Once you have a burgeoning, unregulated private sector in a democracy, how do you build sufficient political will to get some regulation in place, especially when the unregulated sector is using its profits in savvy ways to contribute to the campaigns of the politicians who are responsible for imposing the regulation?
Current Articles
October 8, 2014 - 12:20 pm CDT
You might have missed this news. It wasn’t covered extensively outside Philadelphia. Early Monday morning at a meeting that had been announced publicly with only a small notice in the newspaper, Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission—Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s state “oversight” body, a sort of stand-in for a locally elected school board—summarily cancelled the school district’s contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
Carl Cohn: What’s Wrong with the Vergara Decision
October 8, 2014 - 11:59 am CDT
Carl Cohn is one of the most respected and wisest figures in American education today. He was a successful superintendent in Long Beach and San Diego. He currently is a member of the California State Board of Education.
He writes here about the flawed logic of the Vergara decision, in which the judge ruled that teacher tenure and seniority were unconstitutional in California.
October 7, 2014 - 2:00 pm CDT
Patrick J. Gallo, Jr., Reforming the "Business" of Charter Schools in Pennsylvania, 2014 B.Y.U. Educ. & L.J. 207 (2014).
Gallo addresses the current state of the charter school system in Pennsylvania and the need for reform. Summarizing some of the serious issues facing the charter system in Pennsylvania, the author states:
October 7, 2014 - 10:42 am CDT
Yong Zhao warns that America is on a suicidal quest for educational excellence…
Breaking News - Philadelphia School Reform Commission unilaterally cancels teachers’ contract
October 6, 2014 - 11:43 am CDT
In a brazen move, key leaders in the corporate education reform industry are attempting to simply cancel the collectively bargained contract between the City of Philadelphia and its teachers unions.
In a breaking news story, the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting;
In a stunning move that could reshape the face of city schools, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted Monday to unilaterally cancel its teachers’ contract.
New York State Teacher Evaluation System is Fundamentally Flawed
October 6, 2014 - 9:00 am CDT
A study commissioned by school leaders in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley reviewed the state’s teacher evaluation system and concluded that it was irreparably flawed.
“The study, released Friday, found that the state formula for calculating evaluations forces school districts to inflate classroom-observation ratings so teachers do not get poor overall scores.
October 5, 2014 - 11:26 am CDT
Having taught writing to teenagers and young adults at the high school and undergraduate levels for over thirty years now, I have a standard approach to the first few classes: We identify and then unpack and challenge the lessons the students have learned about writing.
October 5, 2014 - 8:51 am CDT
Is Teach for America, Inc. morphing into Leadership for Educational Equity?
Is there an image problem or are they just playing a shell game?
