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Testing revolt brews in Florida as Miami schools chief urges delay in new exams
In Florida, the state where former governor Jeb Bush (R) pioneered the use of high-stakes standardized tests for school “accountability” purposes, a testing revolt is unfolding. Late last month, the Lee County school board voted to drop all state-mandated tests as an act of “civil disobedience,” though the vote was rescinded because of fear that […]
Strauss: Texas school district arms teachers and posts warning signs
The Argyle Independent School District in north Texas has started the 2014-15 school year, as KDAF-TV noted, “with guns blazing” — or, rather, with newly armed teachers who have been given the right to use them “to protect our students.” Read full article >>
The huge problem with professional development for teachers
One of the things that teachers have long said they need is quality professional development but most of them don’t get it. In this post, Alvin Crawford, CEO of Knowledge Delivery Systems, the largest provider of online teacher professional development programs, writes about the problem and what to do about it. Crawford has been in the teacher […]
America’s suburban schools facing new pressures
One of the problems with many school reforms being implemented in schools today is that they are being done in isolation — from one another and from other policies that are necessary to actually allow the education changes to work. In the following post, two professors explain how housing policy affects America’s suburban schools in […]
The best way to get your college kid to call home
Some kids love to call or text or video chat with their parents when they start college. Some kids seem to forget they have a home and pretty much never get in touch with their parents. So how can a parent actually get their child to call home? Here’s a low-tech, old-fashioned way which is […]
Teacher: No longer can I throw my students to the ‘testing wolves’
Dawn Neely-Randall, who just started her 25th year of teaching, is sick and tired of the effects that obsessive standardized testing is having on her students. She is a member of the Badass Teachers Association, a national group of more than 51,000 educators who came together to organize resistance to school reform that focuses on using […]
SEP 04
Principal cancels dance to stop students from twerking and blames Miley Cyrus
The principal and dean of students at a high school in Vermont cancelled the fall homecoming dance in an effort to stop students from “twerking” and blamed Miley Cyrus for starting the dance trend with her provocative appearance at the 2103 MTV Video Music Awards. A letter signed by Mount Anthony Union High School’s Principal […]
Will Common Core double the high school dropout rate?
The nonprofit Carnegie Corporation of New York, which has supported the Common Core State Standards, published a report in 2013 with some startling information that was little noticed in the education world until recently: that the high school dropout rate could double as a result of the Core initiative. Veteran educator Larry Ferlazzo pointed out […]
No, helicopter parents aren’t ruining kids after all
There is no end to the articles and blog posts about overprotective helicopter parents who won’t let their children do anything for themselves and are raising children who can’t operate independently. There probably are some of these parents — but does the helicopter hysteria match the reality. No, says Alfie Kohn, in the following post. […]
SEP 03
A pledge school reformers should take
Education historian Larry Cuban notes that no matter what part of the political spectrum school reform originates, reformers keep making the same mistakes, decade in and decade out. What mistakes? Cuban explains in this post. Cuban was a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and […]
Florida county rescinds decision to drop all state-mandated testing
Last week the school board in Lee County, Fla., became the first school district anywhere to vote to opt out of all state-mandated testing as a protest against what members said was excessive testing. The vote then was 3-2 and board member Don Armstrong called it an “act of civil disobedience.” Well, one of the […]
SEP 02
A former university president gets schooled on sexual assault and drinking
Former George Washington University president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg was at the center of an international debate recently when he appeared on a radio show and made some comments about sexual assault and drinking on college campuses. My colleague Nick Anderson wrote this article about it: “Without making the victims . . . responsible for what happens, one […]
Back to school 2014-15 — by the numbers
Here is everything you didn’t know you didn’t know about the 2014-15 school year, getting under way in earnest around the country this week. This information comes directly from the U.S. Education Department’s Nation Center for Education Statistics: Question: What are the new Back to School statistics for 2014? Response: Elementary and Secondary Education Enrollment […]
SEP 01
Why one school system is dropping Teach For America
The school board in Durham, N.C., has voted 6-1 to end its relationship with Teach For America after the 2015-16 school year, when all of the 12 TFA teachers hired in the past few years will have completed the two years of service they promise to make when joining the organization. What makes it interesting […]
AUG 31
SAT/ACT tutoring: $1,500 for 90 minutes. And 14 sessions are required. Really.
If you thought that paying a couple of hundred dollars for an hour of SAT/ACT tutoring for your child was outrageous, get this: A tutor named Anthony Green charges $1,500 for 90 minutes — and he insists that customers take a minimum of 14 sessions, all online. Why? Because rich people will pay, and because he […]
AUG 30
Can a $1 million global teacher competition (backed by Bill Clinton) boost the profession?
There’s no question that many teachers feel demoralized amid a punitive school “reform” movement and that their profession could use a boost, but is a $1 million global competition for a single “exceptional” teacher really the way to go about doing that? The $1 million Varkey GEMS Foundation Global Teacher Prize contest is underway, with Oct. […]
‘Shut your lips and stand in line’ — what no kid should hear on the first day of school
Veteran educator Matt Fiteny is the social studies education manager at the non-profit Center for Inspired Teaching in Washington D.C., which trains educators at all stages of their careers to improve their ability to raise student achievement. He worked for 12 years as a teacher, teacher-leader and administrator. This is a short post about an […]