Education Bits

A son of a bitch governor is trying to force charters on a school district, even if it means not paying its teachers and forcing the district into bankruptcy.
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At least one person saw through Obama's BS the other night regarding how supposedly one "good" teacher can make a difference in lifetime earnings:

As others have pointed out, if you take a classroom of 25 students, and spread $250,000 over their 40 years of earnings, this amount comes to a grand total of $250 a year per student. This is unlikely to represent an escape from poverty. (see more thorough responses to the Chetty report here, and here.)

The second problem is a glaring contradiction, a logical flaw that is huge even though it has been overlooked by almost every journalist apparently too polite to challenge the administration on it. If you do not wish teachers to teach to the test, if you want them to be passionate and creative, then how can you insist that their performance be measured by the use of test scores?

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Hawaii's teachers rejected Obama's blackmail scheme of "Race to the Top." It's a bit funny because Obama was born in Hawaii, unless of course you believe he was actually born in Kenya:

Public school teachers in Hawaii have rejected a contract that called for a move to a performance-based evaluation and compensation system, as required by the Race to the Top grant that the state won from the Obama administration.

The rejection comes shortly after Hawaii was warned by the U.S. Department of Education that its $75 million Race to the Top grant had been put on “high-risk status” — the first state to be so sanctioned — because it had not moved quickly enough to implement specific reforms.

Sixty-seven percent of about 9,000 teachers, counselors and others represented by the Hawaii State Teachers Association opposed the contract, which was seen as a way to move Race to the Top efforts forward and improve its status with Washington. It was the first time in the organization’s 44-year history that members rejected a contract that had been approved by its board, according to the Hono­lulu Civil Beat.

Unlike other states, Hawaii is made up of just one school district.

Race to the Top is much, much worse than NCLB because it demonizes teachers even more with anti-union rhetoric in its insane quest to privatize public education.
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