A good grade for Teach for America: What makes a good teacher? Experience helps. But a new study of Teach for America (TFA) – education’s version of the Peace Corps – shows that their novice high school teachers bring something to the classroom that trumps traditional training and experience. The advantage of having a TFA teacher is particularly strong in math and science, the study finds. [CSM]
MBA’S IN MADRID? The Rise of the European B-School: Shorter, cheaper programs and demand for international experience are two reasons business schools across Europe are flourishing. [Speigel]
Elite Colleges Reporting Record Lows in Admission: The already crazed competition for admission to the nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges became even more intense this year, with many logging record low acceptance rates. [NYT]
April 4th, 2008 at 8:57 am
This article is filed under Blog, Education.
Rise of the ‘rock star’ school superintendent: No Child Left Behind has created a demand for school administrators who can take the pressure, and some 20 percent of school districts are now seeking superintendents because of a shortage. [CSM]
One Class: In most communities, students attend school every day because they are convinced that educational achievement is essential to their future success. For many unfortunate reasons, however, this expectation does not exist for most low-income students in Chicago and other urban areas. How do we improve attendance at low-income schools where the current incentive of “a better future” is not sufficient? [NYT]
Students unaffected by academics’ views: CONSERVATIVES complain that college professors lean left when it comes to politics - and the data mostly show that is true. But new US research suggests the political attitudes of academics have little effect on what their students think. [Australian]
March 31st, 2008 at 12:09 pm
This article is filed under Blog, Education.
Low graduation rate draws Florida lawsuit: The case against the Palm Beach County district aims to clarify its duty to keep more kids in school. [CSM]
The Professor as Open Book: IT is not necessary for a student studying multivariable calculus, medieval literature or Roman archaeology to know that the professor on the podium shoots pool, has donned a bunny costume or can’t get enough of Chaka Khan. Yet professors of all ranks and disciplines are revealing such information on public, national platforms: blogs, Web pages, social networking sites, even campus television. [NYT]
Idaho Turns to Chess as Education Strategy: On Thursday, state officials will announce in Boise that the program will be extended in the fall to all second and third graders — making Idaho the first state to offer a statewide chess curriculum. [NYT]
March 25th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
This article is filed under Blog, Education.
Has Serious Academic Reform Of College Athletics Arrived?: And this is the fourth year of the Academic Progress Rate (APR), a more real-time measure of an athletic department’s academic progress. When the new APR numbers come out in May, schools that fall short will, for the first time, suffer increasingly harsh penalties, including lost scholarships and, if they’re chronic laggards, banishment from the postseason tournaments and bowl games that are their financial lifeblood. [WSJ]
Why good students don’t reach college: Support during the complex application process is key, a new Chicago study finds. [CSM]
Juicy Campus: College gossip leaves the bathroom wall and goes online: For students who have been identified by name on Juicy Campus, the results can be devastating. In a tearful phone conversation, a 21-year-old junior at Baylor who majors in public relations recounted her experience when her name surfaced on the site in a discussion about the “biggest slut” on campus. [IHT]
March 19th, 2008 at 9:58 am
This article is filed under Blog, Education.
Panel Proposes Streamlining Math: American students’ math achievement is “at a mediocre level” compared with that of their peers worldwide, according to a new report by a federal panel. The panel said that math curriculums from preschool to eighth grade should be streamlined to focus on key skills — the handling of whole numbers and fractions, and certain aspects of geometry and measurement — to prepare students to learn algebra. [NYT]
Math Suggests College Frenzy Will Soon Ease: High school seniors nationwide are anxiously awaiting the verdicts from the colleges of their choice later this month. But though it may not be of much solace to them, in just a few years the admissions frenzy is likely to ease. It’s simply a matter of demographics. [NYT]
March 14th, 2008 at 9:36 am
This article is filed under Blog, Education.
How Many Billionaires Does It Take to Fix a School System?: For as long as wealthy Americans have given their money away, education has been a leading recipient of their largess. Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller: the biggest philanthropists of the 20th century all gave significant portions of their fortunes to schools, teachers and libraries. Today, according to the Foundation Center, about a quarter of all foundation giving goes to education; overall, only religious organizations receive more charitable donations. [NYT]
At Charter School, Higher Teacher Pay: Would six-figure salaries attract better teachers? A New York City charter school set to open in 2009 in Washington Heights will test one of the most fundamental questions in education: Whether significantly higher pay for teachers is the key to improving schools. [NYT]
Animal law a strong draw for students: ANIMAL law is proving so popular in universities that it could match the current popularity of environmental law within a generation, according to the head of the Australian Law Reform Commission. [Australian]
March 8th, 2008 at 10:47 am
This article is filed under Blog, Education.
When nine teenage girls at a north London Jewish comprehensive school recently refused to take a test on Shakespeare, the only writer whose work is a compulsory part of the English secondary school curriculum, they were supported and encouraged by their parents and principal, Rabbi Abraham Pinter. [Spiked]
Separating schoolboys from schoolgirls has long been a staple of private and parochial education. But the idea is now gaining traction in American public schools, in response to both the desire of parents to have more choice in their children’s public education and the separate education crises girls and boys have been widely reported to experience. [NYT]
Fewer than half of American teenagers who were asked basic history and literature questions in a phone survey knew when the Civil War was fought, and one in four said Columbus sailed to the New World some time after 1750, not in 1492. The survey results, released on Tuesday, demonstrate that a significant proportion of teenagers live in “stunning ignorance” of history and literature, said the group that commissioned it, Common Core. [NYT]
March 4th, 2008 at 10:45 am
This article is filed under Blog, Education.
Literature, the soul of the English language, has been marginalised by ideology and social theory in its study in schools and universities. [Australian]
The authors of the study, by scholars at the Brookings Institution in Washington and sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, warned that widening gaps in higher education between rich and poor, whites and minorities, could soon lead to a downturn in opportunities for the poorest families. [NYT]
Crime records at private universities are “the last major issue in terms of getting access to crime information”. [CSM]
As lending tightens, education could suffer. [NYT]
February 26th, 2008 at 11:33 am
This article is filed under Blog, Education.
