California's poll of 1,056 teachers reveals a "stark reality" of educational gaps, according to the Tri-Valley Herald. While I'm no believer in "redistributing wealth," it's appalling that any American schools should have to deal with vermin, missing equipment and textbooks - and underqualified teachers. Be interesting to see what the public - and political - reaction is.
Tennessee's proposed scholarship system might run out of money very, very soon. Is the solution more time - or higher standards?
Is getting kids out of the classroom and into real-life "laboratories" the way to close the achievement gap? Opinion writer Richard Louv thinks so. But what's really having an effect here - the outdoor classroom itself, or the school's willingness to participate and the teacher's ability to work this into a lesson plan? This type of education requires committed schools and teachers well-versed in the scientific method - could that be the real key?
New site that you might enjoy: Eduwonk.com, from the Progressive Policy Institute. Informative and non-partisan (they support both NCLB and John Kerry's suggestions for improving teacher quality. (Update: Joanne Jacobs comments: "I think Eduwonk is excellent, but I wouldn't call them non-partisan. They're New Democrats aka moderate Democrats. They do seem to put education first, and partisan issues second." I think I'm so used to seeing far-left writings on education sites that Eduwonk seemed non-partisan in comparison.)
In the UK, there's just as much controversy over educational accountability as there is here.
Textbook distribution is now entering the 21st century, as IBM and Vital Source Technologies are offering Texas schools the option of buying laptops instead of textbooks. The laptops will contain the digital versions of state-approved textbooks. Unsurprisingly, the "e-textbook" pilot will be done with elementary-school students, as they're the perfect group to test whether the software is intuitive and useable.
Here's a snapshot of a troubled Philadelphia school that asked Foundations Inc., a New Jersey-based nonprofit education organization, for an overhaul. Martin Luther King High is ending its first year as the first Philadelphia high school to be run by outside management, and the results are not overwhelmingly encouraging.
Posted by kswygert at May 9, 2004 09:58 AM