AM News: Romney Adds Education (But Will It Help?)

Romney Adds Education Info to Campaign Site Politics K12: Up until now, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has had a background section on his Web site letting voters know where he stands on a long list of issues—health care, China, trade—but not education.

Outgunned in Legislature, Mich. unions fight back Associated Press:  After more than a year of what they consider continuous Republican-led policy attacks, Michigan unions are fighting back with a sweeping proposal that would enshrine collective bargaining rights in the state constitution and put them beyond the reach of state lawmakers.

Legislature seeks to restore $200M to NY schools AP via WSJ: New York's Senate and Assembly will try to shift $200 million from a proposed schools incentive program back to traditional school aid when they release budget resolutions Monday, a legislative leader and a legislative official said this week.

Indiana School Teaches Test Prep As Literary Genre NPR: Teachers often prepare their students in advance of standardized testing by getting them ready for what is expected to be on the exam. One school in Indiana has a course helping students learn how to take the test.

'Compelling' evidence of cheating found Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa.'s top education official says evidence of cheating by 56 schools in Philly is strong.

MORE NEWS ITEMS INSIDE

Nonfiction Curriculum Enhanced Reading Skills in New York City Schools NYT: According to a new study, children in New York City schools who learned to read using an experimental curriculum that emphasized nonfiction texts outperformed those at other schools.

Minority students as targets? LAT: An Education Dept. report only skims the surface of the question of whether there is racial inequity in schools' disciplining of students.

Charter sector set to release pool of data about its schools GothamSchools: The city’s charter schools are preparing to release reams of data about themselves — some of which could make them uncomfortable.

Comments

[Bruce]

The L.A. Times, and the U.S. education department before it, only approach the topic of discipline from a reactive, rather than a proactive, standpoint. This was exactly the pattern at Locke High School when I got drafted to be Vice Chair the Discipline Committee in my first year there, almost 12 years ago. I thought the approach inadequate then and still do. The contrast with the moral education programs I had learned about when I was in east Asia was striking. Locke's students in those days must have been among the least disciplined on the planet, and much of the responsibility lay with undisciplined parents: indeed, lack of discipline was too often present at their conception! The schools responded inadequately, and this editorial also misses an opportunity to deal with the more fundamental issues.

[Mary]

It's good to dee the NY state legislature standing up to the governors "innovation" money grab. You've missed a story that explains their resistance. Here is the kind of innovation they're heading off:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/nyregion/principal-at-tapco-in-bronx-is-removed-over-students-records.html

This is one of Joel Klein's corporate management masterpieces, the highest-rated school in New York City. The NYC DOE finally "investigated" complaints from whistleblower teachers last year, please notice, and found no actionable evidence. So, the rubber rooms keep filling up with honest teachers rated U by crooks like this in a crooked system. It was the state which finally has called a halt.