Education

The Syracuse City School District now has a blue print for the next five years, that administrators hope will take it from being one of the poorest performing districts to one of the most improved urban school districts in America. The plan calls for changes across the board.

The state commission that is supposed to come up with answers to the problems in public education in New York is in the midst of a statewide fact-finding tour.  They are getting an earful about how to improve schools, including when they came through central New York Tuesday.

Expanding pre-kindergarten and spreading resources evenly among schools around the state are some of the major suggestions.

A charter school in Syracuse is hoping to expand to another part of central New York. The school believes it can provide another option for children and parents.

Twenty-nine students attending Onondaga Community College this fall through the Say Yes to Education program were so excited to hit the books, they started early.

They wrapped up OCC's Summer Success Academy yesterday with a small closing ceremony full of encouraging words from Say Yes and OCC staffers.

As the rising debt of recent college graduates becomes a focus of families across the country, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is trying to clarify the cost of higher education.

Gillibrand announced today that she is supporting new uniformed financial aid forms released by the Department of Education. She says a greater understanding of costs will help families plan better for college.

A little-publicized bill affecting special education was passed at the end of the New York state legislative session. While supporters feel it would benefit these students, school officials are worried about the precedent it might set.

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Commission on Education Reform got an earful at a public hearing held at the state Capitol today, as speaker after speaker complained about a statewide school system that they say is in disarray.

Speakers voiced a litany of complaints to the commission, ranging from over-testing of students, excessive teacher bashing, and school districts drowning in debt.

The State University of New York is looking to stem the tide of students who arrive at college unprepared.

An important deadline in the state’s ongoing teacher evaluation process occurred Sunday, but most schools reported they would miss it.  

Cuomo’s proposal to make teacher evaluations public will become law, now that the Senate and Assembly passed the measure on the final day of the legislative session.

Senate Republicans, after a closed door meeting, agreed to take up Gov. Cuomo’s bill to make all evaluations public, without names attached.

Governor Andrew Cuomo says he no longer thinks settling the issue of making teacher evaluations public is “urgent,” and will allow the legislature to leave later this week without an agreement on the matter.

President Barack Obama has proclaimed that STEM education is a national priority.  STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

New York state is looking at ways to improve the STEM education the state's children receive. This kind of education has  become more important in recent years, because that's where the jobs are. However, recent statistics show U.S. achievement in these skills lags behind much of Europe and Asia.

New York state is now one of 19 states that has been granted a waiver that allows for more flexibility when it comes to the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law.

The change will let schools avoid a deadline requiring all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. 

The Federal Education Department approved the waivers for New York and eight other states earlier this week. Other states won waivers earlier this year.

In New York, arguments over fairness in the funding of public education have been heated for a while. In the current age of austerity, the issue is even more complex—and pressing.

In this week’s Campbell Conversation, Michael Rebell, the executive director of Columbia University’s Campaign for Educational Equity, and a co-counsel in the state’s Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, discusses educational equity—and all that it requires from the educational and social welfare systems.