Education News

Here is a new piece from award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York. Burris was named New York's 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and in 2010, tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. She is the co-author of the New York Principals letter of concern regarding the evaluation of teachers by student test scores. It has been signed by more than 1,535 New York principals and more than 6,500 teachers, parents, professors, administrators and citizens. You can read the letter by clicking here.

Read full article >>    

While newly minted university graduates face a tight job market, skilled vocational school graduates are in high demand.    

Millions of young people are seeking hands-on instruction in market-friendly skills. Private academies offering short, practical courses are filling the gap left by formal colleges and universities.    

The system, in which teachers will be rated in part on their students’ test scores, brought New York City in compliance with state law.    

After August, Texas’ curriculum support system, known as Cscope, will no longer be a source of lesson plans for the 875 school districts that rely on it.    

More than 80 University of Virginia faculty signed a letter last week that called upon school leaders to promptly respond to what they called “false and injurious” remarks made by major donor Paul Tudor Jones on campus this spring about the lack of women at the highest levels of trading.

Read full article >>    

It isn't called a "doomsday" budget for nothing: Philadelphia's School Reform Commission approved a budget this week that includes cuts so drastic that if they are implemented, schools will be forced to open in the fall without funding for things such as paper, new books, athletics, arts, music, counselors and more.

Read full article >>    

Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp actually published the following tweet on the same day that Philadelphia's School Reform Commission approved a budget without funding for things such as paper, new books, athletics, arts, music, counselors, assistant principals and more.

Read full article >>    

Yes, there is an official U.S. government position on mermaids and the existence thereof.

Mermaids were in the news in recent days after Animal Planet broadcast a show called "Mermaids: The New Evidence," a follow-up to last year's "Mermaids: The Body Found." The new show earned the station its largest audience ever, my colleague Lisa de Moraes reported here. And, of course, that means Animal Planet won't leave the subject alone and is now considering the next twist in the story.

Read full article >>    

The winning word in the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night was, as it turned out, "knaidel," a Jewish version of a dumpling.The boy who got it right -- on his fourth successive appearance in the national event -- was Arvind Mahankali, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Bayside Hills, N.Y.

Read full article >>    

Because of the high cost, some colleges do a lot more than others to find and enroll low-income students, which critics of race-based affirmative action see as a way to encourage diversity.    

School officials in Calvert County ruled Friday that a kindergarten boy suspended for taking his cowboy-style cap gun onto a school bus may return to school Monday, according to the child’s family and a lawyer.

Read full article >>    

An investigation of three midshipmen has gone on for more than a year amid growing controversy over military sexual assaults.    

In the 181,500-student Fairfax County school district, students with disabilities represent about 14 percent of the enrollment but are involved in about 40 percent of all discipline cases, according to school officials.

Read full article >>    

Mayor Vincent C. Gray is set to introduce legislation that would give the D.C. schools chancellor authority to approve new charter schools, a measure meant to improve academic options in long-struggling neighborhoods.

Read full article >>    

The plan would make Camden the fourth system under state control since the controversial strategy was first used nearly 25 years ago.

President Obama’s remarks in the Rose Garden came as Democrats and Republicans differ on how to stop the rate for federally subsidized student loans from rising on July 1.