I’m taking a turn as Principal for a Day this morning! Here’s hoping I don’t wreak havoc on a functioning middle school. I’ll be back to blog about it another day. Now for the newsblitz:
- The Union-Tribune profiles Kelly Kovacic, the Preuss School teacher who is one of the five California Teachers of the Year and who will vie for the title of National Teacher of the Year. KPBS covers it too.
- A new campus for High Tech High is opening in San Marcos, the North County Times reports.
- The California School Boards Association picked … no one as their Legislator of the Year, the Los Angeles Times writes. Schools suffered so much from state cuts that no lawmaker got singled out for praise. In related news, our guest blogger Ashley Hermsmeier takes you through a day in her life as a teacher under budget cuts.
- A new study found that most principals believe that teachers who joined the field through alternative routes after a first career are just as good or better than other beginning teachers, the Orange County Register reports.
- Voters approved two parcel taxes for schools in the Bay Area this week, the Contra Costa Times writes. San Diego Unified will be eyeing those results closely as it weighs whether to float a parcel tax of its own.
- Education Week blogs about how a Harvard University study in India reveals the creeping influence of class discrimination in grading tests. Intriguingly, teachers from the lowest social castes in India were most likely to discriminate, and they were most likely to discriminate against the most disadvantaged kids.
- USA Today reports that more school districts are putting kids’ grades online for parents using secure accounts.
- Claus von Zastrow blogs that a Maryland elementary school has reaffirmed his belief in the difference schools can make, even though needs outside school must be addressed too.
- The American Civil Liberties Union is suing schools in Palm Beach County, Florida for failing to provide an adequate education to kids, as evidenced by poor graduation rates.