The Answer Sheet:
How thinking like an engineer can help school reform
More states delay Common Core testing as concerns grow
And now… Common Core tutors
The 21 books Obama bought on D.C. shopping trip
President Obama went book shopping on Saturday with daughters Malia and Sasha, taking recommendations from the staff of Politics and Prose in Northwest Washington and walking out with 21 books (see list below) that were presumably for gifts, as they were aimed at a wide age-range of readers. The president strolled in with virtually no […]
Teacher slams scripted Common Core lessons that must be taught ‘word for word’
A public school teacher in Delaware wrote the following moving piece but asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation. It explains what is happening to many teachers who are being given scripted lessons aligned to the Common Core State Standards by their principals and district superintendents. Note that this teacher is not opposed […]
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Arthur H. Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., suggests a new way to make progress in education policy — through engineering design thinking. The ideas expressed in this article are his alone and do not represent Stevens Institute. His other writing […]
Massachusetts and Louisiana, both seen as important in the world of school reform, have decided to delay the implementation of high-stakes standardized tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards in the face of growing concern about the initiative. The two states follow nearly 10 others — including Florida, the pioneer of corporate-influenced school reform — […]
It was inevitable. First we got the Common Core State Standards, adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia and intended to raise the academic achievement of students everywhere. To assess whether that was happening, we got high-stakes standardized tests aligned with the Core, because, in today’s school reform world, standardized tests are the […]
YESTERDAY
Best and worst education news of 2013
The year is not quite over but veteran teacher Larry Ferlazzo already has his list for the best/worst education news of the year, and here it is. Ferlazzo teaches English and Social Studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. He has written five books on education, writes a teacher advice blog for Education […]
NOV 28
Are turkeys really the dumbest animals?
Are the turkeys on your Thanksgiving dinner plates really the dumbest animals in the world? Given that sponges and jellyfish are animals, and they don’t have as much as a single brain cell, the answer would seem to be no, but let’s just look at the the universe of animals with brains, however tiny. In […]
NOV 27
Gates Foundation pours millions into Common Core in 2013
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spent more than $20 million this year in grants to institutions and organizations to support the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, continuing the hefty support it has provided since the initiative began more than five years ago, according to its Web site. The foundation has spent well […]
‘No one really cares, do they?’
“No one really cares, do they?” That is one of the reasons for why No Child Left Behind won’t be rewritten, according to a new report on what “education influentials” think will happen in the world of education. Actually, a lot of people care, because it affects what happens in classrooms to children, but, apparently, it’s […]
NOV 26
Thanksgiving created by ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ author — not the Pilgrims
What Americans think they know about the history of Thanksgiving doesn’t always square with the truth. For example, it is generally believed that in 1621, the Pilgrims invited Wampanoag Indians to a feast in Plymouth Colony to celebrate their first harvest, and a good time, with turkey and pumpkin pie, was had by all. Well, […]
NOV 25
Steubenville school superintendent indicted for obstruction in teen rape case
A school superintendent has been indicted on charges of obstructing justice and tampering with evidence by a grand jury investigating the rape of a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio, by two football players. Several other adults were indicted on lesser charges. The state’s attorney general, Mike DeWine, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: […]
Common Core resistance growing in Maryland
As Maryland moves ahead with school reform and the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, state officials are facing growing resistance among teachers, lawmakers and others who are concerned that too much change is being forced onto schools too soon. The issue in Maryland has become political. In the next legislative session, House Republicans […]
Unusual college essay questions for 2013-14
Every year colleges and universities ask applicants to write essays to explain who they are and to show how they think and write (assuming that the students actually write the essays themselves). Even many of the hundreds of schools that accept the online Common Application still require supplemental writing samples. Most of the essay prompts […]
Brace yourself: Pearson has a ‘new global education strategy’
Pearson, the largest education company in the world, has “a new global education strategy.” What exactly is it? Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham explains in this post. Willingham is a professor and director of graduate studies in psychology at the University of Virginia and author of “Why Don’t Students Like School?” His latest book is “When Can You […]
NOV 24
Following Common Core money: Where are millions of dollars going?
In this post, award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York raises some new questions about the Common Core State Standards and curriculum being developed around them. 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 […]
NOV 23
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 […]
Why the Obama administration should drop its plan to rate colleges
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 Philadelphia schools, is the ‘right to know’ the new ‘pay for play’?
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 […]