Online Education in America

Consumer Reports weighed backpacks at three New York City schools, reports the New York Times’ Well blog. Elementary students carried only about five pounds, but the weight soared in sixth grade.
On average, 6th graders in the study were carrying backpacks weighting 18.4 pounds, although some backpacks weighed as much as 30 pounds.
The American Academy of [...]

Bill Perkins says he’s tested the mayoral control cake, and the toothpick is still wet, or something.
Beth Fertig hopes today’s deal results in fewer Bloomberg campaign mailings.
Alaska’s the only state not in the red this year. It’s also the only state that’s expanding pre-K.
Clara Hemphill on the Upper West Side pushes for a school to [...]

So Sheryl and I have spent the last week here in Melbourne kicking off a four-month PLP project with 120 or so teachers from Victoria who are part of a pilot project where all of their students will have netbooks in hand in the next few months. There seems to be a growing commitment here [...]

After several hours of heated discussions, Democratic state senators emerged from a meeting today declaring that they had reached an agreement with Mayor Bloomberg on mayoral control.
Standing outside of 250 Broadway, where a dozen of the city’s senators met and others listened in by phone, Democratic conference leader John Sampson said, “One thing you can [...]

Sens. Ruben Diaz Sr. and Hiram Monserrate walked out of Senate talks about school governance this afternoon, but they signaled that their disagreement with the Democratic leadership wouldn’t kill a mayoral control deal reached with the Bloomberg administration yesterday, Anna Phillips reports from outside the Lower Manhattan building where the talks are happening.
“It’s a done [...]

The “Race to the Top” — $4.35 billion in federal funding to push education reform — starts today.
States must let student test scores be used to evaluate teachers and principals, writes Michele McNeil in Education Week. That would force California and New York to change state law to qualify for funds.
This is Education Reform’s [...]

A school system run by Comptroller William Thompson would continue experimenting with teacher “merit pay,” he said yesterday in an exclusive interview with GothamSchools. But he said he wouldn’t expect such an experiment to yield much in the way of results.
His mixed message underscores the odd reality of performance pay plans. Though the plans enjoy [...]

Senate Democratic leaders are meeting right now with the most vehement critics of mayoral control, trying to persuade them to go along with a tentative deal on school governance that Sens. John Sampson and Malcolm Smith struck with the Bloomberg administration yesterday.
The persuasion effort is happening at 250 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, according to Sen. [...]

The Bloomberg administration and Senate Democrats reached a tentative deal on school governance last night, with the mayor agreeing to some extra oversight of police in schools, a $1.6 million parent training center, and a new citywide panel on arts education, sources familiar with the deal confirmed this morning. The deal would also require the [...]

Wayne Barrett reports that Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. John Sampson have made a deal. (Village Voice)
Three borough presidents are calling on the city school board to reconvene. (GothamSchools, Times)
State senators call for more input in governance negotiations. (GothamSchools, NY1, Post, Daily News)
Obama is set to release Race to the Top Guidelines today. (Washington Post, Wall [...]

Wayne Barrett reports that Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. John Sampson have made a deal. (Village Voice)
Three borough presidents are calling on the city school board to reconvene. (GothamSchools, Times)
State senators call for more input in governance negotiations. (GothamSchools, NY1, Post, Daily News)
Obama is set to release Race to the Top Guidelines today. (Washington Post, Wall [...]

Special education students won’t have to pass an exit exam to get a high school diploma in California under a budget deal cut by legislators. Some Democrats had wanted to drop the exam for all students.
Parents of special education students are divided on the issue, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
Some say their children [...]

Is there any “industry” as unproductive as education? The libertarian Cato Institute wants to know.
Mrs. Mimi, the blogger-turned-book writer, is named Jennifer Scoggin, and she likes GothamSchools.
Councilman Charles Barron says the Senate fight, which his wife supports, is bad for black leadership.
Teacher JD2718 says Comptroller Bill Thompson should have tackled credit recovery in his audit.
A [...]

Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. delivered a speech in Spanish against no-bid contracts. (GothamSchools)

The circus around the State Senate intensified today as half a dozen senators gathered to complain that Mayor Bloomberg would not meet them at the bargaining table. Immediately afterward, senators confirmed that negotiations are, in fact, ongoing.
“We will not be dictated to, we [...]

The Obama administration’s proposed regulations on a $4.3 billion federal fund for schools would block New York State from receiving any of the money, according to a draft copy of the regulations that I obtained today.
States that block schools from using “data about student achievement” to evaluate teachers would be banned from applying to the [...]