The Daily Report Card: Floating Sabbaticals, Debt Deals, And Arguments In Indy

In the Classroom Today

Have Lectures, Will Travel – Teaching – The Chronicle of Higher Education Once or twice a year, Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman boards a luxury cruise ship for a working vacation. She spent most of last month in the waters off Iceland and Britain, enjoying the same privileges as passengers who paid full fares in the thousands of dollars. But it’s not all champagne and shuffleboard: Ms. Hoffman is not paid and must write and present four lectures that are informative, interesting, and relevant to the cruise itinerary. Though she is an American historian by training, she has lectured off the coasts of France on romantic love, Italy on Garibaldi, Peru on the Incas, and Australia on aborigines—all topics that she had to bone up on before she could teach them. For this month’s trip, aboard the Silversea Cruises vessel Silver Cloud, she gave talks on Vikings, druids, and Celts. (chronicle.com)

Will Debt Deal Slow States’ Education Agendas? – State EdWatch – Education Week The congressional deal to approve raising the federal debt ceiling could cut the flow of some federal money to states, education advocates warn. And that slowdown could hinder states that are pushing for ambitious—and sometimes expensive—changes in teacher evaluation, assessment, academic standards, and other areas, an official for a top state schools organization says. States have been major laboratories for change in those areas, noted Chris Minnich, the senior membership director for the Council of Chief State School Officers, in Washington. But those changes cost money, and given the battered condition of state budgets, governors, legislators, and others will be forced to make tough choices about what programs to fund. Those choices will come at a time when many states are at a critical point in developing new strategies to pay and evaluate teachers and make other policy changes. (blogs.edweek.org)

State schools, IPS chiefs disagree on grading districts | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett wants the state to grade Indianapolis Public Schools and other districts with failing schools in an effort to spur systemic changes, but IPS Superintendent Eugene White is firing back, saying district management does not deserve all the blame. In late July, the Indiana Department of Education announced seven of 18 Indiana schools facing potential state takeover did not make enough progress on state tests to avoid intervention. Six of the seven are IPS schools. (Indianapolis Star)