public schools

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Obama to Push Merit Pay for Teachers in Schools Plan

Prez to push teacher merit pay, lower dropout rates

(Newser) - In a speech today before the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President Obama will lay out his plan for American schools, reports the Wall Street Journal. Most controversially, the president aims to expand merit pay for teachers, a measure that Democratic teacher unions are traditionally leery of. If teachers develop...

Bargain-Hunting Students Swarm State Universities

Officials walk line between shoring up budgets, maintaining reputations

(Newser) - The unraveling economy is spurring a boom in applications to public universities as students pursue higher education at lower prices, the New York Times reports. But while increased enrollment may help offset the budget cuts that many public institutions expect as states trim budgets, it can also diminish the student...

How to Fix the Education Divide
 How to Fix the Education Divide 
OPINION
Jan 12, 2009 12:43 PM CST

How to Fix the Education Divide

Racial gap is 'last great civil-rights battle': Klein and Sharpton

(Newser) - America is facing its “last great civil-rights battle”: the racial education gap, write Joel I Klein and Al Sharpton in a Wall Street Journal. “Today the average 12th-grade black or Hispanic student has the reading, writing, and math skills of an eighth-grade white student,” they note. But...

What Did Caroline Actually Do for Schools?

Hard to pin down what, exactly, she brought to the Department of Education

(Newser) - Caroline Kennedy’s $1-a-year gig raising funds for the New York City public schools is being touted as evidence that she's qualified for the Senate. But that seems odd, writes Glenn Thrush in Politico, given the amount of vagueness about what, and how much, she actually did there. Says one...

Big Choices for Obamas: Chef, Church

Special interest groups want to pick Obamas' puppy, church, chef

(Newser) - With the incoming first family's private decisions being scrutinized as breathlessly as the president-elect's cabinet picks, you already know about the battle over the puppy, and the private-or-public-school competition. New York reports on three other hotly contested issues:
  • The French-trained chef hired by Laura Bush may be replaced to reflect
...

Obama Girls Visit DC Schools
 Obama Girls Visit DC Schools 
Nov 18, 2008 1:31 PM CST

Obama Girls Visit DC Schools

Private schools likely for first daughters

(Newser) - Sasha and Malia Obama visited their mother's shortlist of Washington schools today, the AP reports. Reporters scoured the Beltway for signs of their motorcade, making a possible sighting outside the diverse Georgetown Day School. Chelsea Clinton's alma mater, Sidwell Friends, is also expected to be an option, as are DC's...

DC Schools Clamoring for Obama Girls

Michelle visits private schools competing for first kids

(Newser) - The politicos are debating Barack Obama's cabinet, but Washington’s parents are intent on another Presidential speculation: Where will the Obama girls go to school? Michelle Obama toured two of DC’s top private schools last week, and a third top academy is also thought to be on the shortlist....

DC Schools Compete for First Daughters
 DC Schools 
 Compete for 
 First Daughters 
Analysis
Nov 10, 2008 12:24 PM CST

DC Schools Compete for First Daughters

Washington's elite institutions vie for first daughters

(Newser) - As the Obamas head to Washington, the locals are abuzz about which private school might land first daughters Malia and Sasha. The Quaker school Sidwell Friends, Chelsea Clinton's alma mater, offers a host of big Beltway names, including some Biden grandkids. But many of them are Clintonites. “Imagine the...

DC Schools Give Kids Money to Improve Grades

Schools pay students for good behavior, grades

(Newser) - Schools in Washington, DC, hope to expand children's minds by filling their wallets. Students who get good grades, attend class, and behave earn points that will net them paychecks of up to $1,500 each year, NPR reports. "Every child has a switch, and it's our job as...

42% Would Dump Job to Teach
 42% Would Dump Job to Teach 
Sep 11, 2008 2:15 PM CDT

42% Would Dump Job to Teach

But schools will have to show them the money

(Newser) - Almost half—42%—of college-educated adults would consider becoming teachers, the Christian Science Monitor reports.That's good news, since US schools will be on the hunt for 3 million to 5 million teachers by 2020, thanks to rising enrollment and baby boomers who are laying down the chalk. But to...

PTA Mom: Gotta Love Palin for Public Schooling Kids

Advocate (and Dem) Tsing Loh disturbed to see candidates' offspring in private education

(Newser) - Sandra Tsing Loh likes Barack and Michelle Obama’s politics, but, as a proud PTA mom, wonders why they couldn’t send their kids to a public school in their native Chicago, she writes in the New York Times. The inclusion of middle-class or affluent children, especially from families who...

Chicago School Boycott Moves Downtown

'Teach-ins' at corporate offices protest unfair funding

(Newser) - Civic leaders held "teach-ins" at downtown Chicago businesses today to protest uneven education funding in Illinois, the Tribune reports. Educators joined students boycotting a second day of school in the lobbies of buildings including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Boeing Corp. Most businesses said they would welcome the students...

Boycott Disrupts Chicago's 1st Day of School

Inner-city students make symbolic visit to wealthy suburb

(Newser) - Hundred of Chicago students missed the first day of school today as they tried to enroll in more affluent suburban schools, the Tribune reports. Students and parents are protesting the uneven division of wealth among Illinois public schools by attempting to enroll en masse in top-rated North Shore schools. It’...

Philly Lets Students Leave Perilous Schools

Officials say reports of violence are rising, not the incidence of crime.

(Newser) - Twenty schools in Philadelphia are so “persistently dangerous” that the state is giving students the right to go elsewhere, reports the Inquirer. This figure is nearly double last year’s and includes a bump from one middle school to six, according to a list released yesterday by the Pennsylvania...

'Saving' Public Schools Not a Money Thing

Better education can't be legislated, or bought—parents have to make the effort

(Newser) - As dissatisfaction with the nation’s No Child Left Behind policy grows, it seems educators, politicians, and businessmen all have their own take on how to “save” the US public school system—with little consensus. Gary Stager, in Good, examines the overwhelmingly complex difficulties facing the nation’s ailing...

Nothing to Fear in Public School as Costco

Author/radio host/mom Sandra Tsing Loh outlines latest quest

(Newser) - For many urban, middle-class parents, sending kids to public school is a terrifying prospect. If you’re among that fretting class, Sandra Tsing Loh has a message: Chill out. In Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting, Loh recounts her own journey through the school conundrum, and realizes...

Focus, Not IQ, Might be Best School Skill

Kids trained to flex 'executive function' muscles learn better

(Newser) - EF is the new IQ, and if educators accept that new acronym mantra, more preschoolers will be playing games, Newsweek reports. Executive function—the ability to repress distracting thoughts and focus on a task—could be a better indicator of scholarly success than intelligence alone; psychologist Adele Diamond implemented an...

School Supers Draw Big Bucks, Bigger Perks

Turnaround experts find profitable niche in failing school districts

(Newser) - Teachers aren't living in luxury, but some school superintendents are, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Some are pulling in $325,000 a year, plus multi-million-dollar consulting budgets to restructure impoverished, underperforming public school systems. The Monitor calls them "central office rock stars," a product of the No Child...

States Hide Big High School Dropout Rates

They send 1 set of numbers to DC, keep another set at home

(Newser) - Many states report rosy high school graduation rates to Washington but publicize much lower figures at home, the New York Times reports. The higher rates often fail to account for the nation's growing legion of dropouts, but states are leery to give the feds bad numbers in part because of...

Schools Spark Debate by Luring Out-of-Staters

Such tuition cuts will squeeze out local students, critics say

(Newser) - More state universities are trying to lure out-of-state students with lower tuition, a trend that critics say goes against the very purpose of such institutions, the New York Times reports. The schools often do it to make up for shrinking support from their own states, but some worry that universities,...

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