Printer-friendly versionSome of the News Fit to Print
MERROW AND TEAM WIN FIRST PLACE IN EWA AWARDS
Carnegie Scholar-in-Residence and Learning Matters CEO John Merrow was one of the winners of the Education Writers Association (EWA) 2009 National Awards for Education Reporting. EWA is the national professional association of education reporters and writers. The annual contest honors the best education reporting in the print and broadcast media and is the only independent contest of its kind in the United States. Contest entries were limited to stories published or broadcast for the first time during the 2009 school calendar year. Merrow and associates Jane Renaud, Cat McGrath, Valerie Visconti and Tania McKeown, of Learning Matters took first prize in the Documentary and Feature category for "Leadership: A Challenging Course."
REFORMING TEACHER ED
A group representing colleges of teacher education on Thursday called for its member institutions to work with the rest of their universities, as well as schools, states and the federal government to emphasize and improve in-school preparation for teachers-to-be. Leaders of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and other experts gathered for what was intended to be a high-profile opportunity – including a speech by a Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) – to inform state and national policy debates on K-12 school reform as states look to cut costs and raise standards, and Congress prepares for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In the first of several news conferences scheduled to be held throughout the spring at the National Press Club in Washington, panelists stressed the importance of what’s being called clinical training, a more robust in-school teaching and learning option than the student teaching of yore. “You can’t learn to swim on the sidewalk and you can’t learn to teach outside the classroom,” said Sharon Feiman-Nemser, a professor of Jewish education at Brandeis University who has for decades studied how teachers learn. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
MORE COLLEGES OFFERING THREE-YEAR DEGREES
What was a year ago an emerging idea about how to reduce college costs and better serve students has begun to take hold at colleges across the United States, as more institutions introduce three-year bachelor's degrees. Concerns about ever-rising college costs, which have been only compounded by the prolonged recession, and the Bologna Process's success in standardizing three-year, competency-based bachelor's degrees throughout Europe have helped to amplify the drumbeat that has played in the background for decades. Despite the surge in interest in and introduction of these programs, some experts are critical, arguing that students may miss out on key experiences, and wondering whether many students will be able to finish their degrees in three years. The article is in USA Today.
A CLOSER LOOK AT CAREER-CHANGERS
A new report from Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation underwritten by the MetLife Foundation points to significant shortfalls in preparation and support for those who change careers to teach, and debunks common assumptions about their paths to teaching. Its survey of 504 teachers found that that the majority of career changers -- 92 percent -- pursued teacher education through a university program, and nearly nine in 10 considered their programs to have been excellent overall. Programs were mainly faulted for failing to prepare teachers for real-world challenges. On a composite index of ratings, more than one-quarter of those surveyed (28 percent) gave their teacher preparation a "C" or better with regard to dealing with behavioral issues, incorporating standards into the curriculum, and teaching English language learners. The report also counters stereotypes about career changers as midcareer or second-career executives taking large pay cuts to teach. It found that nearly three in five career changers (57 percent) worked in other jobs for less than ten years before entering the classroom. Two out of three (67 percent) reported that their teaching salaries were the same as or better than salaries in their previous jobs. To be eligible for the survey, interviewees had to be current teachers who had been teaching in public schools for no more than 20 years, and who had held positions in other fields for at least three years before teaching. This information is from the PEN NewsBlast.
OBAMA GIVES AWAY $1.4M NOBEL PRIZE
President Barack Obama plans to donate the $1.4 million from his Nobel Peace Prize to helping students, veterans' families and survivors of Haiti's earthquake, among others, drawing attention to organizations he said "do extraordinary work." Obama is giving a total of $750,000 to six groups that help kids go to college. Fisher House, which provides housing for families with loved ones at Veterans Administration hospitals, will receive $250,000, the White House said Thursday. And the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, for which two former presidents are raising money to rebuild earthquake-ravaged Haiti, will receive $200,000. "These organizations do extraordinary work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need," Obama said in a statement. "I'm proud to support their work." This article is from the Associated Press.
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