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Student privacy concerns grow over ‘data in a cloud’
Privacy concerns have been growing over a $100 million student database – largely funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and operated by a nonprofit organization, inBloom Inc. — that contains detailed information about millions of students. Most of the states that had signed up to participate in a pilot program have pulled back, and […]
JAN 01
The problem with thinking ‘content is king’ in education
Content is important, but it isn’t everything, as Stanford University’s Larry Cuban makes clear in the following post. Cuban was high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His latest book is […]
DEC 31
Words that should be banned in 2014 (selfie, twerk, etc.)
Here’s the 2014 list of words that Lake Superior State University in Michigan has deemed should be banished from overuse. The school, which has been issuing the list for 39 years, seeks nominations yearround and then puts out a list of 13 winners. The No. 1 word: “selfie.” To submit your nomination for the 2015 list, […]
Nine educated education predictions for 2014!
I recently published a list of best and worst education news of 2013 by California veteran teacher Larry Ferlazzo, and here are his predictions for 2014 in education. He teaches English and Social Studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, has written five education books, writes a teacher advice blog for Education Week Teacher, and […]
‘I would love to teach but…’
I recently published a post with various answers to the question: How hard is teaching? Here is one response I received by e-mail from a veteran seventh-grade language arts teacher in Frederick, Maryland, who asked not to be identified because she fears retaliation at her school. In this piece she describes students who don’t want […]
DEC 30 2013
Ed Dept. pours $43 million into reform program with questionable results
The U.S. Education Department is pouring $43 million more in federal funds into a program that is aimed at improving the lowest-performing schools but has had highly questionable results. The department announced last week that seven states would receive more than $43.4 million through the School Improvement Grants program: Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Rhode […]
‘Five things I did not expect from my Teach For America experience’
Here is part of a post that Julian Vasquez Heilig, an award-winning researcher and associate professor of educational policy and planning at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote on his Cloaking Inquality blog. The piece, entitled “Tell-All From A TFA and KIPP Teacher: Unprepared, Isolation, Shame, and Burnout,” is largely about a former student of […]
DEC 29 2013
NYC schools chancellor to be named
A few weeks ago I reported that New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio would likely tap Carmen Farina, a close adviser who was a former deputy schools chancellor in New York City, to be the new chancellor of the largest school system in the country. Sources now say he will name her as chancellor as […]
What school reformers can learn from Pope Francis
Veteran teacher Larry Ferlazzo has found what he says are school reform and classroom management lessons from Pope Francis. Ferlazzo teaches English and Social Studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, CA., has written five books on education, writes a teacher advice blog for Education Week Teacher, and has his own popular resource-sharing blog. […]
Jon Stewart’s greatest education hits ’13
From 2013, in no particular order, with a bonus at the end. Jon Stewart ridicules preschool critics — 3/7/13 The Daily Show Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook About the stupidity of some of the criticism of the idea of government support for high-quality preschool for all kids. Highlights: …. […]
DEC 28 2013
The test question that’s haunted Gov. Jerry Brown for 50 years
California Gov. Jerry Brown has been out front for some time as a strong critic of the standardized-testing obsession that has come to dominate the school reform movement. He has even refused to give in to threats by Education Secretary Arne Duncan to withhold some federal Title 1 funds — intended to help poor children […]