The school news blitz rolls on.
We dissect the debate over whether the San Diego Unified plan to use stimulus money to keep classes tiny at a select group of schools is both legal and innovative — just before the school board, wary of running afoul of the feds, changes those plans to install small classes at a different group of schools. Oy.
The Union-Tribune reports on the first step toward a parcel tax for San Diego Unified. We also blog on where the school district is placing its extra teachers and what old test scores seem to show about school achievement.
Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez writes about a parent revolution underway in the big city to the north. LAT bloggers also report that Long Beach schools are floating a parcel tax on the November ballot and explain why California’s two teachers unions are on opposite sides as legislators hatch a budget deal.
The San Jose Mercury News gives you more details and analysis of that deal, as does the Associated Press, which says it is likely “a temporary fix.”
And on the national level, Education Week delves into federal education czar Arne Duncan’s push for school “turnarounds” — and he doesn’t mean where buses drop your kids off.
USA Today explores how a “science of learning” could revamp teaching techniques. And Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews says that new research is making him question his enthusiasm for using kids’ test scores as a way to evaluate teachers.