Bridging Differences: 2013's Top 10 Posts
Poverty. Equity. And how teaching and standardized assessment intersect with both. These are themes that dominated Bridging Differences in 2013.
Looking back at the blog this year revealed that the most-read posts in 2013 were written by numerous writers (Eric A. Hanushek, Alfie Kohn, Michael J. Petrilli, Elliott Witney, and, of course, Deborah Meier) on different aspects of the achievement and experience gap between rich and poor students. Readers were particularly drawn to essays on the concept of the kind of schools poor children deserved, including how discipline should be meted out, how teachers should go about their work, and how student success should be judged.
Below are the headlines and brief descriptions of the 10 most-read Bridging Differences blog posts from the past year. Read the blogs and add a comment about what they say and why you think they attracted more readers than other Bridging Differences posts. —The Editors
1. The year's most popular post was written by Alfie Kohn. Titled "Alfie Kohn: Why Punishment Doesn't Work," the piece examined punishment in schools. In the Jan. 24 piece, author and former educator Kohn wrote: "With respect to the issues you've raised this week, I'd add a more specific question: Do you think punishment is sometimes appropriate and beneficial, or do you agree with me that it isn't but contend that it sometimes must be used as a transitional measure, the idea being that it should be faded out once the students' (or their parents') trust in the educators has been established and a caring school community has been constructed?"
2. Elliott Witney, a former KIPP school leader who now works in a traditional public school district, posted the No. 2 entry ("Explaining KIPP's 'SLANT' ") on April 11. "SLANT emerged at our school