‘Talking pineapple’ question on standardized test baffles students
A question about a “talking pineapple” on a standardized reading test given to eighth-grade students in New York has sparked something of an uproar among students and adults who say it doesn’t make any sense. And because of all the fuss, now the state’s education commissioner says the question won’t be counted in students’ scores. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Education reform protests pick up steam
In Texas, New York, Illinois and other states, protests by parents and educators are getting louder against school reform that insists on using standardized test scores as the basis for evaluating students, educators and schools. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
How state anti-evolution laws evolved
This was* written by Simon Maloy, a research fellow at Media Matters for America, and published on the Media Matters for America website. Maloy is writing about a new law in Tennessee, which I recently wrote about here, that could undermine the teaching of accepted scientific thought in areas including evolution and climate change. He refers in the following post to the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that promotes creationist theory and, on its website, says it is “dedicated to the reinvigoration of traditional Western principles and institutions and the worldview... more »
The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago
What new research on extended school day says
This w*as written by Jodi Grant, executive director of the nonprofit Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit organization that works to ensure that all children have access to affordable, quality afterschool programs.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Missouri closing six Imagine charter school campuses
Missouri’s Board of Education has decided to close six charter school campuses run by the Virginia-based Imagine Schools Inc., the country’s largest for-profit charter network, saying that it “would be a disservice” to children to keep them open because of academic and fiscal issues. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Testing day: ‘More like lockdown than an elementary school’
This was written by Larry Lee of Montgomery, Alabama, former executive director of the Covington County Economic Development Commission and the West Central Partnership of Alabama. Lee, who writes often about education, sent the following email to friends and other people whom he thought would be interested. He gave me permission to publish it. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Ravitch: I don’t understand Michelle Rhee
*This* * was written by education historian Diane Ravitch for her Bridging Differences blog, which she co-authors with Deborah Meier on the Education Week website. The item was first published on April 17. In their blog, Ravitch and Meier exchange letters about what matters most in education. Ravitch, a research professor at New York University, is author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” a critique of the flaws in the modern school reform movement that she just updated.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add t... more »
6-year-old handcuffed for throwing tantrum in school
A 6-year-old who was throwing a tantrum in a Georgia school was handcuffed by police, who were called by school officials, according to a local television station. WMAZ-TV reported that a kindergartner at Creekside Elementary had knocked over a shelf that injured the principal, bitten a door knob, jumped on a paper shredder and attempted to break a glass frame. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
What the U.S. can’t learn from Finland about ed reform
Finland’s* high-achieving public school system is now part of the conversation about U.S. education reform these days. What, it is often asked, can we learn from Finland? (Plenty, actually, though U.S. reformers consistently * * ignore the lessons * *.) * * The query * * has been asked and answered so often that it seems like a good time to ask what the United States can’t learn from Finland. So I asked * * Pasi Sahlberg, * * * *author of “* * Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland? * *” to tackle the subject, which he does, below.* Read full... more »
How education sausage gets made: The story behind a reform story
This* was written by Jonathan Pelto, a former member of the Connecticut House of Representatives who now provides commentary on politics and public policy at his blog, “Wait, What?”, where this first appeared.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Teacher: Step-by-step guide to how ‘reform’ is harming public schools
This *was written by Elizabeth Walters, a proud graduate of Central Columbia High School in Bloomsburg, PA, Smith College, and the teacher-certification program of the University of New Orleans. Walters is a journalist and a teacher at Chalmette High School in St. Bernard Parish, LA. This was * * originally published * *in* * CounterPunch * * , a provocative political newsletter and website. * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]