Charter schools could help if we just had them There is an interesting tool in the Alliance for Excellent Education’s web site that allows you to quickly determine a graduation-rate-like figure for all the high schools in Kentucky. I used it to see how many schools fall into the category that Johns Hopkins University researchers…
Head fed education researcher agrees “Far too much education research—including much of it that is done in universities—is driven by the interest and theories of the researchers themselves and not the needs and problems of practice.” “That has to change.” John Q. Easton, Director, Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education Quoted in Education…
We have a number of problems with the functioning of the current staff seniority program in Kentucky’s public schools. One major problem is that older teachers get to stay regardless of whether or not they produce good results with students. But, as Kentucky faces serious fiscal stress, a 2009 paper from the Center for Reinventing…
There’s a smokescreen of allegations that charter schools are leading to school re-segregation. Now, a University of Arkansas team takes a look at one specific example of the shaky research behind such claims in a new article in the Summer 2010 edition of Education Next, “A Closer Look at Charter Schools and Segregation.” “A Closer…
Education Week says a new National Research Council report shows that the best available data indicates teachers who get certified through alternative programs do just as well as teachers who come from the traditional education school route. However, the report says a lot more, and it is pretty disturbing. The main reason there are no…
School system shuns program that increases Advanced Placement course performance One of the most exciting school reform efforts in our state is the ‘AdvanceKentucky’ program to place more, higher quality Advanced Placement (AP) courses in our public high schools. But, a new list of the schools that will participate in this highly effective program in…
The Herald-Leader reports that Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday is working hard to get a proposal together for charter school legislation that will win more support from various education groups. One thing is clear in this article. When it comes to education, you have to ask around to really find out what educators are…
All 107 seniors in Chicago’s all-male The Urban Prep Charter School are heading to college – four-year colleges. One hundred percent! Even the prestigious Louisville Male High School only graduated 98.7 percent according to its 2008-2009 School Report Card (Available from pull-down menus here). And, only 92.6 percent are going on to either two- or…
Will the same thing happen in Kentucky? The Courier-Journal reports that the Indiana Department of Education is cancelling its efforts to win Race to the Top Phase 2 dollars, citing a lack of cooperation from the state’s teachers union. The apparent sticking point is a plan to include a teacher evaluation program as part of…
I wrote yesterday about the ten schools Kentucky identified for the federal School Improvement Grant program and the fact that the principals in some of those schools will have to go. It’s already starting in other states like West Virginia, according to the Charleston (WV) Gazette. The question is, will it really happen here?