Michelle Rhee’s empty claims about her D.C. schools record
This was written by Matthew Di Carlo, senior fellow at the non-profit Albert Shanker Institute, located in Washington, D.C. This post originally appeared on the institute’s blog.
By Matthew Di Carlo
Michelle Rhee, the controversial former chancellor of D.C. public schools, is a lightning rod. Her confrontational style has made her many friends as well as enemies. As is usually the case, people’s reaction to her approach in no small part depends on whether or not they support her policy positions.
Read full article >>Reading is not a race: The virtues of the ‘slow reading’ movement
This* was written by Thomas Newkirk, a former high school teacher and currently professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. His most recent book is “ The Art of Slow Reading: Six Time-Honored Practices for Engagement” (Heinemann).He can be reached at Thomas.newkirk@unh.edu.* Read full article >>
How high stakes corrupt performance on tests, other indicators
This *was written by Larry Cuban, a former high school social studies teacher (14 years, including seven at Cardozo and Roosevelt high schools in the District), district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA) and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for 20 years. His latest book is “As Good As It Gets: What School Reform Brought to Austin.” A version of this post appeared on his blog *. Read full article >>
Teacher: I won’t ‘teach and shut up’
This *originally appeared on the website of The Hechinger Report, an education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University. Its author, Eric Shieh, is a founding teacher of the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School, “A School for a Sustainable City,” which opened in New York City in September 2010. Shieh teaches music to middle-school students.* Read full article >>
Virginia may stop requiring some 3rd grade SOLs
The Virginia Senate has approved a bill that would require that third graders take the Standards of Learning exams only in math and English, meaning they would no longer have to to take history and science SOLs. Read full article >>
How the war on teachers is changing the profession
This * was written by educator Anthony Cody, who worked for 24 years in the Oakland schools, 18 years teaching science at a high-needs school and six years as a mentor and coach of teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher. You can follow him on Twitter at @anthonycody. A version of this post appeared on his Education Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue . Read full article >>
MoCo to drop standardized test for second graders (updated)
*(Update: Adding amount of money saved by dropping test) * Good for Montgomery County Public Schools Supt. Joshua Starr: He has decided to stop giving the TerraNova 2 standardized test to second graders in a move to save money and reduce the number of tests young children are forced to take. Read full article >>
The most, least literate big U.S. cities
Washington, D.C., is the most literate big city in the United States, and Bakersfield, Calif., the least, in the newest annual rankings that consider factors including the population’s education level and the number of bookstores. Read full article >>
The big flaws in Obama’s education argument
This * was written by educator Anthony Cody, who worked for 24 years in the Oakland schools, 18 years teaching science at a high-needs school and six years as a mentor and coach of teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher. A version of this post appeared on his Education Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue . Read full article >>
