The Times takes a look at high school graduates in today’s economy. Not as romantic as you may have heard on the D.C. think tank circuit. Also, keep an eye on the number of young men out of school and the workforce. Big issue.
Arizona testing news. More yardsticks to choose from there. Pretty sweet high school stadium in Texas. And for $62 million it ought to be.
Just like the media handed off most of its airtime and column inches to elevate Donald Trump’s candidacy, so too is the media guilty of announcing a crisis in teacher supply when the facts just don’t support it.
Despite all the noise pensions are sticking with hedge funds. Anyone on any board that has to manage an endowment will understand why, there are only so many places to deploy money right now and it’s an attractive opportunity.
Act as your own lawyer you have a fool for a client they say. But what about acting as your spouse’s lawyer? In a teacher evaluation case? Of course that’s not really the point of this New York court decision tossing out a teacher evaluation based on test scores. It’s largely a moot issue because of policy changes afoot in New York but still interesting.
There is a debate over charter schools and graduation rates in the wake of the new GradNation report. The usual lack of context. There are charter high schools with great rates and awful ones. But the real issue is accountability and oversight. If a school, charter or otherwise, is serving a niche population then it ought to have an accountability plan that reflects that and we should look at the data accordingly. For instance if a school serves 100 percent students who have already dropped out then we should consider its graduation rates with that in mind. And you want to recognize that some schools, virtual and otherwise, are serving students who have been ill-served by the traditional system. But, accountability loopholes create a place for bad actors to hide and “alternative” can mean too many things in today’s environment. For most schools the same rules should apply. High quality charter school oversight offers some lessons here about how to address genuinely niche schools.
Blast from the past, 13-year old plays Layla. Lenny Dykstra is now on Twitter.
