December 2011 Archives

Just in case you didn't get enough with our list of EdWeek's top ten teacher stories for 2011, all scrupulously reported by yours truly, I'm presenting here a list of the most-read blog items at Teacher Beat for the 2011 year. Several of these rivaled "full" EdWeek stories in popularity, so getting on this list is nothing to sneeze at. Teach For America, as always, shows up several times, as does our very popular coverage of the National Education Association's convention. In an ironic twist of fate, the not-very-PR-friendly soap opera between those two organizations also showed up. Items on ...

An overview of teacher-quality programs under the FY 2012 budget deal.

A new project seeks to extend the number of students that the most effective teachers reach through a number of redesigns of the profession.

I'm traveling home for the holidays, and while posting will continue next week, it's likely to be somewhat irregular between now and January. So if you are wondering to yourself, "Wherever is Stephen?", don't fret. I'm just decking halls and trying to keep tabs on all those partridges in pear trees, lords-a-leaping, and swans-a-swimming. Or something like that. As always, thanks for joining me, and my warmest wishes to you for the holidays. Stephen...

Teacher-training group TNTP plans to incorporate a student-feedback measure into the system it's developing to evaluate its teachers, becoming one of first organizations in the nation to use such measures formally.

Experts discuss the obstacles to getting teachers proficient in formative-assessment techniques.

A National Education Association commission today issued a report today with specific recommendations for upping pre-service requirements, establishing career paths for teachers, and developing new evaluation systems.

A nonprofit body set up by the Minneapolis Federation of Teacher has been granted the authority to charter schools, in what's apparently the first such arrangement of its kind in the nation.

Educators 4 Excellence, a New York City-based group of reform-minded teachers, has expanded its operations to begin a new chapter of activist teachers in Los Angeles.