With the new year fast approaching, we put together a list of some notable education headlines from 2010. When looking back at the past year, what other stories or trends would you add?
10. The iPad
Aside from being the biggest tech story of 2010, the release of Apple’s iPad also sent waves through the educational arena. The touchscreen tablet computer was predicted to revolutionize learning with its e-reading capabilities and easy-to-use apps, and was embraced by schools while simultaneously creating a glut of networking issues at campuses across the nation.
9. Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly won headlines in 2010. Aside from having a popular feature-length film made about him and being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, Zuckerberg also made news in October by donating $100 million to the troubled public school system in Newark, New Jersey.
8. Michelle Rhee
The former chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools system, Michelle Rhee is both credited and criticized for being on the forefront of educational reform. She won headlines in 2010 when she brokered a contract with the D.C. teachers union that pegged employment and compensation to student achievement, and eliminated tenure for one year, allowing for the dismal of teachers deemed ineffective.
7. Common Core State Standards Initiative
Sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core State Standards Initiative was announced in June of 2009 as an attempt to create clear, consistent national educational benchmarks, but the specific standards were not laid out until March of 2010. These standards included a greater emphasis on basic mathematics and a higher caliber of reading materials to be critically analyzed. The initiative was faulted with burdening schools already attempting to cope with previous national educational projects, such as No Child Left Behind, but lauded for approaching educational reform from a standards-based perspective.
6. Waiting for “Superman”
This acclaimed documentary by director Davis Guggenheim chronicles the failures of the American public school system through the plight of several students. Though it was praised by some as a powerful piece of cinema and astute political commentary, it came under heavy fire from critics for undermining teachers and exaggerating the benefits of charter schools.
5. Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Although the TEA functions as any other state board of education would insofar as overseeing Texas’ public schools, it has a resounding impact across the nation when it comes to purchasing textbooks. That’s because Texas’ public schools create the largest single textbook market in the United States, meaning that books selected by the TEA often rise to the top of the market and lessen in cost, which therefore causes them to become the defacto texts for the rest of the country. When a set of revisions seeking to correct the “left leaning bias” of social studies books was proposed in 2010, it ignited a national debate over American history and the way its taught.
4. Education Nation
Beginning September 27th, NBC launched week-long news coverage focusing on improving education in America called Education Nation. Events included a two-day summit in New York City featuring policy makers, educators and members of the business community, a learning plaza in Rockefeller Plaza that allowed the public to explore innovative approaches to schooling and a series of high-profile, education-related interviews, including one with President Obama.
3. The Los Angeles Times Teacher Evaluations
In August a team of Los Angeles Times reporters analyzed information collected by the Los Angeles Unified School District and created a database of “value-added” ratings of teachers and schools according to student performance on standardized tests. The polarizing project was praised for bringing transparency and accountability to public education, and vehemently criticized for unfair methodology and invasion of privacy.
2. Educational Financial Crisis
With the Great Recession persisting through the year, state coffers lagged despite federal stimulus and school districts across the country were forced to deal with crippling budget cuts. The rollbacks resulted in the elimination of classes, teacher layoffs and loss of supplies. Reactions from legislators varied, with some calling for a school bailout and others claiming a bailout would only delay the inevitable, that reform is necessary.
1. Race to the Top
Announced by President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Race to the Top was a $4.35 billion chunk of the 2009 economic stimulus dedicated to rewarding state and local districts for educational reform. States competed for the funding by increasing teacher effectiveness, developing common standards, turning around low-achieving schools, improving data collection and sharing, and a host of other criteria. Winners were announced in two phases: the first, on March 29, 2010, were Tennessee and Delaware; and the second, on August 24th, were the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island.
