With the Obama administration’s debt deadline less than a week away, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is reworking his two-stage debt plan after the Congressional Budget Office revealed it cut less than advertised. The House isn’t expected to vote until Thursday or Friday. Meanwhile, conservatives remain highly suspicious. Heritage Action announced its opposition to the original Boehner plan and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) doubted it would pass the House. Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) will be stopping by Heritage this morning for an event, “Beyond the Border: The Future of the National …
The administration has just announced its round one Race to the Top winners, and only two states – drum roll please – Tennessee and Delaware, made the cut. The stated purpose of $4.35 billion RttT program is to increase teacher quality, improve failing schools, enhance the quality of state assessments, and build data systems to measure student growth. The identification of just two first-round winners falls short of the number most analysts predicted. While it is unclear as of yet exactly why those two states made the cut, the New …
A promising performance-pay program is under attack in the Boston public school system, which is trying out some new and innovative school reforms. The plan was to allow Advanced Placement teachers to receive $100 bonuses for each student who passes an AP exam, and teachers could be rewarded up to $3,000. But the Boston Herald reports that the Boston Teachers Union is trying to put an end to the innovative plan: Grinchlike union bosses are blocking at least 200 of Boston’s best teachers from pocketing bonuses for their classroom heroics …
One of the most effective ways to get good teachers into the classroom is to provide people with an alternative path toward teacher certification. States that are producing some of the biggest gains in student learning, such as Florida, have embraced the practice. What’s more, alternative teacher certification is garnering bi-partisan support as a measure that will propel meaningful education reform. The New York Times has even begun to champion the practice, profiling one of the most successful organizations in the teacher certification business: …the American Board for Certification of …
Derrell Bradford of Excellent Education for Everyone highlights a disturbing finding from the New Jersey Department of Education at NJ.com—a majority of NJ students who failed the high school exit exam (described by state education commission as “middle school level”) had apparently taken and passed courses in Geometry, Algebra I and II, and Biology. This is evidence of rampant social promotion: We have argued that New Jersey has two education systems. One you attend if you are white and live in an affluent suburb, and one you attend if you …
