Education: Pith in the Wind, Nashville Scene

Charter School Crowd and MNPS Do Different Math on Student Attrition

Steven Hale — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:08:00 -0500

In this week's issue of The City Paper, Andrea Zelinski looks at the issue of student attrition and finds Metro schools officials and charter…

Tennessee Tries to Bully Berry College

Betsy Phillips — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:03:00 -0500

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Tennessee is in court right now arguing that the billboard Berry College put up here in Middle…

A Huge Downside to Abstinence-Only Sex Education

Betsy Phillips — Tue, 07 May 2013 05:11:00 -0500

At the Christian Science Monitor, Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped and held captive for nine months when she was a teenager and who now…

Common Core: The Paranoid Right's Latest Existential Threat to the Republic

Bruce Barry — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:39:00 -0500

The Tennessean this morning devoted vast dead-tree real estate to the Common Core standards that are reshaping public school curricula in Tennessee and…

When It Comes to Assessing Teacher Retirement Rates, We May Have Reached the Summit of Silly Mountain

Betsy Phillips — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 05:43:00 -0500

Over at WPLN, Daniel Potter has a story about the number of teacher retirements doubling in the last five years.

More Tennessee teachers…
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Bulletproof School Uniforms: In Stylish Colors for Boys and Girls

Bruce Barry — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:32:00 -0500

Now that our supposedly moderate senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander have so plainly shown their unbridled worship of the firearms lobby, we have…

CP: Jeremy Kane on Leaving LEAD and That Mayoral Chatter

Steven Hale — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:34:00 -0500

For this week's issue of The City Paper, I fired off a few questions to outgoing LEAD Public Schools CEO Jeremy Kane, who will be…

House OKs Charter School Authorizer Bill

Jeff Woods — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:48:41 -0500

Republicans had to beat back a slew of Democratic amendments and listen to a lot of testy commentary from critics, but the state House voted…

Lobbying Intensifies for Charter Authorizer Bill

Jeff Woods — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:21:00 -0500

Charter State from StudentsFirst on Vimeo.

As this year's session drags to a…

Waiting for Great Hearts: Charter School Bill Survives Senate Committee Vote

Jeff Woods — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:47:21 -0500

House Speaker Beth Harwell changed her charter school authorizer bill yet again and finally managed to pry it out of the Senate Finance Committee tonight.…

Harwell's Charter School Bill on Life Support in Senate

Jeff Woods — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:41:33 -0500

House Speaker Beth Harwell’s charter school authorizer bill is in serious trouble in the Senate. After a long debate in the Finance Committee today, the…

Smithson-Craighead Files Suit Against MNPS to Prevent School Closing

Steven Hale — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:33:00 -0500

Smithson-Craighead Middle School, and two parents, have filed suit against Metro Nashville Public Schools in an attempt to prevent the charter school from closing this…

Report: New Memo Suggests Michelle Rhee Ignored Widespread Cheating in D.C. Schools

Steven Hale — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:19:00 -0500

Since Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst have taken such an interest in education in Tennessee, and in Nashville particularly, it seems worth passing…

Harwell's Revenge: Will Legislature Jeopardize School Funding to Make Great Hearts Happy?

Jeff Woods — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:36:00 -0500

How many ways can you polish a turd? House Speaker Beth Harwell's bill to make Great Hearts Academies happy has undergone another revision.

In…

What Will Campfield's Legacy Be? Certainly Not Education.

Betsy Phillips — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:19:00 -0500

Today, yet again, on a national stage — this time NPR's Here & Now — Stacey Campfield made reference to "rocket surgeons." In that…

CP: School Board to Request $44 Million Budget Bump

Steven Hale — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:24:00 -0500

When Metro Nashville Public Schools officials appear before Mayor Karl Dean & Co. at a budget hearing Friday, they'll be asking for a few more…

Jeremy Kane to Step Down as Head of LEAD Public Schools

Steven Hale — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:17:00 -0500

Jeremy Kane, CEO and founder of Nashville's largest charter school system, is stepping down.

Andrea Zelinski with the details:

Jeremy Kane, the founder…
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Rich Republicans Stage Faux Media Event for School Vouchers

Jeff Woods — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:37:00 -0500

Rich Republicans who fund the American Federation for Children staged a media event today at the legislature to try to revive a school voucher bill…

Fisk President Talks Frankly About the University's Financial Situation

Betsy Phillips — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:56:01 -0500

Over at the City Paper, Pierce Greenberg has an interview with Fisk University's new president, H. James Williams.

The whole thing is worth…

Michelle Rhee and Friends Too Weird Even for Tennessee's GOP

Jeff Woods — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:20:00 -0500

WPLN's Blake Farmer reports this morning on the many so-called education reform bills that have died this legislative session. Despite an army of lobbyists…

Will Pinkston on 'Rightsizing' Nashville's Education Reform Debate

Steven Hale — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:42:00 -0500

Over at The City Paper, Metro school board member Will Pinkston has penned an op-ed on Nashville's ongoing education debate. He says it's time for…

Ramsey Fingers Kelsey as Culprit in GOP Voucher Fiasco

Jeff Woods — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:44:00 -0500

Senate speaker Ron Ramsey blamed Sen. Brian Kelsey today for the failure of Gov. Bill Haslam's school voucher bill this session. To reporters, Ramsey said…

A Cautionary Tale for Nashville's Schools

Jeff Woods — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:00:39 -0500

On her blog, education historian Diane Ravitch warns Tennessee against setting up a state authorizer so charter school corporations can go around school boards…

Islamophobes Fear Muslim Kids Will Use Vouchers

Jeff Woods — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 05:12:55 -0500

Tax dollars paying for kids to attend Muslim schools? Holy Muhammad! Some of the Islamophobes in the legislature have clued in to this possibility…

It Depends on What the Meaning of the Words 'Public School Parent' Is

Steven Hale — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:12:00 -0500

From the left coast, a note from the Los Angeles Times on Michelle Rhee's habit of getting evasive when it comes to whether she…