The Answer Sheet:
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Why many Democrats have turned against teachers unions
For years now it’s been clear that Democrats have splintered over the issue of corporate school reform. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have been leaders of the movement to transform public schools through standardized-test-based “accountability” and the expansion of charter schools, with other Democrats arguing that these reform measures are not effective ways […]
YESTERDAY
A declaration for teachers
There’s no better time of year to talk about declarations than on July 4th, the day the second Constitutional Convention meeting in 1776 approved the Declaration of Independence. Here’s a new one by Jennifer Barnett, a classroom teacher for more than 20 years who decided it was time for teachers to have a declaration of […]
JUL 03
How much do you know about the Declaration of Independence?
How much do you really know about the history of the Declaration of Independence and events surrounding the famous date of July 4th, 1776? When, for example, was independence actually declared by the second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia? Who was the first signer of the declaration? Who wrote it? You can take our quiz […]
Why we still need affirmative action for African Americans in college admissions
Affirmative action in college admissions for African Americans has been losing support in the United States for some time, with new “colorblind” methods of ending gaining ground in the courts. In this powerful defense of affirmative action, Richard Rothstein explains why pretending color doesn’t matter doesn’t actually work and why it is unfair. Rothstein is […]
JUL 02
What you know about July 4th is wrong
You learned in school about what happened in July 1776, and think you have a good handle on events surrounding American independence from Great Britain. Right? Well, if you think that was the day that America’s independence was declared by the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, you are wrong. And if you think that that […]
JUL 01
U.S. teachers have harder job than counterparts in industrialized world — survey
New results from an international survey shows that U.S. public school teachers work harder under more difficult conditions than teachers elsewhere in the industrialized world, and they don’t have the same kind of supports, such as enough useful feedback and professional development. In this post, Linda Darling-Hammond explains the results and their importance to the […]
How to increase socioeconomic diversity in college
Leaders in higher education have known for many years that low-income students are underrepresented at top institutions. How to change that? Catharine B. Hill, the president of Vassar College in New York, writes in this post about the only way that colleges and universities can expand socioeconomic diversity. By Catharine B. Hill As college admission […]
JUN 30
The segregation of kindergartners — by the numbers
Here, from the non-profit Economic Policy Institute, is a snapshot of how segregated public schools are, starting in kindergarten. It was written by Elaine Weiss and Emma García. Weiss has served as the national coordinator for the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education since 2011. García, who joined the Economic Policy Institute in 2013, specializes in the […]
JUN 29
Common Core’s testing framework is crumbling
In 2010, Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave a major speech praising the Common Core State Standards and new Core-aligned standardized tests that the Obama administration was funding and that would be developed by two multi-state consortia. He said: Our children deserve that — and to remain competitive, our country does too. States in each consortium have […]
JUN 28
‘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 […]