Florida plans increased scrutiny for education schoolsNEWS

Florida plans increased scrutiny for education schools

But for now, teacher preparation remains over-saturated with options―undergraduate degrees, master’s programs, in-school residencies and online courses―that provide little evidence of their effectiveness.

NEWS

Aspiring teachers learn from their avatars

The TeachLivE classroom simulator lets education students get the feel of managing a classroom. The virtual students respond to the teacher’s questions and movements and each student has a distinct personality. (Photo by John O’Connor/StateImpact Florida)
By Sarah Butrymowicz

Lisa Dieker went around the room asking her middle-school students what they did over the weekend. CJ went to see the movie “Here Comes the Boom” with her boyfriend. Ed played in a basketball game and Kevin posted new dance videos to YouTube. “Did you work on any art projects?” Dieker asked Maria, a girl [...]

NEWS

Teacher training programs grapple with recruitment

University of Central Florida elementary education students discuss how to incorporate books, maps, magazines and other materials into lesson plans. John O’Connor/StateImpact Florida. (Photo by Sarah Butrymowicz)
By Sarah Butrymowicz

Somewhere midway through his sophomore year of college at Florida Atlantic University, Christopher Clevenger started to question his aeronautical engineering major. He liked the coursework, and was doing well at it, but when he thought about his job prospects, the future seemed bleak. “It would be me, a computer screen and a phone,” he said. [...]

NEWS

Alternative routes to teaching become more popular despite lack of evidence

Landon Yurica and Alycia Jones, part of the Urban Teacher Residency program, watch their mentor teacher deliver a geometry lesson at Washington Preparatory High School. (Photo by Jackie Mader)
By Jackie Mader

INGLEWOOD, Calif.—In the back of a tenth-grade geometry classroom on a recent morning at Washington Preparatory High School, nine miles southeast of Los Angeles, Landon Yurica and Alycia Jones bent over the papers in front of them. At 23 and 24, respectively, the two could almost blend in as students as they tried the assignment [...]

NEWS

Do new exams produce better teachers? States act while educators debate

Mario Martinez, a graduate student in California State University Northridge's teacher preparation program, examines a high school algebra test he created for a class assignment. (Photo by Jackie Mader)
By Jackie Mader

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.— It took less than a minute for Mario Martinez to finish the first six questions of the algebra exam that his professor, Ivan Cheng, had just handed to him. The high school-level test was supposed to be a good example of an exam, so that the graduate students in Cheng’s math methods course [...]

NEWS

California struggles to assess teacher training programs

Graduate students in the California State University Northridge teacher preparation program discuss their student teaching assignments. Before they graduate, students in the program will spend at least 500 hours in classrooms across the greater Los Angeles area. (Photo by Jackie Mader)
By Jackie Mader

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—On a recent afternoon at California State University, Northridge, Nancy Prosenjak was attempting to quiet the graduate students spread out across conference tables in the back of her classroom. She was still missing nearly a third of the class, but she was eager to debrief with her students about their first day of student [...]

NEWS

Chicago parent on school closings: “If you’re not teaching children…it needs closing”

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By Sarah Garland

The decision to close more than 50 struggling schools in Chicago has fueled outrage among many parents and teachers. But others see the strategy as a way to improve education for the city’s most vulnerable students. Patricia Hunter, 28, a stay-at-home mom, sends her daughter Danielle to Dulles School of Excellence on the South Side. [...]

NEWS

Chicago parent on school closings: “I cry a lot…Nobody wants their school closed.”

By Sarah Garland

The Chicago school system plans to shutter 54 schools next year to save money and improve academics. Among them is Lafayette Elementary in Humboldt Park on the West Side of the city, a school with a treasured school orchestra and a program for autistic children. Valerie Nelson, 43, is a home health care worker who [...]

BLOGS

California’s rocky path to prosperity

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By Joanne Jacobs

Unless California helps low-income parents learn basic skills, train for jobs and pursue higher education, the state’s prosperity is at risk, concludes Working Hard, Left Behind. The Campaign for College Opportunity, the Women’s Foundation of California and Working Poor Families project collaborated on the report. California leads the nation in low-income working adults and in [...]

BLOGS

How KIPP uses technology

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By Anya Kamenetz

While they have their critics, KIPP has among the best reputation of all charter school networks. There are over 40,000 KIPP students nationwide, which is expected to grow to 60,000 by 2015. Over 90 percent of 8th graders consistently outperform their public-school counterparts in reading and math. KIPP alumni, according to a recent report, are [...]

BLOGS

Hispanic grads pass whites in college enrollment

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By Joanne Jacobs

Hispanic high school graduates are now more likely than whites to enroll in college, the Pew Research Hispanic Center reports. In the class of 2012, 69 percent of Hispanic graduates and 67 percent of whites enrolled in college that fall. Latinos are less likely to complete a high school diploma, but that’s improving too, reports [...]