Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, January 5, 2014

1-5-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:




Joanne Yatvin: The Common Core Standards May Be Harmful to Children
The following article was written by Dr. Joanne Yatvin, who does a great job of pointing out problems with specific standards, and how easy it is to tell that the Common Core Standards were not created by educators or child learning specialists.  Such specialists, such as Dr. Yatvin, have determined that they are harmful to […]
Collectable and eventually playable education activism game cards, courtesy of UOO
The activist organization United Opt Out, that little gaggle always does things a little differently. Well, in advance of their annual spring event, taking place in Denver, CO March 28th-30th, 2014, UOO is releasing a collection of activist game cards that will include the organizers and the guests who will be in attendance. Now, these […]
Another warm welcome to a new author, Dr. Denisha Jones (@denisha_jones)
Denisha and I go back a few years. We were both graduate students at Indiana University. And oddly enough, we found our way there from DC, and now back again. Denisha’s at Howard University. Great institution with a Dean who’s said some very hopeful things about education reform. Dr. Jones is in this fight with […]

A new blog for you to check out from Canadian educator Tobey Steeves
It’s called ReMapping Education.  I’ve always had very insightful chats with Mr. Steeves on Twitter. Hopefully we’ll cross paths in person sometime down the road soon. Hopefully fatherhood doesn’t keep his thoughts away from us for too long. Wish him luck on that one, @symphily on Twitter.

I wonder if Secretary Duncan heard their stories?
Last spring, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited my school. Following the unfortunate tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook, the purpose of his visit was to meet with students, and staff, to discuss school and gun violence. The video below (4:23 minutes) is a condensed version of the hour-long discussion. The full video (51:36 minutes) […]
Disproportionate Evaluative Rigor and the Three Laws of Data
I promised in a recent post called The Tyranny of the Datum to write about some guiding standards for appropriate data usage, in the spirit of Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, and I will do that here today. Before I get to that, though, I’d like to briefly discuss–in a general sense–what I see […]

All Week 1-4-14 @ THE CHALK FACE
@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: All Week @ THE CHALK FACE CCSS: The Black Hole of EducationStop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Common Core is “Obamacore.” No? If you haven’t, then you’ve been living under a rock, somewhere. Yes, the infamous Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has drawn criticism from the political left, and the right. It’s fascinating to witness both sides of the p