Category Archives: Education Advisor

Ohio’s new school rating system already shocking many

Published: March 18th, 2012 | Categories: Education Advisor | 0 Comments

 

Yesterday we wrote about Ohio’s recent waiver application to the U.S. Department of Education for relief from parts of the federal No Child Left Behind act and the proposed revamping of the state’s reporting system for schools and districts. We also warned that many parents, teachers, and students would be shocked by the results and that there would be a push to water down the new system, insisting that it is unfair and not accurate.

As we predicted, there have been several articles describing the coming changes and what they mean for districts across the state. The Columbus Dispatch today quoted the superintendent of Bexley City Schools, a suburb of Columbus, as saying, “I don’t know how a high-performing district like ours and many others gets a B?” “It might be a way of communicating in the simplest way but you miss a whole lot.” Bexley, currently rated Excellent with Distinction, would fall to a B under the new system.  Superintendents of currently high-performing districts in Montgomery County will also see a decline in their academic rating under the new system. Of the 28 distr

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Some schools planning to drop ‘pink slime’ meat

Published: March 13th, 2012 | Categories: Education Advisor | 0 Comments

PHILADELPHIA The lunch lady won’t be serving up “pink slime” anymore at several school districts around the country.

Under a change announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, districts that get food through the government’s school lunch program will be allowed to say no to ground beef containing an ammonia-treated filler derisively called “pink slime” and choose filler-free meat instead.

Several school systems said they will change their cafeteria menus when the move takes effect next fall. What’s not yet clear is how much the switch might cost and whether it could lead to price increases for school lunches.

“Our district has long advocated for purity and disclosure in food products. And we will definitely be moving to the pure ground beef when that becomes available in the fall,” said John Schuster, spokesman for Florida’s Miami-Dade school system, the nation’s fourth-largest district with 345,000 students.

He could not immediately speak to the cost, noting that the district is on spring break.

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Trivia Tuesday: MIT Sloan’s Condensed Core

Published: March 8th, 2012 | Categories: Education Advisor | 0 Comments

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Clear Admit’s weekly Trivia Tuesday column, in which we take an in-depth look at program elements that differentiate the leading MBA programs from their peers. This week, we’re taking a peek into the Clear Admit School Guide to MIT Sloan to share with you an excerpt about the school’s distinctive condensed core curriculum, which gives students the chance to take three full semesters of electives.

“Like other MBA programs, MIT Sloan requires students to complete a series of core courses designed to provide an overview of important business disciplines.  Sloan’s core offers a broad foundation on which students can build throughout their next three semesters of elective courses, providing an introduction to accounting, business statistics, economics, managerial communication and organizational processes, with an additional course in either finance or strategic marketing.

“Sloan’s core is the shortest of any of its peers, requiring just one semester of courses.  The remaining three semesters are devoted wholly to electives, a fact particularly appreciated by students who already have a strong background in their target industries.  However, with eight required courses in just three months, students’ first semester at Sloan is extremely busy.

“One distinguishing feature of Sloan’s core curriculum is the degree to which professors, in the words of one student, ‘conspire’ in teaching the core courses.  Students report that professors often examine the same case study from multiple perspectives in different courses.  For instance, students might examine the financial questions raised in a particular corporate situation in Finance Theory I, move on to evaluate the company’s accounting practices in Financial Accounting and, in Communication for Managers, brainstorm alternative communication strategies the players in the story could have used….”

To read more about the Sloan curriculum, as well as to obtain in-depth program information, be sure to check out the Clear Admit School Guide to MIT Sloan! All Clear Admit School Guides are

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Ohio seeks waivers from federal education law

Published: February 28th, 2012 | Categories: Education Advisor | 0 Comments

 

Since the birth of the No Child Left Behind Act more than a decade ago, state and local education officials have not kept quiet their disdain for the federal law. So when President Obama announced in September that his administration would offer states freedom from components of the law it is no surprise that states around the country jumped on the chance. Ten states (Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Minnesota, and Oklahoma) have already been granted waivers from the Obama Administration with the understanding that they must demonstrate how they will prepare children for college and careers by setting new academic targets to improve achievement among all students, reward high-performing schools, and help those that are falling behind.

Ohio is one of 26 states, along with the District of Columbia that applied for a second-round waiver. If approved (and most observers believe it will be), what will the waiver mean for the Buckeye State? What changes will it bring about in the coming months and years?

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Opinion: We’re smart enough for Darwin debate

Published: February 18th, 2012 | Categories: Education Advisor | 0 Comments

During my 20 years as a local reporter and columnist, I have noticed our schools deal with all of the big national education issues—student assessment, budget cuts, teacher quality, disabilities, misbehavior, test manipulation, instructional time and many more, says Washington Post Columnist Jay Mathews. There is one exception, however. While the rest of the country struggles with how to teach evolution, our educators approach the subject without fear. Nobody threatens them for contradicting the Bible. That is why I think my suggestion last week that high schools teach alternative theories of evolution would work here even if it might create difficulties elsewhere. I raised the issue of challenges to Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection because Republican presidential candidate and former senator Rick Santorum has advocated teaching alternative theories such as intelligent design, the view that some supernatural force influenced the development of life on Earth. Santorum and I differ on Darwin…