AM News: Obama Rolls Out $20K Teacher Bonus Plan

Obama Announces $1 Billion 'Master Teacher' Program AP: Teachers selected for the Master Teacher Corps will be paid an additional $20,000 a year and must commit to participate multiple years. The goal is to create a multiplier effect in which expert educators share their knowledge and skills with other teachers, improving the quality of education for all students. ALSO:  NPR.

7 More NCLB Waivers Due Friday, Top Ed. Official Says PoliticsK-12: The U.S. Deparrtment of Education will be announcing seven more winners on Friday, Deborah Delisle, the department's new assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education, told members of the American Association of School Administrators today. That would bring the total of approved applications to a whopping 33.

New Standardized Tests Behind Schedule: Survey HuffPost:  These new tests are funded by $330 million in stimulus money through the federal Race to the Top competition and are intended to measure critical thinking, particularly the critical skills emphasized by the Common Core State Standards.

A Fresh Look at What School Menus Can Be NYT: With new federal standards for school meals going into effect this month, and a renewed focus on the issue brought by the first lady, Michelle Obama, thousands of school chefs, food service workers and nutrition experts from around the country gathered in Denver this week at an annual conference put on by the SNA.

Schools to Offer Free Classes Online WSJ: Twelve top universities Tuesday joined a venture that offers free Internet courses world-wide, in a bet by some of the most prestigious institutions globally on online education. The schools agreed to join four others already ...

Comments

[Nic]

I think that it is a great thing that President Obama providing bonuses for teachers. The teacher program will help improve the quality of education. It will provide a challenge to teachers to expand but in the long run it will be beneficial to the students.

[Bruce]

It is with respect to the supply of mathematics and science teachers that the Gates idea of larger class sizes is most defensible (it could be a disaster with respect to student writing). The countries that lead in teenage learning in maths and sciences typically have large class sizes, and the teachers in places like Japan actually prefer larger class sizes, since they think they can get more stimulating ideas from more groups than they could in smaller classes. Besides, it is difficult for teaching to compete with other potential careers for those who are skilled in the sciences, which isn't particularly true when it comes to humanities or arts teachers. Market realities will probably dictate larger classes and higher salaries for a smaller number of skilled science teachers than for others.

[Sarah]

Glad to see school menus getting an update. We were served a lot of crap as kids. Week-old leftovers thrown into a single pot with powdered bouillon and served as “soup”, moldy vegetables. Ketchup counting as a serving of vegetables. I stopped eating in-school because I was genuinely scared what might happen back in the day.

[Sarah]

And the critical skills the Common App keeps pushing... how exactly are they supposed to be quantified? Because if it’s a traditional standardized test... at some point, one can guess and that will be seen as “critical thought.”