Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, July 18, 2014

7-18-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:








AFT Spanks Duncan (Sort Of)
I know this is old news, but I've been out of town. On Sunday, July 13, I was in the air flying toward the very city where the AFT was kind of taking a stand.The NEA had taken similar steps earlier by calling for the ouster of Arne Duncan, though outbound president Dennis Van Roekel immediately chalked it up to members just being, you know, cranky or in a bad mood, so they just took it out on Arne


David Coleman To Fix Inequality in America
David Coleman is here (well, not here here-- he's actually in Aspen) to explain how the College Board is going to recapture market share by synergistically monetizing its products break down the walls of inequality in education.David Coleman (Common Core writer and current president of the College Board) is deeply concerned with fairness. Huffington Post has a report from the Aspen Institute (beca

YESTERDAY

The Limits of Data
There was a moment during a presentation at last weeks' Professional Learning Communities training (institute? gathering? big thingy?) that really illustrated, I think a bit unintentionally, the nuts-and-bolts problems with using data to "analyze" teacher effectiveness.A chart of data from three classes broken down by three skills was on the screen, presented in student by student format
7-17-14 Curmudgucation
CURMUDGUCATION: Joy and Pain in PLC-landOh, if only we could easily sort all education ideas into perfectly embraceable and easily rejectable. But it's rarely that simple; we have to use the Power of Actual Thinking to separate the usable from the risible.Last week I spent two and a half days in the arms of PLC with colleagues from my school. Our administration is looking longingly at taking the P