Stop the presses: Conservative blasts merit pay!
Fordham Foundation guy-at-the-podcast Liam Julian criticizes merit pay in a Tallahassee Democrat op-ed. Oh, wait: he’s criticizing payments to students based on test scores, not teachers. Julian argues that the distinction between the two is in the difference between the roles: “Teachers are doing a job and students are receiving a service.” Two points here: First, […]
Topsy-turvy education news
I don’t know whether to cry or laugh at the news this morning: parents have to go to the Supreme Court to represent their children with disabilites and Secretary Spellings heads to the satirical Daily Show to deflect criticism stemming from the continuing scandals over Reading First and college student loan kickbacks.
More on Haleh Esfandiari
The Iranian government’s actions are getting far uglier in the case of Haleh Esfandiari, the Iranian-American scholar who was detained after visiting her elderly mother. See more by Manan Ahmed and Engage, as well as the Free Haleh site (sponsored by the American Islamic Congress).
Indulging in number-crunching on teacher flows
A friend and I have been batting some research on teacher demographics back and forth over a few years, and it’s my turn this month to do some number-crunching involving the Current Population Survey (CPS) and simulations of what would happen to those entering and leaving teaching assuming a stationery population (as if the numbers […]
I hate discomfort’s side effects
By Sherman Dorn on May 19, 2007
Mild venting here: I have some moderate lower-back pain today. Yes, I’ve done the back exercises you’re supposed to do (do not lie down with ordinary muscle-related back pain if you can avoid it), and I’m sure it will go away in a day. But one consequence is that I have just a touch less […]
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