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9-25-17 Education in the News

NJ Spotlight--NJEA Flexes Its Muscles, Takes on Sweeney

The teachers union faults the Senate president for his stand on public-employee pensions and school funding — and they want to make him pay

What has 200,000 members, a deep-pocketed super PAC, and one of the most powerful presences in all New Jersey politics?

It’s the New Jersey Education Association, and it’s not to be trifled with.

That’s the apparent message being conveyed by the relevant-as-ever group this election season, as it continues to wield its influence in several state and local races following a hard-fought primary and ahead of a November general election.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/09/25/njea-flexes-its-muscles-takes-on-sweeney/

Chase Brush | September 25, 2017

 

NJ Spotlight--Murphy Questions Why State Takeovers Target ‘Communities of Color’

Democratic hopeful for governor also talks about Paterson, another city where state is in control of local schools

New Jersey has been a national forerunner in state intervention in its most troubled public schools, starting with its takeover of Jersey City schools in 1989 and then with Paterson and Newark within a decade later.

Gov. Chris Christie has certainly not run from the strategy, as highlighted by the Camden takeover four years ago. But as seen in Newark and elsewhere, Christie has been part of a more complicated history over the past eight years that has revealed intervention’s limits and challenges.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/09/24/murphy-questions-why-state-takeovers-target-communities-of-color/

John Mooney | September 25, 2017

 

 

Education Week--Do Schools' 'Active-Shooter' Drills Prepare or Frighten?

On "safety days," elementary students in Akron, Ohio, learn a new vocabulary word: barricade.

School-based police officers tell students as young as kindergartners how to stack chairs and desks against the classroom door to make it harder for "bad guys" to get in. "Make the classroom more like a fort," an officer says in a video of the exercise.

If a teacher asks you to climb out a window, listen to them, the officers instruct. And, in the unlikely event a "bad guy" gets into the classroom, scream and run around to distract him, officers tell students.

For some parents, the idea of such instruction is chilling. Others, though, say it's a sad, but necessary sign of the times.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/09/20/do-schools-active-shooter-drills-prepare-or-frighten.html

Evie Blad| September 19, 2017

 

Asbury Park Press—Op-Ed: Are fewer, longer classes good for your kids?

An increasing number of New Jersey school districts in recent years have transitioned away from the traditional 45- or 50-minute, seven- or eight-period class schedules. While the majority of districts in New Jersey continue to use the traditional schedules, many now employ block scheduling — typically four classes that meet for about 90 minutes each day. How is it working? Will the trend continue? We invited two university educators, Sharon Sherman, dean of the Rider University School of Education, and Christopher Tienken, an associate professor of education administration at Seton Hall University, to answer those questions and more.

Could you first describe the fundamental difference between traditional schedules and block schedules?

Tienken: First, the defining characteristic of block schedules is time. The block schedules include longer periods of time for each course, usually between 55 to 90 minutes for a class, as opposed to the traditional 40- to 45-minute class schedule.

http://www.app.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/09/22/block-scheduling-traditional-classes-assessment-christopher-tienken/105873404/

 

AsburyPark Published 9:50 a.m. ET Sept. 22, 2017 | Updated 1:56 p.m. ET Sept. 22, 2017