Oregon best state to be a teacher, study finds.

Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2016/09/oregon_best_state_to_be_a_teac.html#incart_2box_education

This is an interesting article discussing the reasons Oregon has been said to be the best state to be a teacher in.  It also highlights some of the down sides, one being we have larger classroom sizes than a lot of other states.

Underachieving Oregon: 3 West Albany High seniors graduate with extra help getting on track

June 5, 2015 from the Oregonian (OregonLive.com)

Written by Laura Frasier

Audience: Public, Parents, Educators, Students, Government

Link to OregonLive.com article

The Oregonian article shows some things that are going well in the Oregon Education system. West Albany seems to have the resources and made the priority to meeting students individual needs. The article didn't seem to indicate that the students received or did not receive Sped Services. The individual stories highlighted in the new article are part of the story of success for West Albany. The backgrounds of the students were varied and needs were different. What was key to their success was a program that gave them extra academic and organizational support. They benefited use of contracts signed with their teachers and use of non-traditional classes and on-line.

Child care workforce increasingly diverse, as are children served

Key Points: This article brings together four concerns: early education, diversity, inequalities, and educators/caregivers. It is an important article to analyze our current state/debate/ concerns regarding education and diversity together.

Published: OregonLive- April 28th, 2015

Intended Audience: Educators, Caregivers, Parents, State Government

Relevance: The relevance of this article is to bring to the surface issues with diversity, cycles of socio-economic classes, and early childhood education. It is an important topic to discuss because we need to address diversity and make changes to our society that keep people within a "class". Education is where we can better ourselves and without that early foundation it is difficult to make improvements.

URL: http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/04/child_care_workforce_increasin.html

Common Core

This article gives some information about common core. What I liked most about this article was that it actually talks about some of the things that Oregon schools have already done to align with common core standards. This is especially important for classroom teachers, but I know that the special ed teacher I work with also tries to include some of our new math curriculum into our groups as well.


http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2014/11/what_is_common_core_a_guide_to.html

Opting Out of State Standardize Tests

I found an article on OregonLive about the debate of standardize tests. Students are being ask to take more and more standardize tests. These test are supposed to measure for a school's report card and for individual student academic achievement. The concern for parents is whether or not these tests are really worth it. In the article, the author discusses how some parents are responding to the tests and what they're doing to opt out of them. The school districts felt differently.

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/02/states_start_responding_to_bac.html#incart_river

In the article, the author introduces a standardize test called PARCC that aligns itself with the Common Core Standards. Here is a link to their website if you're interested in looking around (http://parcc.pearson.com/). I noticed that the testing company is run through Pearson Education, Inc. Pearson was the same company who administered my Essential Academic Skills Test (ORELA- state requirement) for getting into our masters program. I found it interesting that Pearson was involved in both state tests, administering ORELA and PARCC. (Side note: Pearson is a British Company) Thoughts??

After investigating Pearson, I found the article below that describes how closely connected Pearson is with the our government. Everything is always about money.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/pearson-education-115026.html