National TOY: Stop blaming teachers; Common Core
The National Teacher of the Year is honored at the White House and gives an interview in which he discusses, among other things, the Common Core.
News & Issues
Girls get higher grades
On school grades, girls have always outperformed boys, including in math and science, where stereotypes can keep us from understanding learning.
Ind. drops Common Core
Indiana became the 1st state to abandon the Common Core, endorsing a different set of standards for math and English language arts.
Again, a Md. educator is National Teacher of the Year
For the 3rd time in the past 9 years, a Maryland teacher has been named the National Teacher of the Year: Sean McComb.
For-profits, with ads on buses, need more scrutiny
Student loan defaults at for-profit colleges cost taxpayers too much for the benefits mainly adult students are being promised.
Wash. becomes 1st state to lose its NCLB waiver
Washington's NCLB waiver was rescinded last week, a move that seems to signal a return to enforcing a federal law everyone calls a failure.
200 school employees to be laid off in Peoria SD 150
IL has a long history of laying off teachers, and last week, we learned about a planned 200 lay-offs in Peoria.
4 state school chiefs talk about the Common Core
Common Core implementation has not been as smooth as it could have been, but teachers generally like the new and higher standards.
Md. teacher compliments new tests from PARCC
An 8th-grade language arts teacher in Maryland writes in the Baltimore Sun that new tests from PARCC are better than the MSAs.
IL gets an NCLB waiver
The US Dept of Education granted Illinois schools a waiver from some of the more punitive demands of No Child Left Behind. 42 states already had waivers.