The Answer Sheet:
All Week @ The Answer Sheet
The No. 1 trait of Americans’ favorite teachers
What attribute do Americans find most compelling in the teacher they have identified as having the greatest impact on their lives? I learned the answer recently when I was listening to a speech by Brandon H. Busteed, the executive director of Gallup Education, about public education and what polls show about how Americans view their teachers. […]
The federal government’s short attention span
When it comes to school and neighborhood inequality, the federal government has a short attention span, discussed here by Elaine Weiss and Patrick Sharkey. Weiss is the national coordinator for the Broader Bolder Approach to Education, a project of the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute that recognizes the impact of social and economic disadvantage on many […]
Teachers refuse to administer standardized tests
Three teachers from P.S. 364 Earth School in New York have informed their administration and Chancellor Carmen Fariña that they will not proctor Common Core state standardized tests this year — or ever — saying in a letter (see below) that they “can no longer implement policies that seek to transform the broad promises of […]
Student privacy activists win a big one
In a win for student privacy activists, New York state is ending its relationship with a controversial $100 million student data collection project funded by the Gates Foundation and operated by a nonprofit called inBloom. It appears that from the nine original state partners, none are now committed to going forward. The state legislators passed […]
APR 03
Web site of anti-testing group is hacked
Why would anyone do this? The Web site of United Opt Out National, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to eliminating the use of high-stakes standardized tests, has been hacked. The site posted this message: United Opt Out The Movement to end Corporate Education Reform Our site has been maliciously hacked and destroyed in […]
APR 02
Is testing taking over our schools? An entire faculty answers
Here is an unusual post about resistance to high-stakes standardized testing in one school, co-written by the entire faculty of P.S. 167 – The Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School: John Atorino, Jen Avellino, Robin Baumgarten, Tarin Baxter, Sarah Bever, Randi Bivona, Yazmin Brigido, Matthew Brownstein, Dan Cassagne, Lesley Crawford, Christine DiLapi, Emily Edwards, Alyson Emmett, Amelia […]
Reader’s response: ‘We’re constantly having to remind the… public about our humanity’
There has been a strong reaction from some to Tuesday’s post originally titled “So did he apply to Stanford?” Some people liked it. Others thought I was making light of the achievements of two teens of color who were accepted into the Ivy League. I wasn’t. My intention was to draw attention to the obsessive […]
Walton Foundation’s pours $164 million in 2013 education grants. Who won?
The Walton Family Foundation spent more than $164 million in 2013 to promote its corporate-influenced education reform agenda in 2013, according to a new list (see below) of grants that went to dozens of organizations. The foundation’s priorities are evident in who won the biggest amounts. Among the winners are: Teach For America, which got […]
Why the SAT drives us N.U.T.S.
What is it about the SAT that drives people nuts? Ned Johnson explains. Johnson is president and self-described tutor geek at Prep Matters, a tutoring and test prep company with offices in Bethesda, Md., McLean, Va., and Washington D.C. By Ned Johnson Did you ever feel a bit of stress when you took the SAT […]
10 things wrong with what kids learn in school
The debate over the Common Core State Standards overlooks the broad problems inherent in the core curriculum that has been taught in schools for decades. Below Marion Brady explains. Brady has worked as a teacher, administrator, college professor, contributor to academic journals, textbook and professional book author, consultant to publishers and foundations, newspaper columnist. By […]
APR 01
Can we stop obsessing on the Ivy League?
Have you heard yet about 17-year-old Kwasi Enin of Shirley, N.Y., who applied to all of the eight schools in the Ivy League and got into every single one? If not, you are, by now, the only one. The William Floyd High School senior told Newsday that he couldn’t believe it when, one right after […]
Did Matt Damon write this?
You’ve gotta love April Fools’ Day. This morning I got an e-mail reacting to a post I wrote — except I didn’t write the post. The reaction, though, turns out to be real. Let me back up a minute … Some background: I recently published a post about how a call for congressional hearings about […]
Case study: How politicians ignore parents on school reform
If you read this blog regularly, you will be familiar with Carol Burris, an award-winning principal from New York. She has done a remarkable job for well over a year detailing the botched school reform efforts in her state. (You can read some of her work here, here, here, here, and here.) Below is a new post from Burris, of South Side […]
Comparing college costs: a primer
It’s the season for colleges to accept students and then students to accept colleges. Part of the decision for many students is price, but comparing the actual cost of attending different colleges can be tricky. Here to help is Mark Kantrowitz, senior vice president and publisher of Edvisors.com, a group of web sites about planning […]
MAR 31
New Virginia education superintendent advocated for less testing
The man that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe tapped to be the state’s new superintendent of public instruction has been a vocal advocate for reducing the amount of testing required of students as well as creating a new accountability system for teachers and schools. Steve Staples, a former superintendent of York County schools and faculty member […]
Teacher: Over-tested zombies are invading my classroom
What are the effects of over-testing on students? Mary Tedrow, who teaches high school English in Virginia, explains. Tedrow co-directs the Northern Virginia Writing Project and is a National Board Certified Teacher as well as a member and past fellow of the Teacher Leaders Network. She blogs at Walking to School. By Mary Tedrow […]
‘If only American teachers were smarter…’
Teachers. In this school reform era, they have been targeted as “the” problem for failing schools. Are they? In this post, Jack Schneider, an assistant professor of education at the College of the Holy Cross, looks at the teaching corps and what is true about America’s teachers, what isn’t, and where to go next. Schneider is the author […]
MAR 30
Are charter schools really better at keeping kids from dropping out?
There is a common perception that charter high schools do a better job than traditional public high schools in preventing kids from dropping out. Is that true? Guy Brandenburg, who writes the GFBrandenburg’s Blog (which is subtitled “Just a blog by a guy who’s a retired math teacher”), looked at some data in Washington D.C. […]
Common Core backer: For public schools, it’s great. For my private school, not so much.
One of the big disconnects in Common Core advocacy is that a lot of the people who think the standards are vital to the future of America and want to see them implemented in public schools everywhere send their children to private schools that have not adopted the Core. President Obama comes to mind: His […]
MAR 29
Long ‘waiting list’ for Florida vouchers doesn’t actually exist
This belongs in the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff category. The short version: Florida’s lawmakers are considering expanding a voucher-like tax credit program because, legislators keep saying, there is a huge waiting list of families who want to participate. It turns out that there is no waiting list. The long version: The Florida legislature has been considering legislation that […]
‘You can’t expect much success on standardized tests when students don’t even have basic supplies’ — editorial
The editorial board of a big-city newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, has gone on record as not only supporting the right of parents to have their children opt out of high-stakes standardized tests but also saying they are “right to protest” in this manner. The editorial (below), refers to this news story in the Inquirer that […]
MAR 28
The Koch brothers’ influence on college campus is spreading
There’s been a flurry of recent stories (here, here and here, for example) about the role the billionaire Koch brothers are playing in politics by backing conservative political candidates through a number of organizations that they fund. My Post colleague Matea Gold wrote in this story: The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and […]
Muriel Bowser’s muddled message about D.C. schools
We know what D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray would do with the city’s public education system if he wins reelection: more of the same. But now that new polls show that D.C. Council member Muriel Bowser (Ward 4) is the most serious challenger to Gray in next week’s Democratic mayoral primary, the question is what she […]