The editorial page is writing an editorial about Maryland's slow take-off on trying to get Race to the Top funds from the U.S. Department of Education. If successful, Maryland would get as much as $250 million in stimulus money next year, but the state appears to have been slow to [...]
Silence is apparently not a good thing when it comes to babies.
Children between the ages of 2 months and 6 months who have a lot of exposure to language are more likely to have advanced language skills later in life, according to research being released this weekend. The research suggests that parents should [...]
This weekend, eighth-graders who live in Baltimore City will be taking the first steps toward exercising a choice that wouldn't have been open to them a decade ago. The city school system is holding its high school fair and about 4,000 students are expected to come with their parents to' [...]
I don't usually share my personal opinions or experiences on this blog, but today I want to encourage all parents to take advantage of the last two days of American Education Week and go visit your child's classroom. No matter how busy you are, adjust your schedule and get there.
For those' [...]
And you thought that city schools chief Andres Alonso and Omari Todd, director of Teach for America Baltimore, were on the same side when it comes to kids. Well, think again. They are dualing it out for the Mustaches for Kids program, beginning tonight when they will make their chins [...]
We wrote in Saturday's paper about the fact that Maryland appears to be lagging behind other progressive states in positioning itself to be competitive in the race to get a portion of $4 billion in federal funds. Education advocates around the state have questioned why Maryland has not been more proactive in [...]
The Baltimore City school board has appointed Shawn Y. Crowder as the new Chief of Human Capital, a new name to describe the human resources chief. Crowder was the former chief of staff and head of human resources for the Philadelphia school district before being assigned to her current job as deputy for Strategic Partnerships for [...]
Our colleague, reporter Mary Gail Hare, wrote an op ed piece this week about her 45th high school reunion from the Institute for Notre Dame, an all-girls school that has educated many Baltimore women.
The response from readers surprised her. She got more than 50 e-mails in one day, which just goes [...]
The National Dairy Council is fighting back. They sent information out today to try to combat what they see as the growing threat to milk drinking in public schools. The food activists who got soda out of school cafeterias may be moving on to chocolate milk. Horrors.
But the National Dairy Council [...]
The Center on Education Policy, a non-partison group that has tracked the No Child Left Behind Act since its passage, has come out with a new report on how states are doing with high school exit exams. Maryland is now in its second year of requiring that students pass the Maryland [...]
The Associated Press reported recently that Montgomery County's school board has made a symbolic push to get the Maryland General Assembly to raise the age a student must stay in school to 18.
Currently, students can drop out at 16 and, the AP reports, only the legislature can change that. But [...]
On the paper's editorial pages today is a column by Loyola University's Joseph Ganem about the teaching of math.
He argues that some students are being taught overly complex math at too young an age. It is an interesting piece to read, although some commentors have suggested that perhaps his premise is [...]
The Open Society Institute-Baltimore is hosting a panel discussion Monday evening called "Can We Talk About How Race Affects Our Classrooms?". It's the next installment in OSI's "Talking About Race" series, and will focus on the impact of continued segregation in public schools on achievement, among other issues.
Monday's panel discussion,' [...]
I received an email about a national "Classroom Makeover Contest" put on by the company eInstruction, involving a prize of $30,000 in educational technology - i.e., interactive white boards, Dell netbooks and a range of software for teaching and testing students - for each of three grand-prize winners. This is the third year [...]
The Baltimore school board delayed a vote on the hottest topic of the season, permanent expulsions, but there continued to be some spirited dialogue during the public comment session last night on the issue.
As the story in the paper today says, the board received a lot of last-minute suggestions on [...]
I'm working on a story about how high rates of absenteeism and illness among students are affecting schools. Several school systems throughout the country have already begun to make adjustments: A Florida county is looking to suspend its exam exemption policy to prevent sick students from dragging themselves in to make sure they' [...]
A Baltimore jury has awarded $210,000 to a retired city teacher who says she wasn't protected from students who assaulted her and was told to give students the answers to questions on the Maryland School Assessments.
The story in the paper today details the allegations the teacher made. What do readers' [...]
In an obituary in today's paper, we mark the passing of one of those teachers who made a difference in the lives of thousands of students over a career that spanned 30 years.
Most of us are lucky if we come in contact with a handful of these gifted teachers in [...]
There's nothing like peer pressure. That is the idea behind Ally Week, a week when lesbian and gay students are asking their straight peers to make a pledge to come to their assistance when they see or hear bullying in their schools.
Nearly nine out of 10 LGBT (lesbian, gay bisexual [...]
My story in today's paper takes a look at the increasing use of the Web 2.0 tool known as a wiki (not to be confused with Wikipedia, which is certainly in the same family). These online spaces, which allow people to modify, contribute to and comment on content, are [...]
Today I sat in on an annual conference for gifted-and-talented educators at Randallstown High School, which drew teachers from throughout the state. There were a variety of sessions on ways to inspire creativity and critical thinking among students in math, science, reading and other areas - led by teachers from [...]
The virtual classroom at Chesapeake High School was packed earlier today with a slew of county and state officials, including two past superintendents.
County Executive James T. Smith has spent this year celebrating the county's 350th anniversary, and this month has been designated for recognizing education. Gathered at Chesapeake this morning [...]
A study available tomorrow in Science reports that giving teachers better training in their field can have a profound impact on the how well students learn science. A study of teachers' research experiences over time by Samuel Silverstein of Columbia University found that students of teachers who participated in Columbia's Summer Research Program outperformed' [...]
The emotional debate over whether the Baltimore City schools should be able to permanently expel students continued at last night's school board meeting with principals coming to testify about their experiences with incidents that involve fires and explosive devices.
Laura D'Anna, the principal of Patterson High School, recounted an incident that happened a year ago' [...]
Students in Katie Calkins' photography II and III classes at Patapsco High and Center for the Arts are in the business of repairing pictures this month - a service they are offering to victims of last month's flood in Dundalk.
They've gotten one batch of photos from a local [...]
Baltimore Freedom Academy students and members of the Maryland ACLU were in Washington, D.C., this week to view the work of the students, who took photographs of their run-down city schools for an exhibition called "Through Your Lens." The exhibition, which spotlights the problems of antiquated buildings across the nation, is [...]
Since a 14-year-old girl died of the H1N1 virus on Tuesday night. I have gotten some e-mails from parents saying that getting information out about prevention is important, but just as important is making sure that schools have the basics: soap and paper towels in the bathrooms and hand sanitizers [...]
State officials launched a new Web site today, geared toward helping high school students plan and prepare for college. The site, www.MDgo4it.org, features a virtual college campus, as well as information about financial aid and college life in general.
Give it a whirl. Tell me what you think. Could [...]
A middle school girl who was hospitalized with the swine flu last week died yesterday, according to a statement by Andres Alonso. The CEO said staff would be providing families and students in the school support in the coming days. The school system is working with the health department [...]
William Ouchi argues in a new book coming out this month that one of the keys to student achievement is decreasing the Total Student Load or TSL. He says teachers should teach no more than 80 students at a time. The reason this book may be of interest here in Baltimore is [...]
I recently wrote a story about Bob Hallett, a dynamic, quirky library-media specialist at Baltimore County's Riderwood Elementary who was recently diagnosed with a rare leukemia. A few years ago, Hallett helped invent - and then play - a superhero' [...]
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the Associated Press that he thinks maybe the nation's schools should lengthen their days and school year. Duncan said schoolchildren in foreign countries are going 25 to 30 percent longer than students here. The AP reports that while it is true that students' [...]
A Montgomery County parents group that is vigilant about keeping track of what goes on in the school system there sent an e-mail message out yesterday morning saying that Jerry Weast is in Northern Ireland advising the school system there. They are asking why he isn't in his office in Montgomery' [...]
Students from the Algebra Project were at the city school board meeting on Tuesday night asking the board to sign a Student Bill of Rights. The students say they deserve a better education.
They say the city's school buildings are crumbling, the school bathrooms don't have soap and paper towels and the school' [...]
The city school board is clearly having a strong internal debate over whether it is right to permanently expel students who are 16 and older if they have committed a serious offense. The expulsion issue began last year when schools CEO Andres Alonso decided to try to reduce the incidents of fire [...]
Liz Bowie had a story in today's paper about the 2009 High School Assessment results, which indicate that making the tests a graduation requirement hasn't presented as big of an obstacle to students as originally feared, according to data provided by state education officials.
This news has some folks wondering whether [...]
We spend a lot of time concentrating on how to improve the achievement of African Americans and Hispanic students, but when I pore over data sometimes I wonder: Why aren't we analysing the achievement gap between Asians and whites? We have worked to close the achievement gap because of the educational inequities that' [...]
The warm, sunny weather may have been welcome yesterday, but - as Baltimore County parents repeatedly noted - temperatures in the high 80s and above aren't quite so enjoyable inside a school building.
Dozens of parents gathered in the courtyard between the Circuit Court and county office buildings in Towson,' [...]
A couple noteworthy items for schools in Baltimore County today.
The governor, county executive and superintendent will preside over the groundbreaking for the new Carver Center for Arts and Technology building, which is to open March 2012. The facility, which the school board has approved for LEED certification, [...]
My story today highlights an online program in Baltimore County that outlines what students should be learning in every course - and includes a detailed progress-reporting system that tracks their progress in mastering those objectives. Even as students move from teacher to teacher and school to school, a running record [...]
Last night, President Barack Obama made an interesting analogy in his address to Congress on health care. He suggested that those without insurance be able to get it through a not-for-profit public option that would be available through an insurance exchange.
The idea, he said, is similar to the system we have in this [...]
Some months ago, we reported that the state school board had been interviewing and vetting candidates to fill the vacancy created by the departure of school board chair Brian Morris. We noted that no one had done a very good job of vetting Morris, who had a history of financial problems [...]
Some Maryland students had difficulty seeing the president's speech today and it wasn't because their teachers weren't trying hard to get it to them. At three schools visited by Sun reporters this morning, the feed through the Internet did not work and students saw virtually nothing of the speech. At some schools, [...]
Several of the Sun education reporters went to schools in different districts to sit in on classes as they watched President Obama's speech to them at noon today. I was at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, where several classes were able to watch the speech live - and where, [...]
Harford County, which had announced Friday that it would not air the president’s speech at noon Tuesday, amended this decision Tuesday and will “provide its students the opportunity” to view the president’s address by the end of the school day Thursday, according to the school system’s Web site. Parents [...]
Here is the transcript of the president's speech, folks - also pasted below.
I'm working on a story about this today and would like to get reactions from Maryland parents. Please drop me a line or give me a call (410-332-6639).
' [...]You just might be aware of President Obama's upcoming speech to students, which will be broadcast live this Tuesday.
A transcript of the president's remarks is supposed to be posted on the White House Web site tomorrow, for those who are curious. I will post a link here once it's released.
On a' [...]
Debate is swirling about President Obama's planned speech Tuesday to schoolchildren, urging them to take responsibility for their own education. Some school districts, such as Harford County, will not be broadcasting the president's speech, while others are allowing each school to decide. Parents also have the option of having [...]
Sun reporter Joe Burris wrote today about an offshoot of homeschooling, "unschooling," in which all of the child's experiences are incorporated in [...]
On Tuesday, September 8, President Obama will tell the school kids of America that they should take more responsibility for their success in school. The address will air on C-Span at noon and the U.S. Department of Education is going to provide materials to teachers in advance to encourage class [...]
The confrontation between the Baltimore Teachers Union and the KIPP middle school in Baltimore has gotten a lot of attention in the past several weeks as it did on this blog when I first wrote about it in The Sun.
This morning, CNN did a report on the issue, highlighting that [...]
Last year, Collington Square Elementary/Middle School teacher Koli Tengella worked with students to make a 30-minute film that portrayed students participating in an academic contest they didn't think their school could win. The film explores the social stigmas many students face in schools, he said.
On Thursday, the Charles is allowing third- through eight-graders from Collington' [...]
In a wide-ranging conversation this morning with reporters, Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso said he believes some of the increase in test scores may have had to do with the fact that more students are coming to school regularly.
When he came to the district two years ago, he said, the [...]
Today marked a new beginning for Paul Laurence Dunbar High School as it reopened its doors after a two-year renovation. I can't claim to have been to every school in the city, but it is at least as nice as any I have been through. The hallways are bright, curved' [...]
The state released the results of the Maryland School Assessments for science this week and they improved only slightly over the past year.
The tests don't count for No Child Left Behind, and state officials believe that schools and teachers aren't stressing them much with students. Still they are some indicator of what students [...]
Maryland's dropout rate took a big dip in the past year, but it is unclear whether the change is due to better data collection or a true drop. Only about 2.8 percent of students dropped out of high schools this past year. The big question that hasn't been answered yet' [...]
If a school system sends home dozens of students in the face of an H1N1 outbreak, how would students keep up with their classwork? It is a question that the U.S. Department of Education is asking and directing school districts to start carefully considering.
At a news conference today in Washington, U.S. Secretary [...]
Today the paper ran a story I wrote about Howard County's latest effort to thwart inappropriate attire for teachers.
"Expectations for Professional Attire" is a pamphlet that the school system gave to its teachers this year for the first time. From what I've been able to find, Howard County is' [...]
As many of you weighed in on the question of Dr. Alonso's performance bonus for 2008-2009, I wanted to give you an update. The city school board decided to award him a $29,000 bonus.
Some background: board Chairman Neil Duke told me today that Alonso received the same amount last year. [...]
There's an interesting Education Week article today on the ACT results, which indicate most students are not ready for college. And while a higher percentage of Maryland students are deemed prepared, the number (30 percent) is still low.
You can see how Maryland students did on the exam, and also check out the [...]
I dropped in on the three-day new-teacher orientation that started today at Randallstown High School, where about 650 newbies were being schooled on what it takes to be a teacher, of any stripe, in Baltimore County.
The hundreds filling the school’s auditorium were welcomed by a host of people: state schools [...]
When schools open this year, school officials will have another worry: the swine flu. Health officials are predicting a larger than usual number of students will be out sick with either the seasonal flu or the swine flu, and they are asking schools to help vacinate the school-aged population. In a [...]
The Baltimore school board will soon be deciding how much of a bonus the CEO should receive this year. While readers of this blog may not actually get a chance to take a vote on this issue, I thought maybe you would like to give your two cents to board members who will be [...]
As I mentioned earlier this week and reported in today's paper, Dr. Alonso officially welcomed back city schools administrators, and laid out plans for the coming school year, during yesterday's CEO Leadership Institute.
For those who might be interested, here is Alonso's PowerPoint on the state of schools, [...]
While I was on vacation, my colleague, Olivia Bobrowsky, covered the city school board meeting on Tuesday night.
Here's her report:
Last night, the Baltimore school board discussed preparations for getting schools ready when they open later this month.School officials said they are on track: all facility renovation projects are [...]
If last night’s work session on permanent expulsions is a preview of future discussions on the subject, then the road ahead is going to be a long one, fraught with debate.
Fortunately, as board Chair Neil E. Duke pointed out last night, it’s just the beginning of the process. [...]
Tonight, the Baltimore City school board is holding a work session on permanent expulsions. You all may recall Sara's story back in May on this subject, as well as the debate here on Dr. Alonso's decision to permanently exclude students who intentionally set fires or detonate explosives from city [...]
Last night, I attended a parent meeting at Halstead Academy, a Baltimore County elementary school in the Parkville area. Because Halstead did not make adequately yearly progress this year, and is a Title I school, parents must be given the option of transferring their children to either Carroll Manor [...]
Members of the Maryland State Board of Education didn't speak the words "persistently dangerous" at the most recent meeting, but they quietly voted to give the designation to seven more Baltimore City schools. Of the seven, many are being closed.
The schools to get the designation are Canton Middle, Garrison Middle, Hamilton Middle, Dunbar' [...]
There's a new educational nonprofit in town, but this time it has an interesting angle. Higher Achievement, founded in Washington, D.C., has expanded to Baltimore and is attempting to give middle school students academic help and mentoring so that they can make it into the city's best college prep high schools.
I will be [...]
In my reporting over the past week or two, I have been asking superintendents, principals, teachers and education advocates if they are aware of the tidal wave of change that might be coming in the next year. For the most part, they have only a vague notion of what is [...]
Tonight, a group of elementary school students is going to ask the Montgomery County Council to do away with styrofoam lunch trays at their school cafeteria and bring back the hard plastic lunch trays. To make the switch, they are asking for money for their school to buy a dishwasher [...]
In light of the ongoing conversation about the MSAs and testing this week, I thought I'd share this new study done by the Center on Education Policy, examining test score trends.
The CEP reviewed test-result trends in 16 states with six to 10 years of consistent' [...]
In my story today, I take a closer look at two Baltimore County middle schools that managed to get off the state watch list, after making adequate yearly progress two years in a row.
Woodlawn Middle School was the first in the county to land on the school-improvement [...]
So many schools around the state have done so well on the Maryland School Assessments that it is difficult to really rank schools and say which are better. One third of all elementary schools now have more than 90 percent of their students who have passed the test. In some counties, a [...]
Mary Ann Winterling had been an assistant principal or principal at Bentalou Elementary School since 1974 when she died in March of cancer. She saw the school through integration, then took the job of principal in 1980. She did such a good job that when the school board wanted to stop the imposed [...]
The Baltimore Teachers Union just issued its press release about the agreement it reached with the school system to continue the contract for another year. The teachers will take a vote on Aug. 26 at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Western High School complex.
"Due to budget constraints we felt it would [...]
The Baltimore Teachers Union just issued its press release about the agreement it reached with the school system to continue the contract for another year. The teachers will take a vote on Aug. 26 at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Western High School complex.
"Due to budget constraints we felt it would [...]
At the Baltimore city school board meeting on Tuesday night, a large group of Hamilton neighborhood residents turned up to support the City Neighbors, a charter school that is hoping to open a new school in the building that used to house Hamilton Middle School beginning next year.
Residents talked about how they had wanted to stay [...]
My colleague, Mary Gail Hare, who has been covering the Towson Catholic High School closing saga, provides this update on the spaces that other schools have made available to the Towson Catholic students: Towson Catholic parents and students met with administrators from 15 area parochial schools in an effort to [...]
The scores from this spring's tests are a few weeks late coming out this year. State officials said they want to release the list of those schools that have failed to meet the grade at the same time as they release scores.
So the state has held off until now, but they [...]
Once again this summer, Baltimore County schools are making the parents of sixth and ninth graders prove that they live within the school's boundaries. Even students who have been in the school system for six or nine years must provide proof of residency by August 14 for their child to [...]
Once again this summer, Baltimore County schools are making the parents of sixth and ninth graders prove that they live within the school's boundaries. Even students who have been in the school system for six or nine years must provide proof of residency by August 14 for their child to [...]
In today's paper, I write about the debate over how to teach math. College professors are arguing that high schools aren't teaching what students need to know for college. Too many students now have to take remedial classes when they arrive. About half of the high school graduates in Maryland who' [...]
I'm working on a story looking at how private schools - and their families - are faring during these tough economic times. I am on the lookout for parents - in the city and the suburbs - who've decided not to continue sending their kids to an independent school because [...]
I was talking yesterday to Carl Stokes, one of the leaders of Bluford Drew Jemison Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Academy. They are opening a new school in Southwest Baltimore this school year and are still looking for students. While the school received its charter some time ago, the city school board didn't approve' [...]
Today, about 100 students and parents gathered at Towson Catholic High School to protest the sudden announcement yesterday that the school is closing after 86 years.
The school had lost about 80 students over the summer and could no longer afford the loss of revenue. Today, on our Web site, parents and alums have [...]
We've recently found out who will be writing and reviewing the new national or "common core" standards for math and language arts. For those of you who would like to know who is likely to be the group deciding what is important to be taught in classrooms, here's the list.
This' [...]
Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso proudly presented a group of high-achieving students going off to the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, College Park at a board meeting recently.
It was an honor for the students, who are among a smaller-than-usual pool who had been accepted at those schools through special [...]
The Maryland State Board of Education has decided to take on some of the role of vetting candidates for the city school board. In my story today, I detail the questions the board is now asking candidates who apply for the job. It seems they are trying to prevent [...]
Anyone who was a frequent visitor to state school board meetings over the past year knew that when Blair Ewing raised his hand to ask a question, it was time to perk up and listen because you knew he was likely to get straight to the heart of the issue. He was [...]
Here is the text of the end-of-year-message Andres Alonso sent out today. What do you think about what he says?
June 26, 2009
Dear City Schools Colleagues, Staff, Partners and Friends,
Next week we begin the 2009-10 fiscal year, and I want to thank you again for your part
in making this past year [...]
Thursday was the final day of the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program, which 33 middle school math and science teachers from the Baltimore area took part in in Huntsville, Ala. Here are the final reports from some of the teachers who have been blogging about their experiences this week.
From City [...]
From Hereford Middle School math teacher Rachel Murphy, one of the 33 area teachers participating in the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program in Huntsville, Ala., this week:
Wow, where do I start? I will try my best to fill you in on all the amazing things we [...]
From City College math teacher Luis Lima, one of the 33 area teachers participating in the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program in Huntsville, Ala., this week:
I can’t tell you how much fun this has been. Just to give you a short run, I played with [...]
While the state Board of Education is still mulling over possible changes to the vetting process for city school board candidates, several other things came out of their meeting yesterday.
The board approved the restructuring plan for Baltimore's Moravia Park Elementary/Middle School, which will require all school employees to reapply for [...]
Dear Inside Ed folk,
We're working on an editorial for tomorrow's paper about recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including one dealing with special ed. The court decided 6-3 that federal law allows parents of special ed students to seek government reimbursement for tuition at a private school that can meet their' [...]
