http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-schools/ci_28209959/longmont-valedictorian-silenced-over-speech-disclosing-he-was
As a class valedictorian, Evan Young was supposed to give a speech at his graduation ceremony. He had themed it around respect for people's differences, and had planned his own coming out as gay as part of the speech. The principal of the school told him to remove that part of the speech but Young refused, leading the school to cancel his speech and _not even recognize Young as a valedictorian_. The school's board of directors said in a statement that graduation was "not a time for a student to use his commencement speech to push his personal agenda on a captive audience, and school officials are well within their rights to prevent that from happening." As if this story couldn't get worse, Young hadn't even yet come out to his own parents. So instead of getting to do that on his own terms, the principal outed him on a phone call to his parents. Thankfully, they seem to have taken the news well and have turned their attention to the unfairness of their son not being able to speak or be recognized as valedictorian. A local LGBT advocacy group, Out Boulder, is organizing an event where Evan Young will give his speech as part of a fundraiser.
New study takes hard look at National Council on Teacher Quality’s ratings of teacher prep programs
http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2015/05/new-study-takes-hard-look-at-national-council-on-teacher-quality%e2%80%99s-ratings-of-teacher-prep-programs/
There's an organization called the National Council on Teacher Quality that creates a lot of attention for itself by promoting a ranking system it's developed for teacher preparation programs. The NCTQ rankings have irked many people in teacher education, generally because the methods and criteria used in the rankings appear flawed, such as judging a university's program by content found in course syllabi. These feelings now appear validated, as Gary Henry and folks at Vanderbilt have done some research of their own and found that NCTQ rankings more or less have no correlation with the average effectiveness of graduates of teacher education programs.
There's an organization called the National Council on Teacher Quality that creates a lot of attention for itself by promoting a ranking system it's developed for teacher preparation programs. The NCTQ rankings have irked many people in teacher education, generally because the methods and criteria used in the rankings appear flawed, such as judging a university's program by content found in course syllabi. These feelings now appear validated, as Gary Henry and folks at Vanderbilt have done some research of their own and found that NCTQ rankings more or less have no correlation with the average effectiveness of graduates of teacher education programs.
Labels:
education,
policy,
research,
teacher_quality,
Tennessee
Ashley Elementary School in Denver reinvents itself in Common Core era
http://www.denverpost.com/common-core/ci_28179398/ashley-elementary-school-denver-reinvents-itself-common-core
I've sadly grown accustomed to poor education reporting on the Common Core State Standards. Sometimes there's no distinction between the standards and curriculum, or a misunderstanding about the adoption and implementation process, or decontextualized simplifications (or fabrications) of the standards that make them look silly. So hats off to Eric Gorski of The Denver Post for this great 3-part series looking at Common Core implementation in Denver area schools. Gorski manages to capture the complexity and the challenge without mucking up the finer points about what the standards are and aren't, and all three parts are worth a read. Part 1: http://www.denverpost.com/common-core/ci_28179398/ashley-elementary-school-denver-reinvents-itself-common-core Part 2: http://www.denverpost.com/common-core/ci_28183620/boston-k-8-school-aurora-struggles-adapt-common Part 3: http://www.denverpost.com/common-core/ci_28187598/at-smoky-hill-high-school-common-core-and
I've sadly grown accustomed to poor education reporting on the Common Core State Standards. Sometimes there's no distinction between the standards and curriculum, or a misunderstanding about the adoption and implementation process, or decontextualized simplifications (or fabrications) of the standards that make them look silly. So hats off to Eric Gorski of The Denver Post for this great 3-part series looking at Common Core implementation in Denver area schools. Gorski manages to capture the complexity and the challenge without mucking up the finer points about what the standards are and aren't, and all three parts are worth a read. Part 1: http://www.denverpost.com/common-core/ci_28179398/ashley-elementary-school-denver-reinvents-itself-common-core Part 2: http://www.denverpost.com/common-core/ci_28183620/boston-k-8-school-aurora-struggles-adapt-common Part 3: http://www.denverpost.com/common-core/ci_28187598/at-smoky-hill-high-school-common-core-and
A senior year mostly lost for a Normandy honor student
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/a-senior-year-mostly-lost-for-a-normandy-honor-student/article_ce759a06-a979-53b6-99bd-c87a430dc339.html
This story is sad for three reasons: (1) Kids at this school aren't getting the opportunities they deserve, (2) It illustrates the persistence of the inequalities in the St. Louis area that Jonathan Kozol wrote about 25+ years ago, and (c) in a system of school choice, this kind of thing is expected, and (according to market theories) the blame for this situation is partly on the kids for not transferring to another school. This last one particularly bothers me, as I think every student has a right to a high-quality neighborhood school, and shouldn't have any reason to shop for a better one.
This story is sad for three reasons: (1) Kids at this school aren't getting the opportunities they deserve, (2) It illustrates the persistence of the inequalities in the St. Louis area that Jonathan Kozol wrote about 25+ years ago, and (c) in a system of school choice, this kind of thing is expected, and (according to market theories) the blame for this situation is partly on the kids for not transferring to another school. This last one particularly bothers me, as I think every student has a right to a high-quality neighborhood school, and shouldn't have any reason to shop for a better one.
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