• This report takes an interesting look at the push for data driven student instruction. It analyzes teacher preparation programs to see if graduates know how to interpret student assessment data and apply the results to quality instruction decisions.
• It’s peanut butter jelly time for a few students, minus the jelly. Central Ohio schools are cracking down on parents who consistently fail to pay for their child’s lunch, or don’t sign up for free and reduced lunch. These students are served peanut butter crackers, juice, and applesauce.
• Schools are filing complaints with auditors’ offices asking for an increase in property values. The decrease in property value in a school district means less money for schools during levy collection.
• A study in New York City schools found that students learning a nonfiction-emphasized curriculum outperformed their peers learning a balanced literacy curriculum on reading comprehension tests and science and social studies knowledge. It was a very limited study, but one worth investigating.
• Florida is allowing a teacher to bring an “interesting” perspective to the profession. An ex-porn actor was forced to sell his pornography company after he was fired from a school district in Florida. The Sunshine State recently determined he is allowed to pursue his teaching certificate with a probationary period of two years and a psychological evaluation.
