Claudio Sanchez

Long-Lost Memo Stirs Allegation Of Cheating In D.C. Schools

Claudio Sanchez — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:57:00 +0000

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

For years now, Washington, D.C., school officials have been under pressure to fully investigate allegations of inflated test scores, cheating and possibly a cover up. At the center of it all is Michelle Rhee. She's the fiery former school chancellor who based much of her success on dramatic gains in kids' reading and math scores. Those gains are now suspect.

30 Years On, Educators Still Divided On Scathing Schools Report

Claudio Sanchez — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:32:00 +0000

Thirty years ago this week, President Ronald Reagan's administration released "A Nation at Risk," a report warning of "a rising tide of mediocrity" in American public education.

According to the report, only one-third of 17-year-olds in 1983 could solve a math problem requiring two steps or more, and 4 out of 10 teenagers couldn't draw inferences from written material.

'Core Curriculum' Puts Education Experts At Odds

Claudio Sanchez — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 08:58:00 +0000

At 2 p.m., it's crunchtime for students who write for The Harbinger Online, the award-winning, student news site at Shawnee Mission East High just outside Kansas City, Kan.

El Paso Schools Cheating Scandal Probes Officials' Accountability

Claudio Sanchez — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:30:00 +0000

No one knows if Atlanta's school superintendent or any of the people accused of falsifying test results will go to jail, but they wouldn't be the first if they do.

Lorenzo Garcia, the former superintendent of schools in El Paso, Texas, has been sitting in a federal prison since last year.

Study: More Adult Pell Grant Students, Not Enough Graduating

Claudio Sanchez — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:08:00 +0000

The federal government each year gives needy college students billions of dollars they don't have to pay back — $34.5 billion to be exact. More than 9 million students rely on the Pell Grant program. But a new study says much of the money is going to people who never graduate.

Sandy Baum, an expert on student financial aid, has been leading a group in a study of the 48-year-old Pell Grant program.

Race, Poverty Central To National School-Closure Debate

Claudio Sanchez — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:22:00 +0000

In Chicago, parents are fighting to prevent the city from closing 54 public schools.

Snow Storm Doesn't Live Up To Its Hype In Nation's Capital

Claudio Sanchez — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:30:00 +0000

Transcript

CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE: This is Claudio Sanchez in Washington, D.C. By mid-afternoon, some parts of west and northern Virginia had gotten a foot of snow. Washington, D.C. was expecting at least half that, so area airports cancelled more than a thousand flights. Schools closed. So did federal and local government offices.

Sequester Spells Uncertainty For Many Public Schools

Claudio Sanchez — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:12:00 +0000

If Congress and the Obama administration can't agree on a budget deal by Friday, the federal government will be forced to cut $85 billion from just about every federally funded program. Every state could lose federal aid, and a myriad of government programs could shut down or curtail services — and that includes the nation's public schools.

There is one bit of good news for schools: Because most federal aid to schools is forward-funded, the cuts triggered by sequestration would not hit classrooms until September at the earliest.

Union Backs 'Bar Exam' For Teachers

Claudio Sanchez — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:35:00 +0000

The system for preparing and licensing teachers in the U.S. is in such disarray that the American Federation of Teachers is proposing a "bar exam" similar to the one lawyers have to pass before they can practice.

Currently, there's a patchwork of different certification requirements that vary state by state. There's no single standard to determine who's fit and who's not fit to teach.

Schools Reexamine Security After Newtown Shooting

Claudio Sanchez — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:14:00 +0000

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

In the aftermath of Newtown, school officials and parents across the country were asking themselves the same question today, how safe is my school? NPR's Claudio Sanchez has that story.

CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE: In Nashville, Tennessee, Ruth Rosenberg asked her daughter's first grade teacher what school was going to be like today.