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A strange definition of a ‘bad’ teacher
Keoni Wright is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit organized by Campbell Brown’s education advocacy group that is seeking to overturn New York laws that provide tenure and other job protections to K-12 teachers. Brown has appeared on a number of television shows explaining her new endeavor, which will involve filing lawsuits in other states, […]
Why Princeton students who deserve A’s can’t get them — report
Here’s an interesting case of unintended consequences in education reform — in this case, grading policy at an Ivy League school. A decade ago the faculty at Princeton University adopted a grading policy that was intended to distinguish between good and great work but that wound up restricting the number of top grades professors handed […]
The difference between ‘complex’ and ‘complicated’ — and why it matters in school reform
“Complex” isn’t the same thing as “complicated” — and the difference matters. In this post, Stanford University’s Larry Cuban explains why in the context of school reform. Cuban was a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he […]
‘Nothing But Tears’ baby shampoo (because ‘it’s never too early’ to toughen up kids for school)
From the hilarious (and satirical) newspaper The Onion, a story with this headline: Johnson & Johnson Introduces ‘Nothing But Tears’ Shampoo to Toughen up Newborns. This tweet from the satirical newspaper says it all: Because it’s never too early to grow the hell up! Guaranteed Kindergarten Ready! Extra Grit! http://t.co/QgXD46bUU3 pic.twitter.com/TJCsElGz8w — Emperor Bill […]
AUG 07
Ten ways to fix the mess that is kindergarten
I’ve posted a number of pieces recently about how kindergarten has been changing over the last decade or so. (See here, here, here and here.) Once a time for socialization and learning through play, school reformers have turned it into an academic exercise that, in some classrooms, leaves little or no time for play, recess […]
AUG 06
A lesson from South Korea: Student resistance to high-stakes testing
Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said repeatedly that the United States isn’t as serious about educating its young people as the South Koreans. It’s just one of the many things he has said in comparing the U.S. public education system with that of other countries. But is South Korea really the country we should be […]
AUG 05
Michelle Rhee has a new position
Michelle Rhee just got a new position. According to the Sacramento Bee she was just named interim board chairwoman of St. Hope Schools, a small group of Sacramento charter schools. The new position gives “Rhee a powerful new role in the charter school system founded by her husband, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.” But she isn’t […]
School reforms that actually work
For years now education leaders have been pushing onto school districts school reforms that don’t show any sign of working while giving short shrift to those that have a track record of working. Gary Ravani, a 35-year public school teacher and president of the California Federation of Teachers’ Early Childhood/K-12 Council, explains in this post. […]
If this isn’t school reform failure, what is?
School reformers have made student standardized test scores the most important measure of how public schools are doing, so it seems only fair to measure their performance by their own definition of success. The newly released 2014 high-stakes test scores tells us that D.C. Public Schools doesn’t have a great deal to show for its […]
AUG 04
It’s innovative, but is it really better?
The word “innovative” is invoked a lot to describe school reform policies that are alleged to be improvements over what existed before. But is innovative inherently better? Arthur H. Camins answers the question in the following post. Camins is the director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens Institute of […]
AUG 03
Fact-checking Campbell Brown: What she said, what research really shows
Former CNN correspondent Campbell Brown appeared on The Colbert Report last week in her role as head of the new Partnership for Educational Justice, an advocacy organization that is supporting seven parents in a lawsuit against New York State’s teacher tenure laws. (Supporting may be underestimating what the group is doing, given that she called […]
AUG 01
Stephen Colbert to Campbell Brown: ‘Why are we blaming the teachers? Maybe it’s the dumb kids.’
Stephen Colbert welcomed Campbell Brown to “The Colbert Report” (see video below) on Thursday night to talk about her support for a lawsuit just filed in New York that seeks to eliminate tenure and other job protections for teachers. The Comedy Central host didn’t give the former CNN anchor turned anti-union activist a free pass, asking […]
What do standardized tests actually test?
What exactly do standardized tests test? In this post veteran educator Marion Brady answers that question and its consequences for teaching and learning. Brady has written history and world culture textbooks (Prentice-Hall), professional books, numerous nationally distributed columns (many are available here), and courses of study. His 2011 book, “What’s Worth Learning,” asks and answers this q