Guns at school
“Guns have no place in schools,” Arizona State University President Michael Crow was quoted as saying by the Arizona Republic when Gov. Jan Brewer issued a surprise veto this year against legislation that would have allowed guns to be carried on college and university campuses. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Summer learning loss: What’s true and false
This *was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including “The Schools Our Children Deserve,” “The Homework Myth,” and “Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling.” He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.com. * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
The rat race of childhood: Why we need to balance students’ lives
This was *written by Vicki Abeles, a parent of three and the director of the documentary, “Race to Nowhere,” which challenges common assumptions about how children are best educated.* By Vicki Abeles In Aspen, Colorado each year, intellectual leaders from around the world meet for the Aspen Ideas Festival, presented by The Aspen Institute and *The Atlantic*. This year’s most Googled names attended the Festival’s most recent installment, held June 27-July 3, to present on the “big ideas” currently shaking up American society, from science and technology to the arts, education and... more »
Colbert skewers Texas GOP on ‘critical thinking’
I thought I’d heard enough about the Texas Republican Party’s platform that rejects the teaching of critical thinking skills until I heard Stephen Colbert’s take on it. I wrote about this recently here, quoting from the platform: Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Why we need to relentlessly pursue diversity in schools
This* was written by Eric J. Cooper, president and founder of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education. He can be reached at www.nuatc.org.* By Eric J. Cooper *“In education, the road worth traveling.” * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
The Onion: ‘Can we please, just once, have a real teacher?’
Here’s a hilarious point-counterpoint on Teach for America by the satirical newspaper The Onion, which features a supposed piece by a supposed Teach for America corps member and a pretend counterpoint by a pretend student desperate for a real teacher. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Key questions for Democrats on ‘school choice’
This* was written by Jeff Bryant, a marketing and communications consultant for nonprofits. He is a marketing and creative strategist with nearly 30 years of experience – the past 20 on his own – as a freelance writer, consultant, and search engine marketing provider. He’s written extensively about public education policy. This appeared on the Campaign for America’s Future website.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Does 5 weeks of training make a teacher ‘highly qualified?’ — Updated
(Updated with House subcommitte vote) Should someone with five weeks of teacher training be considered a highly qualified teacher? A U.S. House appropriations subcommittee approved legislation on Wednesday that extended for two more years the federal definition of a highly qualified teacher as including students still learning to be teachers and other people with very little training. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Some good news for multitaskers
This *was written by cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, professor and director of graduate studies in psychology at the University of Virginia and author of “Why Don’t Students Like School?” His next book, “When Can You Trust The Experts? How to tell good science from bad in education,” will be published later this month. This appeared on his Science and Education blog.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
The hard bigotry of poverty: Why ignoring it will doom school reform
This *was written by Brock Cohen, a teacher and student advocate in the Los Angeles Unified School District who contends that we can no longer afford to trivialize the critical role that poverty plays in a child’s learning experiences – and that true school reform begins with social justice. Brock’s students were recently featured in an NPR piece that charts some of his students’ daily struggles as they pursue their education.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago
The Dragas-Sullivan statement: Who’s kidding whom at U-Va.?
Today we were treated to a joint statement (see below) by University President Teresa Sullivan and Helen Dragas, rector of the school’s governing board, which talks about their renewed commitment to work together as if the recent drama in which Dragas fired Sullivan never happened. Well, actually, there was *this* reference: “Recent events have caused the respect that U.Va. generates to acquire a new level of energy, focusing widespread attention on our future.” Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
How to fix the charter school movement (and what Albert Shanker really said)
This *was written by education historian Diane Ravitch, a research professor at New York University and author of the bestselling “The Death and Life of the Great American School System.” This appeared on her blog. * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
School district’s new approach to summer learning
This *was written by Linda S. Lane, superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools.* By Linda S. Lane Today 2,300 Pittsburgh Public Schools K-8 graders will board a bus and head back to school. Why? Because educators and parents in Pittsburgh, like the rest of the nation, know that without learning opportunities during the summer months, the persistent achievement gap between higher- and lower-income kids will continue to grow. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]
Why U-Va.’s governing board should go
There’s a charade playing out right now at the University of Virginia — and it’s not a game. It’s the batty pretense that President Teresa Sullivan can and should be able to work well with people on the governing board who orchestrated her ouster — or acquiesced in it — but then reinstated her when the school community revolted. That Sullivan should be forced into a “healing” process with people who deceived her and lied to her — and who still won’t tell the public what really happened. That there isn’t a better way to end this episode. Read full article >> [image: Add to Faceb... more »
How underfunding schools really hurts kids
This *was written by Wendy Lecker, a former president of the Stamford Parent Teacher Council and former staff attorney at the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, plaintiffs in a school funding lawsuit in New York. This first appeared in the Stamford Advocate.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]