Teachers

As public schools across the country transition to the new Common Core standards, which bring wholesale change to the way math and reading are taught in 45 states and the District, criticism of the approach is emerging from groups as divergent as the tea party and the teachers union. The standards, written by a group of states and embraced by the Obama administration, set common goals for reading, writing and math skills that students should develop from kindergarten through high school graduation.

ST. LOUIS — An Illinois special-needs teaching assistant accused of molesting a teenage student in school while knowingly infected with HIV remained jailed Tuesday as police investigated another claim of similar misconduct by the man involving a different student. Prosecutors in St. Clair County east of St. Louis charged Mario L. Hunt, 35, on Monday with felony counts of criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse and "transmitting" HIV through intimate contact during the...

After years of pay freezes and unpaid furloughs, physical education teacher Steven Lightman received a roughly $8,000 annual salary bump this school year. But it wasn't because Lightman's school system decided to give the veteran teacher a raise. He made it happen himself by switching Washington area school districts. Lightman, a Prince George's County teacher for 11 years, started working in Montgomery County last fall. He is one of many teachers reaping the benefits of living in a region where a dramatic boost in...

DENVER — A teacher removed a suspicious package left inside a northern Colorado school that was later determined to be an active explosive, authorities said Tuesday. However, police in Lafayette were cautious about calling the teacher a hero. "That would not be a recommended protocol for the safety of the person carrying it," police Cmdr. Gene McCausey said. "Whether it was a smart thing to do or the teacher's a hero, that would be left up to the reader. " Still, he said, "If...

Do you drea m about books of enchantment? Do you know the difference between sandstone and cobblestone? Does the word "creeper" give you, well, the creeps? If you answered yes to any of the above, you are probably a Minecraft kid. And you're not alone. More than 9.6 million people have downloaded the video game in little more than a year. Would you be shocked if your teacher assigned you to play Minecraft at school? At a few area schools, teachers are doing just that.

You might call it the Obama-Duncan-Gates-Rhee philosophy of education reform. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder turned full-time philanthropist, visited The Post last week to talk, among other things, about how to improve schools for the nation's poorest children. That so many children in this country cannot live up to their potential because they are born in poverty and attend terrible schools is one of the nation's greatest scandals, as Gates pointed out in his recent letter from the Bill & Melinda Gates...

Even as most of the nation's 15,000 public school districts roll out new systems to evaluate teachers, many are still struggling with a central question: What's the best way to identify an effective educator? After a three-year, $45 million research project, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes it has some answers. The most reliable way to evaluate teachers is to use a three-pronged approach built on student test scores, classroom observations by multiple reviewers and teacher...

Backpack bulging, worksheets galore, read this, study that . . . all after seven hours in school already. HOMEWORK. If you think kids are the only ones who disagree with teachers about the need for homework, you may be surprised to learn that many parents don't like homework any more than their kids do. A new survey shows that parents and teachers don't always agree on why homework is assigned -- or how involved parents should be in helping...

Teachers are heroes, not villains, and it's time to stop demonizing them. It has become fashionable to blame all of society's manifold sins and wickedness on "teachers unions," as if it were possible to separate these supposedly evil organizations from the dedicated public servants who belong to them. News flash: Collective bargaining is not the problem, and taking that right away from teachers will not fix the schools. It is true that teachers in Chicago have dug in their heels against Mayor Rahm Emanuel's demands for " reform ," some...

Regardless of whether you liked the results, the Fairfax school board elections Tuesday had at least one positive outcome. The campaign raised awareness of a bureaucratic ailment that's becoming a regionwide classroom epidemic: the overburdening of teachers with paperwork. Everyone from school board members to administrators agrees it's a problem, but it keeps getting bigger anyway. The mania for more student data, more meetings to discuss the data and more high-level monitoring of the data is demoralizing teachers...

EMMITSBURG, Md. — Mount St. Mary's University President Thomas Powell says he's stepping down but not leaving the Catholic school in Emmitsburg that he has run for 10 years. Powell said Tuesday he will depart the president's office in June 2014 for a yearlong sabbatical that will include working in an orphanage in East Timor. He says he'll return to campus as president emeritus in 2015 to teach classes in educational psychology with a focus on disabilities. Powell earned degrees...

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Washington County Public Schools officials say they're considering a dress code for employees amid complaints that some teachers show too much skin. Superintendent Clayton Wilcox told The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail (http://bit.ly/13hIKVw ) in an email Monday that he plans to ask a group representing various employee factions to make suggestions for appropriate attire, with a set of guidelines possible by fall. School board member Jacqueline Fischer, a...

LUXOR, Egypt — An Egyptian Christian teacher detained over charges of insulting Islam has been released on bail on Tuesday, her lawyer said. A history and geography teacher in the southern city of Luxor, 24-year-old Dimiana Abdul-Nour paid L.E. 20,000 (almost $3,000 dollars) to be freed pending further investigation, the lawyer, Badawi Abu-Shanab said. The decision comes four days after a judge ordered her detained for 14 days during the investigation. Parents of a student had...

RICHARDSON, Texas — Susan Templer wasn't supposed to make it to 2012 or 2013. But the suburban Dallas middle school science teacher fought back against pancreatic cancer for close to two years and reached a milestone — 25 years on the job. When doctors diagnosed her with cancer in August 2011, her students and colleagues rushed to support her. Templer says work kept her going, and she loves nothing more than teaching science. Richardson North Junior...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A gay teacher challenging her firing by an Ohio Catholic school says the local union for Catholic educators has decided not to proceed with her complaint. Carla Hale said Monday the grievance committee for the Central Ohio Association of Catholic Educators isn't supporting her efforts to get back her job as a physical-education teacher. The association hasn't returned telephone calls seeking comment. Hale also filed a complaint with the...

TOMS RIVER, N.J. — With other accusers stepping forward, a former yeshiva teacher changed pleas Monday in the middle of his trial, admitting he sexually abused a boy he met while working as a camp counselor. Rabbi Yoself Kolko, 36, shifted uncomfortably on the stand as he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sex assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. The abuse occurred from August 2008 to February 2009. It ranged from fondling...

The other day, I was walking back to my classroom to gather my stuff and go home. It was 4 p.m., and school had ended at 2:05. I decided to stop and talk to a well-respected colleague, an excellent teacher who goes above and beyond the call of duty and is popular with her students. We talked for a few minutes, and then she dropped a bombshell. She told me she was thinking of leaving teaching. I pretended to be happy that she might have found something that she liked better, and I asked her why she wanted to change jobs.

After earning a bachelor's degree and a master's and working as a teacher for 35 years (and counting), I don't know whether to be offended, perplexed or amused by Doreen Major Ryan's blithely putting teachers in the same professional category as "those who bag our groceries" or "cut our grass" [letters, June 15]. Ms. Ryan evidently expects Montgomery County officials to take a "thoughtful approach" to local issues, but surely the same thoughtfulness ought also to be extended to teachers.

SCHOOL DAZE: The Greek government invoked emergency powers to prevent protesting teachers from disrupting university entrance exams this month. Civil servants' unions retaliated by calling a 24-hour strike for Tuesday. CHARMING: It is the third time this year that the conservative-led coalition government has used the emergency civil mobilization order — normally reserved for natural disasters — to end a labor dispute in the crisis-hit country. BUSINESS AS USUAL: Pay and staff...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A federal judge in Memphis has sentenced a longtime Memphis educator to seven years in prison in a test-taking fraud scheme. Clarence Mumford Sr. pleaded guilty in February to leading a 15-year scheme to help teachers cheat on qualification exams. The passing scores were then used to help people get jobs in public schools. Prosecutors say teachers in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas paid Mumford $1,500 to more than $3,000 to have ringers take...