‘Duck Dynasty’s’ Phil Robertson: A former teacher with a master’s degree
“Duck Dynasty’s” Phil Robertson, now famously suspended from his family’s popular cable reality television show for making shockingly offensive remarks about blacks and gays in a GQ interview, once taught in Louisiana schools, has a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a masters degree in education, with an English concentration. He even “kinda liked” Shakespeare. […]
Colorado university terminates popular prostitution lecture
A tenured sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder is leaving the school after being told by school officials that she could no longer teach a lecture on prostitution — which includes a voluntarily skit in which students portray the lives of prostitutes as they speak to an interviewer — in a long-popular […]
Evaluating the evaluations of teacher education programs
Donald E. Heller is dean of the College of Education at Michigan State University who, in this post, describes a recent written encounter with the National Council on Teacher Quality, an organization created by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in 2000 in order to promote alternative teacher certification and try to diminish the influence of […]
Five basic — but misinterpreted — keys to creating a cool classroom culture
Here’s an excerpt from a new book about American education by veteran teacher David Greene called Doing the Right Thing — A Teacher Speaks. Greene taught social studies and coached in New York City schools for 38 years, worked as a field supervisor for Fordham University, mentored Teach For America Corps members in the Bronx and […]
Why grade inflation (even at Harvard) is a big problem
The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper, recently published a story about the continuing problem of grade inflation at the elite institution. Here’s a piece about why it matters, from Diane R. Dean is associate professor for higher education administration and policy at Illinois State University. Arthur Levine is president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship […]
12-19-13 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: Maryland takes on new Common Core role as ‘favor’ to Obama, Gov. O’Malley saysHow’s this for messy? Top Maryland officials approved a contract making the state the “fiscal agent” for one of two multi-state consortia developing standardized tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards despite objections that the contract has no minority business participation and concerns
