Subject: Education Standards

• This Guy Probably Has a Better Record Than the Chamber

  July 10, 2008

• Jesse Register Meets the Press

  State schools accountability chief Connie Smith is expressing great confidence in Nashville's new superintendent, Jesse Register. But in his first round of media interviews, he didn't exactly come across as a can-do kind of guy. He spent a lot of time trying to tamp down expectations, which isn't hard to do when you're leading a district that's failed student achievement standards for the last five years."There is a real urgency," he conceded to Channel 4, "but I'll tell you the test scores are

  January 8, 2009

• Vandy Lands New Recruit, Mojo Keeps Risin'

  Fresh off this month's victory in the Music City Bowl, and the first winning record in 25 years, the news keeps getting better for Vanderbilt. Yesterday, Brentwood Academy standout Thad McHaney reneged on a commitment to SEC rival Ole Miss in favor of the Commodores. That means with two weeks left to go before national signing day on February 4th, Vanderbilt already has 12 three-star recruits, three times the number they had in last year's class.For some extra insight, we asked Rivals.com writer

  January 21, 2009

• Vanderbilt: Obama Makes Blacks Perform Better on Tests

  File this study under Somewhat Contrived Methodology Yielding Questionable Results or Hope-based Science. Vanderbilt professor Ray Friedman just released the results of a study examining the relationship between positive Obama national attention and the test scores of black people.Over a three-month period during the campaign, researchers administered a Graduate Record Exam to 472 people--388 of them white and 84 of them black, a fairly demographically accurate representation--twice when his ach

  January 23, 2009

• Heads of the Class

  July 17, 2008

• Re-segregation Plan?

  Business leaders secretly lobby to excuse white children from school rezoning

  June 12, 2008

• Class Struggle

  April 3, 2008

• Head of the Class

  Nashville’s earnest new mayor is willing to try something different to fix schools

  January 31, 2008

• Back to School

  Bredesen touts new focus on improving teaching

  October 25, 2007

• Best Foes Forever

  After five-and-a-half years in Nashville, Pedro Garcia is the second most senior urban schools superintendent in the nation—and as much of a lightning rod as ever

  March 22, 2007

• Dressed to Shill

  Research suggests required student uniforms in Metro public schools are a bad idea

  March 15, 2007

• Pedro Garcia vs. a Few Good Kids

  The Metro school administration picks a fight with a group of poor 5th and 6th graders

  September 21, 2006

• Do Not Renew

  July 15, 2004

• Still "No Excuses"

  Three years into it, Pedro Garcia's not grading himself on the curve

  July 22, 2004

• On the Curve

  There’s less than meets the eye to rising Metro test scores

  November 10, 2005

• Word of the Week

  June 30, 2005

• Test Scores Are Up

  Metro schools announce some big news, and not a moment too soon

  June 23, 2005

• Throw Me the Money

  The link between money and school quality is as two-sided as it is volatile

  June 23, 2005

• Thoughts on Pedro

  It could be tough sledding ahead

  April 29, 2004

• The Big Education Fuss

  School reform plan speaks loudly, carries small stick

  September 11, 2003

• News Briefly

  Elections rage, but most people just yawn

  July 31, 2003

• Here to Stay

  Schools director Pedro Garcia is a hot commodity, but he’s not going anywhere

  May 8, 2003

• Love/Hate Mail

  Without teachers, Garcia’s doomed

  January 9, 2003

• Against Choice

  December 26, 2002

• Get on Board

  July 25, 2002

• PETA Opposes Garcia Pig-kissing Plan

  June 27, 2002

• The White Fright

  Is the debate about overcrowded schools actually about race?

  May 23, 2002

• News Briefly

  March 14, 2002

• A Long Haul

  In the coming year, Metro schools face some serious challenges

  December 27, 2001

• To Catch Them When They Fall

  November 29, 2001

• No More Excuses

  New schools director Pedro Garcia believes all kids can learn, and he has no patience for anyone who disagrees

  August 30, 2001

• List

  August 23, 2001

• Grading the Report

  The school audit isn't a failure, but it isn't an A either

  February 15, 2001

• Failing Efforts

  The Trouble with TCAP and Standardized Testing

  October 12, 2000

• The Fabricator

  Strange Things Happening

  December 9, 1999

• Schooling the Voters

  June 17, 1999

• Jesse Register Gives CYOA Speech

  Jesse RegisterIn a cover-his-ass speech last week that went unnoticed by the media, schools director Jesse Register all but predicted Nashville will fail for the sixth straight year to meet federal achievement standards. The speech is on the school district's website here. Register says: I want to be very clear and direct with my message today. First, I am not waiting on pins and needles for test scores that will be released in July. Quite frankly, this district needs urgent, dramatic and compr

  June 23, 2009

• Karl Dean Will Have to Find Something Else to Run

  The numbers are in, and to what will likely be a lot of people's surprise, Metro public schools have met the "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) requirements under federal No-Child-Left-Behind rules for academic performance based on standardized test results released today by the state education department. This is the first time in six years that AYP goals have been met. The school system now moves from "restructuring" to "improving" status, and the immediate threat of a state takeover that might

  July 22, 2009

• Rezoning Plan Already Failing Pearl-Cohn Children

  ​The evidence has arrived: Pearl-Cohn students are getting the shaft under the rezoning plan. They're still more likely to be taught by inexperienced teachers despite new pay incentives to attract staff to the high-poverty schools. If school board members were really focused like lasers on improving schools for the city's poor black children, as they constantly claim, then they'd cancel the rezoning plan at their next meeting. Obviously, Nashville is offering a substandard education to Pe

  October 19, 2009

• If Mayor Dean and Jesse Register want performance-pay reform in Metro schools, they'll have to sway the MNEA

  November 12, 2009

• Bredesen vs. Teachers' Union: Round III

  Here's Gov. Phil Bredesen on the third stop of his statewide tour to drum up support for his battle with the teachers' union in next week's special session. Previously, in Memphis, Bredesen danced a little jig on a key point of disagreement with the Tennessee Education Association--how much weight to give student test scores in evaluating teachers--and he exaggerated his backing from an important legislator, House Democratic caucus chairman Mike Turner.

  January 6, 2010

• Bredesen, TEA Work Out a Possible Deal

  ​The morning newspapers are casting it as an attempt by Gov. Phil Bredesen to steamroll the state teachers' union in next week's special legislative session. He will "push ahead," without the Tennessee Education Association's full support, to tie teacher evaluations to student test scores. "I believe it will get done," he says, sounding tough. But the governor, pragmatic as always, actually is giving a little to the TEA to avoid a big fight that could result in the special session's failure.

  January 8, 2010

• As Special Session Begins, Teachers' Union Writhing in 'Indefensible Position'

  ​Here's the only outstanding question in the special legislative session that's just begun: How long before the teachers' union completely knuckles under to the governor's demands? Bredesen's high-pressure gambit -- giving lawmakers one week to act, with hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money on the line -- puts the Tennessee Education Association in a nearly impossible position. Either the TEA caves and accepts legislation that's anathema to much of its membership, or the union loo

  January 12, 2010

• Teachers' Union Agrees to Compromise Deal with Bredesen

  Last night, we asked how long it would take the Tennessee Education Association to cave in to Gov. Phil Bredesen's demands. The answer: Not long at all. The House Education Committee is meeting even as we speak to hear the compromise deal that will grease the skids for Bredesen's special session to end this week. The state Board of Education held a quick meeting today to approve the deal's outlines. According to Rick Locker, here it is:

  January 13, 2010

• Senate Passes 'Race to the Top' Legislation

  The Republican-run Senate has just voted 29-3 for its version of Gov. Phil Bredesen's K-12 reform legislation, mandating the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations. The vote seems to guarantee a partisan fight with House Democrats over the number of blacks who will sit on the special committee that develops the evaluation scheme. House Democrats and Republicans are caucusing right now just before the scheduled start of their floor session. Once the bill passes the House, probably tod

  January 15, 2010

• Morning Roundup: Legislature Does Something Smart and Halley's Comet Makes Unexpected Appearance

  ​Now that the legislature has acted in the special session, the Bredesen administration's "Mule Team" of aides and consultants is putting the finishing touches on the state's application for Race to the Top cash. Due tomorrow, it's 180 pages, with 340 pages of exhibits and attachments. Senior adviser Will Pinkston: "The introduction that's being written will emphasize that conditions are ripe in Tennessee for education reform. It's a Halley's Comet type of event to see Republicans, Democrats

  January 18, 2010

• Devaney Slaps Democrats on Special Session But What About His Own Naysayers?

  ​State Republican Party chairman Chris Devaney is criticizing the 11 Democrats who dared to vote against Gov. Phil Bredesen's K-12 education reforms Friday night in the special session: "Tonight, a number of Democrats turned their back on Tennessee's children, teachers, and administrators when they voted against legislation aimed at putting our education system back on track. The reforms passed by the General Assembly are major steps in the right direction as we work to improve our schools th

  January 18, 2010

• Does 'First to the Top Act' Set Up Mayor's School Takeover?

  ​A little-noticed sentence in the brand-new "First to the Top Act" might wind up putting Mayor Karl Dean in control of failing schools in Nashville. That's according to the excellent education blogger Nashville Jefferson who has studied the statute and offers his analysis here. One section gives the state commissioner of education the power to take over failing schools and operate them himself or hand them off to someone else to run. Here's the sentence that Nashville Jeff thinks authorizes m

  January 20, 2010

• Using a half-million federal bucks as his ramrod, Gov. Bredesen bends Tennessee's teachers over a desk

  January 21, 2010

• Sen. Diane Black Discusses Education Reform

  Here's Sen. Diane Black talking about last month's special session. She gives Bill Frist credit for the school reform legislation and says the ideas date back to the Republican Alexander administration.

  February 16, 2010