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The Teacher Quality Conundrum: If They Are The Problem, Why Are Kids Gaining In Math?
New York Daily News, NY, December 5, 2011
How to improve our schools? Let’s start with what we know: Teachers are the most important factor in a child’s schooling, and many of our teachers are not very good.

STATE COVERAGE

New Alabama Education Policy Director To Push For Charter Schools
Birmingham News Blog, AL, December 3, 2011
Gov. Robert Bentley’s new education policy director has worked under some controversial regimes in high-profile efforts to turn around failing schools.

LAUSD’s Promise of School Freedom Is Progress, but No Panacea
Los Angeles Times, CA, December 3, 2011
Educators at campuses that would get more autonomy under a district-union deal must remember that what made upstart charters work is not fewer rules but more attention to student needs.

L.A. Teachers Union Drops Legal Challenge To Evaluation System
Los Angeles Times Blog, CA, December 2, 2011
The union for Los Angeles teachers has suspended its legal challenge to a pilot evaluation program that includes using standardized test scores as part of a teacher’s performance review. The union also reserved the right to reactivate the case should talks with the district sour.

State Board to Consider Charter School Dispute in D-49
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO, December 4, 2011
A drawn out process over whether or not Falcon School District 49 will be home to a new charter school is expected to come to a conclusion Tuesday afternoon.

Tangi Board: Charter Could Hurt Desegregation
Washington Examiner, DC, December 4, 2011
Tangipahoa Parish school officials say creating a charter school in Hammond could jeopardize the public school system’s progress toward desegregation.

Education: Big Reforms Haven’t Yet Produced Big Results
Sun Sentinel, FL, December 4, 2011
After two years of hammering away on a K-12 education agenda designed by conservative think tanks, legislators have checked off

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Taking Over Lousy Schools
American Spectator, December 2, 2011
It would be an understatement to say that American families are dissatisfied with the nation’s traditional public school systems.

STATE COVERAGE

Our Struggling Schools Need A Long-term Fix
Sacramento Bee, CA, December 2, 2011
The nonprofit group Advancement Project plans to gather signatures for a November 2012 ballot initiative that would raise money for schools, The Bee reported Wednesday.

Pittsburg Charter High School Pilot Approved By State After Local Rejection
Contra Costa Times, CA, December 1, 2011
A new charter school program for Pittsburg won state approval in November despite having been turned down by both city and county education boards.

A Risky Choice — Lausd Shouldn’t Retreat From Reform
Long Beach Press Telegram, CA, December 1, 2011
For the past few years, Los Angeles schools have been a surprising model of education reform that has been closely observed across the nation.

Charter Schools Would Fix Education Because Bad Teachers Can Be Fired
Yahoo! Voices, December 1, 2011
One of the hot button issues on this November’s ballot in California is education reform. Each major party candidate talks of “fixing education.” I have my concerns for what this term means.

Denver Public Schools Rolls Out New Application For School-Choice Selections
Denver Post, CO, December 2, 2011
The new choice form — a four- page application — is available online and will be sent to students in transition grades next week through the U.S. mail and weekly school communications in children’s backpacks.

Evaluation Snags Delay Contract Agreements for Pasco Teachers
St. Petersburg Times, FL, December 2, 2011
She’s far from alone. Dozens of Pasco County teachers without assigned students are in the same position: They have no clear criteria for how their bosses will review their work or determine their students’ academic results for future pay and employment.

Gov Proposes Parents ‘Union’ To Control

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Districts Pay Less in Poor Schools, Report Says
New York Times, NY, December 1, 2011
Its conclusion: Tens of thousands of schools serving low-income students are being shortchanged because districts spend fewer state and local dollars on teacher salaries in those schools than on salaries in schools serving higher-income students.

My Favorite Adversary, Diane Ravitch
Washington Post Blog, DC, December 1, 2011
The national debate over how to fix our schools descends too often into well-phrased but acidic name-calling, like you hear at college department meetings.

The Achievement Gap Is A Middle Class Issue
Twin City Daily Planet, MN, November 30, 2011
A recent study by Sean Reardon of Stanford University finds that the achievement gap between the upper and middle classes is bigger than the gap between the middle class and the working poor. This should give pause to those who dismiss education reform as something that affects other people. If you’re middle class, you’re on the losing side of the achievement gap.

STATE COVERAGE

State Still Looking Into NCLB Waivers
Juneau Empire, AK, December 1, 2011
The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development is still looking at all the factors for applying for a newly offered waiver to the No Child Left Behind Act rules.

Pulling the Trigger on Failing Schools
LA Weekly, CA, December 1, 2011
One year later, with that colossal bust under their belts, Parent Revolution organizers are taking a more careful approach. Instead of pushing disenfranchised parents into battle under a shiny Parent Revolution flag, the organization has been fostering “parent unions” at schools across California .

Sweetwater Won’t Exclude Students from SDSU Compact
San Diego Union-Tribune, CA, November 30, 2011
After an outcry from charter school parents, the Sweetwater Union High School District dropped plans Wednesday to limit access to a program that guarantees entrance to San Diego State University .

The Education

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Why Are We Following The US Into A Schools Policy Disaster?
The Guardian, UK, November 28, 2011
Academies and free schools will do as much harm to our education system as charter schools are doing in the US , says Melissa Benn.

No Child Left Behind, Or Else
The Harvard Crimson, MA, November 29, 2011
The rash of reforms over the past two decades, from initiatives during the Clinton administration to Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act to Obama’s Race to the Top program, have sought to improve test scores by focusing almost entirely on school accountability with little or no attempt to hold students to a higher standard.

STATE COVERAGE

Charter Schools In The Northwest Valley Continue To Grow
Arizona Republic, AZ, November 28, 2011
Charter schools in the northwest Valley, particularly in the Surprise area, continue to grow. Nearly 20 percent of students in Surprise attend a charter school, one of the highest percentages among Valley cities.

LAUSD Reform From The Inside Out
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 29, 2011
Our school system is fracturing. While the Los Angeles Unified School District and its bargaining partners, the unions, endlessly debate how best to fix the system, parents and students are walking away from LAUSD.

Millions for Education Bounce off With Brown’s Dropped Ball
Modesto Bee, CA, November 28, 2011
At a time when California has cut funding for K-12 education — and is about to cut more — the state just left $49 million in federal education dollars on the table.

Denver Public Schools Discovers Value of Marketing
Denver Post, CO, November 29, 2011
In the growing Denver Public Schools district, the need for marketing is intensified by a new districtwide enrollment process that requires parents to choose a school rather than automatically being assigned to one.

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For-Profit Certification for Teachers Is Booming
New York Times, NY, November 27, 2011
He is earning his teaching certificate through an online, for-profit alternative certification program, a nontraditional route to teaching that is becoming more common in Texas .

Big Expansion, Big Questions for Teach for America
Associated Press, November 27, 2011
By 2015, with the help of a $50 million federal grant, program recruits could make up one-quarter of all new teachers in 60 of the nation’s highest need school districts. The program also is expanding internationally.

Teach for America Has Become Embedded in New Orleans Education
Times Picayune, LA, November 27, 2011
As with so much else that defines the post-Katrina school system, the group’s ubiquity in New Orleans sets the city apart, but also places it squarely at the center of national debate over the future of the teaching profession.

STATE COVERAGE

GOP Ready For Battle With Alabama Education Association
Tuscaloosa News, AL, November 28, 2011
Alabama’s new Republican-controlled Legislature ran over the Alabama Education Association in the 2011 session and is looking for more victories next year when the longtime leaders of the educators’ group head into retirement.

‘Teaching Interns’ Help Lacking Schools
Arizona Republic, AZ, November 27, 2011
A key part of O’Keefe’s new life is a relatively new type of teaching certificate granted by the Arizona Department of Education to people who already have college degrees and want to become public-school teachers but don’t want to go back to college for another four years.

Teacher Ratings And The Public’s Right To Know
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 28, 2011
The Los Angeles Unified School District is going against public opinion by siding with the teachers union against full transparency on value-added teacher ratings.

Public Schools, Private Donations
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 27, 2011
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is trying to balance parental donations with

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