Will Facebook Founder’s $100 Million for Newark Schools Make a Difference?
The past week has brought all kinds of big buzz in the education world. The news that 26-year-old billionaire and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to donate $100 million to schools in Newark, New Jersey, is as big as any. We’ve yet to see the details, so it’s hard to say for sure whether or not it’s a good idea. But there are some promising signs.
What Wasn’t Said in President Obama’s Today Show Interview on K-12 Education
This morning President Obama spent a 30-minute live interview on NBC’s Today Show talking about education. The headline from the President’s remarks, including in the Denver Post’s featured AP story, was that money alone can’t solve education problems.
True enough, and hats off to the President for acknowledging what has become abundantly clear to those studying […]
Teacher Performance Pay Alive and Well: But Just What Will It Look Like in Jeffco?
Two days ago I commented on the big splash Denver Post story about a new study calling into question teacher performance pay. Today the Post’s big headline touts that “Jeffco schools to increase some teachers’ pay to more than $100,000″:
Top-level teachers in select Jefferson County schools could be paid more than $100,000 a year under […]
Edujobs Bailout: Another Overreach from D.C.
Education policy analyst Ben DeGrow deconstructs the $10 billion Edujobs bailout passed by Congress in August, noting that the policy not only seriously overestimated the need to curb teacher layoffs and ignored other available solutions but also discriminated against charter schools. It remains unclear exactly when and how Colorado school districts will use the funds to hire and rehire employees.
Waiting for Superman Approaches: It’s Hard Waiting for the EduFilm Phenomenon
I am so excited, I can hardly wait. Another great education movie is coming out, and this one may be the best of them all! Get a taste of Waiting for Superman by watching the trailer:
After a lot of well-deserved attention, the movie’s national premiere comes tomorrow: Friday, September 24. To mark the opening of […]
What Does the Vanderbilt Study Really Say (and Not Say) about Performance Pay?
The Denver Post reports this morning (via the Washington Post) about a newly-released Vanderbilt University study on teacher performance pay:
The study, which the authors and other experts described as the first scientifically rigorous review of merit pay in the United States, measured the effect of financial incentives on teachers in Nashville public schools and found […]
Ben DeGrow Tells Family News in Focus about Edujobs Bailout Discrimination
Last week Family News in Focus talked to my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow about this issue. You can listen to the brief news story with select interview clips, or read the story on Citizen Link.
It’s as Important as Ever for Colorado Parents to Know their Educational Options
The new week brings an interesting Ed News Colorado story from new writer Katie Kerwin McCrimmon called “Keeping Up with the Dunruds.” The story highlights a Denver family with a boy about my own age who sounds like he shares some of my penchant for prodigy:
Braeden Dunrud was riding in the family car when he […]
Non-Union PACE Keeps Adding Teacher Members
Colorado remains a state where teachers have true membership options. Now in its fourth year, the non-union Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE) continues to add teacher members. PACE director of membership Megan Leatham explains what the growing organization is about, as well as some of its legal and professional development services.
Denver School Performance Framework Shows Signs of Reform Progress
The big local education news of the day is the release of the latest results from Denver’s School Performance Framework. SPF — which in this case has nothing to do with how much protection you get from the sun — takes into account a host of measures of how DPS schools are performing, with an […]
Hey, Betcha Didn’t Even Know Obama Addressed Students Yesterday
Flash back to last September. Remember the big brouhaha about President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren? I commented on it a few times. To me the big deal was the creepy notes created by the Department of Education for teachers that promoted a sort of worshipful, service-oriented attitude toward the President. But no need to rehash […]
NEA Backs Anti-Amendment 63 Campaign: How Does This Help Members?
Back in March I pointed out how school teachers and other union members who belong to the National Education Association (NEA) have financially supported Obama Care whether they like it or not. This week brings an important update to the story. The NEA donated $50,000 to the committee opposing Colorado’s Amendment 63 “Right to Health […]
