U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says it is time to overhaul of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, claiming the eight-year old Bush law “was too punitive, was too prescription and actually led to a lowering of the bar, a lowering of expectations.” Under NCLB, schools are evaluated based on student test scores. In [...]
New Blueprint for No Child Left Behind Reform
Student Protesters Defend California Education
March 4, 2010 was a day of protest throughout California as students, parents, and teachers took to the streets to voice frustration with deep cuts to K-12 education as well as to public colleges and universities. For the coming school year, the state faces thousands of teacher and administrator layoffs along with increased class sizes. [...]
California 2010 State of Education Address
“We must continue to work toward the critically important end-goal of raising achievement for all students and closing the achievement gap during good times and bad.” In his 7th and final State of Education Address, Jack O’Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, highlighted progress in student achievement and the race against time to build an [...]
Posted 10 February 2010 by Deb Kohnstamm
Tags: policy
Tags: policy
Rigorous High School Math Equals Career Readiness
“The equation is simple: No matter what their background, students who take challenging math courses in high school get better jobs and earn more money throughout their entire lives.” Do you have a reluctant math student living under your roof? The Math Works advocacy kit from Achieve.org is written for every student who has uttered [...]
Rethink Learning Now
“Everyone knows the ultimate purpose of public education is to ensure that all children learn how to use their minds well.” Seems the Rethink Learning Now campaign, launched September 8, 2009, would have been hard pressed to come up with a less original or more obvious idea. But, if it’s so obvious, why isn’t every [...]
Posted 17 September 2009 by Deb Kohnstamm
Tags: policy
Tags: policy
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Special-Needs Students
A recent Supreme Court decision ruled that parents who remove a special-needs child from public school can be reimbursed for private instruction if the public system failed to offer an appropriate program for their child. The case involved an Oregon high school student who, after being found ineligible for special-education services by the district, was [...]
8th-grade Algebra Mandate Blocked
A mandate to make California the first state to require algebra testing for all eighth-graders was blocked by a judge on Friday, December 19. Despite opposition from California’s School Superintendent, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the State Board of Education endorsed a plan to require Algebra 1 testing for all eighth-graders beginning in 2011. Opposition groups [...]
Does Algebra-for-all Add Up?
Last July, the California state Board of Education voted to require Algebra 1 testing for all eighth-graders beginning in 2011. Currently, Algebra I is a requirement to graduate from high school. Proponents believe the algebra mandate will raise student achievement while critics maintain this policy will set kids up for failure and contribute to increased [...]
