a student’s success, write Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert in Newsweek . Yet education unions are...

Cash-Strapped School Districts Go to 4-Day Week

Parents, workers miffed, but effect on student learning is unclear

(Newser) - As school districts across the nation find themselves battling massive budget shortfalls, some are turning to the relatively rare but controversial practice of shortening the school week. Four-day weeks usually don’t affect teacher pay or the amount of classroom time for students, as the days are simply lengthened. But...

Give Obama Some Credit for Education Reform Push

The president is taking political risks for the right reasons

(Newser) - President Obama ought to be applauded for pushing eduction reform, despite political risks. Obama's agenda is based on two ideas: That failing schools should face consequences and that teachers and principals ought to be evaluated based on student results. Each principle could benefit the system, writes Michael Gerson for the...

Across US, Students Decry Budget Woes
Across US, Students Decry Budget Woes
UPDATED
Mar 4, 2010 6:34 PM CST

Across US, Students Decry Budget Woes

Calif. rallies draw thousands; violence mars Wis. protest

(Newser) - Thousands of students, from university down to elementary-school level, are rallying today across the US to protest the ever-more-dismal state of education funding. California demonstrators, who also included faculty and parents, have been most visible, and mainly peaceful, though a car windshield was smashed during the gathering at the University...

Rhode Island to Fire High School's Entire Staff

Fed up with teachers' union refusal to add 25 min to work day

(Newser) - Every single staff member at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island will be getting a termination notice, the district’s superintendent announced this weekend, ending a tense standoff with the teacher’s union. The teachers had refused to go along with superintendent Frances Gallo’s plan to reform the...

Obama Budget Winners and Losers

Education, R&D are up, oil and gas companies down

(Newser) - The 2011 fiscal budget says much about the state of the country—and the state of the president. "Like any politician, he’s focused on rewarding friends and not enemies," write Eamon Javers and James Hohmann for Politico . A look at this year's winners and losers: Winners
  • Education:
...

Schools Win; NASA Loses



Schools Win; 
 NASA Loses  
budget ANALYSIS
Feb 1, 2010 5:31 PM CST

Schools Win; NASA Loses

First look at proposed 2011 budget shows sharp break between haves and have-nots

(Newser) - President Obama delivered his proposed 2011 budget to Congress today, and the Washington Post drills down to find the winners and losers. Winners first:
  • K-12 education: The Department of Education's budget will increase by 6%, or $3 billion.
  • Research: The proposal pumps up the Energy Department's budget 7%, or $2
...

The Best YouTube Questions Obama Didn't Answer

Which 'Rocky' movie is your favorite?

(Newser) - President Obama today answered questions Americans submitted on YouTube, tackling serious inquires on foreign policy, health care, and education. But some of the unanswered questions are too entertaining to be ignored, and New York has collected them. Check out the two little kids preoccupied with the destruction of the White...

'No Child Left Behind' Overhaul in the Works

2014 deadline for bringing all students to proficiency to be ditched

(Newser) - The Obama administration is planning a sweeping overhaul of the Child Left Behind law to create a new model for how schools are judged to be succeeding or failing. The White House plans to change parts of the law educators have found most objectionable and award more federal money based...

Web Puts 2nd Language at Your Fingertips

Online options, from free to pricey, abound

(Newser) - The days of chanting vocabulary words in a classroom and dozing off in the language lab are fading from memory as language instruction becomes increasingly available on the Internet. Freestanding smartphone apps are one option, and more structured instruction comes at a price—and sometimes no price at all. The...

Teachers' Unions Strangling School Reform
 Teachers' Unions 
 Strangling School Reform 
JOE KLEIN
Jan 28, 2010 12:28 PM CST

Teachers' Unions Strangling School Reform

Obama must fight for accountability and neuter 'reactionary' lobbyists

(Newser) - New York could really use $700 million in federal Race to the Top education funding, Joe Klein writes, but it won’t get it thanks to intractable teachers’ unions. The federal funds require school choice and teacher accountability, so the powerful union lobby stymied it in the state legislature. The...

No, Obama Didn't Use a Teleprompter to Talk to Kids

Conservatives jump all over president for

(Newser) - Conservative blogs are beside themselves with glee today, jumping on President Obama for using a teleprompter to talk to 6th graders last week. “It would surely be funny if he had,” says the Weekly Standard . “But it doesn’t appear that he did.” Photos of Obama’...

One in 5 Women Out-Earn Their Husbands
 One in 5 Women 
 Out-Earn Their Husbands
'rise of wives'
Jan 19, 2010 6:16 AM CST

One in 5 Women Out-Earn Their Husbands

Pew study finds marriage 'now a better deal for men'

(Newser) - Men who tie the knot have been getting an increasingly sweeter deal as women become better-paid and better-educated, according to Pew Research. Researchers—who dub the trend the "rise of wives"—say that the percentage of marriages in which the woman is the higher-earning partner has exploded from...

As School Gardens Grow, Kids' Education Wilts

Alice Waters' crusade steals the most necessary thing about school

(Newser) - The school garden movement is well-intentioned but disastrously misguided, Caitlin Flanagan writes, and will “contribute to the creation of a permanent, uneducated underclass” while robbing “that group of the very force necessary to change its fate"—namely, education. Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame has been the...

Texas School Isolates Boy, 4, Over Long Hair

Taylor Pugh has been confined to library with aide since Nov.

(Newser) - A 4-year-old Texas boy is being taught in isolation from the rest of his classmates—and faces an even harsher punishment—for not cutting his hair to conform to the school district’s grooming code. Taylor Pugh now works one-on-one with a teacher’s aide during the school day at...

Swarthmore, UVa. Top College Value List
 Swarthmore, UVa. 
 Top College Value List 
BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
Jan 12, 2010 12:52 PM CST

Swarthmore, UVa. Top College Value List

Princeton Review list weighs affordability, academic quality

(Newser) - The Princeton Review's annual list of the best college values takes into account price—cheap tuition or generous financial aid get a thumbs up—and weighs that against the academic quality of a school based on surveys, professor-to-student ratios, and the like. USA Today takes a look at the list....

How to Spot Great Teachers

 How to Spot Great Teachers 
glossies
Jan 10, 2010 8:26 AM CST

How to Spot Great Teachers

Teach for America sheds light on two decades of insight

(Newser) - Teach for America is opening its books on 20 years of trial and error in figuring out what makes some teachers great and others complete busts. As it screens college applicants, it now pays special attention to two characteristics: perseverance and life satisfaction. By perseverance, it means "not just...

Stories 361 - 380 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser