Grading Teachers Gets An A+

Makes sense to me.  And apparently it is starting to make sense on the West Coast.  In Los Angeles Unified School District, some 6000 teachers were recently graded on their performance.  Most importantly, these performance indicators were made public so that parents understand if the teacher is qualified to teach. The Los Angeles Times writes: [...]

Violence Also Killing Educational Future of our Children

As if the body count wasn’t enough, research confirms what many of us already know: kids in violent settings have lower achievement and test scores. Children living in areas where homicides are committed have lower reading and verbal test scores, a study by New York University Sociology Professor Patrick Sharkey shows. The research, which appears [...]

Good News for Student Loan Holders

Whether you’re currently looking for money to pay for college or looking for ways to pay off your school loans, there is good news in a new federal law that will ease both burdens. Kiplinger highlights the good news: Better terms for repayment. The new law offers a more generous version of an existing program [...]

Student Loan Provisions Signed into Law

Also in the health care reform bill part deux, …: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 Invests more than $40 billion in Pell Grants to ensure that all eligible students receive an award and that these awards are increased in future years to help keep pace with the rising cost of college. Ensures [...]

Students on Debate Teams Do Better in School

Today’s Drum highlights a new study from Virginia Commonwealth University which demonstrates that African American students who participate on debate teams get better grades: The new study conducted by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University, examined 2,500 Chicago Public Schools students who participated in at least one debate tournament over a 10-year period, comparing their performance [...]

Defining African American Studies

John McWhorter questions what African American Studies students should learn (The New Republic): While this year has become best known as the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock, it was also forty years ago that the first African-American Studies department was established, at San Francisco State University. Forty-one fall semesters later, there are hundreds of such departments. [...]

Guest Post: Dr. Maya Rockeymoore: My Learning Story

Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions.  Working with the Forum for Education and Democracy’s Rethink Learning Now campaign, Dr. Rockeymoore shares her “learning story.”  This campaign is designed to get people engaged in education reform by sharing their “learning stories.”   They are seeking to collect stories from across the United [...]