Anyone notice a surplus of education news lately? Take this week alone – and please by all means, follow the links to catch up on our new national pastime: reforming our schools.
Sunday, New York Times Magazine: Increasingly, education reform links to teacher quality. This is a big deal. We usually talk about class size, economic status, family involvement, out of school time – all important factors. But there’s another one. Who is your teacher?
Monday, Newsweek: After “Who’s your teacher” we ask, “And how much are they paid?” Michelle Rhee, chancellor of DC Public Schools, proposes increasing teacher salary based on the performance of their students. She also proposes letting go of teachers who underperform. The latter point breaks with the American Federation of Teachers, working to protect tenure.
Tuesday, State of Illinois Governors Office (also Tribune, Chicago Public Radio, even Huffington Post): Quinn proposes cutting $1.3 Billion out the education budget to save Illinoians on a tax increase. The measure is estimated to layoff over 13,000 teachers.
Wednesday, New York Times: A panel of educators composed of national governors and state superintendents created a new “road map” for American public education. If states approve these common standards, we can finally be on the same page when discussing and working toward acheivement at the national level.
And I haven’t even talked about local successes:
Urban Prep Charter Academy in Englewood is sending 100% of their graduating class to college!
State of Illinois made the second round of the Federal Race to The Top grant. Illinois will present our case this month, with grant awards announced in April.
Finally, here’s a really great summary article with an even greater headline: Obama is not even trying to be an education President. Seems true enough.
Wow, there is a lot happening around this topic. I’m very excited to hear about the success of Urban Prep Charter Academy. Perhaps the panel of educators creating a road map should use UPCA as their pilot!
Bridget, totally right! And it wouldn’t be the first time a national model followed the success of a single school or community.
So where are the successes? And does any of this tie into the work that United Way is doing with education funding?
I think sending 100% of your graduating class to college is a huge success! Not to mention getting to the next stage for Race to The Top.
Yeah we’re buiding our Education platform now, and successes like these in part form our direction. How’s that for a perfectly vague sentence? :)