Education

Four recent postings by Justin and Andrew (here, here, here, and here) have brought us back to the important education policy debate. Many reader comments on their postings have raised a number of issues related to education in Rhode Island and beyond, including: teacher salaries, automatic salary step increases, merit pay, accountability, union contract terms,…

Four recent postings by Justin and Andrew (here, here, here, and here) have brought us back to the important education policy debate. Many reader comments on their postings have raised a number of issues related to education in Rhode Island and beyond, including: teacher salaries, automatic salary step increases, merit pay, accountability, union contract terms,…

Interesting point, Andrew: Starting Line eschews any serious discussion of education reforms — like public school choice or charter schools — that could be implemented in relatively short order in favor of advocating for large-scale social spending in non-educational areas, in a rejection of the idea that education reform should focus on education. The trap…

A major debate about education is underway in Rhode Island. The debate is bigger than just a debate about how to fix education; the debate is about the fundamental importance of education. One side in this great debate (see Julia Steiny or Valerie Forti for examples) begins from the premise that the best way to…

In a comment to my previous post, Rhody writes: … go to 401(k) first. Then we can sort out the seniority/merit issues. Who decides who gets the merit raises? The only way you can do this fairly is have teachers teach to a test – whoever has the highest number of students pass gets the…

A comment from Norman to Andrew’s “Cross-Examination” post in the Laffey/Chafee series caught my eye: … we can’t patch a quick fix on to our education problems. Chafee is right that we have to reinvest in the public schools that made America great. If we send money to private institutions we will further marginalize the…

What do George Soros’ and John Podesta’s Center for American Progress, New York Gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer, former Clinton Administration member Joel Klein, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Enterprise Institute all have in common? They all think that Teachers’ Unions are a major impediment to school reform. Morton Kondracke explains: The U.S.…

In case you missed it over the long weekend, Sunday’s Projo had a very good column on school choice by Julia Steiny. Read Steiny’s column together with the recent Pawtucket Times article by David Casey describing the education reform plan put forth by an alliance of Rhode Island labor groups (the full report is available…

Rhode Island is ranked sixth amongst the six New England states in science education, and has not shown any improvement in the last five years. Here’s the Projo‘s Jennifer D. Jordan on the subject… Rhode Island’s science scores have not improved in the past five years, even as lawmakers and educators begin to place more…

The Education Partnership has announced the publication of its second report, Teacher Contracts: Restoring the Balance, Volume II. The new report is described in a ProJo article entitled Report: Teachers’ benefits ‘excessive’: Teacher contracts in Rhode Island focus too much on “excessive adult entitlements,” such as lifetime health benefits, a business-backed education report states. Union…