Education

Most people can remember a favorite teacher – the one who got you love a certain book or made science class exciting. But you may also remember that bad teacher – the one who made your life miserable. And according to the studies, those teachers may have had just as big an impact on your education.

SALEM, Ore. - An old proverb goes like this: "Each one, teach one." It means that everyone is responsible for passing along knowledge to the next generation. That's true in many professions. A senior surgeon will demonstrate a high-stakes operation to a young medical student. A veteran fire-fighter will show the ropes to a fresh-faced rookie.

Tacoma students will head back to school today, despite their teachers having no contract.

Teachers voted on whether to strike last night, but fell about 30 votes short of the majority needed to boycott the district, according to a letter sent to teachers by Andy Coons, president of the Tacoma Education Association.

More than a thousand schools in Washington state are failing to make adequate progress under federal law. But a handful of others are beating the odds and improving enough to work their way off the growing list of failing schools.

Among Seattle Public Schools, the improved schools are Greenwood Elementary School, Middle College High School, Sacajawea Elementary School.

With school scheduled to start tomorrow, Tacoma teachers are still without a contract.

The teachers and the district bargained late into the night last night but couldn’t reach an agreement before their three-year contract expired at midnight.

Math appears to be less of a problem than it used to be for Washington students trying to graduate from high school. More than two-thirds of them passed new state tests required to get their diplomas. Some students could even clear the hurdle before they finish middle school. 

Washington’s students have made some gains on math and science tests. More kids passed state exams in those subjects last year than the year before, according to the Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn.

The first day of school for Tacoma students is just a few days away, but their teachers might not show up.

They have yet to reach an agreement over their contract with the school district. That leaves many families worried that a strike could be on the horizon.

Results from earlier this summer showed fewer Oregon students met federal benchmarks last year, than at any time since Congress passed the No Child Left Behind act.

Now, more detailed test results demonstrate what officials claimed at the time: that students were improving at Reading and Math – but that fewer students were passing because the required minimum score went up.

The new test results show double-digit gains on many measures, especially in high school.