The Answer Sheet:
Why the Obama administration should drop its plan to rate colleges
In Philadelphia schools, is the ‘right to know’ the new ‘pay for play’?
Arne Duncan: ‘White suburban moms’ upset that Common Core shows their kids aren’t ‘brilliant’
What Virginians don’t know about new A-F school grading system
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has now pushed through a new evaluation system that will assign A-through-F grades to each public school, based largely on students’ standardized test scores. The state Board of Education just approved criteria (see below) for the new scheme, which was part of the governor’s 2013 school reform efforts. What Virginians don’t know, […]
Beyond tests: How to foster imagination in students
The emphasis on using standardized tests are the chief metric of student progress (not to mention teacher effectiveness) is leaving behind one of the key purposes of education: to stimulate the imagination. Here’s a post on the subject from Marion Brady, a veteran classroom teacher, who has written history and world culture textbooks (Prentice-Hall), professional […]
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A group of college presidents met recently with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and among the topics that were discussed was the Obama administration’s plans to make colleges more transparent about value and outcomes for students. In this post, Janet Riggs, president of Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa., explains her concerns with Obama’s plans and warns […]
In this post, Helen Gym, a Philadelphia public school parent, writes about parents’ efforts to try to get the Philadelphia school district to release to the public basic information about how schools were selected for closure this year. Gym is founder of Parents United for Public Education, a citywide parent group focused on school budgets and funding […]
(Update: Adding more on opposition to Core, where Duncan spoke) U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t […]
YESTERDAY
International test scores: Getting the data straight
Here is a third post in a debate on The Answer Sheet about international test scores and whether they tell us anything important about the U.S. public education system. The conversation began with a post I wrote last week titled “The fetishization of international test scores” which looked to the upcoming release of 2012 PISA […]
JFK quiz: How much do you know?
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that Friday, Nov. 22, is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. How much do you know about his life and times? Test yourself: 1) Which is not true about John F. Kennedy’s father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy? a) He made a […]
NOV 21
University president: Can anyone differ with Arne Duncan ‘without being dismissed as silly’?
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been in the news lately for his fervent defense of the Common Core State Standards and simultaneous criticism of those who oppose it and some of his other education initiatives, including a proposal for the Education Department to create a collegiate rating system. Here is a look at Duncan’s […]
Principal gets mad and tweets: ‘Strap up, there will be head injuries.’
The only way to lose a fight is to stop fighting. All this did was piss me off. It’s so on. Strap up, there will be head injuries. — Dr. Steve Perry (@DrStevePerry) November 20, 2013 That’s not a tweet that any school principal or teacher who I know could publish and keep their job, […]
N.Y. school principals write letter of concern about Common Core tests
A group of eight prominent school principals from around New York State have drafted a letter to parents expressing their deep concerns about the validity of new Common Core-aligned standardized tests that state education officials are giving to students in grades three through eight — and in just a few weeks more than 530 other […]
NOV 20
UDC drops physics, history but keeps money-losing sports program. Really.
(Correction: The original version had an unfortunate misspelling in the headline, but it is fixed now.) This isn’t a joke: The University of District of Columbia, which was desperate to cut costs, is eliminating 17 low-enrolled academic programs — including physics, history and economics — but is keeping for now an NCAA Division II athletics program that cost […]
JFK’s Harvard application (with essay) and other school records
The 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy this Friday has prompted an avalanche of coverage about his life and death, including today’s visit to his graveside at Arlington Cemetery by President Obama and former President Bill Clinton. Here’s a look at something that hasn’t got much attention: his education. The John F. Kennedy […]
Surprising new research on school funding
Matthew P. Steinberg and Rand Quinn, assistant professors in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, are giving testimony on Wednesday to the Philadelphia City Council Committee on Education about new research findings about the Philadelphia public schools and how they have performed in the face of extreme underfunding from the state. Here’s […]
If math gives you anxiety, watch this
Does math scare you or your child? Here’s a four-minute pep talk by an engaging math major who goes by “Mathematigal” First she amusingly runs down the reactions she gets when she tells people she studies math “on purpose,” including ”Oh, my brain’s just not built for that,” or “I’m more creative,” or “Oh, wow.” Then […]
A debate: What do international test scores tell us?
I published a post last week, headlined “The fetishization of international test scores,” that, as the title suggests, discusses how school reformers inappropriately obsess about international test scores. Some people in the education world took issue with with my views, including Marc Tucker, president of the non-profit National Center on Education and the Economy, an internationally […]
Nine ways to improve schools in the nation’s largest district
The election of Bill de Blasio, a progressive Democrat, as the next mayor in New York City could mean big changes in the nation’s largest school district, which for 12 years has been the subject of corporate-influenced and standardized test-based school reform. A group of New Yorkers recently got together to start to set an […]
NOV 19
Common Core’s odd approach to teaching Gettysburg Address
Imagine learning about the Gettysburg Address without a mention of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, or why President Abraham Lincoln had traveled to Pennsylvania to make the speech. That’s the way a Common Core State Standards “exemplar for instruction” — from a company founded by three main Core authors — says it should be taught to […]
‘White suburban mom’ responds to Arne Duncan
Parent Ali Gordon has written an open letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan that starts like this: I am a white suburban mom, and I’m reaching out to you in an effort to explain what seems to be very confusing to you. Gordon’s letter (see below) is part of backlash that resulted from Duncan’s remarks on […]
NOV 18
A Gettysburg Address quiz: Test yourself
If you pay any attention to the news, you know by now that Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013, is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, the magnificent speech that President Abraham Lincoln delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pa., during the Civil War. Test your knowledge on the address and the […]
Arne Duncan blames ‘clumsy phrasing’ for ‘white suburban moms’ remarks
Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote Monday that “clumsy phrasing” was behind controversial comments he made Friday when he told state schools superintendents meeting in Richmond that it was “fascinating” that some opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they […]
Who are the ‘enemies’ of Common Core?
Education Secretary Arne Duncan made news when he told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms” who have discovered, as a result of new standardized test results, that “their child isn’t as brilliant as they […]
NOV 17
Reject Common Core tests in grades K-2: Weingarten, Carlsson-Paige
Here is a post about the Common Core State Standards and early childhood learning, by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and early childhood education expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige. Carlsson-Paiage is professor emerita of early childhood education at Lesley University in Cambridge and author of Taking Back Childhood. She previously co-authored a tough critique on this […]
NOV 16
Report slams D.C.’s federally funded school voucher program
More trouble has cropped up for the D.C. school voucher program, the only federally funded program in the country that sends children to private school using public money to pay the tuition. A new U.S. General Accountability Office report says that the local agency that administers the program — which has used $152 million in federal funds since […]
NOV 15
Actually, the high school coach didn’t bully the band he kicked off the field
Michael Scott, the football coach at Annandale High School in Virginia, is getting blasted in the media for yelling at the school’s award-winning marching band during halftime at a game and forcing them off the field so his players could warm up. Mean move. Stupid move. But it’s not a bullying move, which is what […]
The battle over Christmas music in school begins
It’s not even Thanksgiving but the battle over religious Christmas music at school events has already been enjoined in at least two school districts as the seemingly never-ending confusion continues over the answer to this question: Can public schools play religious music in holiday celebrations? In the Wausau School District in Wisconsin, a tussle over whether […]