To Be Young, Gifted, and Urban
Should urban schools continue to fund gifted and talented programs? Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews thinks no. “Unfortunately public schools, including those in the suburbs, rarely have the resources or teaching expertise to challenge them much,” he writes.
Less $$, Larger Classes, Impact on Student Achievement?
It's Time for a Serious Discussion: What Works in Schools?
“Education reform” is a concept educators are well familiar with and not ashamed to take on. In schools across the country, educators are continually assessing. They assess student progress. They assess curriculum and educational materials. They assess the validity and usefulness of data and tests. And, yes, they even assess their own successes and failures.
NAESP Member Refutes Huffington Post Editorial
In response to ‘The Principal’s Dilemma’
By Barry Ferguson
NAESP Member
Principal, South Lebanon Elementary
This blog post was written in response to The Principal’s Dilemma, an editorial published in The Huffington Post on November 8, 2010, and presented in NAESP’s news summary, Before the Bell. NAESP does not endorse the views expressed in articles that appear in Before the Bell, but instead offers its members a diversity of perspectives about education and the principalship as a means to enhance awareness.
A Call for Change—Black Male Achievement
This week, the Council of the Great City Schools released “A Call for Change: The Social and Educational Factors Contributing to the Outcomes of Black Males in Urban Schools,” which reported that “young black males are in a state of crisis” because they consistently perform lower than their peers.
What a GOP Majority Might Mean for Education Policy
Before the midterm elections, Democrats led the House with a majority of seats—255, to be exact. When the new Congress convenes in January, the new Republican majority will lead with at least 239 seats (as of today, 11 races haven’t been called definitively). Republican candidates picked up 60 seats in the House by running on a nearly universal message of anti-incumbency and reform, particularly in regards to federal spending.
Meanwhile in the Senate, Republicans closed the narrow Democratic majority to 51-46 (with three races in a toss-up) without taking control.
Stay on Top of Midterm Elections
In just three weeks, Americans will head to the polls to vote. The entire U.S. House of Representatives, approximately one-third of the U.S. Senate, and roughly two-thirds of state governors are running in this important election.
Stuck in the Middle
Our My Two Cents question for this month is: Which model for middle schoolers do you think works best? K-8? 6-8? 6-12? Read what some of your colleagues had to say:
The Unintended Consequence of Suspensions
In the November/December edition of Speaking Out, the author expresses her belief that out-of-school suspensions do little to discourage future student misbehavior and that principals should instead implement in-school suspensions, during which students are taught the desired behavior.
Distinguished Principals to Be Honored Today
In tandem with National Principals Month, NAESP will recognize 62 elementary and middle school principals for their exceptional school leadership during the Association’s two-day National Distinguished Principals (NDP) program in Washington, D.C.
