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Your LFT Connection: Race to the Top carrot comes with big stick
We have big concerns about the stick accompanying this $4 billion dollar carrot, however. To win the grants, states may be pushed to base teacher evaluations and pay on standardized tests, to create more charter schools, and to impose more arbitrary sanctions on struggling schools. For too long, school reform has meant no child left untested and no teacher left unblamed. We sincerely hope that it’s not too late for Race to the Top to open a new chapter in the school reform movement, one that values the professionalism of teachers and embraces a whole-community model for change. To read the rest of Your LFT Connection, please click here.
Monaghan reveals pitfalls of "virtual schools"
A RAND Corporation study on virtual charter schools notes that virtual charters are suspect for both financial and student performance reasons, Monaghan said. In California, for example, the RAND study “found that non-classroom based charter schools exhibited lower test scores” than traditional or charter schools. Department of Education staff told BESE that they looked hard for studies about virtual charter schools. They provided four glowing reports for board members. Apparently they could not locate the RAND Corporation study that Monaghan talked about in his presentation. At the October meeting, BESE will consider requests to open three virtual charter schools. The schools will have no campus. Instead, children will log onto their computers and take all their courses online. One of those schools, Louisiana Connections Academy, is represented by Adams and Reese, the law firm where Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek used to work. To see the LFT press release about virtual schools, please click here. The issue is also covered in EdLog: please click here. LFT members can save on healthcare productsThe Louisiana Federation of Teachers is is committed
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ASCD poll: Teachers don't like linking pay to student test scoresASCD, a professional education leadership organization, posted a back-to-school survey on teacher opinions about education issues. They found that teachers do not like the idea of linking their salary to standardized test scores.
Visit EdLog for news commentary and analysis from the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. Please click here.
Other
resources
Louisiana Federation of Teachers Web site: click here EdLog - A regularly updated source of information on the latest educational issues: click here American Federation of Teachers Web site: click here |
