The Horace Mann League of the USA
 
Greetings!
 
Welcome to the April 1st, edition of the Horace Mann League Blog
Highlighted Posts for the week of April 1st

If conservatives could show that private schools worked better than public ones, and that the introduction of competition improved entire school systems, that would advance their arguments for welfare rollbacks, Social Security privatization, and other initiatives to replace government programs with the free market.

The question instead is whether a limited amount of money is being used to its most productive ends. Just as clearly, that is not happening. And here charter schools are part of the problem.


For years, Bill Gates focused his education philanthropy on overhauling large schools and opening small ones. His new strategy is more ambitious: overhauling the nation's education policies. 


Swedish performance on international tests has declined since 1995, private school enrollments have grown, social stratification has increased, and the for-profit sector is thriving.




New findings based on more than 20 years of research suggest that despite decades of controversy, elementary school teachers now feel fine placing students in "ability groups."


The average GPA of students admitted to teacher preparation programs at the initial certification level was 3.24, a GPA reflecting candidates' first two years of college before they enter teacher preparation programs.

Lawmakers are poised to approve legislation this year that does away with the 180 instructional days requirement school calendars are based on and change that to 1,080 instructional hours.
 
In the two and a half years since, the state's investigation reached from Ms. Parks's third-grade classroom all the way to the district superintendent at the time, Beverly L. Hall, who was one of 35 Atlanta educators indicted Friday by a Fulton County grand jury. 

Some other postings of interest.

 

 



About Us
The Horace Mann League of the USA is an honorary society that promotes the ideals of Horace Mann by advocating for public education as the cornerstone of our democracy.

 

Officers:
President: Joe Hairston, (former) Supt., Baltimore County Public Schools, MD
President-elect: Gary Marx, President, Center for Public Outreach, VA
Vice President: Charles Fowler, Executive Director, Suburban School Superintendents
1st Past President: Mark Edwards, Supt., Mooresville Graded Schools, NC
2nd Past President: Julie Underwood, Dean, Sch. of Ed. U. of WI, Madison, WI
3rd Past President: George Garcia, (ret.) Supt., Boulder Valley Schools, CO
4th Past President: Steve Rasmussen, Supt., Issaquah School District, WA

 

Directors:
Martha Bruckner, Supt., Council Bluffs Community Schools, IA
Evelyn Blose-Holman, (ret.) Superintendent, Bay Shore Schools, NY
Carol Choye, Instructor, Bank Street College, NY
Brent Clark, Exec. Dir., Illinois Assoc. of School Admin. IL
Linda Darling Hammond, Professor of Education, Stanford U. CA
Charles Fowler, Exec. Dir., Suburban School Superintendents, NH
James Harvey, Exec. Dir., Superintendents Roundtable, WA
William Hite, Supt., Philadelphia City Public Schools, PA
Christine Johns-Hines, Superintendent, Shelby Township, Michigan 
Dwight Jones, Superintendent, Clark County Public Schools, NV
Eric King, Superintendent, (Ret.) Muncie Public Schools, IN
Steven Ladd, Superintendent, Elk Grove Unified School District, Elk Grove, CA 
Barry Lynn, Exec. Dir., Americans United, Washington, DC
Stan Olson, Superintendent, (Ret.) Boise Public Schools, ID

 

Executive Director:
Jack McKay, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 
560 Rainier Lane, Port Ludlow, WA 98365 (360) 821 9877
 
To become a member of the HML, click here to download an application.