Most teachers in the Rochester school district received the results of their first evaluations under the new state law last week, and most were rated either “effective” or “needs development,” says Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association. Four ratings were possible: highly effective, effective, needs development, and ineffective. Urbanski says that while he […]
education
Posted inSpecial Sections
Warren vs. Richards: One city, two visions
The Lovely Warren who walked to the front of the room in early May to ask her fellow Democrats to support her bid for mayor is not the same Lovely Warren who’s on the campaign trail today. There has been an observable transformation. Those first rough, nervous steps have been replaced by confident strides. Candidate […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
WEEK AHEAD: Rochester school district meetings
The Rochester school board’s financial committee will hold a meeting at 5:30 p.m. today, with the full school board present. That meeting will be followed by the school board’s regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. The majority of resolutions involve approvals for hiring full- and part-time staff before school begins. Both meetings will be held at […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Surveys frustrate teachers
Students, teachers, principals, and parents in the Rochester school district recently participated in comprehensive districtwide surveys. The questions were tailored to each group’s relationship to the district. For example, students were asked about their teachers’ instruction, responsiveness, and classroom demeanor. | The New York State Education Department required the surveys as part of the teacher […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Ruth Scott and the rising tide
Ruth Holland Scott remembers sixth grade as a broken string of recesses. Scott’s teacher at her small, segregated school in Albion, Michigan, often slept through class, Scott says — waking only when students pestered her. “The guys would take these long poles that you used to raise and lower the windows and lift the wig […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
RCSD redux
In his effort to save city schools, Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas is turning to three former high-level district administrators: Ray Giamartino, Ralph Spezio, and Suzanne Johnston. | Giamartino will serve as chief of school transformation, where his primary task will be to move some of the lowest performing schools in the state to schools […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Running out of time
Significant cuts to All City High’s teaching and non-teaching staff have set off alarms about that school’s survival, but there’s much more to it. The cuts have also ignited a much larger concern about the future of the Rochester school district and the role that charter schools will play in that future. All City High’s […]
Posted inCulture
Train your brain
Various groups and organizations are beginning to pool their communal knowledge and offer it to one another at little or no cost, and in turn, individuals and groups are beginning to shape the future of this city in a very do-it-yourself manner.
Posted inNews & Opinion
Cuomo budget proposal includes minimum-wage boost
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released his $136.5 billion 2013 to 2014 budget proposal this afternoon. He said the budget closes a $1.3 billion gap and doesn’t include any new taxes. It also includes a boost in the minimum wage, from $7.25 to $8.75 an hour. Cuomo said the budget includes a 4.4 percent increase […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Cuomo’s high-energy, jam-packed State of the State speech
Governor Andrew Cuomo does not lack ideas for New York State. In fact, he’s got a 300-plus page book full of them. During his State of the State address this afternoon, Cuomo laid out his agenda for the next year. He listed off new initiatives for economic development, incentives for state school districts to extend […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Obama’s speech: tax breaks vs. opportunity
Political convention speeches are meant to be emotional and rhetorical. They’re meant to fire up the base, and President Barack Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech last night was no exception. PHOTO COURTESY STEVE JURVETSON Barack Obama That said, there was still a moment in Obama’s speech where the rhetoric really surprised me, pleasantly so. It […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Test anxiety
Rochester could join a number of schools around the country that forgo high-stakes standardized testing if the Rochester school board approves a policy proposed by board member Mary Adams. | The resolution will be voted on this month. | High stakes testing was a main feature of the No Child Left Behind law, and it […]
