Testing mandates flunk cost-benefit analysis
This *was written by Peter Smagorinsky, Distinguished Research Professor of English Education at The University of Georgia.* By Peter Smagorinsky According to Wikipedia, cost–benefit analysis “is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project, decision or government policy (hereafter, ‘project’). CBA has two purposes: Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
How GERM is infecting schools around the world
This *was written by Pasi Sahlberg, author of “ Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland? and director general of Finland’s Center for International Mobility and Cooperation. He has served the Finnish government in various positions, worked for the World Bank in Washington D.C. and for the European Training Foundation in Italy as senior education specialist. Sahlberg has also advised governments internationally about education policies and reforms. He is also an adjunct professor of education at the University of Helsinki and University of Oulu... more »
Keeping students safe: a bill even this Congress should be able to pass
There are some things which even this polarized Congress should be able to come together to accomplish. One of those would be the Keeping All Students Safe Act, which would protect schoolchildren from abusive use of physical restraints and solitary confinement by mandating minimum safety standards in public schools. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Texas business leaders accuse educators of ‘scaring mom’ about standardized tests
The backlash in Texas against excessive high-stakes standardized testing seems to be rattling business leaders, who have now blamed educators for panicking parents about the exams. Laboring under the delusion that standardized tests are the key to “holding schools accountable” for student achievement, leaders of the Texas Coalition for a Competitive Workforce have warned that they will oppose future hikes in school spending if the testing regime in Texas is weakened, the Houston Chronicle reported in this story Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter]... more »
The Spruce Goose of education reform
This *was written by David Gamberg, superintendent of schools in * * Southold Union Free School District * * in New York. * By David Gamberg As educators throughout New York scurry to finish completing the behemoth of grand plans to “reform” education for the children of this state, one is reminded of the debacle in design known as The Spruce Goose. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
The real U-Va. story: The 99 percent win
In the end, it wasn't really so much about the ousted and then reinstatedUniversity of Virginia president, Teresa Sullivan, or about the governing board leader, Helen Dragas, who had led a secret campaign against her and then, drowning in a tsunami of opposition, agreed to bring her back. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Loch Ness Monster real in biology textbook
This would be funny if it weren’t so, well, not funny. A biology textbook used by a Christian school in Louisiana that will be accepting students with publicly funded vouchers in the fall says that the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland is real. And it isn’t just any monster but a dinosaur — an effort to debunk evolution and bolster creationist theory. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
U-Va.: When the governing board got it right
This is a speech given by University of Virginia Assistant Professor Peter Norton on behalf of the Faculty Senate at a weekend rally in support of ousted President Teresa Sullivan. The university’s Board of Visitors is meeting this afternoon to consider giving Sullivan her job back after a huge backlash against her ouster. This speech is a critique of the board’s action and spells out a case for Sullivan’s reinstatement. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
U-Va.: What the showdown will — and won’t — resolve
There is much hope on the University of Virginia campus that the painful and unnecessary two-week drama over the surprise ouster of the popular president, Teresa Sullivan, will end Tuesday with her reinstatement. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
A chocolate math problem (and solution)
Have you ever gotten an e-mail with a list of math instructions that amazingly ends up telling you your age or some other vital statistic? I just got one that first had me select the number of times I wanted to eat chocolate in a week (within specific parameters) and then followed it with a list of math directions that accurately ended up with my age. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
3 new guidelines for ‘healthy homework’
Back in the early 1900s, homework was deemed by some to be dangerous to children’s health, and for years some school districts limited or outright banned homework. More than a century later, homework still drives students, their parents and sometimes their teachers crazy — and debate still swirls about whether homework is helpful or harmful. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Ravitch: Will school choice kill public education?
This *was written by education historian Diane Ravitch on her blog. Ravitch is a research professor at New York University and author of the best-selling “The Death and Life of the Great American School System.” She is the leading opponent of the school reform movement based on test-based accountability and the privatization of public education.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
What U-Va needs after the Sullivan mess
This *was written by David Shreve, former Professor of Economic History at the University of Virginia, and a specialist in tax policy, fiscal federalism, and U.S. political economy. He is the editor and co-editor of seven volumes in The Presidential Recordings series (Norton) and the author of the forthcoming book, American Promise: The Triumph and Eclipse of the Keynesian Revolution.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
In election year, how to teach democracy
This was* written by Mark Phillips, professor emeritus of secondary education at San Francisco State University. A version of this was published on his Edutopia blog , and he also publishes a monthly column on education for the Marin Independent Journal. * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
