Kyle Beckerman

"He always made learning fun," MLS player Kyle Beckerman of Real Salt Lake says of his 7th grade social studies teacher, John Camm.

"He helped me follow my dream."

Behind Every Famous Person is a Fabulous Teacher.

Education News

Throughout the month we scour the headlines from around the nation and prepare brief executive summaries of the top education stories.

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This Week in Education: May 6th - 17th


NYC Mayoral Candidates Promise Education Reform
(The New York Times, May 11, 2013)Candidates for mayor in NYC pledged to change a number of Mayor Bloomberg’s current education policies at a forum sponsored by the United Federation of Teachers on Saturday. A number of the candidates promised to scrap Bloomberg’s A – through – F grading system for schools and also criticized his inability to come to an agreement regarding a labor contract with the city’s municipal unions. All candidates voiced their concern for the expanding charter school network.

LA Continues Free Breakfast Program
(The Huffington Post, May 15, 2013)The Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education recently voted on whether or not to continue the controversial Breakfast in the Classroom program throughout LA schools. The measure passed despite opposition from the influential teacher’s union, United Teachers of Los Angeles. The program is federally funded and provides over 200,000 low income students with free breakfast. 300 schools currently use the program, a number that is expected to expand to 609 by the end of 2014-15. United Teachers of Los Angeles complained that the current program is messy, distracting, and takes time away from teachers. They did, however, support moving the program to cafeterias.

Utah Charter School with Focus on Entrepreneurship
(NPR, May 15, 2013)A new charter school in Utah is working to provide kindergarten through ninth grade students with a solid foundation in business. The 580 students at Highmark Charter School earn play money by turning in homework and are encouraged to make items and sell them to each other. The school focuses on creating lessons that incorporate concepts like sales, marketing, and finance. Principal Kent Fuller says the goal is to give students a well-rounded education that is also applicable in the real world.