Michigan’s inflated teacher evals are failing students
As Michigan schools enter a new year, state leaders often talk about fresh starts and renewed commitment to student success. But one set of numbers should give parents and policymakers pause: During the 2024-2025 school year, districts rated 98% of public-school teachers “effective,” even though 60% of Michigan students failed the state reading test.
An evaluation system that claims near-universal success while most students struggle is not measuring reality ― it’s obscuring it.
The disconnect has grown worse since the Legislature weakened Michigan’s teacher evaluation requirements in 2023. It repealed reforms passed more than a decade earlier that made it easier for school administrators to identify, reward and retain high-performing teachers. Click here to read more.
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House Judiciary expands probe into allegations Biden admin spied on GOP members of Congress
ouse Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan expanded his committee’s investigation Monday into allegations that the Biden administration spied on Republican lawmakers.
Revelations last year claimed the Biden FBI snooped on the phone records of multiple Republican members of Congress, including eight senators, during its January 6 investigation known as Arctic Frost.
Jordan sent the latest letter to Alpine Bank CEO Glen Jammaron requesting documents and communications related to allegations that the Biden administration’s Department of Justice may have subpoenaed financial institutions for records of private customer data for Colorado GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert. Click here to read more.
Why Americans Don’t Trust Higher Education
igher education has been buzzing about a new report from Yale University on the decline of public trust in colleges and universities.
The report is unexpectedly self-flagellatory, which is why it’s earned hyperbolic headlines since its release. (“Yale report savages Ivy League schools for destroying trust in higher education,” blared Fortune.)
Many of the report’s recommendations, drafted by a 10-member committee, will no doubt improve Yale’s internal operations. Despite the breathless coverage, however, the report falls short of a broader remedy for higher education’s woes. It also unfortunately exemplifies the self-centeredness that has earned elite colleges public disdain.
The Yale report pinpoints three factors for declining trust in higher education: (1) soaring costs; (2) opaque admissions processes; and (3) “free speech, political bias, and self-censorship.” Click here to read more.
The Chicago Public Schools are facing a major truancy problem…among teachers.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) was up in arms over suggestions that classes should be held on May 1 when teachers wanted to be out protesting. Called International Workers’ Day, May Day is a global day of protest for socialist, communist, and unionist groups.
The CTU was upset when parents objected that canceling a day of class for teachers to join a political protest was a burden for working parents. These teachers believe that they are teaching something far more important through their activism. In defending the demand for publicly subsidized protests, CTU Vice President Jackson Potter explained that “teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks.”
While that does not help with the dismal proficiency scores of actual students, it is vital to training students as political foot soldiers. Click here to read more.
Off-duty N.J. officer saves hockey player while wearing full gear himself
BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. — An off-duty police officer attending a hockey game Wednesday in Bergen County used his training to save the life of a goalie who collapsed after suffering an apparent heart attack.
Oradell Police Officer Frank Stefano was at the Ice House in Hackensack when he was alerted to a crowd gathering around the goalie for the opposing team.
“The goalie, who was initially feeling nauseous, collapsed to the ground going into cardiac arrest,” the Oradell PBA said in a Facebook post.
Stefano found the player didn’t have a pulse and immediately began CPR.
The officer asked his wife to call 911 as he grabbed a defibrillator off the wall and “shocked the male party twice, restoring his heartbeat,” the PBA said.
Stefano told ABC-7 he also performed chest compressions and watched as the goalie became conscious.
“He started blinking his eyes and I started asking him, ‘What’s your name, what’s your name?’ He was able to with some trouble, he was able to tell me what his name was,” Stefano told ABC -7.
Paramedics arrived a short time later and took the goalie to a hospital, where he was recovering on
