An Assortment of Education Links

"PSEA seeks improvements to legislation allowing economic furloughs for teachers," on PSEA site. Excerpt:

But schools are not businesses, Oleksiak pointed out. “Schools cannot shut their doors when revenue is insufficient, nor can they turn away any student, regardless of the individual challenges they may present or the unique needs they may have,” he said. “In fact, schools must accommodate these students and rise to the challenge of helping them succeed regardless of circumstances. We are required by constitution and law to educate all children, our communities expect it, and our students deserve it.”

"Teacher Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from New York City Public Schools," by Roland G. Fryer, National Bureau of Economic Research
Excerpt:

Financial incentives for teachers to increase student performance is an increasingly popular education policy around the world. This paper describes a school-based randomized trial in over two-hundred New York City public schools designed to better understand the impact of teacher incentives on student achievement. I find no evidence that teacher incentives increase student performance, attendance, or graduation, nor do I find any evidence that the incentives change student or teacher behavior. If anything, teacher incentives may decrease student achievement, especially in larger schools. The paper concludes with a speculative discussion of theories that may explain these stark results.

"Paying Teachers Too Much? Or Too Little?," by Jonathan Cohn, in the New Republic, has some interesting charts on teacher pay by country.

"Teachers, secretaries and social workers – the new welfare moms?," by Randy Albelda on the Employment Policy Research Network