Required Readings, 04.13.14, Professor Workload Allocation, Vouchers in LA, Texas Does the Right Thing, and Equitable Teacher Distribution

I’m not breaking any news when I tell you that university professors are being asked to do more with less, but a new study out of Boise State University paints a clearer picture of how faculty members allocate their time.  Their findings are yet another wave that is eroding away the idea of the ivory tower.  Rather than spending most of their time on their own research, the data shows they spend most of their time teaching students, and are doing research more and more on their own time.

The Department of Justice fell a major blow in the fight against racial segregation caused by voucher programs in Louisiana.

For once you don’t have to groan after reading about education news out of Texas.  The Texas Board of Education is differentiating itself from Arizona by embracing it’s Mexican population.  They are voting to add a Mexican-American Studies elective to their high school curriculum.

A new report on equitable distribution of effective teachers was published by the Center for American Progress.  They found that there are some states and districts who are actively trying to match effective teachers with high need students, while others are using teacher effectiveness instruments that are out of date.  They put forth a number of recommendations to identify, hire, and retain high quality teachers.  Their main argument is that measures of teacher effectiveness should be tied to student achievement, and that the best teachers should be incentivized to work in the highest need schools.

Required Readings are a list of links that you might find interesting! Look for them to appear every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday morning.Have some links you’d like to share? Submit them on our contact form!