College: Skyrocketing Costs, Student Debt, and Budget-Wise Choices
Not only do student loans and their accompanying debt keep making news, such lending has become big business for the federal government. In fact, federal student loans have nearly doubled since 2007, with the result that the U.S. Department of Education realized a...
It’s an Education Fact: 12/10/2013
1) A 7-year-long study finds that effective elementary teachers who transferred to low-achieving schools under a $20,000 bonus-pay program helped their new students learn more on average than those in a control group. 2) Nearly 50% of all American public school...
Quotable Education-Related Quotes: 12/9/2013
** "Teaching materials aligned with the controversial national educational standards ask fifth graders to edit such sentences as 'The president makes sure the laws of the country are fair,' 'The wants of an individual are less important than the well-being of the...
It’s an Education Fact: 12/5/2013
1) 8 states have already adopted the Next Generation Science Standards. 2) 35 states and D.C. require student achievement to be a significant or most important factor in teacher evaluation. 44 states require classroom observations be added, too, and 19 states and D.C....
Making Education News: 12/4/2013
1. Parents and gifted education advocates worry that until teachers have a stronger understanding of the Common Core, gifted learners may not receive the education they need to stay engaged and challenged. 2. 130 Catholic scholars have written to U.S. Catholic...
Quotable Education Quotations: 12/3/2013
** "Teachers should be compensated based on their ability to improve student learning, their ability to be a leader in the school, and their ability to continue to grow as a teacher through a career ladder. So to be a mentor, a master teacher, to take on...
Making Education News: 11/27/2013
1. "Flipped classrooms" have been all the rage of late, but researchers at Harvey Mudd College are finding that the benefits of "flipping" are dubious and that's it's no more effective than traditional teaching methods. 2. The Khan Academy, a free online library of...
Education-Related Sites to Visit: 11/27/2013
*** www.peacecorps.gov/wws ~ This Peace Corps World Wise School site "provides students with a view of life in more than 80 countries where Peace Corps volunteers serve." *** www.sparky.org ~ This National Fire Protection Association Sparky the Fire Dog site "allows...
It’s an Education Fact: 11/26/2013
1) In 2011, among 25- to 34-year-olds, having a bachelor's degree or higher increased their average earnings by 69% for men and 70% for women over those with only a high school diploma. 2) On the international PIACC, which tested 16- to 65-year-olds on a set of skills...
Quotable Education Quotes: 11/25/2013
** "There is an obsession with bad teachers. It is destroying the teaching profession." ~ Diane Ravitch, education historian ** "Right now we have a misalignment. Testing now has replaced instruction, and that's a bad place for us to be." Randi Weingarten, AFT...
Food Allergy Alert: Even a Trace Can Kill
It happens—and probably more often than you might think. Indeed, every three minutes someone with a food allergy reaction ends up in an emergency room. That makes for more than 200,000 such visits every year. And that’s both a very big deal and a growing problem,...
Americans’ Collective Civics/Government Ignorance Taking a Costly Toll
Okay, so maybe most of us don’t know that, when, in 1935 and ’36, the Supreme Court found against certain parts of Roosevelt’s New Deal, he responded by threatening to appoint additional Supreme Court justices who shared his views. Surely, though, we all know how many...
Anti-Bullying: Programs, Unintended Consequences, and the Golden Rule
Sticks and stones my break my bones, but words will never hurt me. So says the children’s rhyme that harkens all the way back to the 1800’s. Oh, if only it were so. Meanness abounds still, and in today’s toxic, Internet-happy society, it’s sometimes taken to new...
Worthwhile Education Websites: 11/20/2013
*** www.nps.gov/teachers ~ This National Park Service site offers "distance learning, field trips, and curricular materials," plus professional development opportunities for teachers" and says, "The parks are America's greatest classroom. ..." ***...
It’s an Education Fact: 11/20/2013
1) America invests some $600 billion every year in education. 2) American taxpayers will soon spend $1 billion a year to help families pay private school tuition, but there is little evidence that the program yields academic gains. 3) A SmartBrief on EdTech poll found...
Quotable Education Quotes: 11/18/2013
** "In an American society that values originality and creativity, it makes no sense to subject millions of students to 'one-size-fits-all' testing that inspires uniform skills and conformity." ~ Katrin Park, former United Nations staff member ** "Out of context, test...
Education-Related Sites to Visit: 11/13/2013
*** www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnfall12/Fall2012.pdf ~ This site features the FDIC's primer, "For Young Adults and Teens: Quick Tips for Managing Your Money." *** www.usmint.gov/kids ~ Here, kids learn all about the mint via games, toons, and more. ***...
It’s an Education Fact: 11/12/2013
1) A Thomas B. Fordham Institute estimates that the total cost of implementing the Common Core standards will be between $3 billion and $12 billion depending on which approaches states use. 2) A Scholastic poll of more than 2,000 teachers finds that 75% of them think...
Quotable Quotes: 11/11/2013
** "For years now, federal education policy has largely ignored the issue of poverty, with too many school reformers arguing that citing the effects of living in poverty as a big obstacle to achievement in schools is 'an excuse.' Schools, they say, can overcome...
Quotable Education Quotes:
** "What's so atrocious is that Eric Holder, the Obama Department of Justice, [is] using the same rules intended to protect low-income children, intended to allow them to go to better schools, now wants to use those same rules to force these kids to go back to failing...
