Posted Mar 10,2009 at 2:08 PM

Playing Games with the Federal Role

Last Thursday, the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program unveiled a new paper by Sara Mead and Andrew Rotherham, Changing the Game: The Federal Role in Supporting 21st Century Educational Innovation. I was asked to respond to it, surely because of my role helping to create the...

Posted Mar 11,2009 at 4:26 PM

Wisdom from a Retired Teacher

The Baby Boomer generation is hitting retirement age, and according to the National Center for Education Information, as Boomers exit the workforce, the teaching profession stands to lose nearly 40 percent of its members in the next five years.Math, science and special education will be hardest...

Posted Mar 11,2009 at 4:31 PM

Time for Performance-Based Pay?

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 introduced sweeping reform into the education system of the United States, bringing new scrutiny to the effectiveness of teachers and accountability into the classroom via standardized testing. Many states and school districts have used student...

Posted Aug 14,2009 at 1:52 PM

What It’s Like to Teach First Grade

This summer, Holly Gallagher, 27, is gearing up for her fourth year as a first grade teacher in Putnam County, Florida. With five years of teaching experiences (before teaching first graders, she was a kindergarten teacher), Holly says she may be young, but that teaching years are similar to dog...

Posted Aug 20,2009 at 2:57 PM

Teacher of the Year Buffy Murphy: Teach Kids, Not Robots

Walden University is proud to have more than 20 state teachers of the year—including Buffy Murphy—currently working toward advanced degrees at its Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership. Name: Buffy MurphyAward: South Carolina Teacher of the Year for 2007Teaches: Fifth...

Posted Oct 05,2009 at 2:58 PM

Should Teachers Be Drug-Tested?

To test or not to test? And we are not talking about No Child Left Behind; we're talking about random drug-testing for teachers. The issue has the Hawaii State Teachers Association embroiled in a legal battle with the state’s Republican governor Linda Lingle. Following recent court cases in which...

Posted Oct 07,2009 at 3:32 PM

When To Start Learning a Foreign Language

It’s common knowledge that learning a foreign language is easiest for the young, and experts agree that studies should start in elementary school. Yet, foreign language elementary school programs are still extremely limited in the United States. In 2008, only 15 percent of public elementary...