Florida GOP lawmakers urge break with Common Core testing group
Are Republicans about to fight with other Republicans in Florida over the Common Core? In a rather extraordinary letter (see text below), Florida’s top Republican lawmakers just asked the state’s education commissioner to pull out of a group designing high-stakes … Continue reading →
Key questions begging for answers about school reform
Here is a thoughtful piece about school reform and the march toward privatization of public education. It was written by Arthur H. Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. His writing can be accessed at http://www.arthurcamins.com/.
By Arthur Camins
The New York Times editorial board has been a staunch supporter of the trifecta of current reform policy: high-stakes testing, performance pay and closing public schools, while opening new charter schools. Now in this editorial it is hedging one of its bets, the overtesting of students. However, it is hard to put the genie back in the bottle. Neither Congress, nor the U.S. Department of Education appear ready to change course.
Opponents of currently dominant education policies have a problem that proponents do not. Proponents, supported by unlimited funds from several well-connected billionaires, have been able to influence local, state and national decision-makers with little open
Teacher: D.C. schools forcing ‘us to swallow a magic pill’
My colleague Emma Brown wrote a recent story about a plan by D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson to create ninth-grade academies, which are essentially small schools within schools that are intended to give extra support to first-time high school freshmen. … Continue reading →