Education News Around the Web

Check out these news stories you may have missed: Americans Have Near-Record Low of Confidence in Public Schools, Huffington Post: "Public schools confidence closely follows the presidency -- with 35 percent surveyed saying they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the presidency -- and falls in the middle of top-contender the military and the lowest confidence-breeding Congress, at 12 percent." Michigan toughens standards for schools, The Detroit News: "Under the changes, accreditation would be based on standardized test scores, a move state education officials say would help them identify failing schools that need support and intervention." How to get an accurate read from school statistics, Winston-Salem Journal: "...the act made the standards tougher this year. That's why the success statistics do not compare with last year's. It's like saying you made adequate fitness progress last week by doing 20 pushups but failed this week by doing 22 because the standard is now 25 pushups." Whitney Tilson and Gary Rubenstein discuss teacher quality, Whitney Tilson's blog: "...my comments, word for word, apply to principals and asst principals as well: leadership quality is as important as teacher quality – you gotta have both, and I believe in accountability for ALL adults in the school building. There is just as high of a % of crappy principals as there are crappy teachers, and they too often have unions that protect mediocrity (or worse). Did you know that the Newark principal contract limits principals – MANAGEMENT! – to only 29.5 hours/week?!"