State Board of Education

Dr. Gary Nixon, executive director of the State Board, heard the appeal of the Hamilton County Board of Education’s decision to deny Ivy Academy’s public charter school application on July 31, 2008.
Below are materials for review:
Findings and Recommendation of Dr. Nixon (Aug. 15, 2008)
Letters of support, written statements
Ivy Academy’s Amended Application (June 2008)
NOTE: This is […]

Jesse Goldberg and I talked about education law on his show, Common Law, this week.
We discussed several topics, including graduation standards, student and educator conduct, drug testing and religion in schools.
The complete show is about 30 minutes (including 2 minutes of introductory material).

SBE Attorney on Common Law from Rich Haglund on Vimeo.
The show […]

Several interesting conversations with education leaders and Charlie Rose:
Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of Washington D.C. Schools:
(this video is only 27 minutes long, though the timer shows 54 minutes)

Wendy Kopp, director of Teach for America:

Four National Teachers of the Year:

And a commercial from an organization hoping to inject education into the presidential race:

A few […]

Book Reviews
NYTimes editorial about the book, Three Cups of Tea.
Vision
OH SBE introduces its plan for student success
Effective Leaders
Rhode Island to allow mayors to charter schools
Former Sesame Street president now leads public charter schools
Effective Teachers
Feist helps kids learn to count on Sesame Street:

Alfie Kohn suggests what you’ll find in an effective classroom
Rigorous, Relevant Curriculum
Students and teachers […]

The State Board of Education will have a conference call on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and No Child Left Behind on Friday, July 25, 3:00 P.M. Central Time.
If you are in Nashville, dial 532-5141; if you are outside of Nashville, dial 1-877-468-0082, pin number #2158.

I’ve mentioned the book, Disrupting Class, to many of you.
Here’s my review of the book, in the context of the Master Plan. You can also listen to a helpful introduction to the concepts in this podcast of an interview of Christensen with Business Week magazine.
Effective Leaders
Blackmun High School selected as example
NOTE: Dr. Nixon was […]

The State Board will host a Teacher Advisory Council Meeting on Tuesday, July 8, 2008
10AM - 3PM
State Board Conference Room
9th Floor, Andrew Johnson Tower
Nashville, TN 37243

Effective Leaders
The 21st century superintendent
Transparency on union-school district contract negotiations:
Andy Rotherham and Jane Hannaway suggested in a book on teachers’ contracts that more transparency in the bargaining process would help. A parent in MN took that advice and chronicled the process in his district.
Real World 2.0
Review of Clay Shirky’s book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power […]