by Collin Hitt Michelle Rhee has stepped down as head of Washington D.C. Public Schools. Her departure was widely expected after her boss, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, was defeated in the city’s mayoral primary election. The new documentary “Waiting for Superman” is making Rhee a household name.  But her bold vision for D.C. schools made...

by Collin Hitt The Chicago Tribune wrote an editorial review of “Waiting for Superman.”  I’m probably quoting at too great a length below, but the editors outlined a reform platform in a remarkably efficient five paragraphs. “Waiting for Superman” has drawn a lot of blowback. Critics say the film unfairly casts teachers unions as the...

by Collin Hitt The unsurprising word has leaked that Chicago schools chief Ron Huberman – a Daley appointee – will leave his post before the beginning of a new administration. Greg Hinz… With Chicago Public Schools officials confirming a Chicago Sun-Times story that schools chief Ron Huberman will leave along with Mayor Richard M. Daley, who else...

by Collin Hitt Bill Ayers – state employee and university professor in Illinois for 25 years – is retiring. He’ll get the normal pension perks due to state university professors, but he won’t get the ornamental emeritus title.  When the decision was considered by the board of trustees last month, University of Illinois chairman Chris...

by Collin Hitt It looks like Gov. Quinn is taking full campaign advantage of the federal education bailout funds that I discussed yesterday.  I’d expressed some concern that the governor’s office issued some questionable advice to school districts, asking them to spend their federal allocations between now and November – advice that was offered without the...

by Collin Hitt The new education documentary Waiting for Superman paints many public schools in Harlem in a terrible light.  So you might think that the head of NYC schools would be unhappy with the film. Not so. Schools chancellor Joel Klein: If you do one thing this weekend, go see Davis Guggenheim’s latest documentary, Waiting for Superman,...

by Collin Hitt This week’s NYT Magazine has nearly a dozen stories on technology and education.  Much of it focuses on online learning technology. But one piece told the story of a classroom teacher who has equipped every one of his students with a computerized ink pen, manufactured by LiveScribe. The pen electronically records every...

by Collin Hitt In more serious news, the federal government announced the final $350M in awards that it’ll be handing out for Race to the Top.  This time, the Department of Education is funding multi-state initiatives to develop better standardized testing models.  Illinois belongs to one of the winning groups, which features Florida as the lead state.  If things...

by Collin Hitt An intriguing new study comes from a team of researchers led by Jonah Rockoff. It looks at middle schools in New York City, and compares them to elementary schools with a K through 8 grade span.  Students in the middle schools do worse than their peers who stay in the same school...

by Collin Hitt Chicago Public Schools has announced that it is moving forward with a new plan to extend the school day at select elementary schools by using online learning technology.  The Trib carried the story: In an effort to extend what is one of the nation’s shortest school days, Chicago Public Schools plans to add...