How arcane rules — not student achievement — drove No Child Left Behind
If No Child Left Behind was supposed to be about anything, it was improving student achievement. Here’s an important piece about how it wasn’t really student achievement that affected NCLB outcomes but, rather, tiny differences in arcane rules. This was written by Matthew Di Carlo, senior fellow at the non-profit Albert Shanker Institute, located in Washington, D.C. This originally appeared on the Shanker Blog blog.
By Matthew Di Carlo
A big part of successful policy making is unyielding attention to detail (an argument that regular readers of this blog hear often). Choices about design and implementation that may seem unimportant can play a substantial role in determining how policies play out in practice.
A new paper, co-authored by Elizabeth Davidson, Randall Reback, Jonah Rockoff and Heather Schwartz, and presented at last month’s annual conference of The Association for
Can computers really grade essay tests?
Can computers really grade essay tests? The National Council of Teachers of English say “no,” even if there is new software that says “yes.” New software described in this New York Times story allows teachers to leave essay grading to … Continue reading →
Yet a new Pearson problem with testing
On the same day that I published a brief history of problems that Pearson, the education giant, has been having with standardized testing (going back years and across a number of states), I learned of yet a new Pearson problem … Continue reading →
Jon Stewart’s pointed lesson on the U.S. Constitution
Here’s Jon Stewart’s hysterical and withering lesson on the U.S. Constitution (at the expense of Fox news commentators), which would go a long way to spicing up a lot of history and U.S. government courses. Stewart’s lesson comes in the … Continue reading →