By Susan Edelman | New York Post

“A middle-school teacher has been disciplined — but not fired — for his unapologetic remarks about his students’ breasts.

Annan Boodram, a seventh- and eighth-grade English teacher at MS 206 in The Bronx, told a student in class, “Your boobs are staring at me,” according to a disciplinary decision filed with the state.

He told another, “Those things are bothering me.”

And a third, “Your ‘friends’ are staring at me.”

Hearing officer Donald Kinsella slapped the 13-year veteran teacher with a $7,500 fine and 10 hours of sensitivity and anti-sex- ­harassment training after a nine-day administrative trial.”

Read More

By Ben Chapman, Lisa L. Colangelo | New York Daily News

“The first public hearing of Gov. Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force in the city drew about 100 people to LaGuardia Community College Friday afternoon – parents, educators and students bitterly divided over the issue.

About two dozen signed up to speak, asking task force members Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan and Brooklyn teacher Kishayna Hazlewood to toss the Common Core, saying it was forcing a test-driven curriculum in schools while others expressed the need to keep high expectations of students.”

Read More

By The Associated Press

“WASHINGTON — Most states now require that teachers be evaluated, at least in part, on student test scores, according to a state-by-state analysis released Wednesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

_____

States where student test scores are the key factor in teacher evaluations:

Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee as well as the District of Columbia.”

Read More

By Patrick Wall | Chalkbeat NY

“The state’s outgoing education policy chief on Wednesday implored Gov. Andrew Cuomo to preserve the state’s new tougher learning standards and exams, despite mounting opposition from parents and teachers unions.

Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, who recently announced she will step down in March, oversaw the state’s rocky shift to the Common Core standards and tests. Cuomo backed the switch to more challenging learning goals, but he has sharply criticized the way the state education department managed the transition.”

Read More

By Lexie Woo | Education Post

“My first year teaching, I was fresh out of college, a graduate of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Having completed my student teaching in high-performing elementary schools in Manhattan, I entered the Title I public middle school where I began my career with certain expectations.

I expected students to have ample access to technology, including well-equipped classrooms with Smartboards or document cameras. I expected students to have textbooks and curricula that were current and relevant. Finally, I expected students to have access to a full range of special education and support services, such as counselors, speech and language providers, social workers and physical therapists.”

Read More

Monica Disare | Chalkbeat NY

“New York City and New York state’s scores on the test known as the nation’s report card stagnated this year, with fourth-grade math scores declining slightly.

The numbers, released Wednesday, mirror national trends. Across the country, fourth- and eighth-graders posted lower scores on the math and reading tests than in 2013, the last time the tests were administered.

“We’re trying not to read too much in a decline in at this point
,” said Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of the National Center of Education Statistics, which administers NAEP. “We understand it’s a pattern consistent across many states, but … we don’t know yet if these changes we’re talking about today are long-term.
”

Read More

New York Post Editorial Board

“The vested interests that control the city’s schools just failed again to quash a lawsuit that could expose them, by showing in open court how New York’s teacher-tenure laws hurt kids.

For the second time, Supreme Court Judge Philip Minardo denied a motion by teachers unions, the city Department of Education and the state attorney general to dismiss the suit.

The two groups suing are NYC Parents Union, led by indomitable activist mom Mona Davids, and the Partnership for Educational Justice, run by journalist-turned-reformer Campbell Brown.”

Read More

Naomi Nix | The 74

“A state Supreme Court judge for the second time denied a request from unions and state officials to dismiss a parent lawsuit arguing that teacher tenure and seniority protections harm the education of New York’s public school children.

Justice Philip Minardo ruled Thursday that new education laws the state legislature passed after the lawsuit was filed do not alter teacher tenure enough to make the parents’ original complaint moot.”

Read More