Chalkface Has It Right about Jon Stewart
I do not blame Jon Stewart for not being a policy wonk on education, but I do blame him for not asking the questions that have never been answered
Questions For Michelle:
Questions For Michelle:
- What do you hope to accomplish from your '"radical" project?
- Who pays your salary, and who put up the money for Students First?
- What is your connection to Jeb Bush and Forum for Educational Excellence?
- Why were investigators of the DC cheating scandal not given orders to get to the bottom
Is the common core "an extraordinary opportunity" for libraries?
Response to Publishers’ Weekly: Posted on
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/55831-for-libraries-the-common-core-presents-extraordinary-opportunity.html#comments
“…it is impossible, unnecessary, and harmful for a small group of individuals to predetermine and impose upon all students the same set of knowledge and skills and expect all students progress at the same pace (if the students don't, it is the teachers' and schools' fault).” Yong Zhao
http://zhaolearning.com/2013/01/17/more-questions-about-the-common-core-response-to-marc-tucker/
“For Libraries, the Common Core Presents Extraordinary Opportunity” presents a very incomplete view of the common core. Those parts of the common core that seem favorable to libraries do not require the common core. Left unsaid is that there is no evidence that establishing national standards and tests will help anybody, and plenty of evidence that the common core will damage not only libraries but all aspects of education.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/55831-for-libraries-the-common-core-presents-extraordinary-opportunity.html#comments
“…it is impossible, unnecessary, and harmful for a small group of individuals to predetermine and impose upon all students the same set of knowledge and skills and expect all students progress at the same pace (if the students don't, it is the teachers' and schools' fault).” Yong Zhao
http://zhaolearning.com/2013/01/17/more-questions-about-the-common-core-response-to-marc-tucker/
“For Libraries, the Common Core Presents Extraordinary Opportunity” presents a very incomplete view of the common core. Those parts of the common core that seem favorable to libraries do not require the common core. Left unsaid is that there is no evidence that establishing national standards and tests will help anybody, and plenty of evidence that the common core will damage not only libraries but all aspects of education.
How the .01% will profit (and profit and profit) from the common core: It’s not the standards. It’s not the tests. It’s the online testing.
Longer version posted on New Jersey Spotlight, Feb 4, 2013, in reaction to: “Online Testing Is Coming to New Jersey Schools -- Ready or Not”
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/02/03/online-testing-is-coming-to-new-jersey-schools-ready-or-not/
“ by the spring of 2015, close to 1 million students between Grades 3 and 11 are expected to sit at laptops or tablets taking their annual state math and language arts exams.
That will be no small technological feat for an education infrastructure that plays catch-up every year as it is.”
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/02/03/online-testing-is-coming-to-new-jersey-schools-ready-or-not/
“ by the spring of 2015, close to 1 million students between Grades 3 and 11 are expected to sit at laptops or tablets taking their annual state math and language arts exams.
That will be no small technological feat for an education infrastructure that plays catch-up every year as it is.”
The Logic of "Reform" Hits a New Low
ConnCAN's “The Roadmap to Closing the Gap” joins the pantheon of data-driven "reformers" who love to issue heads I win, tails you lose analyses of school reform. It argues that the number of Connecticut students who lag behind their peers is surprisingly small. So, that doable target requires radical change of the system!?!?
The Shanker Blog’s Matt DiCarlo, in “The Cartography of High Expectations” is always diplomatic to a fault, but even he blasts ConnCAN's tract as another example of “reformers” who cross “a point at which well-intentioned ratcheting up of the expectations rhetoric crosses the border from healthy urgency to counterproductive fantasy.” DiCarlo then dismantles their so-called methodology. It takes a snapshot of the modest number of Connecticut students who are seriously behind their peers. Illogically, ConnCAN’s low numbers (2% of the state students
The Shanker Blog’s Matt DiCarlo, in “The Cartography of High Expectations” is always diplomatic to a fault, but even he blasts ConnCAN's tract as another example of “reformers” who cross “a point at which well-intentioned ratcheting up of the expectations rhetoric crosses the border from healthy urgency to counterproductive fantasy.” DiCarlo then dismantles their so-called methodology. It takes a snapshot of the modest number of Connecticut students who are seriously behind their peers. Illogically, ConnCAN’s low numbers (2% of the state students
