education

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Providence Giving All Its Teachers Pink Slips

But it won't actually fire them all

(Newser) - All 1,926 teachers in the Providence Public School District are about to get termination notices. Tomorrow the school board will vote on a resolution to dismiss every teacher on the last day of school, Superintendent Tom Brady announced in a staff email today, according to the Providence Journal . Not...

Detroit to Close Half Its Schools

Michigan approves plan to cut $327M deficit

(Newser) - Michigan has approved a plan to close roughly half of Detroit’s public schools, pushing the average high-school class size in the struggling city to roughly 60 students, the Wall Street Journal reports. The plan is designed to eliminate the district’s $327 million deficit, but even its creator, district...

Ten States Losing Smart People

Utah, Texas, Iowa make the list

(Newser) - Some states are not keeping up with the others in regard to education. Declining math and reading scores, lower numbers of people with post-secondary degrees, and loss of white-collar workers all imply a decrease in "smart people" compared to the rest of the country. A look at the states...

Tree Octopus Suckers Students
'Tree Octopus' Hoax Shows Kids Believe Anything Online
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 6, 2011 7:28 AM CST

'Tree Octopus' Hoax Shows Kids Believe Anything Online

Students believe everything they read online, warns researcher

(Newser) - Today's students have a worrying habit of believing everything they read on the Internet, according to a researcher who found it easy to trick young people into believing that endangered "tree octopuses" live in the Pacific Northwest. Students directed to a phony website highlighting the creature's plight continued to...

GOP Governors Going After Teacher Tenure

Momentum builds against once-sacred protection

(Newser) - The once-untouchable notion of teacher tenure might be in danger around the country, reports the New York Times . Republican governors in five states are moving to either abolish or water down long-held laws that make it all but impossible to fire even poor-performing teachers. What's more, they have solid chances...

Which States Have Nation's Smartest Kids?

Massachusetts' students test best; Mississippi? Not so much

(Newser) - Massachusetts can boast the top students in the nation, at least according to the Daily Beast . Each year, the National Assessment of Education Progress tests all the fourth and eighth graders in America in reading and math. The Daily Beast measured the percentage of kids who performed at or above...

Forget the J-20. We Should Be Worried About China's Schools
Forget the J-20. We Should Be Worried About China's Schools
NICHOLAS Kristof
Jan 16, 2011 10:17 AM CST

Forget the J-20. We Should Be Worried About China's Schools

The US needs to get its priorities straight and focus on education

(Newser) - While many Americans worry about China's rising military might and new stealth fighter, they would be better off worrying about "the rise of China’s education system and the passion for learning that underlies it," writes Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times . He cites how China and...

Obama's Next Target: Education Reform

'No Child' despised by both sides, but scope of reform disputed

(Newser) - Seemingly leaving no sweeping overhaul behind, even under the changed dynamics of the 112th Congress, the Obama administration is readying its next legislative push: education reform. An overhaul of No Child Left Behind has broad support on both sides of the aisle, reports the AP, but divisions begin to show...

'No Child Left Behind' Needs a Bipartisan Facelift
'No Child Left Behind'
Needs a Bipartisan Facelift
ARNE DUNCAN
Jan 3, 2011 3:33 PM CST

'No Child Left Behind' Needs a Bipartisan Facelift

There's a lot that both parties agree on in education reform

(Newser) - The new Congress is set to update No Child Left Behind, and it’s a chance to get both sides of the aisle behind real change, writes Arne Duncan in the Washington Post . Both parties share similar concerns about NCLB—its way of labeling schools “failures,” its bubble...

Virginia's History Texts Riddled With Errors

Historians discover loads of mistakes in Five Ponds books

(Newser) - Did you know that colonial Virginians commonly wore full suits of armor? Or that New Orleans started off the 1800s as a US harbor (rather than a Spanish one)? These are just a few of the dozens of errors historians have found in Virginia’s textbooks. Virginia ordered a review...

Look Out Teachers' Unions, Here Come Parents' Unions

California group trying to force school to become charter

(Newser) - Two dispatches from the education front, both speaking to underperforming students and angry parents:
  • In Compton, California: Parents are trying to take advantage of a new state law to force their chronically awful school to be taken over by a charter operation. Advocates easily got the necessary 51% support of
...

In Standardized Tests, Shanghai Kids Kick World's Butt

Shanghai ranks at the top in all three areas

(Newser) - China is emerging as a world powerhouse, and that extends into the classroom. Shanghai teenagers outscored their peers around the world on the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, and Hong Kong also ranked high in all three areas: second in math and science, fourth in reading. This...

Textbook Says Thousands of Slaves Fought for South

Author Joy Masoff read about it on the Internet

(Newser) - A Virginia 4th-grade textbook has come under fire for claiming that thousands of slaves fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War—something an overwhelming majority of historians say isn’t true. The book’s author, Joy Masoff, isn’t a trained historian, and says she did most of her...

Tea Partier: Get Rid of Public Schools

David Harmer says public schools are "socialism in education."

(Newser) - The Tea Party-backed frontrunner in a California congressional race has some unorthodox views on education: he wants to abolish public schools entirely, Mother Jones reports. In past articles, Republican David Harmer—currently leading in California's 11th Congressional District—writes that "government should exit the business of running and funding...

Send Books, Not Guns to Afghanistan
Send Books, Not Guns
to Afghanistan
Nicholas Kristof
Oct 14, 2010 10:11 AM CDT

Send Books, Not Guns to Afghanistan

Oman proves the value of education

(Newser) - Forty years ago, Oman was a hidebound society, similar to neighboring Yemen. There was no modern technology, no paved roads, and most of the people were illiterate. It had just three schools, all boys-only affairs. But today, Yemen is a haven for terrorists, but Oman isn’t. Why? Because in...

1 in 5 Kids Thinks Buzz Lightyear Was First Man on Moon
Buzz Lightyear Was 1st Man on Moon: 20% of Brit Kids
more staggering studies
Oct 8, 2010 4:28 AM CDT

Buzz Lightyear Was 1st Man on Moon: 20% of Brit Kids

Survey finds kids in UK know more about celebrities than history

(Newser) - Another day, another staggering study on British knowledge, this one focused on the wee ones. A fifth of children ages 6 to 12 believe the first person to walk on the moon was actually Toy Story spaceman Buzz Lightyear, not Neil Armstrong, according to a survey of thousands of schoolchildren....

Obama: School Year Should Be Longer

President also defends economic record, says Rahm better hurry up

(Newser) - Barack Obama just lost some votes in the K-12 demographic. The president advocated expanding the school year by a month this morning, in a major interview with the Today Show . “That month makes a difference,” he told Matt Lauer. “Now, that’s going to cost some money...

Teacher Bonuses Don't Help Test Scores

Vanderbilt study says pay raises have little effect

(Newser) - The way to increase test scores is not to give bonuses to teachers, say researchers at Vanderbilt University. A three-year study found that offers of bonuses as high as $15,000 did little to change results. The report leaves open the question of what will increase test scores, but it...

Oprah Donates $1M to Schools
 Oprah Donates $1M to Schools 
Sep 21, 2010 9:41 AM CDT

Oprah Donates $1M to Schools

Talk show queen is going out with a bang on show's last year

(Newser) - Will Oprah Winfrey ’s good deeds never cease? The talk show queen donated $1 million to a California nonprofit that runs 30 charter schools in the state, the AP reports. Winfrey’s Angel Foundation donated the money to Aspire Public Schools during her show yesterday, which was devoted to...

Middle School Mosque Field Trip Sparks Outrage

Video shows kids participating in prayers

(Newser) - A Massachusetts school district apologized today, after a video surfaced showing students praying during a class field trip to the Islamic Society of Community Center. The video was shot in May by a parent chaperoning the trip, and then handed over to a group that has long been critical of...

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