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How to help principals do a better job? Train their bosses

The Hechinger Report

Between 2008 and 2012, the same survey found job satisfaction among principals decreased nine percentage points, from 68 percent to 59 percent. Secondary school superintendents joined their counterparts from the elementary school level to compare notes across schools, hoping to identify common problems and patterns.

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Charters felt pressured to promise miraculous progress — but none met the targets

The Hechinger Report

In 2008, a few years after Hurricane Katrina, school officials in Louisiana asked aspiring charter-school leader Andrew Shahan to consider taking over the failing Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School in New Orleans’ Upper 9th Ward. Second grade teacher Lynnon Carney helps a student with math at Arise Academy.

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How play is making a comeback in Kindergarten

The Hechinger Report

At last count, 14 states and the District of Columbia required districts to offer full-day kindergarten, up from 10 states in 2008. As kindergarten has become more widely available in the last several decades, it’s also become more academic. They had taken out all the fun to make it more academic,” Turtzo said.

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Desegregation is unraveling in this Texas town

The Hechinger Report

They are roughly half of the students enrolled at Longview’s specialized elementary school, which has higher academic standards. With Wilcox at the helm, the community approved — in a measure that passed in 2008 by fewer than 20 votes — a $266.9 million bond to finance a massive overhaul of the district’s schools.