ALEXANDRIA, Va. — There is no more pressing topic in education today than closing the achievement gap, and there is no one in America who knows more about the gap than Ronald Ferguson.
Closing the Achievement Gap Without Widening a Racial One - NY Times
- Published: 11 February 2011
Ronald Ferguson of Harvard explores the reasons black students’ grades lag behind those of whites.
Although he is a Harvard professor based in Cambridge, Mass., Dr. Ferguson, 60, spends lots of time flying around the country visiting racially mixed public high schools. Part of what he does is academic, measuring the causes of the gap by annually surveying the performance, behaviors and attitudes of up to 100,000 students. And part is serving as a de facto educational social worker, meeting with students, faculty members and parents to explain what steps their schools can take to narrow the gap.
Labour to ‘look at’ third-level fees [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 10 February 2011
THE Labour Party has left open the possibility of some form of student contribution to the cost of third-level education, saying it will be “looked at in the context of budgetary constraints.” Labour is the only one of the three main parties opposed to fees — something that could be an issue in any programme for government negotiations with Fine Gael.
But it refused to rule out some form of contribution from students, which could include a graduate tax or student loan scheme.
Education spokesman Ruairí Quinn said that while “access” to third level should be free, “this does not mean education is free.”
Asked if students could be sure that Labour in Government would not impose some form of fees, he said the party’s position remains “exactly the same” but “we are in a very difficult economic situation.”
He said: “As to what we can do next September, quite honestly we are going to have to look at that in the context of budgetary constraints and everything else and where it is.”
Mr Quinn was speaking at the launch of the Labour party’s policy on improving literacy among school children, particularly in disadvantaged schools.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Labour drops plan to improve literacy for the poor [Independent.ie]
- Published: 10 February 2011
LABOUR has dropped a controversial plan to keep poorer pupils in school for an extra half-an-hour a day to improve their reading and writing, the Irish Independent has learned.
Last month, the party published a literacy policy, which would force 600 disadvantaged primary schools to teach literacy for 120-180 minutes per day -- while other schools would be asked to devote a minimum of 90 minutes.
Crucially, the document then added: "If schools are not delivering improved literacy results, consideration will be given to extending the primary school day by half-an-hour in those schools, to allow for an extension of the time available for teaching literacy."
However, this sentence has been removed from the revised document, issued yesterday. And the amount of time for literacy across the curriculum has been reduced to 120 minutes per day in disadvantaged schools, in what is called the DEIS scheme (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools).
The party's education spokesman, Ruairi Quinn, confirmed the change last night.
He said: "We were advised that it might be misinterpreted and we did not want to be seen as punishing the parents."
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Teaching the iGeneration - ASCD.org
- Published: 10 February 2011
Our children and youth are immersed in technologies that give them opportunities no previous generation has enjoyed. How will schools respond?
Curriculum Focus - Leader Magazine
- Published: 10 February 2011
Anyone who expects 2011 to be any less packed with changes to the education system than 2010 is living under an illusion, says Brian Lightman. Where the curriculum is concerned an increasingly polarised debate could have dire consequences for young people.
During the latter half of 2010 we saw an almost unprecedented amount of policy development as the coalition government prepared to set out its stall in the white paper The Importance of Teaching.
