A ridiculous Common Core test for first graders
Why are some kids crying when they do homework these days? Here’s why, from award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York. Burris has for more than a year chronicled on this blog the many problems with the test-driven reform in New York (here, and here and here and here, for example). She was named New York’s 2013 High School […]
Six ways Common Core is changing English/math classes
From The Hechinger Report, an independently funded unit of Teachers College at Columbia University, comes the following chart about how the Common Core State Standards in math and English language arts are changing classrooms: Six ways Common Core changes English and math classrooms Before Common Core English classes concentrated on literature, like Huckleberry Finn and […]
Mom: My autistic son ‘is lost in a sea of standards’ at school
Earlier this year I wrote about a boy in Florida who was forced to take a standardized test even though he was born with a brain stem but not a complete brain and doesn’t have the cognitive ability to understand the difference between an apple and an orange. While many disabled children can indeed meet […]
A new ‘no excuses’ school reform mantra
The “no-excuses” school reform movement is famous for giving short shrift to how students are affected by living in poverty and expecting teachers to be able to overcome the consequences. Here’s a different “no excuses” philosophy, by George Wood, superintendent of the Federal Hocking Local Schools in Stewart, Ohio; executive director of the nonprofit Forum for Education and Democracy, […]
YESTERDAY
How school districts are affected by Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, has implications for U.S. school systems, which collectively employ more than 6 million people. A new report was released on Wednesday providing advice to school districts about how they are affected by the decision. It was issued by the […]
China’s 10 new and surprising school reform rules
Earlier this year China began a major education reform initiative designed to increase student engagement and end student boredom and anxiety. Curbing standardized testing was one aim. Scholar Yong Zhao wrote about it first in this post, and, now, below, gives us the latest developments. Yong Zhao is the presidential chair and associate dean for global […]
A dozen basic guidelines for educators
Do we really need education policies and practices to cover everything that goes on in the classroom? Author Alfie Kohn says “no” and, below, offers basic guidelines that can really help teachers. Kohn is the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including “The Schools Our Children Deserve,” “The Homework Myth,” and “Feel-Bad […]
An unlikely clash between a superintendent and a community
Suburban school districts are not usually the place where clashes develop over standardized test-based school reform policies, but that’s just what is happening in Montclair, N.J. Here’s a post on what’s going on by LynNell Hancock, the mother of two Montclair High School graduates, grandmother of a Montclair fifth grader, and professor of journalism at […]
‘Forgetting would be a terrible mistake’
The largely poor and rural state of Mississippi suffers from the highest rate of childhood poverty in the country, along with some of the lowest scores on standardized tests. A legacy of racism and segregation are among the roadblocks that keep the children of Mississippi from reaching their full potential. The Hechinger Report, an independently […]