A Mercedes Schneider Reader
When it comes to fired-up scholarship, passionate digging out of detail, and supplying simple facts for the Resistance, it is hard to beat Mercedes Schneider.Schneider has one of the most varied backgrounds in the field. She started out as a classroom teacher of German and English, then acquired a PhD in applied statistics and research methods from the University of Northern Colorado and moved to
New Teacher Performance Testing
Today's Education Week includes a commentary from national representatives of school principals, school district administrators, and teacher-prep programs; these folks start out arguing for performance based assessment for new teachers, but then give limited endorsement of corporate baloney instead.Their opening point is well-made; people looking to enter the teaching profession need real support
Parents and Tenure
As battles over tenure across the country heat up, teachers will keep encountering parents who are in favor of ending job protections for teachers.We teachers have our favorite pro-tenure arguments, the long list of bad reasons that teachers in non-tenure districts lose their jobs. But those arguments are most compelling to us. They speak to our professional concerns. What can we say to parents th
#AskArne- Student Data & Test Edition
Yes, dear readers, the Department of Education continues to crank out youtube videos in which Arne Duncan is fake-interviewed about an educational issue. The newest clip presents a Teach to Lead update, a shady tale of data privacy, and some huge whoppers about the testing going on.. I have included the link, but it's really only as corroboration; it's in your blood pressure's best interests not t
4-9-13 Curmudgucation Week
CURMUDGUCATION: Common Corer? I Don't Even Know Her!With his House appropriations subcommittee testimony Tuesday, Arne Duncan remains the highest profile reformy booster to wipe the Common Core lipstick off his face and stammer, "But, honey, I barely even know the woman!"It's not the first time for Arne-- it hasn't even been a month since he watched Indiana dump the Core and said, "