Sunday, August 21, 2011

Modern School: Homework and Student Stress

Homework and Student Stress

by Michael Dunn

The following was submitted to the San Francisco Chronicle in response to their Sunday opinion piece onstudent stress and homework on 8/14 and printed in their Sunday paper on 8/21.

Thanks for drawing attention to the issue of student stress and homework. I’ve been teaching in the Bay Area for 14 years and the problem does seem to be getting worse. The main causes, however, are structural and political, not teachers assigning busy work.

The high stakes testing mandated by NCLB, for example, takes class time away from content, increasing pressure on teachers to cram more content into fewer days. Combined with the overwhelming number of standards teachers must cover each year, students often have to pick up some content at home through reading and other assignments. Sadly, some schools now require test preparation and homework for kindergartners,

When Will the Bubble Burst? Student Loan Debt Swells 511 Percent - Education - GOOD

When Will the Bubble Burst? Student Loan Debt Swells 511 Percent

by Liz Dwyer

bubble.burst
It's no secret that American students are being crushed by student loans. We're on track to cross the $1 trillion mark in total student debt, exceeding household credit card debt, sometime later this year. That sounds pretty

After Words with Steven Brill - C-SPAN Video Library

Report Video Issue

C-SPAN | BookTV

The founder of The American Lawyer magazine and Court TV tells the story of a coalition of unlikely allies in the fight to change a school system that many parents believe is failing the nation's children. He debates .. Read More

59 minutes | 186 Views

View Program Timeline

A Letter to Parents from a Parent - Baltimore Education reform | Examiner.com

A Letter to Parents

Aug 21st, 2011

Dear Parents,

I write this letter as a parent myself, who also happens to be an educator for over twenty years (and counting…), which means I live by a double edged sword. Education, which has been an immensely political issue for me all these decades has also become a deeply personal one beginning six years ago with the birth of my son Conor, and two years after that with the birth of my daughter Molly. I also happen to be on vacation at the beach with my family at the moment I write this letter. I suppose while I focus on my family this week, the educator’s mind never turns off. So I begin this letter with a short story (a metaphor of sorts) about being at the beach, thinking about the school year which begins in less than 2 weeks, and the effects that high stakes testing has on me, my children, and our society.

This morning I lugged our wheeled cart full of assorted items needed to keep children amused for hours to the beach. As we crested the dunes I saw that the sand castle and large tide pool (aka big hole) we had dug were still there from yesterday; not washed away completely by the evenings tides but rather worn down at the edges, and filling in from wind and sea mist. Conor immediately grabbed a few sand toys jumped into the middle of the tide pool, now empty and dry. Looking at the water I could tell the tide was moving back in slowly. “Let’s dig it back out again” I chimed, “That way when the water moves up it will fill back in again.” He was eager to begin, but after a few moments his attention waned. “The water’s not coming in mommy” he noted. “It takes time buddy. If we

Students: the Achilles heel of test-based teacher evaluation? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Students: the Achilles heel of test-based teacher evaluation?

By Valerie Strauss

Paul Hafemann, a 7th/8th Grade social studies teacher at Mahopac Middle School in Mahopac, NY, sent me an email with the following story, or, rather, lesson about standardized tests. It points to a a major, and little discussed, issue about the push to evaluate, pay and retain teachers based on the standardized test scores of their students. Hafemann gave me permission to share it.

From Paul Hafemann:

We have read about all of the “cheating scandals” across our nation and how the tests need to be made more “secure.” I want to take a

Daily Kos: Rhee's Students First collaborated on Michigan bill limiting collective bargaining for teachers

Rhee's Students First collaborated on Michigan bill limiting collective bargaining for teachers

byLaura ClawsonforDaily Kos

373 116

PERMALINK	52 COMMENTS

Photo: Iris Harris - U.S. Department of Commerce

Education blogger At the Chalk Face has obtained an internal briefing document from Michelle Rhee's Students First, and makes clear just how extensively Students First collaborated with Michigan Republicans on four education bills targeting teachers, including one limiting collective bargaining. The 30-page PDF is available here.

The crucial take-away is that although Rhee has claimed publicly that eliminating collective bargaining is not her end goal, and although Students First didn't publicly support Michigan's bill limiting collective bargaining for teachers, the document leaves no doubt that in fact the organization privately supported the bill, saying:

StudentsFirst did not work directly with the House on the collective

Michelle Rhee Creates a Strawman Teacher and Retreats on Poverty | Scathing Purple Musings

Michelle Rhee Creates a Strawman Teacher and Retreats on Poverty

by Bob Sikes

You don’t often see Diane Ravitch and Michelle Rhee on the same stage, but we did Thursday in Marth’s Vineyard. This Washington Post story provides a few quotes from the two – just enough to frame their points of view.

Ravitch continues to effectively point out that the current narrative is one in which teachers are demonized and blamed for perceived ills and that there’s an overemphasis on standardized tests.

While Rhee still sees her brand of test-base accountability as the proper model, she seems to have changed herspiel and is using the “strawman argument” to advance her agenda.

“What would you do, if you saw data that said a teacher, year in and year out for the last five years, not only didn’t improve the kids in her classroom but that the children have

School Tech Connect: A Night On The Town

A Night On The Town

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)

What a night.... walked over to the neighbors' place here in Rogers Park last night for an evening on the patio. It couldn't have been nicer--- even with the rain it was a good time. We talked and talked and talked-- I met neighbors I hadn't even seen on the street, and we had that age-old discussion of whether Rogers Park was getting better or worse. Opinions were mixed.

Gunshots interrupted the conviviality. Five quick shots in succession--- from the sound of it, the shooters were no more than 20 feet away, right outside the fence-- it's one of those privacy fences that I associate with a television commercial from the 70's ---beauty....privacy....security.

Well, we all hit the ground pretty quickly, and in that

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Wisconsin school districts lose millions in shaky investments

Wisconsin school districts lose millions in shaky investments

by Mike Klonsky

With public school districts facing massive state budget cuts, school boards and financial managers are under pressure to get greater and more rapid returns when they invest dwindling reserves, health care funds, and borrowed operating dollars. School districts in Wisconsin, facing an assault from Republican anti-taxers, recently lost millions when they bought into fraudulent packages put together by Wall Street firms like

Book Review: Special Interest By JOEL KLEIN | Class Warfare - WSJ.com

Book Review: Special Interest | Class Warfare - WSJ.com

Learning the Hard Way

The reformers who want to save the public schools are starting to make a difference, against ferocious opposition

By JOEL KLEIN

Like so many debates in America today, the fight over public education is as polarized as it is consequential. There appears to be a general sense of agreement that the results we are getting are woefully inadequate, especially given the demands that a high-tech, global economy will place on our future work force. Nevertheless, there's a sharp disagreement over exactly what to do.

Spending more money is of course a perennial demand. Since 1970 America has more than doubled the real dollars spent on K-12 education. We have increased the number of teachers by more than a third, created legions of nonteaching staff, and raised salaries and benefits across the board. Yet fewer than 40% of the students who graduate from high school are ready for college. At the same time, students in other countries are moving ahead of us, scoring higher—often much higher—on international tests of reading, math and science skills.

View Full Image

Associated Press

Scenes from Mott Haven Academy in the Bronx

The debate over education broadly divides into two groups. On one side are what might be called "traditionalists," consisting largely of unions purporting to represent the interests of teachers. The members of this group argue that poverty is the great impediment to educational success and that we must lift

Latest News and Comment from Education