The Teaching Now blog explored the latest news on the teaching profession, from practical classroom tips to raging policy debates. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teaching, teaching profession, and curriculum.
Education Funding
Pink-Slipped
Heather Wolpert-Gawron, who was among the estimated 19,000 school employees in California who received lay-off notices this week, offers "The Ten Commandments of a Pink Slipped Teacher." No. 5 seems particulary important:
Teaching Profession
Sunday Papers: 'Evaluate and Differentiate'
Amid the ongoing debates over collective bargaining and the power of unions, teachers were (yet again) a focus of major newspaper op-ed pages yesterday:
School Climate & Safety
Obama's Bullying Conference: Will it Help?
At a White House conference yesterday, President Obama gathered parents, teachers, bullying victims, and researchers to discuss anti-bullying efforts. The president recounted that, as a kid, he was a victim of bullying himself.
Teaching Profession
The Wisconsin Effect
Daniela Fairchild, a policy analyst for the Fordham Institute, lauds state legislative efforts to limit teachers' collective bargaining rights, but cautions fellow proponents that the resulting changes to educators' benefit packages could dramatically reduce teachers' overall compensation, thus making the profession less attractive.
School & District Management
Schools Start Single-sex Lunches
Single-sex classrooms in public schools have been on the rise for a decade, but middle schools in Kansas are testing out single-sex lunch and recess, reports The Wichita Eagle.
Teaching Profession
Value Added Close-up
Michael Winerip at The New York Times has a detailed yet intelligible explanation of the failures of the value-added assessment model.
School Climate & Safety
California Proposes Requiring Gay-Friendly Textbooks
In California, State Senator Mark Leno—who is one of the first openly gay men elected to the legislature—introduced the country's first bill to integrate gay people and events into school curriculums, reports the New York Times.
Education Funding
Reading Is Fundamental Funding Axed
Both Reading Is Fundamental and the National Writing Project are in jeopardy of losing federal funding permanently, after President Obama signed a temporary spending law this week that axed support for the literacy programs.
School & District Management
Generations Clash on School Choice
A recently rejected Virginia bill to give tax breaks to businesses for funding poor students' tuition to private schools—and the larger issue of school choice—has the state's black community divided, reports the Washington Post.
Education
Rhee's Ex Named Tenn. Ed Commissioner
Kevin Huffman—spokesperson for Teach for America, winner of the Washington Post's inaugural America's Next Great Pundit competition, and ex-husband to Michelle Rhee—has been named Tennessee's new education commissioner, Governor Bill Haslam's office announced.
Teaching Profession
A Time of Reflection, Realization for Teachers
A dedicated Oregon teacher of 35 years, worn down by accumulating pressures and degradations, realizes suddenly that she doesn't want to be a teacher anymore:
School Climate & Safety
What Class Size Means to Parents
Responding to the Bill Gates-generated class-size kerfuffle, education writer Dana Goldstein allows that there is little proven correlation between small class sizes and student performance. But, she notes, there's more to the issue than just test scores:
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Sweet Headline Solves Teacher Layoff Problem
Here's a gem of a headline from the Star-Telegram, which could have you crying or cringing:
Teaching Profession
'Have You Drugged Your Kids Today?'
Earlier this year, teacher Natalie Munroe sparked a national debate when she was fired for blogging about her students and claimed her First Amendment rights were violated. Now, an English teacher in Arizona is making the same claim after being let go for refusing to part with a bumper sticker, reports Care2.