The set of common academic standards most states are expected to adopt this year got strong reviews from veteran K-12 teachers in Baltimore. The teachers — who include former Teachers of the Year — read and rated the draft common core standards and generally gave them thumbs up.

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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy

Physicist Sean Carroll says high school physics classes place too much emphasis on dry puzzle-solving and pulleys. “One of the tragedies of our educational system is that we’ve taken this incredibly interesting subject — how the universe works — and made it boring,” he says.

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Tags: Education Policy, Physics

What’s the best way to fix America’s education system? Conservatives push voucher programs and charter schools. Liberals want to fix schools with more money and reduced class sizes. But columnist Steve Chapman says research shows that neither side has the right answers.

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Senate Democrats are pushing for another bailout of recession-hit public schools. Iowa’s Tom Harkin, the Senate’s leading Democrat on education issues, has proposed a $23 billion package to help K-12 schools across the country avoid layoffs of teachers and staff. Last year, as part of the economic stimulus package, Washington gave nearly $100 billion to states to help them shore up schools hit by budget squeezes.

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Is dissection essential to a high school biology class? That’s a question lawmakers in Connecticut are grappling with, according to the Hartford Courant. A bill heading to the state senate floor would allow students to opt out of dissections if they raise conscientious objections. Critics have long argued the procedure is outmoded and inhumane, while biology teachers have countered that it remains the most effective way to teach kids anatomy.

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Tags: Biology, Education Policy, Public Policy, Science Education

It’s not unusual to find an occasional error in a text book. But, a K-6 mathematics series recently purchased by two Sacramento, California, school districts is not only riddled with mistakes, some of them are real whoppers. For instance: informing kids that five times three equals five. Publisher Macmillan/McGraw-Hill said it was working with district officials to rectify the problems.

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Tags: Education Policy, Mathematics, Textbooks

Enthusiasm among states for the administration’s $4 billion Race to the Top education grant competition is waning. Some states like California, Colorado and Arizona are having second thoughts about reapplying for the second round. Critics say it’s easier to garner support for reform from 100 percent of school districts and teachers’ unions in smaller states like Delaware, one of only two first round winners, than it is in larger states like California.

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Delaware and Tennessee won the first round of grants in the U.S. Department of Education’s $4 billion Race to the Top Fund competition. Delaware will get $100 million, and Tennessee $500 million. The competition is aimed at encouraging states to create conditions for education reform.

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Tags: Competition, Education Policy, Grant Opportunities, Public Policy

Congress has begun work on reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which became known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) during the Bush years. The Department of Education’s “blueprint” for a new ESEA has largely won warm reviews from lawmakers in both parties. But, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) is unhappy that the proposal doesn’t put more emphasis on science education.

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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy, Science Education