Education News from Washington Post

Here's an excerpt from a new e-book titled "Beyond the Education Wars: Evidence That Collaboration Builds Effective Schools," which looks at how struggling schools make improvements by collaboration between labor and management. It was written by Greg Anrig, vice president for policy and programs at The Century Foundation, a nonprofit public research organization based in Washington D.C. He wrote a post about the importance of collaboration in building effective schools, which you can read here.

A 1-cent budget decision in Fairfax County could leave the school system with a $30 million shortfall, part of a showdown over the county’s fiscal 2014 finances that has the School Board looking for cuts.

The gymnasium at Washington-Lee High School was transformed into an art gallery last week to offer Arlington County students a new way to experience African American history.

Through the paintings and quilts of local artist Avis Collins Robinson, students saw familiar faces of abolitionists and civil rights leaders such as Sojourner Truth and Malcolm X. They also studied portraits of working people who fought in America’s wars, planted the fields and built universities.

The Montgomery County Council’s education committee approved a financial plan for the school system Thursday that would use surplus money from this year’s budget to pay for the Board of Education’s requested $10 million spending increase for fiscal 2014.

The online education platform Coursera this week announced a new series of free courses to help elementary and secondary teachers improve their technique, with offerings from teaching experts at premier museums and universities.

Salisbury University announced Thursday that an Eastern Shore philanthropy is giving the school $8 million to help build a new academic commons, including a library.

The gift from the Guerrieri Family Foundation honors Patricia R. Guerrieri, an alumna of the public university in Maryland who died in May 2010. It is one of the largest donations in the school’s history.

When D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced in January that she wanted to close 15 schools, she said the downsizing would help create a stronger school system with rich academic offerings, a system that could compete with the city’s charter schools.

Across the country, thousands of college biology instructors give lectures every year on the fundamental biochemical process of breaking down sugar, known as glycolysis.

Are all those lectures necessary? Might a few suffice?

It was a busy day for Benjamin Banneker Middle School students Wednesday.

More than 100 of the Montgomery County students visited the White House to hear some of President Obama’s policy advisers speak. Then in the afternoon, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), Discovery Communications President David Zaslav and actor Kal Penn visited their school.

In the you-can't-make-up-this-stuff category: A fourth grader with severe epilepsy being screened at a hospital for possible brain surgery was lying in bed when a teacher walked in and asked him to take a New York State high-stakes standardized test.

(Clarification: Classes at Semester Online are live)

Duke University just pulled out of an online learning initiative with other elite schools because some Duke professors voted against awarding credit for the classes.

Collaboration in schools is not a big topic in the national education discussion, and that's unfortunate, because it's a key to effective schools. Here's a post on how and why by Greg Anrig, vice president for policy and programs at The Century Foundation, a nonprofit public research organization based in Washington D.C. He is the author of the new e-book, "Beyond the Education Wars: Evidence That Collaboration Builds Effective Schools," which looks at how struggling schools make improvements by collaboration between labor and management.

A new debate about whether computers can really edit essay tests is really about how writing can best be graded. Here to delve into that issue is Doug Hesse, professor and executive director of writing at The University of Denver. He is co-author (with Lynn Troyka) of "The Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers" and of "Creating Nonfiction" (with Becky Bradway). He is also a past chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication and a past president of the Council of Writing Program Administrators.

Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) announced Wednesday that he will create a “Teacher Cabinet” of advisers to influence high-level decisions that affect public schools.

The teachers who will comprise most of the cabinet will be charged with developing recommendations for new ways to engage parents and close achievement gaps, and they will work on methods for improving the collaboration between public schools, colleges and workplaces.

Here is the text of a speech (as prepared for delivery) that Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave this week to the American Educational Research Association, meeting in San Francisco.

Duncan addresses growing criticism of high-stakes standardized tests, among other subjects.

The Carroll County School Board plans to end its partnership with the contractor that operates Virginia’s largest full-time statewide virtual school, effectively shutting down a program that serves more than 350 students.

Does what happened in 2008 in D.C. Public Schools still matter today? Here to answer the question is Sam Chaltain, a Washington D.C.-based education writer, a senior fellow at the Institute for Democratic Education in America, and a former member of Mayor Vincent Gray's transition team for education policy. He can be reached at schaltain@gmail.com. This piece also appeared on the SmartBlog on Education.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A new academic credential of unknown worth is circulating around the world, issued by affiliates of some of the most valuable brands in higher education.

These “certificates of mastery,” available for free to anyone with an Internet connection who passes an online course, come from BerkeleyX, MITx and HarvardX. Soon, there will be certificates from GeorgetownX.

The Walton Family Foundation is giving $8 million to Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst to add to the scores of millions of dollars it hands out each year to support the public education reform agenda of Walton family members.

The Common Core State Standards initiative was started with bipartisan support. But new and often nonsensical criticism from right-wing Republicans is making it seem as if the Core is a partisan issue, and, further, is clouding important and serious-minded criticism about the standards and their implementation.