Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION
Student Suicide
100+by Peter Greene / 15h
I knew it was a growing issue. I didn't know it was this bad. Between 2007 and 2014 the suicide rate for children aged 10-14 doubled. Doubled. That's according to the Center for Disease Control . If you want to put that in perspective, the rate of death by auto accident has been dropping steadily since 1999 (the beginning of the charted data), cut by more than half. In 2014, the suicide rate climb
Where the Free Market Fails
33by Peter Greene / 22h
Donald Trump has proposed that we just get rid of Obamacare and replace it with free market forces. This is as original as any of his policy ideas (i.e. not at all), but it's still a bad idea because health care is like education in that the freemarket cannot possibly succeed in accomplishing what we claim to want as a society. I'll explain in a moment, but first, let me insert my usual disclaimer
NOV 03
Common Core: Victim of Inadequate PR?
21by Peter Greene / 1d
We've often heard that poor old Common Core was a swell thing that fell victim to bad implementation. But over at EdSource yesterday, Pat Reilly identified a different culprit. Messages, backed up with data and brought to life through emotive language, are fundamental to changing minds in the 21st century. Yet too often, education advocacy is stopped in its tracks because critical concepts aren’t
Is Pre-K A Waste of Time?
75by Peter Greene / 1d
There's plenty of research out there wrestling with the eternal question-- does pre-school actually make any difference in the long run? It's an important question, but it's important to pay attention to exactly how it is being asked, because that little bit of nuance has everything to do with what policymakers think Kindergarten is supposed to look like. As reported by Brookings, of all places, t
NOV 02
Are High Standards Leading To Better Outcomes?
31by Peter Greene / 3d
The Collaborative for Student Success was created to help push the Common Core State Standards, and it remains devoted to that goal, proudly announcing " The Results Are In: High Standards Are Leading to Better Outcomes ," a headline we can take just about as seriously as a headline from the Ford PR department announcing that the new Ford Taurus Is Awesome! CSS is an astro-turf advocacy group, a g
NOV 01
WA: Buying the Court
37by Peter Greene / 3d
When reformsters aren't busy trying to buy seats on school boards or flood a state with outside money to influence charter school legislation, sometimes they turn their money and attention to the courts. Washington State has been a disappointment to many of its tech billionaires. Bill Gates and his friends had to spend several million dollars on several different tries to get a charter school law
OCT 31
Welcome to Charter Cafeteria
39by Peter Greene / 4d
Welcome to the new Charter Choice Cafeteria! Can I help you? Wow! It's so clean and shiny here. And is that.... is that steak?? Why yes. We believe that all students should have the chance to eat steak for lunch. Well, that's great. My usual public cafeteria only has meatloaf every other day, and it's not so good. So I would really love steak for lunch. Can I just-- Just a second. Charter Choice C
OCT 30
PA: State Rep Compares School Boards to Hitler
89by Peter Greene / 6d
Brad Roae is running for re-election for the PA House of Representatives for District 6. First elected in 2006, Roae has had some interesting things to say about education in Pennsylvania. Hitler blamed the Jews for everything that was wrong with the world and school boards blame charter schools. This was on Facebook, in response to a question about the currently-off-the-table HB 530, a bill that
ICYMI: Catching Up with Reading (10/30)
6by Peter Greene / 6d
I've been home for about a week and I am just about back up to speed. There's a lot to read this time around. As always, I encourage you to share wildly whatever you like here. What Are the Main Reasons Teachers Call It Quits NPR takes a look at why some folks are getting out of the teaching biz. No surprises
