Chalkbeat

Education news. In context.

Chalkbeat

Teacher quality

inequity in the classroom

National
March 20, 2019

New teachers often get the students who are furthest behind — and that’s a problem for both

Being a new teacher is notoriously difficult — and schools often make it even tougher.

missed opportunities

National
September 25, 2018

A new report argues that students are suffering through bad teaching and simplistic classwork. Is that true?

America’s public schools are full of students who aren’t being challenged, a new study says. But It’s not clear its methods can support such strong conclusions.

Quality quest

Colorado
January 26, 2018

Coaches in the classroom: How Colorado preschools are upping their teaching game

Coaching is increasingly being used to help child care and preschool teachers — and the centers where they work — improve.

Top Teachers

Tennessee
June 6, 2017

Meet the nine finalists to be Tennessee’s 2017-18 Teacher of the Year

The Tennessee Department of Education unveils its annual list of statewide finalists.

teacher appreciation

Tennessee
March 3, 2017

Want educational equity? Make sure your teachers feel valued, say lawmakers

Talk turns to teachers during a discussion with state lawmakers organized by the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition.

examining gaps

Colorado
February 7, 2017

At-risk students in some big Colorado districts have a better chance of having an effective teacher than others

In Denver Public Schools, the state’s largest school district, the gaps were even wider than state averages.

teacher talent

New York
April 17, 2015

State: New York City’s top-rated teachers less likely to serve black and Hispanic students

City teachers who received the highest ratings were less likely to serve black and Hispanic students, state education officials said this week.
Tennessee
January 29, 2015

THEC approves new teacher prep program in Memphis

Relay Graduate School of Education, which touts an innovative approach to teacher preparation and a nontraditional teacher certification path, is coming to Memphis after gaining…

doubling down

New York
December 17, 2014

Cuomo flip-flops on evaluation ‘safety net’ as he criticizes city’s results

One day after state education officials touted the city’s teacher evaluation results as more accurate than results in other parts of the state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo made it clear that the city’s plan did not impress him as he continued to push for a new round of legal changes.

Who Gets the Top Teachers?

New York
July 9, 2014

Feds push New York and other states to close gaps in teacher quality

A new federal initiative will force New York and others states to come up with new plans to make sure that disadvantaged students and students of color are as likely to learn from well-qualified teachers as their peers.
New York
March 31, 2014

Rise & Shine: State budget seen as boon for pre-K, charter schools

Colorado
March 10, 2014

Identifying talented teachers: what is talent?

This lack of certainty around what exactly makes a quality teacher is why one educator is worried that some reforms proposed for teacher preparation may box us into tight requirements with unintended consequences.
Colorado
March 3, 2014

A first year teacher in defense of veteran teachers

A new teacher licensed through alternative channels defends veteran teachers who she says are too often falsely labeled as resistant to change.
Colorado
February 26, 2014

Elevating the status of the teaching profession

The vice-president of the Public Education & Business Coalition argues that too few of our country's public policies support making teaching attractive as a long-term career.
New York
June 22, 2012

Bloomberg: City will aggressively push teacher evals to parents

The city will exploit every letter of a new law that sets out exactly who can see the results of teachers' annual evaluations, Mayor Bloomberg announced today. The announcement came less than 24 hours after legislators in Albany signed off on a compromise bill meant to shield the results of new teacher evaluations from public scrutiny. The legislation, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced, blocks the results of new teacher evaluations from being subject to Freedom of Information Law requests, preventing news organizations from obtaining them. But it created a process for parents to request the evaluation results of their children's current teachers. Bloomberg opposed the bill, arguing that the public has a right to know how individual teachers perform and that the request process was so onerous that few parents would be able to use it. So during his weekly radio address this morning, Bloomberg announced that city schools will bring the process to the parents. "We are going to have our schools call every single parent," he said. "We will tell [them],'You are entitled to this information and if you want it say yes right now and we will send it to you.'"
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