On the Atlantic's National blog, University of Michigan education professors Jeffrey Mirel and Simona Goldin express optimism that the current movement towards a common curriculum could boost what they consider woeful levels of teacher collaboration in U.S. schools: One of the key differences be... Read Full Post >
In case you missed it, last week's Washington Post article on merit pay does a nice job of summing up the major rift between proponents and skeptics of a school reform effort that, according to the Post reporter, is "suddenly gaining traction." Daniel Pink, author of the popular book about motivat... Read Full Post >
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof points to a new Harvard study finding that good teachers—as defined by value-added test score analysis—have a profound long-term effect on students. According to the study, he notes, an average-size 4th grade class with a strong teacher will go on... Read Full Post >
Four out of 10 new public school teachers hired since 2005 came through alternative teacher-preparation programs, according to a survey just released by the National Center for Education Information. That's up from 22 percent of new teachers hired between 2000 and 2004. Read Full Post >
School-level incentives for teachers are potentially more effective than individual incentives, according to a pair of researchers who spoke yesterday at an education-policy symposium in downtown Washington. Participating in a panel discussion on "Making Teacher Incentives Work" hosted by the Am... Read Full Post >
Amid the ongoing debates over collective bargaining and the power of unions, teachers were (yet again) a focus of major newspaper op-ed pages yesterday: In the New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof (apparently taking a breather from the revolutions in the Mideast), blasted the "pernicious f... Read Full Post >
In an op-ed published in the Washington Post this morning—and addressed to the nation's governors, who are gathering in D.C. this week for their annual meeting—Bill Gates points to the impact that excellent teachers have on student achievement and argues that tight education budgets would ... Read Full Post >
Several weeks ago, we reported on a wonkish panel discussion in D.C. in which Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in proping up the performance pay idea, lamented that school systems currently treat teachers like "interchangeble widgets." Read Full Post >
In his latest column, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter highlights—quite uncritically—Bill Gates' campaign to curb teacher seniority pay, which appears to offend the Microsoft founder's business sense: "Is there any other part of of the economy where someone says, 'Hey, how long have you been mowi... Read Full Post >
New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman—purveyor of the "The World Is Flat" trope—bemoans the current indicators of the state of U.S. schools and praises U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's efforts to introduce performance pay and increased competition into the teaching profession. ... Read Full Post >
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