Less than 50 percent of Utah students are currently proficient in key subjects. That’s not good enough to prepare the workforce of the future. Especially at risk are students who don’t have strong family support or are otherwise disadvantaged. By A. Scott Anderson July 25, 2018 I’ve long been convinced that improving public schools is the…
Category: Technology in the Classroom
No, private schools aren’t better at educating kids than public schools. Why this new study matters.
By Valerie Strauss July 26, 2018 Despite evidence showing otherwise, it remains conventional wisdom in many parts of the education world that private schools do a better job of educating students, with superior standardized test scores and outcomes. It is one of the claims that some supporters of school choice make in arguing that the…
Report slams Texas’ underfunding of public schools
By John Austin Jul 29, 2018 AUSTIN — Texas’ school-age population is the nation’s fastest-growing, with about 850,000 new pupils in the past decade, but over the same period, the state cut public-education spending by $2.5 billion. The cuts are second only to Florida’s, according to a new report from the American Federation of Teachers,…
If you have a kid in public school (or know one), you need to follow this race
If you care about public education, about what Arizona students are learning and how well prepared they are to succeed in college and beyond, you should care who wins the election for superintendent of public instruction. Even if the office is largely administrative. The education superintendent alone can’t change what we pay teachers, what we teach…
Iowa’s public education advocates hope to extend the state sales tax for school facilities, classroom technology
As they call for more money for classrooms, Iowa school advocates hope legislators will extend a sales tax levy that pours millions of dollars each year into infrastructure and technology for the state’s public schools. Bipartisan negotiations over the past couple years have resulted in a plan to extend a statewide 1 cent sales…
What is Gov. Matt Bevin doing with Kentucky’s education boards?
Mandy McLaren, July 22, 2018 Gov. Matt Bevin is doubling down on the use of executive power to expand his authority over the future of Kentucky’s public schools. Bevin quietly altered or abolished several education boards this month through executive order, reasoning that the changes will streamline bureaucracy and enhance student learning. But his main…
What’s behind Scott Wagner’s public school pivot? (Pennsylvania)
State Sen. Scott Wagner, of York County, was the first Republican to announce a gubernatorial bid challenging incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf.(PennLive file photos) By John L. Micek So here’s one you probably didn’t see coming: Republican governor candidate Scott Wagner, who once said Pennsylvania could lay off 10 percent of its public school teachers and they wouldn’t…
Parents and taxpayers, you have 6 days to tell state officials what you want out of Washington’s public schools
A screenshot from the Washington State Board of Education’s public feedback survey. The survey, which closes early Monday morning, asks the public to rank the importance of several education issues ranging from language access to universal pre-Kindergarten. It also asks for ways that the state is impeding student success. Dahlia Bazzaz July 24, 2018 What…
Questions surround ruling on New Mexico education funding
Shelby Perea and Dan Boyd Tuesday, July 24th, 2018 A judge’s ruling that New Mexico has not been meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a sufficient education for all students — especially those characterized as at-risk — continued to reverberate Monday, with plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit hailing it as a harbinger of a fairer…
Does Florida Provide ‘High Quality’ Public Education? State Supremes Ready to Wade in
JIM SAUNDERS July 24, 2018 – When Florida voters went to the polls in 1998, more than 70 percent approved a constitutional amendment that required the state to provide an “uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality” system of public schools. But two decades later, the Florida Supreme Court is preparing to wade into a…
Standing Strong for Public Education! 