UPDATED, August 23, 2013: The OC Register reports that Melendez did not in fact file for retirement upon leaving Santa Ana Unified School District. This is despite her own blog post on her retirement, which cites wanting to spend more time with her aged parents as a reason for her early departure. Why the conflicting […]
February 25 & 26, 2013: The Annual California PTA Legislative Conference (Teacher Evaluations)
There are so many reasons why California is poised to regain her leadership among states in public education. Most of them stem from the fact that policy-wise, we haven’t completely knuckled under to the damaging policies put forth by the Obama administration. We’ve been evasive on bending to the conditions required for a Race to […]
No Teachers With Guns, No Police In Schools
On December 30, 2012, President Obama said he doubted arming school police with guns will prevent future school shootings, but then January 11, 2013’s EdWeek hints that he may yield to local law enforcement officers and communities if it has “bipartisan” support. While President Barack Obama said recently that he would be skeptical that more […]
Miss the #KidsNotCuts Twitter Party? Here's the Recap
In case you missed the #kidsnotcuts Twitter party with our expert Lily Eskelsen (@NEAToday) as the featured guest, I’ve collected some of the tweet highlights. Good morning, all! Let’s get #kidsnotcuts Twitter Party started! Thanks for joining us Lily. Use @neatoday 2 any Qs u have re fed school $ — K-12 News Network (@K12NN) […]
What Backers of the "Parent Trigger"/Parent Tricker Law Don’t Want You to Know: Real Democratic Involvement in Public Schools Works
Around the country, REAL parent heroes are putting the lie to the version of the story told in the movie Won’t Back Down. The “parent trigger”, or “parent tricker” law is in the news again, this time with a glossy film starring popular actors Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The heart-string-tugging movie is called Won’t […]
End Teach to the Test: Bad for Students and Their Teachers — the Latest Condemnation from the American Federation of Teachers
Is there a light at the end of the teach-to-the-test tunnel? A quirky pineapple that grabbed news headlines in the spring of 2012 may have marked a turning point in how much stock is given to a standardized test’s ability to accurately measure what children know. First, flickering sparks of discontent flashed up from parents […]
Fact Check: FAIL — Romney's Claim That the Federal Government Doesn't Pay for Teachers
Regarding presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s gaffe: of course state and local governments pay for teachers. No one disputes that. But the federal government does also pay for teachers, whether it’s the local or state education agency that makes that decision, or if it’s indirectly through federally-funded state training and credentialing programs. The Washington Post’s Josh […]
Romney's Education Policies: Eliminate Public Education As We Know It With "Voucherlike" Plan
Mitt Romney’s latest statements about his vision for America’s public schools can be summed up by his declaration that it’d be best to let families “vote with their feet” and have federal dollars follow children to private/religious, public, charter, or online schools. Reckless, foolish, clueless, or all of the above? Perhaps if someone actually knowledgeable […]
Florida's Testing Debacle: Just Tweak the Cut Scores (Or, How to Lie With Statistics)
“Equipercentile equating” is fancy-talk for “don’t like the percentages of failing students? Lower the passing score.” The New York Times recently covered the flap, in which a proficiency grade of 4 on written tests yielded “too many” failures but a grade of 3 magically gave the same results as last year: 81% of students passed. […]
Gutting the Arts: Here's How NCLB Undermines Schools and How a Vigilant and Caring Community Fought to Save a Beloved Program
NCLB’s narrowed curriculum almost cost our students wonderful opportunities. I refused to allow this school to ditch a fantastic program because they would rather hire a teacher who might have less experience and be able to come in for less money than to hire one to carry on this incredibly valuable art program. So did my daughter. We spoke up. You can too.