Thanks to everyone for your kudos! Now for the newsblitz:
- We blog that the newest teachers are at risk in San Diego Unified schools — and explain how Sweetwater schools are trying to spare some of them.
- KPBS reports on the layoff warnings that teachers are getting across the county and how they affect morale. The North County Times tallies up nearly 700 such warnings in North County schools. And the Associated Press puts the statewide number at nearly 22,000 warnings.
- Chris Reed at the Union-Tribune blogs that he has evidence the Del Mar superintendent may be trying to “spike” her pension.
- Our big neighbor to the north, Los Angeles Unified, is proposing controversial changes to how teachers are evaluated and paid, including using student scores to judge teachers and waiting longer to give teachers tenure. This could have statewide ripple effects. The Los Angeles Times explains the ideas.
- Stockton teachers say they’re open to being evaluated based on student performance — but that doesn’t mean standardized tests, Recordnet.com reports.
- The Oakland Tribune listens in on a university symposium on school cuts.
- A Bay Area school district is pushing voters to pass a parcel tax by warning what will happen if the tax doesn’t come through, the San Mateo County Times reports.
- School Library Journal reports that all Los Angeles school librarians are being cut.
- Educated Guess sees the new No Child Left Behind as more flexible for schools; teachers unions disagree. The Washington Post explains that the penalties and prescriptions will get lighter for many schools, but decidedly stiffer for others.
- The New York Times looks at how hard it will be to pass the new No Child Left Behind. Education Week says opposition from teachers unions will likely be the biggest issue.
- Eduwonk blogs that the new NCLB could end up letting suburban school districts off the hook for low achievement of minority kids, if it isn’t written carefully.
- I overlooked this blog from the excellently named Claus von Zastrow: Business leaders who push education reform seem to have a split personality, he argues.
- USA Today asks: What if a college education just isn’t for everyone?
- And a New York school has given teachers more time to collaborate through an innovative schedule, Education Week writes.
— EMILY ALPERT