Sen. David Holt, who sponsored such legislation for Oklahoma, said he was partly inspired by Won’t Back Down. But whatever the film’s merits as entertainment, its rosy portrait of parent triggers mask major problems with the idea. Under his proposal, if a school is given a D or an F on the state’s A-F rating […]
classes
Posted inNews
Point: Triggering better schools
The bill only applies to schools that have received from the state Education Department a D or an F for the last two years or a D or an F for two of the last three years, provided the most recent grade was a D or an F. In those schools — where everything else […]
Posted inNews
What evolutionists fear
Whenever a bill comes up before our Legislature that gives teachers in our public schools the freedom to teach the positives and negatives of evolution, they immediately cry “foul” because anything that might bring doubt on their beloved theory must be religious. The reason why they are so touchy is because they know how weak […]
Posted inNews
Embracing early childhood education
In contrast to previous mandates for bubble-in quick fixes, the administration now endorses collaborative and coordinated efforts emphasizing socio-emotional interventions and diagnostic data so that children read for comprehension by third grade. He now heeds the wisdom of generations of scholars, including Nobel Prize winner James Heckman, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and many […]
Posted inNews
Building brains
Credit: Shannon Cornman The idea was generated in December 2010 when the school district’s board of education approved funding for the pre-K teachers over a four-year period. Sixty have been hired so far, with an additional 60 slated to be added by the 2014-2015 school term. A report from the district last year shows full-day […]
Posted inNews
Fashion statement
The issue arose last August when Cooper Barton, then a kindergartner at Wilson Elementary, wore a University of Michigan T-shirt to school. The 5-year-old Wolverine fan was told to turn his shirt inside out since it violated the district’s dress code policy. Wearing clothing that depicts athletic teams, except for Oklahoma colleges and universities, is […]
Posted inNews
D-graded
Credit: Brad Gregg A. Yes B. No C. Spaghetti If you answered B, congratulations. You scored better than state Superintendent Janet Barresi. According to the Tulsa World, Barresi told the Republican Women’s Club of Tulsa County on Feb. 12 that University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University research scientists who authored the aforementioned report had […]
Posted inNews
School board bucks
Unofficial results from the Oklahoma County Election Board show that Hardin, a former development officer for the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, received 51 percent of the vote, or 3,376 total votes. An entrepreneur and founder of Friends of Northwest Classen High School Foundation, Hardin had outraised Monson by a nearly 5-to-1 margin in […]
Posted inNews
School choice is the answer
You say these schools serve intense concentrations of poverty and trauma. A primary cause of such concentrations of poverty and trauma has been our public city schools. That is what happens when generation after generation of caring parents escape to the suburbs as fast as possible because well-intentioned liberals like yourself refuse them the choice […]
Posted inNews
Who our schoolchildren need
Since most of us in Oklahoma City are no doubt disgusted with the generally dismal performance of our school district, our inclination may be to conclude that our votes make little difference. Hopefully, however, they might make a difference for thousands of young people grossly underserved with the education provided to them by the district. […]