Top Stories and Commentary for Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Will Arne Duncan be the bold education reformer Obama needs?
Blog by John Affeldt/Huffington Post
It’s been like a crowded basketball court these past couple of weeks for school improvement advocates with more than a few elbows thrown as everyone vied for the "bold reformer" territory. At […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Monday, December 22, 2008
Judge blocks mandatory algebra testing for California eighth-graders
Judge Shelleyanne W.L. Chang ruled that the state Board of Education may have overstepped its authority in adopting the plan. By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times
A Sacramento Superior Court judge Friday blocked a controversial state plan requiring […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Friday, December 19, 2008
Report urges database on state’s students
By Melissa Nix/Sacramento Bee
Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell endorsed a report Thursday that suggests more data are the key to learning what’s working – and what’s not – in education. The McKinsey Report calls for the development […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Thursday, December 18, 2008
California road, school construction projects could be halted or delayed
State could take the action as it tries to cope with a mounting deficit and budget stalemate. Some of the projects are part of a construction bond voters approved in 2006. By Jordan Rau and Evan […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Education Secretary faces system in crisis
San Francisco Chronicle
Hundreds of thousands of children in this country do not learn and eventually drop out of school. That is Arne Duncan’s problem now. Duncan, Barack Obama’s choice for secretary of education, confronted the challenge on a smaller […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Obama to pick Arne Duncan as Education Secretary
The Chicago schools chief is open to new ideas, observers say, but has also polarized the community. By James Janega and Carlos Sadovi/Los Angeles Times
Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan, who over seven years maintained a positive […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Monday, December 15, 2008
Education attacks on Darling-Hammond don’t fit Obama’s post-partisanship
Blog by John Affeldt/Huffington Post
A slickly-coordinated string of editorials and columns in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The New Republic, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere has poured forth recently, all decrying […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Friday, December 12, 2008
Obama’s choice on education
Which way Obama will push the nation on schools is unclear, but the priorities must be accountability, funding and learning. Editorial/Los Angeles Times
Education was relegated to the outskirts of the presidential campaign this year, always a fourth or fifth runner-up […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Thursday, December 11, 2008
Christmas wish: algebra teachers, funds, etc.
Blog by Neil Gonzales/Contra Costa Times
California wants its students to increasingly progress and reach high academic standards. But how is that possible or even realistic given a serious lack of algebra teachers, funds and other resources? That’s the weighty […]
Top Stories and Commentary for Wednesday, December 10, 2008
California’s Latinos and blacks still lag in university eligibility
New report finds that the groups are doing better on meeting application requirements for UC and CSU but still trail whites and Asians. By Larry Gordon/Los Angeles Times
Despite recent improvements, Latino and black students continue to […]