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Rick Scott insults all of Florida’s teachers... again.

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By placing a Teach for America hobbyist on the state board of education, Rick Scott thumbed his nose at all the hard working men and women who sacrifice so much for the state’s children. Teach for America in case you have been living under a rock takes non education majors, puts them through a five week access course and then puts them in our neediest classrooms or the exact opposite of what people call best practices.     In case you were wavering because of the pennies he recently threw the states teachers please also remember that under his watch the state stole 3 percent of teacher’s pay to balance the books, and a draconian and nonsensical teacher evaluation system was enacted.   This also continues the state's policy of not putting educators or experienced applicants in charge of education and then we wonder why we are in trouble. Shameful.
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Updates on the Race: 01-13-2010

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NATIONAL AFT chief vows to revise teacher-dismissal process ( Education Week ) Strong applications versus stakeholder support? (Flypaper) RttT fire drills ignore the fact that 52% 0f state application is based on PAST reform and achievement (Eduflack) ALABAMA Governor Riley links charters, Race chances ( Dothan Eagle ) FLORIDA 53 of 67 school districts on board; only 5 with union backing ( Orlando Sentinel School Zone blog) GEORGIA Governor Purdue pitches performance pay ( Atlanta Journal Constitution blog) ILLINOIS Bill to strengthen educator evaluations passes state House ( The State Journal-Register ) IOWA Legislation needed to boost state's competitiveness ( Des Moines Register ) Governor Culver presses for RttT legislation in State of the State ( Des Moines Register blog) Bill passes first legislative hurdle ( Des Moines Register blog) KENTUCKY House passes low-performing schools bill ( Louisville Courier-Journal ) LOUISIANA State board endorses application ( T...
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What Happens When You Remake Academia? Rick Hess Looks Your Way

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Rick Hess is an amusing guy-- witty banter, fun to have drinks with-- and always pushing buttons. I dig that, even though we rarely agree on policy issues. What I like most about him is that he takes seriously the idea that academics should bring their research to the public, and in an effort to prod that along, last year he began ranking us. He uses a set of metrics that even he admits are pretty darned flawed, but are at least an ATTEMPT in the right direction. I like it not because I'm ranked (ok, I like that too) but rather because Hess is a prominent guy doing whatever he can to provide incentives to professors to do more than what tenure requires of them. He wants us to use all 5 tools in our work--"disciplinary scholarship, policy analysis and popular writing, convening and quarterbacking collaborations, providing incisive media commentary, and speaking in the public square." And that I can appreciate. So here are the rankings this year. And here's the met...
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