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Colorado school district votes to opt most students out of Common Core testing
The board of education in Colorado’s second largest city has voted to opt out most of its 30,000 students from new Common Core standardized testing and will ask the state government for flexibility to carry out its plan. It is the first district in the state and one of the first in the country to […]
Why we can’t reform literacy and math all at once
School “reform” is hardly a new phenomenon in the public school system, with decades of efforts to improve reading and math scores. Why haven’t all these efforts met expectations? Here’s one explanation, from Andy Hargreaves, the Brennan Chair in Education in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and an adviser to the premier […]
Banned Books Week: the 10 most challenged books every year since 2000
You might not think a best-selling book for kids called “Captain Underpants” would be terribly objectionable, but, as it turns out, it tops the 2013 list of books most challenged in schools and libraries in 2013. Why? Reasons cited by challengers: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence. It’s Banned Books Week, an annual event […]
SEP 25
Chicago mayor admits naming elite new school after Obama, his former boss, was a mistake
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who once served as chief of staff in the White House for President Obama, just acknowledged that his plans to name a new $60 million high school located in a wealthy mostly white area of the city were a mistake. Here’s how the Chicago Sun-Times described the apparently rare moment: The […]
Why a leading professor of new media just banned technology use in class
Clay Shirky is, as he explains below, a “pretty unlikely candidate for Internet censor.” Shirky is a professor of media studies at New York University, holding a joint appointment as an arts professor at NYU’s graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts, and as a Distinguished Writer in Residence in the […]
SEP 24
‘Test reform’ movement picking up steam
We’ve had years and years of “school reform” that has mostly resulted in creating an untenable culture of high-stakes tests– and now, there is a growing “test reform” movement that is pushing back against the culture of high-stakes testing that has taken over public education. Every week, an organization called the National Center for Fair […]
SEP 23
Colorado teacher: ‘I refuse to administer the PARCC’ Common Core test to my students
Peggy Robertson is an educator in Aurora, Colo., who has been a sharp critic of high-stakes standardized testing. Robertson, a teacher and literacy coach, has taught in elementary schools in Missouri, Kansas and Colorado, and spent several years training teacher leaders and administrators in educational theory and practice. She is a co-founder of United Opt […]
SEP 22
The ‘Big Bang’ boys (at Caltech) have a real science adviser (from UCLA)
Have you ever watched the popular television comedy called “The Big Bang Theory” and noticed complex formulas written on the character Sheldon’s white boards? Unless you are an accomplished mathematician, you would have no way of knowing that the formulas — every one of them — are real. In fact, the show’s creators have an […]
Common Core calls for kids to read books that ‘frustrate’ them. Is that a good idea?
This post is connected to two recent pieces I published about the Common Core State Standards. This post is a transcript of a debate on the Core that was recently held in New York; arguing for the Core were Carmel Martin and Mike Petrilli and arguing against were Carol Burris and Rick Hess. And this […]
SEP 20
Why a kindergarten teacher is running for Congress
Janet Garrett is a veteran kindergarten teacher in Oberlin, Ohio. She just started her 35th year of teaching — which will be her last. She is running as a Democrat for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from the 4th Congressional District of Ohio, challenging the conservative Republican incumbent, Jim Jordan. In this […]