| Education Job Market

How would relations between colleges and companies effect you?

President Obama announced last Monday a budget proposal of about 800 billion dollars that would fund both areas of labor and infrastructure. Included in his plan is about 8 billion dollars that would be utilized to help community colleges provide job training programs for fields that are in high demand, attracting students and eventually helping them gain employment.

Entire faculty replaced at Miramonte Elementary

Drastic actions call for drastic measures. As the investigation continues into the Las Angeles elementary school where two teachers were arrested for lewd acts upon a child, it is now official that the entire elementary faculty will be replaced.

Quality teachers lead to richer futures

In more ways than one

A new study has been released that indicates the monetary influence good teachers can play in the future lives of their students.

Teachers forgo pay in Pennsylvania

The other day I read an article about teachers in a school district in Georgia who had sent their students home to work on a math worksheet referencing slavery and beatings in the story problems. I was appalled after reading it and critical towards the decision these teachers thought was appropriate. But today my faith in educators was restored after reading about educators in Pennsylvania who’s district has fallen on hard times, yet they still continue to work without pay.

Teachers in DC making big bucks

When Michelle Rhee was chancellor of the DC school district (2007-10) she implemented a system that rewarded students with monetary incentives if they continuously received good grades. It was an extremely controversial policy which, like Rhee, no longer exists in Washington. However, new monetary incentives are being peddled by the DC district once more. But this time teachers, rather than students, are being targeted. This new move to increase teacher’s wages and offer bonuses based on consistent performance may be a turning point in the teaching profession.

May be in best interest for educators to teach social and emotional education

There may be a better way for teachers to help their students ace those pesky standardized tests and improve in their overall academics, and thus enable educators to remain employed, based on their students’ high performance.

Job outlook for grads in 2012

If you were fresh out of college 2011, maybe you had a difficult period trying to find work. Well, things are looking up for college graduates in 2012, hopefully a trend that will continue into the future.

Harvard's Business School Offers New Curriculum

A massive overhaul in the Harvard’s Business School curriculum is set to take to begin soon, which may have significant effects to student’s methods of learning and the experiences provided to them outside of the traditional classroom.

The Definition of a Teacher

How do you define it?

When my daughter was in the NICU, the nurses couldn’t stress enough how I would be her first teacher. The same thing occurred when we went through First Steps therapy for her premature development, as well as Parents as Teachers via the local school district. Now that we are homeschooling, I think the term should be applied so much more liberally; my daughter’s relatives, peers, music and taekwondo instructors, and even her pets are her teachers.

Scoff if you like; I truly believe that anyone you meet is a type of teacher, and that perhaps school teachers should be referred to something more professional in order to distinguish between them, if they prefer. I do know many who prefer the term educator, and perhaps that works better. Read more about The Definition of a Teacher

Librarians Being Cut Again

It’s so sad to hear that across the country, librarians are taking huge cuts in schools as they attempt to save money. In New York, a district recently cut a whopping 15 out of 20 librarians across the district in order to, according to the superintendent, save all-day kindergarten. In another district in Oregon, every librarian there—48 people—are at risk of losing their jobs as well.

Honestly, librarians are likely of more worth to children than full day kindergarten is; half-day or no kindergarten at all would certainly better fuel their imaginations and creativity levels, as would better access to books and librarians who can help children find them.