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‘I teach because…’
Maribeth Whitehouse has been a special education teacher in the Bronx for nearly a decade. In 2012, she scored in the 99th percentile — better than nearly all other teachers in New York City — on teacher data reports created through “value added measures”, which supposedly can determine the “value” of a teacher by plugging […]
A disturbing look at Common Core tests in New York
The promise of new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards was that they would show which students were ready for college and career and which weren’t. But in New York, a look at the tests shows how the state is failing to meet that promise. This was written by Carol Burris and […]
Obama expands use of standardized tests for special-needs and American Indian students
President Obama recently told graduates at the University of California, Irvine, that people who deny the science behind climate change are just as wrong as people who say the moon is “made of cheese.” Congress, he said, “is full of folks who stubbornly and automatically reject the scientific evidence” about climate change and call it a […]
JUN 26
Standard & Poor’s rates outlook for charter school sector as ‘negative’
Standard & Poor’s has issued a new report that extends its “negative” outlook for the charter school sector. Of 214 public charter school ratings done by the agency, 41, or 19 percent, are negative while only 4 — or 2 percent — are positive. Furthermore, it says, funding has not generally “returned to pre-recessionary levels, and some schools are […]
What’s with that ‘go you chicken fat go’ iPhone ad?
If you’ve heard the song with the lyrics “go you chicken fat go” in ads for iPhones, you may have stopped and wondered what the heck a song about chicken fat has to do with Apple and its telecommunications products. I can’t answer that question, but here’s why you are reading about it on an […]
JUN 25
Arizona schools chief won’t resign after calling welfare recipients ‘lazy pigs’ and other incendiary comments
(Update: He won’t resign) The schools superintendent of Arizona, John Huppenthal, has admitted to — and apologized for — writing anonymous blog posts over the last several years with some incendiary comments, including calling welfare recipients “lazy pigs.” But he says he won’t resign and is running for re-election this year. The Arizona Republic reported in this […]
A bone-headed tweet from Education Department
Put this in the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff category: Someone at the U.S. Education Department tweeted out what was considered a funny reminder for students to fill out their federal financial aid forms, known as FAFSA. The tweet had a picture from the movie “Bridesmaids” depicting the drunken character played by Kristen Wiig’s character on a plane with […]
The Great Teachers and Principals Act: not so great after all
Last year I published a piece by Kenneth Zeichner, a professor who has done extensive research on teaching and teacher education, which discussed legislation in Congress about teacher and principal preparation programs. The legislation is officially called the “Growing Excellent Achievement Training Academies (GREAT) Teachers and Principals Act” and referred to as the GREAT Act. […]
Reformers lose one to a veteran teacher
There’s a new piece on The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog with this headline: “Vergara vs. California: Are the top 0.1% buying their version of education reform?” Anybody paying attention to school “reform” knows that the answer to that question is that some folks in that group are trying their best. But they don’t always win. […]
Is this really how we should test reading development in kids?
DIBELS, or Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, is a set of procedures and measures developed at the University of Oregon for assessing literacy development in students from kindergarten through sixth grade. The DIBELS website says that the measures — one-minute fluency exercises – were “specifically designed to assess the five early literacy components: Phonological Awareness, […]
JUN 24
U.S. Education Department bailing out for-profit college chain
The U.S. Education Department just announced an agreement — or, rather, a bailout — with for-profit Corinthian Colleges, Inc., which would keep open the chain of more than 90 schools that has been investigated repeatedly by government entities for issues including false advertising and high dropout rates. It even was found to have paid companies […]
Better ways to use millions of dollars now spent on testing
Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent by states and school districts on standardized tests every year, money that could be used for purposes far more helpful in improving student achievement. What are those purposes? Here are some suggestions, from Jim Arnold and Peter Smagorinsky. Jim Arnold recently retired from the superintendent’s position of the […]
How Arne Duncan talked about Common Core without mentioning ‘Common Core’
Here’s how Education Secretary Arne Duncan just gave a speech that discussed the Common Core State Standards without actually mentioning the words “Common Core.” Duncan was in Texas on a trip that included an appearance in Austin at the 2014 annual convention of the National PTA, at which he gave a speech after being introduced by […]
Major probe of Michigan charter schools finds wasteful spending, little accountability
This week the Detroit Free Press is publishing results from its year-long investigation into charter schools in Michigan, which has more for-profit companies operating schools than any other state. The findings, based on tens of thousands of records spanning two decades as well as hundreds of interviews, paint a dismal picture of a charter sector that spends […]
JUN 23
The best and worst education news of 2014 — so far
Larry Ferlazzo is a veteran teacher in California who writes a teacher advice blog for Education Week Teacher, has his own popular resource-sharing blog, and has written five books on education. Ferlazzo, who teaches English and Social Studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California, closely follows education news and every year, at least once […]
Northwestern’s journalism school misspells its name on 2014 diploma
Northwestern University’s Medill school of journalism changed its name several years back to this unwieldly title: Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. It wasn’t a popular decision; in fact, the Chicago Tribune made fun of the change in this 2010 story that started: Hogwarts faculty members voted this week in support of […]
In surprise move, key legislator allows state testing moratorium to pass
This actually happened: A key legislator listened to his constituents and changed his mind about an important piece of legislation, which changed the fate of the bill. It just happened in Rhode Island, where House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello first opposed a three-year moratorium on using a standardized test as a requirement for high school graduation, but then […]
JUN 22
A teacher’s plea to bosses: Give us ‘time and autonomy to create solutions’
If you talk to teachers about their jobs, one of the things you will hear most consistently is that they don’t have enough time to plan, collaborate and learn from each other. Here is an open letter from a teacher to superintendents and administrators everywhere explaining why this is so important. It was written by […]
