Big Education Ape: Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Govs proposed national core school standards

Effort has backing of Obama, which seeks to raise standards across states

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President Obama. (AP)

The problem(s) with the Common Core standards

There is not a thing wrong with wanting young people in every state of the country to know how to do the same important skills and understand the same key concepts.

If knowing the Pythagorean theorem is important for kids in Florida, it should be important for kids in Hawaii, too.

That is the reasoning behind the Common Core Standards, which as my colleague Nick
Anderson, wrote today, are being released today in a blueprint for what all students should learn in English and math, in each grade, from kindergarten through high school.

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Protesting trumps learning in California

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders quotes an email she received from Ian Glazman-Schillinger, a freshman at Oceana High School, a nice drive over the Coast Range from my alma mater, Hillsdale High, in San Mateo. His parents, like the others at the school, received a message from school principal Caro Pemberton Feb. 23 saying that instead of having class March 4, the school would participate in a "day of action" to "show support for public education and to demand an end to the deep cuts in funding for education."

The student told Saunders that he would not take part in the protest---including forming a human SOS on the nearby beach--because he saw "no solutions being offered that will give schools more money...It appears to me as if the schools are throwing a temper tantrum instead of protesting." He said he was not opposed to protests, but "there is no money in the already overstretched state budget to meet the needs of California schools."

That is a smart kid, one hopeful sign that good teachers are getting students to listen to and read carefully what is happening. California is my home state; I plan to return before long. My son Joe Mathews and

First Lady to speak at Anacostia commencement

The White House announced Tuesday afternoon that First Lady Michelle Obama will address Anacostia High School's commencement on June 11. This will be her second trip to the school, renamed The Academies at Anacostia since its takeover by Friendship Public Charter School last year.She visited last March in connection with her Women of Excellence event. Obama also spoke last spring at the graduation ceremony for Washington Math and Science Tech Public Charter High School.

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Brother, sister from Shenandoah U. return to Haiti

Two students at Shenandoah University in Virginia, brother and sister, returned to their native Haiti last weekend for the first time since the earthquake.

Shenandoah president Tracy Fitzsimmons, a political scientist by training who has spent years in Haiti on academic research, brought the students back to reunite them with their parents, according to university officials. She also brought a structural engineer, recruited from SU's Winchester community, to assess earthquake damage to a school run by the parents.

Cindy Saint-Ford and Shenandoah University President Tracy Fitzsimmons in Haiti. Fitzsimmons embraces Rachel Saint-Ford. (photo courtesy Shenandoah)