Chalkbeat

Education news. In context.

Chalkbeat

Future of Teaching

Examining the divisive push to rate, reward, improve, and remove teachers

Red for ed

Colorado
April 13, 2018

A day of action by Colorado teachers will bring hundreds to the Capitol and already one district has canceled classes

Educators in Colorado are calling attention to school funding shortfalls — and in one case forcing a school district to cancel classes.

blessing and a curse

Colorado
April 11, 2018

Tales from inside Colorado’s teacher shortage: housing for horses and recruiters without interviews

With some Colorado school districts desperate to fill jobs in science, math and special education, sought-after candidates got the hard sell at a recent job fair.
Indiana
April 11, 2018

Too few teachers? This Indianapolis school district is growing its own

The new program designed to help teachers aides and other non-licensed school staff members earn teaching licenses while they work.

Let’s make a deal

New York
April 10, 2018

What’s on the table as New York City and the teachers union negotiate a new contract

The clock is ticking on the city’s contract with the United Federation of Teachers, the largest local union in the country representing more…
Indiana
April 6, 2018

147 Indianapolis educators still don’t know where they will work next year

The administration displaced 418 certified staff for 2018-19 as part of the closings of high schools.

Race to the Bottom

Colorado
April 5, 2018

Colorado teachers can claim an unwelcome distinction: most underpaid in the nation (or close to it)

Teachers and policy makers have started to make connections between low pay here and labor unrest elsewhere.

salary slump

National
April 3, 2018

As teachers across the country demand higher pay, here’s how much salaries have stalled — and why it matters for kids

The protesters are making the case that they’re not just fighting for themselves but for their students and state.

snuffed out

Tennessee
April 3, 2018

Bill to arm some Tennessee teachers with handguns killed in House committee

The vote ends the march of a bill that easily had cleared two legislative hurdles and was expected to reach the House floor.

Curveball

Tennessee
Updated March 28, 2018

Bill to arm Tennessee teachers remains up in the air as sponsor faces sexual misconduct allegations

Rep. David Byrd's bill sailed through its first two legislative hurdles but was postponed in the House just before a news report aired with the allegations.
Indiana
March 27, 2018

How Indianapolis is wooing experienced teachers

The campaign is a partnership between the city’s largest district, the Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation, and The Mind Trust.

Town Hall

Tennessee
March 19, 2018

Hopson promises more flexibility as Memphis school leaders clear the air with teachers on new curriculum

Though he didn't have specifics, Superintendent Dorsey Hopson said teachers should not feel like they need to read from a script to meet district requirements.

Price of entry

Colorado
March 16, 2018

Becoming a Colorado teacher could soon require fewer transcripts, more training on English learners

The package of changes also includes a slimmed-down teacher evaluation rubric, the first major revision to the rules under Colorado’s 2010 teacher effectiveness law.

bias in the classroom

National
March 16, 2018

‘Disciplinarians first and teachers second’: Black male teachers say they face an extra burden

A number of black male teachers described a similar experience: colleagues assuming that they were better able to deal with behavioral issues among black boys.

learning curve

Colorado
March 14, 2018

Westminster school will reopen as a Marzano lab school ‘to take on problems we haven’t solved yet’

The idea for the school was part of Westminster's state improvement plan.

deja vu

Indiana
March 12, 2018

Plan to allow more unlicensed educators dies again. Can the surviving bill fix teacher shortages?

The measure, which would have allowed districts to have up to 10 percent of their staff be unlicensed, has been added and removed several times this year.

final ruling

Colorado
Updated March 12, 2018

Colorado’s high court: There’s no such thing as teacher tenure

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled against Denver teachers in a dispute over the district putting them on unpaid leave.
Tennessee
March 6, 2018

Bill to arm some Tennessee teachers with guns on hold for now

Rep. David Byrd, named this week to the governor's task force on school safety, says he'll "wait and see" before pressing his bill.

sticking to his guns

Detroit
March 1, 2018

Detroit schools and police chief pledge to work together to keep kids safe — but disagree about guns in schools

The leaders of Detroit schools and the police department Thursday pledged to work together to reduce school violence — even as they disagreed about…

getting to know you

National
March 1, 2018

These Teach-Off finalists unlock math for students with real-world context

So they say students, especially those from low-income families, often need information they can relate too to help them better understand math.

Arming teachers

Tennessee
February 28, 2018

Proposal to arm teachers with guns advances in Tennessee legislature

The bill would allow districts to adopt policies that let select school staff voluntarily carry a concealed handgun on school property.

Teaching teachers

National
February 28, 2018

‘Personalized learning’ comes to teacher training, bringing big ambitions and big questions

A well-funded new teacher preparation program, which emphasizes getting teacher to master certain skills, may influence teacher education in the years ahead.
Indiana
February 27, 2018

Indiana lawmakers resurrect proposal to let districts hire more unlicensed teachers

The measure was taken out of an earlier Senate version of the bill.

getting to know you

National
February 26, 2018

This Great American Teach-Off team thrives in a classroom of chatty students

The two math teachers believe students learn best when they’re bouncing ideas, equations, and questions off each other.

School shootings

Indiana
February 23, 2018

Parkland teacher to future Indiana educators: Don’t be afraid to become a teacher

A teacher from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School returned to her alma mater to talk about school shootings.

another round

New York
February 22, 2018

New York wants to overhaul its teacher evaluations — again. Here’s a guide to the brewing battle.

Here's what you need to know, including how evaluations currently work, the political battles that lead to this point, and what could happen moving forward.

state of the union

New York
February 22, 2018

New York City teachers union braces for Supreme Court ruling that could drain money and members

The impact will be felt especially by the UFT, the largest union local in the country.

First Person

National
February 20, 2018

I’m a Florida teacher in the era of school shootings. This is the terrifying reality of my classroom during a lockdown drill.

A Broward County teacher on the struggle to keep wearing the mask of bravery for his students.

teacher prep

Tennessee
February 15, 2018

Three of Tennessee’s largest teacher training programs improve on state report card

While small alternative programs and private universities scored best again, several large public universities upped their performance under the state's grading system.

SED VS. NYSUT

New York
February 12, 2018

With changes coming to New York’s teacher evaluations, union and state officials prepare to clash

Just minutes after the state education commissioner laid out a plan for coming up with a redesigned evaluation system, a state teachers-union official rebuffed it.

suit up

New York
Updated February 9, 2018

New York education officials move to block rules allowing some charter schools to certify their own teachers

The lawsuit seeks to overturn regulations approved by SUNY allowing the charter schools it oversees to design their own teacher-certification programs.

Tech tools to raise scores

Detroit
February 6, 2018

Detroit district aims to give a laptop to every student, starting with three schools

A group of kindergarten students stood at the front of their class at Cooke STEM Academy Tuesday morning, using their fingers on an…

back-track

Indiana
February 6, 2018

Indiana lawmaker strikes proposal to allow more unlicensed teachers in public school districts

Less than a week after introducing the idea, an Indiana senator killed a proposal Tuesday that would have allowed school districts to hire up…

hiring help

National
February 6, 2018

School districts struggle when hiring new teachers. A new study suggests L.A. has found a better way

Every spring and summer, America’s school districts face a critical challenge: hiring new teachers. New research suggests that Los Angeles has found a better way.

At what cost

Tennessee
February 1, 2018

Do schools lose ground when losing top teachers to turnaround schools? A little, but it’s worth it, says Tennessee research

New research addresses a nagging concern about the quest to lure top teachers to struggling schools.
Indiana
January 31, 2018

Last-minute proposal would let up to 10 percent of teachers in Indiana district schools be unlicensed

Indiana lawmakers introduced a last-minute proposal on Wednesday that would allow public school districts to bypass certain standards and hire up to…

Unintended consequences

National
January 30, 2018

Did new evaluations and weaker tenure make fewer people want to become teachers? A new study says yes

After states put in place new evaluation and tenure rules, fewer people were interested in the job, a new study suggests.

Green Acres

Colorado
January 29, 2018

What a $10,000 fellowship for rural teachers will and won’t do to address teacher shortages

The rural fellowships bill is just one of what lawmakers say will be a package of bills to address Colorado’s difficulties filling some teacher jobs.

teacher prep

Tennessee
January 16, 2018

Tennessee’s mediocre teacher training programs prompt ‘interventions’ with university presidents

Armed with sobering data, state officials meet with top brass at universities where programs have grown out of touch with the needs of K-12 classrooms.

Gold standard teachers

Tennessee
January 9, 2018

Tennessee adds nationally certified teachers but continues to trail in the South

Twenty Tennessee educators earn a national certification that’s considered the profession’s highest mark of achievement.

Recap

Colorado
January 4, 2018

Five takeaways from Chalkbeat’s legislative preview discussion with lawmakers

Colorado legislators gave a preview into the education issues that will be part of the 2018 session including funding, teacher shortage and full-day kindergarten.

year in review

Colorado
December 22, 2017

State leaders took a hard look at the teacher shortage in 2017

The problem of teacher shortages has plagued some Colorado school districts for years, but it reached a tipping point of sorts in 2017.

season of searching

New York
December 19, 2017

Plans to shutter schools will force more than 400 New York City teachers to search for new jobs

What’s next for those teachers depends on the city’s plans for their schools -- and whether principals want to hire them.

boosting literacy

Tennessee
December 14, 2017

A new Memphis nonprofit sees training teachers in dyslexia therapy as key to closing literacy gap for all

Michelle Gaines and Krista L. Johnson founded ALLMemphis, a nonprofit, in June to boost overall reading comprehension and fill a gap they see in local classrooms.

teacher trap

National
December 13, 2017

America’s teachers don’t move out of state much. That could be bad for students.

Teachers are significantly less likely to move between states than others with similar jobs — and past research suggests that students suffer as a result.

war on teachers?

National
December 12, 2017

When union protections disappear, poor schools lose teachers, new research finds

Michigan's teacher-focused policy changes did not increase in teacher turnover. But at schools with lower test scores or more students in poverty, teacher churn jumped.

superintendent forum

Colorado
December 7, 2017

‘Low pay and low prestige’: How Colorado superintendents want to lift the teaching profession

With a new state strategic plan out proposing solutions to teachers shortages in Colorado, the discussion is heating up.

Struggling Detroit schools

Detroit
December 5, 2017

A Detroit district plan would allow ‘master teachers’ to coach less experienced colleagues and reduce class sizes

The program will enable schools to have model classrooms where less experienced teachers can go to watch master teachers work.

seeking answers

Colorado
December 1, 2017

State unveils plan to tackle Colorado teacher shortage, including exploring ways to boost pay

The plan said the state should “explore” a minimum teacher salary tied to cost of living but stopped short of recommending legislation to establishing it.

Human Resources

Colorado
November 21, 2017

A minimum salary for Colorado teachers? State officials may ask lawmakers to consider it.

The report, assembled at the request of the legislature, also proposes a marketing campaign and scholarships to attract new teachers to rural areas.

student teaching

Colorado
November 20, 2017

Building a teacher pipeline: How one Aurora school has become a training ground for aspiring teachers

Aurora leaders are trying to create a teacher pipeline from a new partnership at Elkhart Elementary School that brings in student teachers with paraprofessional jobs.