‘There are common hypocrites. There are spectacular hypocrites. And then there are Florida legislators.’
“There are common hypocrites. There are spectacular hypocrites. And then there are Florida legislators.” That’s how John Romano, a writer for the Tampa Bay Times, started this column expressing his disgust over legislation that the Florida legislature just rammed through with procedural tricks that expands the state’s controversial voucher program. What got him so exercised? […]
Virginia’s SOL exams: what students need to know to pass (and graduate on time)
Today is the day when Virginia students will start running what teacher Mary Tedrow calls the state’s ” testing gauntlet” which seems to test endurance at least as much as knowledge. In this post, Tedrow looks at the sample questions of Standards of Learning tests and explains what students need to know about these exams […]
Pearson, of course, wins huge Common Core testing contract
I noted recently that two years ago the nonprofit group FairTest predicted that despite promises by policymakers that competition and innovation would result from school reform, it would be the same old education firms that would wind up with the big Common Core-related contracts. FairTest got that right. Pearson, the largest education company in the world, […]
What teaching is and isn’t
The first week in May is Teacher Appreciation Week, so declared back in 1984 by the Parent Teachers Association, and the 2014 observation of this is upon us. It couldn’t have come at a better time, given that teachers aren’t feeling especially appreciated these days, what with school reform policies targeted right at them. In […]
5-4-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: ‘Today was the first day I was ever ashamed to be a teacher’Students around the country are taking high-stakes Common Core-aligned standardized tests now and some teachers are expressing unhappiness about having to administer them. Some are refusing to administer them and others are going public with their concerns about the nature of the tests and the emphasis being placed on t